Retiring the flag tie

Mother's day was a good day. I missed having my Mama to celebrate and honor but rejoiced in the safe return of Clayton to American soil.

It was special in another way too. Barry officially retired the flag tie and attended church without one. Or so he thought. A few people in our Sunday School dug through their ties and presented him with some options. Old options at that! He wore all of them to worship service where Pastor Doug used him as an illustration in the closing of his sermon.

Thank you, Lord, for friends and laughter, to help celebrate the safe return of our son. The son that you protected while he was in harms way. We saw your hand at work from the very beginning with his attachment to the 101st and his placement in Afghanistan. And, the limited combat and protection during attacks.

Thank you to all that prayed for Clayton. I can only imagine the number of times our Lord heard his name this past year.

Please continue to pray for him. He is home but the war is not over. We have a 2013 date of when he will deploy again. I'm hoping to leave that concern with the Lord. Pray for our world, country, leaders and troops.

And for you, Clayton:

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."   Joshua 1:9

We are so proud of you, your courage, sacrifice and service. We hope that you know just how much you are loved.

Weekend Update

Hi Clayton,

We gathered at Grandma's this weekend. We got to meet Kyle & Tashina's baby, Cooper. He's so cute. Uncle Gary, Uncle Alan & Aunt Vickie and Kyle, Tashina & Cooper were there along with me, Dad and Grandma. Uncle Delbert and Aunt Carole came over later and had supper with us. Here are a few photos.

 

Dad and I are practicing...for grandchildren!
Cooper peed on me right after this photo was taken.


We are getting much closer to you returning home. There just isn't enough words to tell you how excited we are to see you in a few weeks. Keep safe and remember we love you beyond words.

Much love,
Mom & Dad

Happy Birthday, Son

Dear Clayton,

You are a blessing to us. We are so proud to be your parents and love you beyond words. Happy birthday, son. We can't wait for you to come home and we are counting down the days. See you soon!

Birthday hugs & kisses,
Mom & Dad

Um, dad and grandma ate all of your cake. Okay, I had some too!

P. S. - We really enjoyed our call from you yesterday. Keep safe!

More Birthday Greetings...

...from the other Wall family.

Aunt Karen, Uncle Gary, Jennifer & Justin.

Your birthday just isn't the same without you - Uncle Gary.

Happy Birthday from the Miller's

Yes, this is your family.

Happy Birthday!

Mike, Uncle Alan, Aunt Vickie, Kyle, Tashina & Cooper.

Birthday Greetings from Grandma

Happy Birthday!

Love,
Grandma

How do you like....

....Uncle Gary's new glasses?

The Cousin's

Martha Stewart she isn't but Betty Crocker she might turn out to be.

I think Jennifer got the naughty chair for supper.

I missed getting a picture with Justin in it and he worked late and couldn't join us.

At cousin Lauren's

Hi Clayton,

I've got several posts coming from our trip down to Texas. Tuesday night Lauren and Kent cooked supper for us. This is how the time was passed waiting...

Here is a link to YouTube in case you have problems here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqKhzeaGywY

Love,
Mom

News from Home

Hi Clay,

Things are pretty quiet here. I think winter is winding down, finally. Temps in the 50s and 60s this coming week. Dad and I are ready to get out and take a few weekend get-aways. We are going down to see Uncle Gary and Aunt Karen sometime soon so we can plan a trip for the 4 of us...to Savannah, GA sometime in the late summer / early fall. That will be fun. We always enjoy spending time with them.

Dad and I took a trip to your storage unit this past weekend to check on the recall notice you got for your washer. Yep - it is one of them. Looks like we'll have to call them out. It hasn't been that long since your dishwasher was repaired in a recall. When you are home on leave [boy does that sound good] perhaps you can check on getting a smaller unit. Maybe you can save a little money that way.

Did you get your care package yet? I'm getting ready to send what I hope is the last one, in about a week.

Here is the new living room sofa and chairs. While there was nothing wrong with the old stuff [almost 14 years old] it was nice to get a fresh updated look to the room. It probably still looked good because I didn't let you play in that room. Ha ha! We need to hang new pictures now. One thing always leads to another! We did keep the old tables and lamps though.

This green chair is my $7 find. It's a Kroehler from the 1960s. Kyle is going to re-upholster it for me as soon as I find a material I like.

