Joy in Motion

Last night, the entire base went black for about 1.5 hours.  All of the sudden, the lights flickered and died – and I was caught not knowing where the flashlight was…I was searching out in the garage by the light of my cell phone.  The phone and John’s portable chair were the only things that were working since they don’t plug into a wall. Then I found some candles, too.  Must have been nice for women before electricity – all that soft light to hide any imperfections;)

I was told that these blackouts happen fairly often, which makes me want to buy Wal-Mart out of candles.  I can imagine it’s a challenge to keep the entire base powered up 24/7.  It’s a huge base, and we’ve not begun to see all of it on our walks, but here are a couple examples of the beautiful areas we have seen.

 During our walk yesterday, I saw something interesting: a group of 6 or 7 little boys dragging a huge pole down a path.  They stopped, propped it upright and circled around it.  It stood about 10 feet high…where they got it I have no idea, but it seemed they were entertaining themselves pretty well.  I just had to take a photo.  I can just imagine one of their parents provided it and told all of them to “go off and have fun” (as a parent now, I know the joy of having a few minutes to yourself).  

The crime here on base is almost funny – Rob and I read the reports in the weekly base paper.  Things like: base housing resident reported screaming coming from dorms accross street; incident investigated by Security Forces Squadron and found to be two people playing a game in courtyard.  Or: civilian reported striking deer on road leading to the base front gate; security forces and local police responded and had carcass removed from road.  It’s almost like going back in time because there is none of today’s characteristic violent crimes.  On Halloween I was puzzled when I saw men and women walking around in flourescent orange kevlar…then realized they were Securtiy Forces (the black berets tipped me off) patrolling the neighborhoods because kids were out trick or treating.  

Am I so jaded with today’s violent culture that something so routine as children playing thrills me?  Regardless, I like the feeling.  I know all my neighbors.  I even know their kids and dogs.  Life is good.

On Thursday, John and I made a trip to the immunizations clinic here on base for his first round of shots.  There is a lot of controversy about giving shots and the effects it may actually have on a baby’s immune system.  Suggesting that too many shots may actually harm the immune system and cause autism -as you can tell from this website, even celebrities are getting in on the act.  Some say that there are too many given too soon, and that each child should have a tailored schedule dependant on his/her allergies and preferences.  I’d like to see this too, but unfortunately that’s many, many years down the road.

In the meantime, I’d like to keep John healthy, and if getting him a polio shot means he won’t get polio – then so be it.  

A little photo to show you how he is now lifting his head up – he’s growing up! :

Pudding jellybeans…doesn’t sound very good does it?  Andrew Zimmern thinks it does – ever seen him?  He has his own show on the Travel Channel called Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.  I happened to come accross him in Thailand (on TV of course) eating ant larvae and lizards.  He said the ant larvae tasted like pudding Jellybeans.  This guy is fearless when it comes to food.  It both disgusts and impresses me at the same time.  

The Shraders are headed to Eugene over Christmas.  Rob leaves for 3 weeks to Yakota AFB near Tokyo, in Japan, right after Christmas.  After that, he goes to Colorado Springs for 4 weeks, and then will probably deploy overseas for anywhere from 180 days to 1 year.  Being in the military, we’ve come to expect these separations.  But we never really get used to them.  After being gone for 6 months Jan-June this year, I’m not ready for him to leave again.

However, I am looking forward to an extended family visit to Eugene.  And I’ll be close to Lainey and Max, my nephew and niece, who live in Portland.  We’ll all get to enjoy John Daniel and all his hyperactivity in his travel seat, as documented in the video below (he kicked so hard today that he flipped his sock off his foot, landing on his chest):

On Nov. 15th, little Rachel Westbrook came into this world.  She’s a little tiny beautiful girl, weighing 2 lbs and doing great.  Check out her blog (listed under my Blogroll) and see how God brings great things in small packages!