Well, I am finally back from all of my exotic travels.  Okay, so exotic might not be the totally correct word there.  But, hey, VT, Canada, Niagara Falls, MI to see Firebrand, and finally Creation!  Exotic- no- tons of fun - yes!
It has been a whirlwind adventure with both good and bad parts.  Of course, the bad can be summed up in one word.  Fireworks. 
I know, I know, they are suppose to be very fun.  And they use to be for me too, but then I come home from war.  The moment the fireworks start, I am transported across an ocean.  I have no weapons to fight back with and I am out in the open.  My first instinct is to get as low as I possible can, as fast as I can, and cover up as quickly as I can.  I haven't actually asked my family or Emily, but I would imagine it was not a fun sight for them to witness as I cowered on the ground praying the flashing and booming would end quickly and safely.  I know it wasn't fun to go through.  The odd part is that my reaction is much worse here than it was when the real missiles, bombs, and IEDs  went off over there.  It's hard to explain when you haven't been over there, so just suffice to say I will never be at another fireworks show... at least not for a very, very long time.  But that was the only bad part.
The lake is amazing up in Darby, VT and if you ask my younger brother Joshua both Prince Caspian and Aslan live there and he was often out in the woods searching for them.  We finally decided they were on the other side of the lake.
In Canada, we found both Metropolis and Gotham in two Canadian cities, thanks to Caleb misinforming Joshua.
Niagara Falls was amazing.  Anyone who doubts God is a loving, amazing, and creative Creator hasn't been there.  The sight is not one you can forget.  In fact,they are so powerful, you can feel the mist from the falls over two blocks away!  Of course, a lot has become a tourist trap, but everything was really cool.  Including being able to go behind the falls and into the falls on the Maid of Mist boat ride, and a little ways down the river is a scene familiar to those who love watching the old Superman movies.  It was on the White Water River Walk that Lois Lane jumped in to prove Clark was Superman.
From there it was into MI to see Emily and her family.  Talk about an amazing bunch of people!  All three girls (Jamie, Em, and I) were slightly nervous about the parents meeting for the first time, but everything went off without a hitch and everyone got along great!  My family would leave on Monday, but Jamie and I would stick around to hang out for the rest of the week.  What a time!  Readers of Aiden will be glad to know I got more work done in his story, despite his insistence to write it himself no matter what the plot said!
Then it was an eleven hour trip back to home.  Firebrand spent the time writing Zoe and Jamie keeping me awake, while falling asleep herself!  Thankfully, we made it back without incident and all three of us alive.
Creation was next!  Shawn went with us this year.  Our group seems to get bigger every year!  The line up for concerts this year was slightly lackluster, but still a good time.  All the speakers were really good this year, which was rather impressive.  Newsboys almost got rained out, but after a scare, God held it back long enough for us to watch their cool drum trick, which had both Shawn and Joshua throughly impressed.  A surprise guest was Amy Grant, who started the first candle light service Creation ever had and which is now a yearly tradition.  She was amazing to watch.  Artist concession was fun as always.  We had a few problems with a manager, but hey, that's show biz.  Anyway, most went off without a hitch and despite initial craziness with the wrong tent setup and almost losing all of us staff to a different area, everything got back on track.  We will miss Emily next year though!
This year seemed odd to me mostly because a) I didn't expect to be there and b) I didn't follow most of my normal routines for Creation.  I missed my full day of just sitting on the tarp!  Oh well, it was a great year and hopefully we'll do it again next year!
Back home, we have been dealing mostly with Jonathan's surgery.  At one point, we fully believed they would cut his muscle, meaning he would never ever gain movement in that arm again.  Thankfully, when the surgery was actually done, they were able to lengthen the tendon instead of cutting the muscle and one day he might have use of it.  Everyone took a deep sigh of relief.  THANK GOD!!
My cat, Jag, heads to the vet tonight.  For some reason, he hasn't eaten in two days.  He won't even eat tuna!  Time for a vet visit.  Hopefully, everything will work out fine. 
Right now, I am catching up on all things web related.  I would still like to get a house soon, but that requires a full time paying job and I'm one short of those.  I will be going back to Summer Stars next week to help out there and I'm really looking forward to that.  I also published Lil' Sherwood and The Guardian Star's True Mark will be out in a couple of weeks.  I've already seen the first copy and it looks great!  I'm just waiting to put the ISBN number on it now and it will be available for sale.  I posted the next chapter of Aiden Romany.  And I started a new poll asking  Who is your favorite character in Aiden Romany?  I also added photos of Niagara Falls for you all to enjoy.
Meanwhile, it is time for lunch!!