Speaking of Kyle...I told you in a email that Tashina had her baby last week. I believe he is a week old today. Here is Cooper Sterling Miller.

Well, that about wraps up this update. Hope to hear from you soon.

Keep safe and remember we love you beyond words!

Love,
Mom & Dad

What's new?

Clayton called Monday morning. A wonderful start to my week! We had a nice long conversation. Since Barry wasn't here he had to make two calls. I hope Clay knows how much we appreciate that! I feel at this point we are ticking down the time until he returns home. It can't come soon enough.

On Tuesday I received a recorded call from the eArmy messaging center. It was testing the system to those that would receive a call informing them of the return date for the 101st Brigade. Can I tell you how excited I was?! That call is still some time out but I feel better informed on what to expect on the day of his return in regard to where to be, when they de-plane, ceremony and dismissal. I can hardly wait until that day.

And to Clayton...I think I told you all that was new when you called. Dad and I bought some new furniture which will be here Friday and Monday. I'll send you old and new picks. My new camera should arrive tomorrow. Yippee! I know you can't wait for me to take a few pics of you. What I'm saving for now is a new lens for wildlife photography. We have a bald eagle that lives out on 11th that I would love to get a shot of. This isn't a good photo. He was out on the island and it was so windy I had a hard time keeping the camera steady.

Have a great week. Keep safe and rest as best you can. We look forward to talking to you again soon.

We love you beyond words!
Mom & Dad

Last of the snow?

Hi Clayton,

Here are the snow pictures I said I'd post for you. I heard Hutch had 17 to 19 inches from several reports. I know we got 19 here. And that was on top of what we'd received the week before when the blowing wind created a 4 foot snowdrift in the back yard. It had started to shrink until the 19 inches hit. I'm hoping the higher temps this week will melt most of it.

The left over from 1st big snow

Dad was out of town and I was dreading the job of shoveling all that snow. Thankfully our neighbor, Bo, came over with his snowblower and cleaned the driveway for us. So that just left the porch and sidewalk. It was then I found out he was the one that cleaned our drive a few weeks ago when Dad and I came back from Aunt Vickie's and it had snowed here. It is a blessing to have good neighbors.

This week has been a warm week of temps in the 50's, 60's and maybe 70's. I'm crossing my fingers and toes and hoping that groundhog was correct and spring will soon be here to stay. The birds have been very active these last few weeks. I am seeing the Robin's again. Although they are here in the winter I haven't seen any in our yard. Over a span of a few days I wrote down all the birds coming to the feeder hanging outside of the kitchen window and here is what I remember: Junco, Nuthatch, Sparrow, Red bellied [zebra backed] woodpecker, Carolina Wren, Cardinal and House Finches. In the tree I've seen Blue Jays and a Pine Siskin. I'm ready to get out in the gardens. I have the one in front to plan and plant this year and the foundation planting will be done. We've redone every existing and created a few new gardens since we moved here in 2005. Maybe next year is the year where we sit back and just maintain and enjoy. Maybe...

I'm saving to buy a new lens [and camera] that will be a better choice for photographing nature and wildlife. Dad won't give me an advance on my allowance. Maybe you can convince him for me? Ha ha!

Well, not much else to report. Still waiting on a date for your return. It was good to see you on facebook today. Hope to talk to you soon.

We love and miss you!
Mom & Dad

Update

We had a 40 minute conversation with Clayton last Thursday morning and the Sunday prior. On Sunday I had just sat down at the table at the annual family dinner [Barry's Mom's side] and Amanda asked about Clayton and I said he was doing good although we hadn't heard from him in 10 days [which is too long] and that I hoped to hear from him soon when my cell phone rang and it was Clayton. Yay! Barry and I talked to him a long while and his Grandma Wall was able to talk with him too.

He is doing well and still enjoying the shorter hours. Maybe, just maybe, he will return to the states in late April. As long as his boots are back on american soil before June I will be grateful. This has been a journey I will be happy to see come to a close. I pray for his safety, health and well-being on a normal day and so praying the same while he is in a war zone has been difficult. Children really should come with long warning labels. Ha ha!

And to Clayton...
We had snow last week. I'm not sure how much because the wind gusts were so strong it blew sideways all day. We ended up with a 4 foot snow drift in the back yard.

