Top Ten List for 2011

10. Christmas Letter

The pain and suffering that goes into writing a Christmas letter is hard to fathom (we know you secretly agree!). Trust us though, when we say that getting this completed at all easily qualifies it as a "top ten" moment for our year!

9. Chapel

Despite waning numbers of families to fellowship and grow with as well as waning numbers of chaplains, along with the indefinite end to children's church, we committed to staying with the base chapel. God brought a new chaplain on staff, committed to our service and ready to work. Since then, the body has grown inwardly and outwardly, children's church has been re-established, and the Holy Spirit is moving. Praise God!

8. Dignified Transfer

The war(s) has taken its toll on our family as well as many others. This was more apparent than ever late April 28th when David stood in the rain with hundreds of other service members to honor eight fallen Airmen during a dignified transfer at Bagram Airfield. He remembers where he was when he found out about Bin Laden's death and where he was when the last Airman left Iraq, but no time stands out as poignantly as those cold moments that brought a pause to the six and a half month deployment he was engulfed in day and night.

7. Travelling/Visiting with friends

Arguably the best aspect of the military life is the potential for finding old friends just about anywhere one travels. This was certainly the case during a 4700-mile, 13-state road trip we took during October and November. Spending a week at the Sulhoff Family Cabin in South Dakota's Black Hills was a much needed respite for everyone. And seeing firsthand the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and rebuilding in New Orleans brought great perspective to us and the kids. Still, the true highlights of the trip came from visiting Rachel's Grandmother, many dear friends from our first assignment (the Rensch's, Cecilia, Leonard) and multiple families who have grown with us (the Chambers, the Eckarts, Geof and Kyle. Our only regret is that we could not visit with more!

6. Giving

Giving has always been a priority for us, but being released from the bondage of debt in 2006 provided more opportunities than ever to share our gifts with so many others. In that regard, this has been an exciting year for us as David promoted to the rank of Major, bringing home a little bit more "bacon" to share. In addition to financial gifts that will go without mention, David was blessed with the opportunity to give his time in service to the Bagram chapel as a Praise Team leader and Rachel was likewise blessed to share her time as a teacher for AWANA. This is a conviction and a joy for us and we pray that even in these lean times, your family will discover new and exciting ways to increase your joy through the sharing of your God-given time, talents, and "tokens."

5. School's In

Home education is a full time job with a crummy benefits package. There is no paid leave, no medical benefits, no additional staff to assist with the load and the hours are at best fluid and unconventional. The home educator is principal, teacher, hall monitor, nurse, lunch "lady", coach, cheerleader, and friend all rolled up in one – oh, let's not forget parent as well (makes for some interesting parent-teacher conferences…) This new year brought great growth by way of kids who have finally "bought in" to the idea and a fabulous homeschool cooperative we joined this fall. Here we met with like-minded and driven families once a week to provide some semblance of a structured schooling environment while capitalizing on the strengths and experiences of every parent to serve as subject-specific teachers.

4. School's Out!

For the first time in 28 years, David has zero school hanging over his head and keeping him from being available mentally, emotionally, and physically to the rest of the family. This happened after he completed Air Command and Staff College via correspondence, a mandatory Professional Military Education course that all Majors should complete. Halleluiah!

3. Homefront growth/healing

Rachel discovered the cause of several health issues she had been facing. God has begun healing her body through informed friends, even more informed doctors, medicine, nutritional supplements and changes in diet. This change alone has given her so much more energy and mental capacity, leading to a much more productive homeschool. After pushing a year and a half, Hannah Joy Sulhoff has finally decided to be completely potty-trained. Her parents are very relieved!

2. Family Gatherings

Over all the years and duty stations, we have only grown closer to our families. Though it is sometimes difficult, we make it a priority to spend time with both of our sets of parents and siblings. This year Rachel and the kids spent July in GA and AL visiting mostly family, but a few friends as well. Cousin's Camp was the highlight of the trip. Riding a four-wheeler, playing foosball and ping-pong in the "man-cave", shooting at targets, swimming, jumping on a trampoline, campfires, skits and just pure playing with their cousins could not be beat. BorderTown, a weekend retreat focusing on God and men/boys encouraging one another was an event this fall at which all of the male Sulhoff's were in attendance. Since moving to the southeast, we have always shared in Christmas traditions with both of our families and will this year as well.

