Collin as Joseph

Kaebrie's new catch phrase

Busy Weekend

As usual, it was another busy weekend in the Smith world. Some of the posts below show the kids Christmas party and decorating the tree. Here are a few more from this weekend!
When we got home from church, we found our tree down and most of the ornaments strewn all over the floor.
Did it just fall? Or did the cat FINALLY decide to climb it? I guess we will never know! So we had to decorate it all over again, and I think it was prettier the first time, but O well!

Saturday, Sam took several members of our FCA (Fellowship of Christian Airmen) to Bogus Basin to go snowboarding. This was Sam's first time ever trying to snowbaord and he LOVED it! This is the only picture from that day, because it was so cold the camera wouldn't work! Sam is the one who forgot to lower his mask and show his face! :-)

Sunday night, our FCA group had their Christmas party. Usually, they all come for dinner and a Bible Study every Sunday night, this week it was games, lots of food and the white elephant gift exchange. Sam had an early number, so he had to shake them all and smell a few! :-)

We were so busy playing some new games, that we didn't notice Kaebrie getting into some chocolate until she walked up to us to show us! You should have seen her hands!!!!!

Here is a big portion of our FCA group. One will be returning home in January after a 5 month deployment. Andrea leaves in January for Iraq for 4 months and Ben is getting out next month and starting college.

We are looking forward to the new young Airmen that God will lead into this group next year. The only thing constant about being active duty is change. Constant change becomes normal.
Please pray for this group! They are all incredible young people. Pray for a decision about this group as well. They do NOT want another chaplain and we still haven't decided what we are going to do during Sam's absense.
p.s. Collin wanted me to say that he took this picture! :-)

The Tree!

Last year was the first year we ever got a LIVE Christmas tree. But we didn't know what we doing and it didn't stay LIVE for very long!
This year, we did some research, learned how to do it right, and so far so good!
The plan was to cut one down in the woods. Idaho charges a ten dollar permit, but there were so many rules! It had to be a certain distance away from any road, and there was just no way Christopher could have walked that far in the snow! So, we bought one! Kaitlynn picked out a BEAUTIFUL Douglas Fir!

We decorated for HOURS yesterday, and Tiff and Kaebrie were SO excited about the tree this morning. They also looked so cute before church I decided to snap some pictures before we left!

Dixie has found her new favorite spot. Under, around and even IN the tree! It doesn't matter, she is near it all the time! So far, she hasn't tried to climb it! :-)

Kids Christmas Party

The "Wild Boars" are the guys who the fly the F-15's here on base. They really are a fun group! They hosted a party for the kids today and we went and had a GREAT time! Here they are at the first table coloring their bags to hold all their goodies!

Christopher enjoyed the coloring!
Then it was off to the cookie decorating table, the FAVORITE table!! :-)
Collin made a snowman ornament!
Kaebrie was more interested in the bomb then in making ornaments.

Though she was VERY excited about eating the cookie she made!!
They were ALL excited about eating those cookies!!!!!!
Lunch was a big picnic on the floor in the squadron room.
Pin the Nose on Rudolph was cute. But the fighter jet blindfold was even cuter!

Hmmmm. What is up with boys?? What are they watching?? On the other side of the boys, where you can see the mommies taking pictures, is a group of 25 SCREAMING kids. screaming because they see SANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, our family has never done Santa, probably the boys are like.... bored.
BUT, little Kaebrie was down front SCREAMING!!!!!!
But, she wasn't screaming SANTA SANTA like the other kids. She was screaming AIRPLANE AIRPLANE!!

Because around here, Santa doesn't come in a sleigh. Santa comes in an F-15 fighter jet!!!!!!!!!!

And he doesn't come down a chimey either!!!!!!!! :-)

Each parent had prewrapped a book for their children, so we went back in out of the cold, he sat down in an ejection seat, :-) , and passed out the books to all the kids.
All in all, we had a FUN morning!!!!!!!!!

Courage

An article was published in our base paper this week. It was written by Sam's boss, our Wing Chaplain, Victor Toney. Here is a copy of what he wrote:

PORTRAITS OF COURAGE

Courage has many faces. It's not just found on convoy duty, in the cockpit of a jet, or behind a 50-caliber gun. According to the dictionary, courage is the "mental or moral strength to perservere and withstand danger, fear or difficulty." Who better fits this description then the spouses and children of our deployed warfighters?
They suffer the difficulty of multiple separations, the fear of a hundred unknowns and countless birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and special days lost to the ages. They get no medals or ribbons. When their loved ones return, a grateful nation receives them but hardly gives a thought to the courageous sacrifices their families have made. And yet, they don't complain. In fact, their support does not wane. Their encouragement does not falter. Their prayers do not cease.
These heroes never have a parade in their honor and history will little note their sacrifice. But we know who they are. They are our wives, husbands, children and parents who weep when we leave, unfalteringly support us while we are gone, and embrace us when we return.
Who are these courageous little ones? It is the wife who sleeps in an empty bed and celebrates her anniversary alone. It is the child whose dad cannot help blow out his birthday candles because he is gone.
The strength of our military is ultimately not in bombs and bullets. It's in the absolute certainty that when we go to war, our families will unfailingly support us and when we return they will still love us.
-Lt. Col Vic Toney