I hope it melts before May 1st so I can plant my tomatoes! Now the wind is blowing in dirt from the wheat field and it's turning into a big brown hill. We are supposed to get more...predicted 4 to 6 inches for our area this week. Yay, me. NOT. The ground hog didn't see his shadow so it's supposed to be an early spring. Goodness, I hope that critter is right!

There was an interesting article and news report about the prison ordering over 900 pizzas and 9,000 hot wings for a fund raiser - the spiritual life center. If you want to read it online you can find the story HERE. I sure wish you were still home and working there.

And some sad news to report. Grandma Wall's sister, June, passed away yesterday morning. Saying goodbye to our loved ones is always hard to do. We will be taking Grandma over to Ellinwood for the funeral sometime this week. I think Uncle Gary and Aunt Vickie both will be here as well.

I hope you have a good week and that we get to hear from you.

Love,
Mom & Dad

You've Got Mail

It was 26 degrees but I made it to the post office today. Brrrr. Not much new here since we talked last Friday.

Hmmm. Can you see the box contents on the custom form? Awww guess I covered that up! :)

Here are two things I will show you that are in the box:

Seriously - it's in the box!

This was made by a friend of mine, Diane Wright, for you. It's made of a very soft wool.

Have a great week!
We love you,
Mom & Dad

Not much new

We've only had a few email exchanges with Clayton since we had a video chat with him on New Year's day. He is doing well and now working the 4 pm to midnight shift. They have enough people to work 8 hours for a while. I'm glad he's able to have a little more down time since there are no days off.

And for Clayton
We got our first real snow this past weekend. Some has blown or melted away but still enough out there to make me count the days until Spring. It's been really cold this week - like 1 degree. Supposed to get up to the low 30's which will make that feel warm.

We miss you and are waiting to hear when you're coming home.

Love,
Mom & Dad

Catching Up

With our unexpected trip I didn't get any posts up or scheduled, so I'm catching up.

Clayton we got our mail delivered today and your packet to us was in it. Great picture of you in the magazine. I'll post it on the blog later so others can see.

Also, as I was unpacking and cleaning today I moved a chair cushion and found that I forgot to send one of your Christmas presents. So, guess what you'll get it in the next care package. Nope - not going to tell you. :)

Uncle Gary & Aunt Karen, Aunt Vickie & Uncle Alan, Kyle & Tashina, Mike and Jennifer & Justin are coming to Grandma's this weekend to have Christmas.

To everyone else: You may have read in a previous post that Barry and I took 8 days to drive to Georgia to take care of some things for my Daddy. Hopefully things will improve from now forward. We talked to Clayton via phone twice while gone. One was on Christmas day and that was the present I wanted - to hear his voice. He's doing well.

Trip to Georgia

Dad and I took an unplanned 8 day trip to Georgia to check on Grandpa Stafford. He had a stroke earlier in the year and we wanted to make sure his health issues were being addressed. We got a lot taken care of while there and will continue to follow up from here.

Thought I'd share these pics with you.

They still have these grocery stores in Georgia.

Yum. Nuff said.

We got to see Linda, Tressie & Jessica and families while in Georgia. I didn't take pictures when were all together but here is a picture of Linda's 5th baby. He was born the day before Thanksgiving.


Cameron Robert Isaiah Guthrie



The above picture was taken at Granny and PawPaw's house. We stopped in for a quick visit on Christmas day. Granny cooked Christmas dinner so Dad and I ate there before heading out to Tressie's to see everyone. It was a nice visit with Granny, PawPaw and your Aunt Pam. Your Granny will be 80 on her birthday in January.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas! We miss you and love you beyond words!

This & That

Dad tells me he is working down there in the basement. Wonder how much he actually gets done?

Its been cold here lately. Nothing says cozy like a nice fire.

And, here are pics of my birthday gifts. Thank you for the camera backpack.

What we look like

Dad and I don't want you to forget what we look like. Ha ha! We went to KC this weekend for his office party. We had breakfast at the Old 56 in Olathe. Still looks the same and the food was really good! I finally got to see a different tie on Dad this weekend at the Christmas party. He has been faithful in wearing the flag tie to church every week. I will be glad to retire it! We miss you!

Love,
Mom & Dad