1. Reunion

Living months on end without your spouse is difficult. Sometimes, living with them is difficult, too, and we (like everyone else) are not exempt from miscommunication or arguments. However, being together as husband and wife/father and mother and operating out of the same home, is the best thing in the world. Our family has begun a new chapter and David being home with us daily, being the man he is, has changed everything for the better. His homecoming was unequivocally the best moment of our year.

Belated Birthday gifts for Elizabeth.

Holding our new niece, Summer Elizabeth, David's brother John and his wife Melissa's baby.

Whew! Traveling Family

My mom, Pam, me and my sister Julia at the Resilient Women's Conference

Our little model, Hannah Joy

A trip on the train at the Montgomery Zoo

A great symbol of our great nation

The last 5 weeks have been full of a lot of miles. We've had two conferences (one women's with my mom and sister; one Home School), two RV trips with David's parents (one of which we are on right now) and a trip to FL to look at housing on Tyndall AFB. Yes, for anyone who does not already know, the Air Force will be moving us there in June. We are excited! We've also made extensive improvements to the outside of our Montgomery home. The impetus for these improvements was, ironically, a root from our crepe myrtle growing into our sewer pipe and causing a sewer back up in our house. David's time home has gone so quickly and we've been so busy! For about six weeks we had a date night once a week. We'd eat together and talk and go shopping for various items. One week we went and saw "How to Train Your Dragon," which we enjoyed a lot. We are currently on our way to Lynchburg, VA for David to graduate from Liberty University with his Master's degree in Christian Leadership. He's been working toward it for quite a while and steadily persevered while in Afghanistan also. All in all, it was really a blessing for our family, being that David was required to read such a large number of books on marriage and family and God's Word. We are so blessed! But, we are thankful that this season is over, as well!

Blessed

I know that Mary, the dear mother of our Lord, is "most blessed among women" but I just want to share that I feel amazingly blessed myself! With David deployed, it has opened a lot of doors for people to step in and bless us. And they have walked through and blessed us tremendously over and over again! There's so much I want to say, but I have no clue where to begin! Let me just say that the Lord has used so many of you to "fill in" spaces in my life left vacant where David would usually fill them with his spontanaeity, his time, his labor and love in fixing things broken and maintaining the yard.
You know, I have realized, in my desire for perfection, that life is never going to be perfect. Cars will always break down. Children will always disobey (and try to get out of going to bed). Somedays you're really tired. Often, the to do list is left incompleted. But, you know, all that stuff is just life. And, God asks us to love Him and rejoice in the day He has given us, even with all the imperfections of it. You know why? Because He made it and it is perfect because God is perfect! We are blessed just to be alive and living in His love each Day! I am so thankful, so thankful! And, I will myself to remember this at 6am tomorrow when I am subjected to all the imperfection all over again--that He is perfect and I am blessed because I am loved by Him and part of His Day that He made! (Psalm 118:24)

The GAP

Yes, The GAP. Has anybody shopped at The GAP in recent years? I normally do my shopping at quite a bit thriftier locales, but I did make a purchase there this evening. Now, 15 years ago, I used to shop at the GAPs in Atlanta much more often. I loved when I could hit a sale and buy their regularly priced $30 jeans for $20. (Unfortunately, their jeans are twice the regular price now!) However, though prices have changed dramatically, some things have stayed the same. Namely, the bag. I walked out of the store with the same bag I walked out with 15 years ago! Exactly the same bag. I asked if those navy plastic bags that say "GAP" in big white letters with the fabric drawstrings had just "come back". They didn't really understand what I was attempting to ask. I wondered because I haven't seen a bag like that in years and years. Back then, everybody who was anybody at school recycled their GAP bag into their gym bag, because carrying a bag like that from the GAP showed you were cool. Wow. Why bring it up? Because seeing that navy GAP bag on my bed again tonight brought all those memories of bygone days rushing back. Kinda funny.

