New Years Eve

I see that I haven't posted since Friday but I did warn you all that I was going to be busy. Saturday was spent meeting the gal who designed the Gratitude Coins. What a nice person and her sons were so cute. Here they are giving Shay her coin. Shays says that it is more special than other coins she has received because it came from an American Citizen.
I am so thankful that Shay agreed to do this for her. Here is a pciture of Deborah and Shay.
After we were done with the photo shoot we headed to International Plaza in Tampa. This is a very high class mall. Snooty stores is what I call them. While there we went into the Coach store. Wow! Shay could not find what she was looking for there but she did find it at Nordstroms. What do you think Hallie?
Sat evening was spent watching movies and relaxing. And then on Sunday, we got up and headed to Disney World MGM. I can honestly say that I am Disneyed out! After spending all day and most of the night at the Magic Kingdom on Friday I was not too excited about going again on Sunday. But we did have passes that had to be used so off we went. It was very crowded but we did get to see many things that Wes and I had not seen the previous time we were there. Then we went to DownTown Disney and walked around there for a bit. Had dinner and made it home by 7pm and layed around and watched movies again.

Today (Monday) Shay and I went to International Plaza AGAIN!. She was meeting a friend from Tech School who lives here and I tagged along. I let them walk around a bit while I sat and read a magazine with a frappachino. Went to Costco after that and now we are home. Shay is napping on the couch with the dogs. Looks something like this! Can you see the two little black dogs that seem to be attached to her? That is Molly at her feet and Binde draped across her body. Brutus is around somewhere.

I want to wish everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Michelle

Troops Generosity Shines

I do not have much to report from yesterday but I wanted to share an article I read in the USA Today. Actually it is in the letters section but I am sure you can all appreciate it.

Troops' generosity shines

I'm a flight attendant. As I greeted my passengers recently while they boarded my small regional jet in Baltimore, a young man came aboard.

He looked about my son's age, and I noticed that he had on a t-shirt with the logo of my son's favorite skateboard company. When I commented on the T-shirt, the young man told me he had another one in his backpack. He changed into the other shirt and literally gave me the shirt off his back as a gift to my son. He said he was in the Air Force and had bought the shirts in Iraq. He is from Texas but wasn't going to be home fro Christmas.

I had to turn away briefly to compose myself, as I was so moved by his pure, simple heart of generosity. I thought about how this is the caliber of men and women who are selflessly sacrificing their lives so that Americans can have Freedom and peace. I am so grateful for everything our soldiers do at home and all over the world for us, most of whom they don't even know.

I turned back to him - full of appreciation and amazement - and I told him, with tears in my eyes, that I would carry him in my heart and that I would pray he returns home again safely.

I extend heartfelt thanks to the unsung heroes: the men and women in Iraq, Afghanistan and worldwide who are serving our country. I deeply appreciate their sacrifices. I have no doubt that they, just like the young man I met, would give the shirt off their backs to a stranger.

Karen Lenz
Richland Center, Wis

I was moved to tears when I read it and just knew I had to share it here. To the women who wrote...Thank You for telling this story. to the young man who "gave the shirt of his back"...Thank you for serving our great nation and my prayers are with you and your family.

This is all I have time for today. Shay and I are off to the Magic Kingdom to spend the day together. Just the two of us. How awesome is that?

Have a good day my friends and see you tomorrow.

Michelle

What was I thinking?

It was soooo boring here at work yesterdaty that I decided to take 4 hrs of AL (annual leave) and head home to my airman. I did have some errands to run anyways, so off we went.

First to the Licensing Department. Don't get me started on the Florida licensing department. Can you say "Hosed"? Did not get anything accomplished there. USAA sent the required document to them in July and they still have not transferred the title to our car. So now USAA has to request a new one from Washington and then this time they will send it to me so I can take it in myself and get it done.

Then we had to go to the VW Dealership because Shay is missing the little thingy that holds the mud flap to the underside of her car. Don't ask me what they call it, I just call it the little thingy. They said it would take about 30 minutes so I told we would be back and we headed across the street to the car wash. It was so so bad in her car. She let her friend smoke in it while they were driving here(why would someone start smoking again after going without for almost 7 weeks?) and of course they were eating in the car too. So 1 1/2 hours later and we had a new smelling car back. It is a 2007 after all!. While we waited we walked around the strip mall and Shay got a pedicure. Months of wearing boots causes calluses and blisters and her feet were UGLY. Then back to the VW Dealership to find out that they usually carry that part but happen to be out. How can you be out of little thingys?

By now it was 5pm and I told Shay we had 45 minutes we could spend at the mall. This is where the "What was I thinking" comes from because WHAT WAS I THINKING?! It took almost that long to find a parking spot but we did find a good one. First stop was Victorias Secret. They did not have any of the flannel jammies in a small so she opted for the long john styleed ones. It was so crowded in there and they do not have the check out very organized. They had 5 cashiers and 4 lines. Why can't they make one line and feed the cashiers that way. Because you know the slowest line is the one that you get in. And I was in the one line that fed into the 2 cashiers and it still took longer than some of the single lines. Next stop was Forever 21. I stayed to pay at VS while Shay went over to Forever 21. I found her in the dressing room and got scared. Looked like she had lots of clothes in ther ewith her and I saw the dollar signs adding up. Trying to convince her that she does not have to spend money she has in her account just because it is there. Well, she came out and put everything back. By now it is 5:40 and I say we gotta go. Now we spend 15 minutes getting out of the parking lot.

