Craziness

Week 21 was long with a capital L. So... it was Long. Actually, it was long in all caps. LONG. Like that. Maybe that's why I've had such a hard time getting motivated to write this post.

This past week was Scenario testing for Jay's company. I can't go into details about what the testing entails (big brother is watching...) but basically it's when the cadets put all their newly acquired skills to the test. They were tested on 10 scenarios - 5 on Monday and 5 on Tuesday.

On Monday, Jay passed all 5 with flying colors. On Tuesday, he failed 2 of the 5. He was pretty down about it because he did not want to have to stay on Saturday to retest. Luckily they were given another chance on Wednesday to pass any that they may have failed. Jay passed 1 of the 2, which meant he had to stay on Saturday anyway. Oh, and if he failed on Saturday, he would have to pack his bags. It was a stressful few days for this little family, let me tell ya. I knew he would pass, but he was so ... what word am I looking for.... depressed, that he didn't even sound like himself. I was worried that the stress would overwhelm him. So, I did the only thing I know how to do (no... not give him ice cream, he's on the training table!) I prayed. A lot. And as many of you know, I asked for your prayers, too. And... I am happy to report that he passed!! He called me Saturday morning with the fantastic news and it felt like an overweight elephant was lifted off of my shoulders. He was even able to be home by noon on Saturday, so we almost had a full weekend together to boot!

We celebrated that evening with dinner at PF Changs (oh baby!) and my favorite date activity of all... shopping!!! Do you know how lucky I am to have Jay for a husband? Not only does he like Jane Austen and look good awesome in a uniform, he loves to shop! (You ladies can stop throwing things at your screen now.) We bought him some new clothes, including the studliest outfit I've ever seen on him. It's for his graduation party. I bought myself two dresses for his graduation but can't decide between the two, and frankly, neither one of them outshines Jay's outfit, so I'm a little miffed about that. I might have to return them both and start over again.

Sunday came and it was time for Jay to leave for the start of Week 22. He used to leave at about 7 p.m. on Sundays, then it was 8, then 8:30... keep in mind that he has a midnight curfew and a 4 a.m. wakeup call on Mondays. Yet by 8:45 he was still home on Sunday, trying to muster up the motivation to leave. We started bringing his things out to the car when I walked by the kitchen and noticed that a swimming pool had miraculously been installed. Ugh! There was water all over the laundry room and kitchen floors.

It was a mess. Poor Jay tried to find the source of the problem but time was running out. We knew if he was late to the Academy he would lose his Wednesday liberty, so he left me all alone (pout) with the prospect of doing all my dirty dishes in the tub. And of course something like this always happens when I've been ignoring my dishes all weekend. I think I had one fork left and no bowls at all. It all ended happily, though. The plumber came Monday morning and $275 later, the household is running smoothly again. Well... it's running.

And so ends Week 21. Thank you again for all your prayers and positive thoughts this week. We wouldn't have made it through without your support. Less than 6 weeks to go now... glory, glory, hallelujah!

And here are our reasons for going through this crazy experience:

What more can I say?