Gecko Sightings

I recently mentioned a gecko sighting in the garage when Elizabeth caught one and it lost its tail. However, I wanted to take a moment to tell you a true gecko tale!
About two months ago, just before Julia's wedding, one of the little buggers got into the house when I opened the back door to pick up some toys from the patio. To make a long story shorter, upon trying to catch it, it immediately disappeared! My neighbor was trying to help me and we both agreed that the thing just vanished out of his hand! So, I went to Julia's wedding, hoping for the best, which was that it had gotten back outside. Weeks go by. Then one night, when Elizabeth wasn't going to bed, her sharp little eyes spotted a gecko crawling on the floor along the edge of our entertainment tower, past the bookshelf and underneath the subwoofer. We pulled the tower and shelf out and even took apart the subwoofer, but did not find the thing. We found quite a few other odds and ends inside the subwoofer, though!
Well, today, at least a month later, I was hunting for a certain large and empty plastic coffee cannister in which to potentially store some school supplies. I thought it was on the floor of the pantry. It was. I shoved over the bag of bags to get said cannister and that's when I screamed. I knew it was just the harmless gecko, but seeing it crawling it's creepy crawl away from me still elicited that shocked reaction when one sees something alive in your house that isn't supposed to be there. I told Elizabeth, lizard-catcher extraordinaire, that she had to catch it when I lifted up the coffee canister that it had hidden under. Well, she did make several attempts before it crawled under her! She jumped to get it but missed and the darn thing scurried under the oven! It'll probably be another month before we see it again. At least we ended up doing a thorough cleaning of the pantry floor and a fairly decent cleaning out under the oven!
Here is the link to see a picture of our accidental pet (though ours is a little bigger than the one pictured). http://www.outdooralabama.com/watchablewildlife/what/Reptiles/Lizards/mhg.cfm

Elizabeth, the reader, bike rider and lizard catcher!

Yes, folks, she is something! She began reading with gusto last week! She said, "You tell me the letters to write and I'll write them!" and then she would read what I had told her to write. We started on some simple sentences yesterday.
Also, she has finally started enjoying riding her bike. She is a few inches taller than she was in April at her birthday (go figure) and can maneuver better.
And, at four years old, she is lizard catcher extraordinaire! We have quite a population of geckos around the house (we've watched it grow in the 2.5 years we've lived here). But, today, one youngster is now without his tail. He had found his way into the garage and was hiding in between a piece of cardboard and the garage wall. Andrew found him and then called Elizabeth to catch him! Well, she did, but she pulled off his tail in the process. It was great, though a little disgusting to see the tail continuing to wiggle around on the cardboard for the next five minutes! I was shuddering! I'm so so so glad, that even though we live in the suburban south, that my kids still get to experience nature and life all around them.
Speaking of nature around us, there is also this subtropical spider living in our front yard. We looked it up in Andrew's spider guidebook. It creeps me out to flip through the pages of that book, but this spider is not very creepy at all! He is very cool looking. He has a very hard, very large, oval-shaped, shiny white abdomen with 6 black spots and 4 spikes around the outer edge of his abdomen. He has this really tiny head and legs, but builds beautiful webs. The kids and I go check on him every other day or so.
So, Elizabeth is growing and learning so much every day. I wish she'd learn to take a nap on the days she had ballet, though! She's loving ballet and doing fine with it, though it's very introductory. She just focuses much better when she's had a nap. And so do I, for that matter. I think I'll get my 20 minutes in real quick!

Hannah walking on the beach.
David and the kids flying a kite.

Andrew helping Hannah as she is a little slow and unsteady at the bottom of the pirate boat water slide!

This is a good view of the hotel with David and the kids at the slide. Our room was behind me and on the right. On down were more pools and then the beach. See David's review of "Waterscape" under "Reviews" to read more!

Ft. Walton Beach

As promised here are some pictures from our trip! Above: we went for a long walk geocaching! Look it up if you don't know what it is!

The kids very happy with their balloons that were made for them at dinner. E: Flower; A: Dinosaur; H: deflated Alligator

Playing on the luggage cart the day we arrived.

Andrew boogie-boarding! He had so much fun doing that!

It was like the happiest dream! I can't believe we really relaxed and played as much as we did! David was amazing with the kids and they were so enamored by his love and attention. Little Hannah really won him over, too. He hadn't seen her since she was 13 months, and as most of you know, there is a huge difference between 13 and 20 months!