It was a quiet evening at home. We all stood around the island and made our own Calzones and then watched We Are Marshall. Very good movie. Tried to copy pictures off memory cards onto computer so we can download them to the new digital frames that we all got for Christmas. That is such a long process and now I have to delete some because some pictures should never be seen by others at the office.

Also yesterday I read an article about this woman in Florida who created these coins to give to Service Members as an appreciation gift. I do not know how to post photos yet but here is the link. I ordered a bunch to be able to hand out to Military Service Members I meet at the airport or other places. Here is the link, go check them out. www.gratefulamericancoin.org

Well she contacted me and asked if Shay would be interested in a Photo Op having her two boys (4 and 6) give her a coin. Seems she never has her camera with her when she needs it. I could not believe that Shay agreed. She never likes to be the center of attention and I thought she would not. But when she found out it was two little boys she agreed. We are going to meet them on Sat and Shay will be in her Blues. I will try to post a photo if I ever learn how.

That pretty much sums up our evening. Now I am back to work and will wait out the day because I am off the rest of the month and return to work on Jan 7th. Shay and I will leave on Jan 3rd to head to Dayton, OH to get her settled in her new dorm room because she starts inproccessing on the 7th. I am already counting the months until I will get to see her again. We are going to meet in Phoenix in June for my god daughters wedding. That is such a long time from now. I may have to make the trip to Dayton before then.

Have a good day and maybe tomorrow I will have learned how to post photos here.

What have I done?

You can all blame another Air Force Mom for making me create this blog. You all know I am talking about Hallie http://wonderfulworldofweiners.blogspot.com/ She has shamed many of us Air Force Moms (and possibly some dads though they won't admit it) into creating blogs. Hers is the blog every new Air Force Mom wishes she had created before her child went into the Air Force. If you have a few hours to spare head on over and check out her blog and learn all about her wonderful Airman (CJ, A1C Twomey, Shmoopy). You can also check out the comments that folks have left concerning her posts. Some will bring tears to your eyes.

Back to why I am creating this blog. Because I want a place where I can share information about my pride and joy, A1C Sharayah (Shay) Farrell. She is currently serving in the US Air Force as a Medical Lab Tech and will be heading to Wright Patterson AFB (Dayton), OH to continue her training (10 months) before heading to her first permanent duty assignment. She has been in since May 15th, 2007. We are so very proud of her and the decision she made to join the Air Force.

Today is the day after Christmas and I am lucky enough to have my daughter home with me for the holidays. There are many parents who do not have their kids home for one reason or another. Please take a moment to think of them. Shay graduated from the Med Lab Tech Course at Sheppard AFB on December 19th and her and a friend (A1C Sarah Burgess) made the long trip to Florida. Thank you Sarah for providing Shay company and sharing the driving. Sarah then left on Dec 24th to go to Massachusetts to spend Christmas with her family.

The girls were making great timing until they got a flat in Mariana, Florida. After waiting almost 3 hours they finally got their tire changed but then could not drive more than 50 mph. They stopped in Tallahassee just before 7am so I convinved her to buy a new tire. They found the tire store, had to wait for the technician to get there and were finally on their way by 8:30am. They arrived at my house around 1pm. Tired, Hungry and definately needing a nap.

We took them out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and they were going to hang out with a freind from MacDill but decided they needed their rest so came home instead. Saturday was uneventful. The girls did go meet up with their friend at the Mall but were home by 11pm and then on Sunday we all went to see the Manatees. If you have never seen one it is pretty cool to see. They come up the river by the power plant in the winter months because of the water being heated through the plant. There were tons of them, some with babies, just floating around the river. Then Sunday evening I prepared our Holiday Meal. We wanted to share it with Sarah before she left. A couple of their friends came over and we all had a nice evening. Then I had to get up at 5am to take Sarah to the Airport. Later that day we took Shay to the Outlet Mall and she showed me the Coach Store. Hallie, I see why you like them so much. The one I want is over $400. So I guess I can keep wanting. Then we drove around St. Petersburg and went to the beach. Can you imagine being at the beach on Christmas Eve? Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that. But, there we were. Had supper at a sandwich shop and headed home. Then we opened our Christmas Eve Gifts. ALWAYS pajamas. I got Mickey Mouse pajamas, Shay got Victoria Secrets pjs (get your mind out of the gutter..they were flannel jammies) and Wes got shorts from the OU store. For those that don't know my husband is a Sooner born and bred. After we all changed into our new jammies we settled in to watch The Christmas Story. Probably another tradition in our house for the last several years anyway.

Christmas morning started early for me. No, not the kids waking me up. It was the dogs! And it was 530am! They should have went potty before they went to bed. Well, they didn't so I had to get up with them, let them out, and put them back to bed. Got back to sleep and they were up again around 730 so I stayed up this time. I got breakfast started and waited for the rest of them to get up. We opened gifts and then we went to Disney World Animal Kingdom. Another first for me. Good thing we did not plan on going to the Magic Kingdom. As we were driving up the long road we saw the sign telling us that the Majic Kingdom was closed. Go figure we thought. Well it appers they had reached maximum capacity. I can not even imagine what it must have been like in that park yesterday. I have been to Disneyland when it was crowded but never at maximum capacity (like my brother said..so they do count). It was nice spending the day with my husband and daughter.

Now today I am back at work. Spouse and daughter are home (still sleeping) while I sit here creating this blog. I can't promise that I will be as witty as Hallie or that I will even blog everyday but I will try to keep you posted on the happenings of the Lewis Family and the accoplishments of A1C Shay Farrell.

Have a great Shopping/Return Day and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

Michelle