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I try to wrap my mind around that fact that the majority of 2007 will be spent without Sam home, I have read that article about 10 times since it was printed yesterday. As of today, I am NOT AMONG the NON complainers. I am asking myself questions like: Is Sam going to the other side of the world to help strange families with their freedom, worth this kind of sacrifice for OUR family? Does the rest of the country know, realize or even CARE that so many families are missing a vital part of their lives for so long? Does his ministry to people he hasn't even met yet even matter if his ministry to his family is abandoned?
I don't have answers to those questions. I am struggeling to find them. Please remember not only us, but ALL the military familes who are separated for long periods of time. Think of us and pray for us when you are all together at the supper table at night, or go to the park as a family, or have a birthday party.
I don't know how long we will be in the military. One more year or a lifetime career. But regardless of where we are in our lives and what jobs we are doing, I will NEVER forget the sacrifices I have seen first hand this year so every American can have the freedom that they have. I will never take it for granted again.

Thanksgiving Day

This years Thanksgiving Day turned out to be a wonderful day. We had 6 friends over from our Sunday night FCA group. They came around 11 am, talked and watched some football in the garage, then we ate at 1pm.
Just like last year, I used a recipe and formula for cooking the turkey in a paper bag. No carving needed!! The meat just falls off the bones. Sam and Kaitlynn spent some time just picking up all the bones in the bag, then Kit Kat decided to be funny!

Right before dinner started I remembered I wanted a shot of all 4 kids before Kaebrie went down for her afternoon nap. I was in a rush, and was only looking at their FACES to see if they were all looking at me, that I DID NOT NOTICE that Christopher was peeing on the tree. !!!!!!

This one is better. :-)
After the blessing, we took a group shot of everyone! In this picture is Ben on the right. Then Katy, (her husband is in Iraq for 5 months). Around next to Collin is Jesse. Then Andrea. Then Tawni on the left. Her husband, Joe, is next to her in the next picture. They are newlyweds! Married only 9 months now, but together for only 3 because she was deployed for 6 months.
From both ends of the extra long table! :-)
After eating, Daddy uncorks the champagne that Joe and Tawny brought. (And yes, everyone was over the age of 21) :-)
The cork landed in the sweet potato casserole.
The toast!
Collin and Kaitlynn joined in with their cans of diet soda.
Then it was time to break the big wish bone~ a 25 pound turkey has a BIG wishbone!

After the massive clean up, it was time for games. One of the games we ended up playing was a trivia game. Sam and I ended up on one of the teams together. The other team had a question about the movie THE BREAKFAST CLUB. That movie was like THE hit movie when I was a teenager. NO ONE on the other team had seen it! We couldn't belive it!!! Sam said, "Come on! You HAVE to know this movie, it came out in 1985 and it was the cult movie!!"
Andrea looked at Sam and said, "I was BORN in 1985." Talk about all of the sudden feeling OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Mommy got in one of the pictures of the day!

The last guests ended up leaving around 7:00. Then Sam and Jesse and Ben went snow camping in the mountains again, taking turkey sandwiches with them!

We missed our families today, and missed some of the traditions we have always loved, but we had a great day spending it with new friends who were also to far away from their own families.

Kids Deployment Day

The base hosted what they called PDF DAY yesterday. With a 60% deployment rate from this base in January, the goal was to show all the children what their parents go through to process and get ready. It went from 3:00 - 7:00 and they said they had a GREAT time! ( A good friend took them and took all these pictures!!) Once again some of the pictures don't show up fully. If you want to see the full picture, just click on the picture!

Here is Collin in a bullet proof vest.

Kaitlynn in full gear!
Those big eyes even show through the gas mask!
Silly Kaitlynn! Can make a funny face picture even with a gas mask on! Here she is with James.

Collin standing behind the police shield and both of them in front of one of the satellite dishes.

Then they got to hold some of the real equipment, from night vision goggles to assult rifles.


It is just weird, ya know? Seeing my KIDS holding real assult rifles!!


They went through the check line to have their folders checked to make sure all the proper paperwork was there and filled out.
Then they got to board a C-130!!!

Collin even got to be the co-pilot, and Kaitlynn was the Navigator!


And Kaitlynn in the Hummer!
All in all they learned a lot and had a good time! They were numbers 206 and 207, obviously a LOT of kids and their parents turned out for this learning experiemce.