Garage Sales & The Alabama Nature Center

Well, today was a fun and fairly productive day. We woke up early and did some garage sale shopping in our neighborhood. It's a lot of fun because it's neighborhood wide and there's at least 1000 homes in our neighborhood! Obviously not everyone participates, but it's busy and fun.

Then we drove up to Prattville/Millbrook, AL area to a special place called the Alabama Nature Center. They have hiking trails where many schools come and learn about biology, rocks, habitats, all that great stuff. Today, they were having what they called "The Good Ol' Days". They had a blacksmith making horseshoes (the nice man gave Andrew and Elizabeth and old one), several woodcarvers, and pottery-makers. There was a refurbished home where ladies were spinning wool into thread, crocheting, and quilting. Then, there was a native American hunting tent set up where they were making Three-Sisters Soup (squash, corn, beans, rice and venison) over the fire. The woman was weaving these amazing baskets out of long needle pine straw. They had tomahawks, blow guns for the darts they made, and real arrows with arrowheads he had made. He had the fur and hides of beaver, possum, fox, rabbit, skunk and raccoon. They were dressed as they would have been in the early to mid 1800s.

Oh, and then there was this herding dog demo! The trainer blows commands on a whistle and the dog herded these really strange looking ducks into pens and over and under steps! The ducks were very tall--over two feet and yet walked and waddled like ducks, but they would fall on their faces fairly often, which made us laugh. They would get up so quick, if you blinked you'd miss it. It was fairly entertaining to watch and it was the kids' favorite, but my favorite was the Indian hunting camp.

After all that, we partake of the hot dog lunch and prepare to go home when I run into a woman I knew in Alaska! I got distracted and after we were done talking, loaded up everyone into the car to go home. Well, about 10 minutes down the road I realized that I left our cooler with our name on it on one of the tables. We'd brought some juice boxes and fruit along, but forgot them when we got to talking and watching the blacksmith and woodcarver again! So, I decided to go back and get it. Well, that was slightly annoying, but we did it and got home for some much needed rest time. I opened the van tailgate to make sure I had gotten everything out, and it was then that I realized, once again, that I am very fortunate my head is attached to my body or I would forget it. The back of the van was empty, which meant that after I had gotten the diaper bag, the camera, my purse and the baby out of it--and then gone back for the silly cooler!--I had driven off leaving the stroller in the parking lot.

Slice of Life

I'm not sure when Hannah started pulling her shirt up to put her finger in her belly button while she sucks her thumb, but I've caught her doing it twice today! What enables a little kid to come up with such a combination? I've watched her growing fascination with her belly button, which is very common in babies her age, but when I picked her up from church and she was walking around with her right thumb in her mouth and her left fingers in her belly button with shirt up, I realized this was the real deal. Tonight, she pulled her nightgown up and and started fingering her belly button before popping her thumb in when I laid her in her bed. It's just so funny what makes a kid think these little actions up. I know you'll find this hard to believe, but I remember being two and wondering to myself why some of my friends sucked their thumbs. So, I was in my favorite teacher's class, "Black Ann's" class (as a two year old, I had two teachers named Ann, and of course, being two years old, they were simply and accurately known to me and all the other children as "Black Ann" and "White Ann". I know that sounds terrible, but it was not at all, and she still watches the two year olds in the nursery and has watched Elizabeth and loved her dearly also.) and I decided to try out sucking my thumb and see what the big deal was. I couldn't imagine enjoying it, but I gave it a half-hearted try anyway. The Ritz crackers and apple juice were being prepared when I popped it in, awkwardly, and tried a few sucks. It really uncomfortable and yucky! And while I always wondered why so many kids did it, I knew it would just have to be something I had to accept not understanding. Little did I know that a virtual family of thumb-suckers had already begun passing through that church nursery years before and their were two more in the family that would go through Ann's class. Now they are my dear, dear husband and in-laws!
And now my two daughter's suck their thumbs. Good thing I learned to accept thumb-sucking at an early age! Elizabeth does hers with her "Baby Bear" a very well-loved pink and white bear with a long cap. She is only permitted baby bear at sleeping times. I know everyone worries about their teeth growing out in the front and their bites becoming messed up. I even saw a neat device in "One Step Ahead" magazine that puts a plastic piece over all but the tip of the thumb that is attached to a bracelet the child wears on their wrist. You know, I'm just not worried, though! None of my dear siblings-in-law had to wear braces because of their thumb-sucking! They may have had a few crooked teeth here and there (who doesn't?), but did not have the gross mouth problems associated with thumb-sucking. So, I'm not worried! They'll grow out of it! And they'll have a wonderful memory of being a child in a very distict and tangible way.
I know each and every one of you appreciates me sharing this little slice of our life and my thoughts about it. The bottom line is that children are a precious gift and they only are little for such a short time. It seems long at first, but in light of the rest of their life, it is very short! Handle your kiddos with great care and use the time wisely! And hug 'em and kiss 'em like crazy!