Hello All!
Yes, I am back.  I know its amazing.  Actually, it is, since I shouldn't have come home until sometime in July or August.  But, thankfully, God saw fit to work things out so I could come back much sooner.  My family is of course grateful because I'm out of danger.  I'm grateful because I can go to Creation in June!!!! The biggest and best (without exaggeration) Christian music festival in the world.  Check it out at here if your interested in going.

So, now that I am back, how have I been?  It is said that the hardest part of any deployment is the coming home.  Why?  It is because you are use to a certain standard of living in a heightened form of constant stress.  Here, its stress civilian style and trying to remember what being a civilian feels and looks like.  It's odd, because you would think that would be easy.  But not so much.  It's kind of like always living under water and then suddenly one day be transported to dry land and told 'make do.'  Granted, your given all the tools you need, but your still unsure of yourself and those around you because your confidence is in the water and it is the sea animals you are use to relating too.   Even if you're a creature that is capable of doing both, living on land and water, you have to remember how, get your land legs so to speak.  Well, that's kind of like what I'm going through right now.  I know everything around me, I can relate it to something from my past, but at the same time, its all different and I have to figure out those differences and make them all work again.  Family, friends, work... all things and people I know and love, but what is their place now?  Everything has changed and I need to reorganizing it to find my own place once again.

Let me give you an example.  I went to a normal church service at my church for the first time last week.  It was so great to see people I knew and worship in a way I remembered, and yet it was different too.  The songs were different, the music style and changed somewhat, and so had the slides.  Those singing had different voices now.  My Dad preached and I took notes in the style I use too, but I found myself comparing everything to overseas.  New experiences and lessons made this sermon seem almost strange.  After church at the social, I looked around and only knew about half the people, when I use to know them all by name and life stories too!  Now, I'm looking for someone, anyone I know... trying to figure out if it is okay to stand in this spot.... or maybe I should move up against the wall... can I step into the library and check it out... or maybe I should sit down and eat something?  I spotted my aunt and beelined to her side and later I talked to my youth kids getting more comfortable with them again.  Did anyone notice I felt so wrong?  Nope.  In fact, later I was told I looked like I felt I belonged. My response?  To smile and say, "That's how I was suppose to look."  But what was happening on the inside was a different story. So, where do I belong?  I went from knowing all the intransigence of the church to knowing almost nothing.  Start small and work my way back.  I'm going to start working with the youth again.  I'm thinking I'll start up the drama club, looking forward to that.  I'll stay out of the youth center for now and I haven't thought about going back to the library. 

And outside of church?  Well, I'm relearning my place in my family.  Stepping in and helping where I can and getting use to having them all around me again.  Thankfully, they are all wonders at this and they are making it very easy for me to take my time and feel this out.  I'm going to see Rachel hopefully soon and I'm working with Mara to figure out the best time to head out and see her too.  As for Shawn, my boyfriend (surprise to those who didn't have that one figured out), we are figuring out how we fit in with those around us, but we know we belong together and that has been a major blessing.  And work.  No job yet, that will come down the line.  Meanwhile, I'm getting Lil Sherwood and Guardian Star's True Mark published and finishing up Aiden Romany too.  They should be out soon.  They come first and then I'm checking into doing freelance work.  It will enable me to use my writing skills, while still giving me freedom to be wherever I need too.

Well, I think that is plenty long for an update.  Don't you?  I'm glad to be back and I hope you'll celebrate with me by leaving me a comment or two!  Make sure you answer the poll on the chatboard and check out Dream Mountain Adventures for more fun things to see and do.  Like another poll, reading Aiden's story (more is being posted all the time now, just waiting for those comments!), a link to my store, and more.

Hey!   I know, I haven't written in forever.  Today is a good day to write through.  I'm up at Cederville, JD's beloved college.  His friends graduated this morning and now are official Alumni.  VERY COOL!  The looked awesome and we have had a blast haning around with all of them.  If you want to check out some photos head over to JD's site.  Jamie took pics and I posted them there. 

CONGRATS CEDARVILLE ANGELS!!!!!!!