Technical Difficulties

We haven't been able to post any photos to the blog.

Noticed that, did you?

We're very sorry. For some reason, we're having a problem with Blogger and aren't able to upload photos. Sometimes we're not even able to save posts. So for now, I've been working on writing some posts in Word that I will copy over to the blog when the image uploading issue is resolved. Katie has written at least one post, too, and is waiting to add it until she can get the photos working.

In the meantime, I'm looking into a Shutterfly account or some other way of showing you some photos from our New Zealand trip.

So what are we doing with all the spare time now that we can't blog (it hardly seems worth it if we can't put photos on here)?

--Katie got her ears pierced Saturday. I forgot the camera, but her friend's mom took a couple of photos on her camera. Hopefully, Katie will be able to share these on her blog soon)

--She is in her last weeks as a mother's helper to dear friends who are PCS-ing (moving to another location) in a few weeks. She is really going to miss helping my friend, Lauren, with her 2 and 1 year olds each week. So we'll probably be looking for another mom to lend a hand to over the next few weeks.

--Tommy now has one regular daytime babysitting job, and the potential for two more (one interview today, another probable sometime this week). With all the deployed and TDY husbands on base, a lot of moms really need a break, even if just for a couple of hours one morning a week, so it's possible he'll become very busy with this new business.

--He's also thinking of applying for a paid job at the chapel. This only came up a couple of days ago and Fr. talked to him about it on Sunday. It's an administrative job, is part-time, and it would last until he leaves in the summer, just after our new priest arrives.

--Patrick and Tommy went night sledding on base with a group of Patrick's friends Sunday night. The ski hill, which is really only used as a sledding hill, is fairly well-lit at night, so they sledded and then went to the 24-hour cafe on base for breakfast food with the group before giving some rides home and finally rolling in here around 11:30. Thank goodness it wasn't a school night. And thanks be to God for cell phones.

--We took the younger kids sledding on the ski hill on Monday. We're too old and boring for night sledding ;-) Since last year's snow was so minimal, it was the first real use Matthew got out of the beautiful sled Grandmom and Papapa gave him for Christmas/birthday last year. He looked like a little king sitting in the sled as we pushed and pulled him down and up the slope. He loved having the sides to hold onto, and I loved how stable the sled was--nice and wide and very secure for him. He wasn't nervous at all, even going down the big hill by himself. It was so much fun to have John home for the day and to get out and play with him (I have a few photos on my phone, so if I can figure out how to get them off, and if the photo upload starts working again, I'll share).

--Thanks to the generosity of my husband and eldest son, I started back with the women's Bible study at church last night. It's on Mondays, which conflicts with Boy Scouts. But I asked Tommy if he would mind alternating weeks with me (he going to scouts one week, I going to Bible study the next), and as he was agreeing, John mentioned that he doesn't need to be at the scout meeting every week, so he could take a week, too. So now, I get to go to Bible study 2 out of 3 weeks, and John and Tommy each only miss 1 out of 3 weeks, and Patrick has a ride every week. Hooray! I'm really looking forward to the study--we're using the Ignatius Study Bible to read and discuss the Gospel of Matthew. Good stuff!