Two Becoming One

Julia Davidson Wright was a gorgeous bride! The day went smoothly, which meant that all of her work and planning had paid off, praise the Lord! She has some wonderful people in her life supporting her, not to mention that Ryan is a spectacular catch! I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of her and Ryan's day.

Some highlights of the wedding:

-when flower-girl Elizabeth got down the aisle and whispered to me about her petal dropping, "I missed a spot. Can I go back and fix it?"

-when Elizabeth fell asleep during the ceremony

-when I took my sister's flowers for her so that she could give both hands to Ryan to pledge their vows to one another

-when I seemlessly handed her Ryan's ring without falling down the steep steps in my high heels

-when David's family came to support Julia and me, too

-seeing friends from as long as 25 years past, who are still supporting and loving our family

-seeing Julia's face as she was about to leave. It read contentment and relief and honestly, an expression of winning the prize, which, of course, she has!

I'm so happy for my little sister and the dawning of her new life!

Andrew's Everest

Andrew has worked so hard for the last two months. No, he wasn't actually training to climb a mountain, but he was learning to swim and learning to swim in water where he couldn't touch the bottom. To ask him 2 months ago, there was a huge difference! Look at him now. He swam across the entire pool, with only a little break. David and I are tremendously proud of him! We are also very grateful to Coach Kathy and all the older kids who helped Andrew on his journey. He finally did it!

Summer

The last few days I have felt like putting my hands on my hips and stamping my foot and saying to no one in particular, "Where is my lazy summer? Who took my summer? You'd better give back summer right now!"

It sure has flown and I feel I've been working so hard to enjoy it, I haven't enjoyed it as much. Does anybody else feel that way?

We're doing great! After our Chick-fil-A pictures in the Montgomery papers, our stardom (wink, nudge) has now faded into the everyday once again. This week, a dear friend took me out to eat and we went shopping, too. Nearly all of our closest AF friends have moved, and while we miss them, we are not without lots to do. Andrew built this great log cabin with the tiniest Lincoln Logs you could ever imagine. We go to the pool as much as we can and we're counting the days till we get to see Daddy again. This week has been extremely busy as we've been going to VBS at Taylor Road Baptist Church every morning this week. I have been teaching 26 second graders about following, worshipping, confessing, serving and obeying Jesus. I have never done this before and was asked to do so rather last minute, but it has gone well and I think they kidaroos have enjoyed it. I'm also keeping busy getting our family ready for my sister Julia's wedding August 15th, along with attending and throwing showers.

Oh, and we've been tending to the garden. I started to write "growing the garden" but of course it is God that makes all things grow and I do not want to make such an error that I think I have any greater role than watering, fertilzing and keeping the pests away, at least most of them. Please click on the "Garden" tab to see some great pictures and read about how it's going this year.

I actually had a friend say to me today that she wasn't going to speak to me until I updated our blog. She said she was tired of cows and guitars. I hope she'll speak to me now!

Cow Appreciation Day!

Chick-fil-A was having Cow Appreciation Day, today. "That's great," you say, "but what does that mean?" What it means, to answer your question, is that if you dress up like a cow you get free Chick-fil-A! So here we are. You can't see my ears, but I am wearing them!

Just getting everybody ready was no small chore! Then, we got to CFA and walked in, standing in line to order our food. It was like a herd of people in there! I was holding Hannah's hand, because if I held her, my spots would come off! I eventually had to hold her. We ordered our food and I went to find where the kids were sitting and find a high chair for Hannah, but it was still probably 10 minutes before I found one because the CFA employees wanted to take our picture and the Montgomery Advertiser wanted to take our pictures, and meanwhile the girl at the counter kept calling me and then I had to get the food. All the while, the kids are stuffing their little faces with cake the employees brought them and Hannah still doesn't have a high chair! It was crazy. I get the chair and we sit down to eat when Elizabeth has a near breakdown because Andrew got a "golden cow" in his kid's meal, which actually is pretty special and rare because it means that you get a free ice dream. She only got a regular black and white cow, and her eyes were green, with jealousy, over it. After we finished eating, with Hannah crying for more cake the whole time, and Elizabeth pouting over not getting the golden cow, we went outside and got her little face painted like a cow. And, then she happened to win the cake walk, and got another yummy little cupcake. So, she was happy and felt the world was somewhat fair again. Walking back to the car, we worked hard to not get hit by any of the many cars driving through the parking lot. Hannah fell asleep in the 7 minutes it takes to get back home. And here I am blogging. We had such a special time today, I just wanted to share it with all of you! Really, there's only a small touch of sarcasm there. We had a good time, just had some challenges which come with the territory!

Check out the Garden!

Check out the "Garden" tab if you're curious to find out how our garden is growing this year!

My 30th Birthday!

Well, it was a wonderful day. I got flowers from David (aren't the peonies gorgeous!), wonderful friends watched my kids so I could go to dinner and a movie with another dear friend, and I had tons of Happy Birthday calls and cards. Here is a picture of me with my little cake the Golarts got for me--yummy! Who could ask for more (except David home, of course!)? Thank you, all, for a wonderful day!

Military Appreciation Day...

...or week, rather. Let me tell ya, Montgomery does an awesome job supporting their military! Both last Wednesday night and this Saturday night are military appreciation nights at the Biscuits baseball games, Montgomery's minor league baseball team. Wednesday, was military appreciation day at the Montgomery Zoo. Military and their families got in for free, and Jim N Nicks BBQ along with Golden Flake snacks and some other organizations and companies all worked together to provide a great free lunch on that hot, hot day at the zoo. Posted are pictures of us on the train along with our dear friends the Bergrens.

You know, it's taken me eight years to feel this way, but I never knew until recently how good it feels to be appreciated specifically for our military service. I know that sounds crazy, but I think it's because, until now, I've never really felt like I've sacrificed very much in it. If someone told me thank you, even as a spouse, I don't think I really took it to heart. I've thought to myself, "Lots of people have hard jobs, we're not doing anything all that great." And, besides that, the AF has treated us well, meaning we haven't had to endure a lot of deployments on a frequent basis. Until now, I don't really feel like we've sacrificed a lot. But, now we've turned a corner. We are actively sacrificing 15 months of our life, by choice. We have had opportunities to get out. Yet, we have chosen to stay, in the midst of our greatest sacrifice, knowing there will be more rough times in the future. And, so somehow, it really is touching when a person I don't even know, much less my whole city, works to express their thanks for making the choice we have. When someone thanks me and I realize the gravity of our decision and all it encompasses, it nearly causes me to weep. It is very comforting to know that our family is not alone or our sacrifice going unnoticed. Thank you all for your unending support and prayers! There are people all over this great country praying for us! We are so blessed!

~Rachel

Andrew's missing teeth & Casting Crown's Pics

Casting Crowns

Some dear friends are in town for the next 3 weeks or so, and last night we went to an outdoor concert on the river. It was surprisingly the coolest night we've had here in the south in a long while. Casting Crowns glorified the Lord and edified the Body here and the three of us were moved by the music and the Spirit. All 7 of the band members are involved in some sort of youth ministry in the Atlanta area. They are not the most polished group, yet it was so real listening to their perfect harmonies, the awesome violin, guitars and vocals. It was a joy listening to songs I've listened to in my living room or my car for several years become personally meaningful as I took the time to focus on them a little more.
I hope you all take the time to focus in on something commonplace like music or the weather or your lunch and see what the Lord is trying to say to you. But more importantly, spend time with Him in His Word, and guard that time with your life! Keep the faith! ~Rachel