Dear Rob,
I love you. I love you because you called me back today just so I know you did not hang up on me. You are a wonderful man and I do not know how I am lucky enough to have you.
We had a good day, we went to church for the swap and came home with about 5 bags of clothes for the girls.They are in the garage now but I will put them away tomorow. I did get all the kids school books from last year put away. I even got all the laundry put away. I really need to deep clean the house. It honestly just seems like I am tired all the time and I can not figure out why. I was falling asleep at 4pm today. As soon as the kids are asleep I am going to bed.
I had planned on going to the commisary today but some how while we were at the swap Grace changed into pajama pants and high heels and buy the time we left her clothes were on the bottom of a trash bag in the van.
We are picking up Kim at the airport in the morning and then I think Michael is having a friend come over tomorow afternoon.
I love you babe and can not wait for the time when we can talk without interuptions of fear of one of us hanging up on another.
Pamela PETRIE

Letters to my Hero

Dear Rob,
I love you and miss you like crazy. Today they showed pictures of your unit coming home on facebook. I have to admit while you have not been gone as long as them I felt a little jealous.
We had a good day. I never even got out of my pajamas. I got the school stuff ordered for Faith and Michael. That was a quick $2200 gone. I did get some school work done with Hope today. She wants to learn but only for a few moments here and there. I really think I am going to need to make a schedule for her and Grace and include things they can do like watch Sesame Street. I may even tell them it is part of their school. Our stuff should actually be here by Monday. It will be like Christmas.
Tomorrow is going to be kind of busy. They are doing a free yard sale tomorrow. Basically you set up a table with anything you want to give away and you walk around and take anything you want. I only have a couple of things to take. Then I am going to stop at Wal-mart and pick up a couple of storage things and come home and pack up all of last year’s school stuff. So for a day we will have a neat school bookshelf. Then I just need to straighten up and get laundry put away. That way when everything gets here I can start school without being behind in school.
Can you believe it is 9:30 and your kids are still awake? I swear they are on strike from sleeping and it is killing me.
I love you babe! But for now I need to go quiet YOUR children.
Pamela PETRIE
p.s. Grace sang to me today. I know the pictures are bad but the words are cute.


God is great
God is good
God is always great and good
We sing for your life
God is good, god is always I love you
I am the most beautiful girl
We are the most beautiful kids
We are the prettiest kids
We love you more
I will love you
I will kiss you on the cheek
We are good, we are great
We are a family
We will forgive you
We will give you the best family, the best of our family
Do you want to hear my singing
Do you want to hear me sing guys
Yes you do, you want to hear me sing
Jesus loves me now,
He died on the cross for our sins
Jesus is great, Jesus is good

I know your mommy drinks mountain dew for breakfast but you may not.
to the plumber: yes I know it is wrong to flush baby wipes down the toilet but if it means she is wiping it is worth it
Yes we are starting school next week and no you can not bribe me.
okay these are lame but I will tell you something crazy I almost said. I kept a friends 2 children since birth this weekend. I have known them since the oldest was about 8 months old. One night it was really storming and he came in my room and asked me to check how long the storm would last. I thought he was scared so I said " you know you are more than welcome to sleep" then I stopped and almost died. Why you may ask.
BECAUSE HE IS 14, Somehow I saw this little boy in a buzz lightyear costume. Can You imagine if I would have said it.
I did tell him and my 13 year old and his mom later. They all laughed at me and thought I was nuts. And for the record he was not scared. He just likes to check on the weather.

Letters to my Hero

Dear Rob,
I love you babe and can not wait to see you, can not wait to talk without beeping noises and phone calls and the line getting cut off. I can not wait to roll over and snuggle with you.
We had a good day. The plumber came this morning and of course the toilet worked perfectly the entire time he was here. I was so annoyed. I am trying to stay positive and remind myself at least I have kept the house really clean this week.
When he left we went to the post office and thrift shop and then Wal-mart. When we got to Wal-mart there was a radio station and car dealership outside collecting school supplies. So I let the kids pick up school supplies to donate and even let Grace choose a back pack (tinkerbell of course) to donate. But when we walked outside they were gone. It is all stuff we will be able to use.
We came home and straightened up a little and Michael spent the afternoon playing his new game. Did I tell you he ended up reading the girls 40 books, doing 2 pages of mathh and running 20 laps to earn the last of his money.
I worked on our new budget for when you get home and e-mailed it to you. It will be tight but I think we can do everything. I honestly see the light at the end of the tunnel if we stick to the budget. I got our electric bill today and it was $250 which kills me because I have kept the AC at 75 and made sure everything is unplugged. I guess that is what happens when you have 3 digit temps.
Hope found 2 pictures of horses I forgot I bought her so I hung them up. I was to lazy to go get a hammer so I used this.
I also hung up a couple of pictures in the office. One day I will learn to decorate. We do not have any plans tomorrow. I need to call Bob Jones in the morning. I tried to order the kids school stuff and it would not show me the free shipping option. It looks like it is $2150 for Faith and Michael and then I still need to make sure I have everything for Hope and Grace.
Have I told you that your two oldest daughters have all but refused to sleep recently. They have taken turns staying up until midnight. I woke them both up really early this morning in hopes that I can get to bed earlier tonight. We will see, it is almost 10pm and I have not even started going to bed.
I love you babe and can not wait to have you here so I can tel you "I cold".
Pamela PETRIE

5 Question Friday

1. Did you have a favorite blanket or toy as a kid? If so, do you still have it? I do not think so, I do remember a rag doll that stayed on my grandmothers blanket and I remember sleeping with it. My mom gave it to me last year and it is in the closet. I do not really know what to do with it


2. Do you dream in color? yes but I never thought about it. I mean I think I do. I will have to think about it tonight.


3. How tall are you? Do you wish you were shorter or taller? I am 5.8 and I am happy with my height. although I wish I did not have size 11 shoes. One day a celebrity will go into her closet and give me all her size 11 shoes


4. If you could have anyone's (celeb or other) voice as the guide on your GPS, who would it be? Reba, she would say things like
Rumor has it, you should turn left or
the nights the lights went out in GA, I told you to go the other way or
is there life out there, you know past this traffic jam or
consider me gone, if you do not make that turn or
your gonna, miss that turn if you do not get over or
strange, that you did not listen to me tell you when to turn.

5. Do you return your shopping cart to the corral or leave it wherever in the parking lot? return it or make my son return it. although it annoys me when someone has not emptied it recently. Did I tell you my van was hit recently and no one left a note.

thank you Mama M, I really enjoy these questions. Is there was something about me you would like to know? I am pretty much a open book.

Mil Spouse fill in Friday

This week’s questions are:

1.What is your spouse’s best feature? oh man, his arms. I know that sounds silly but he has the best arms ever. well his kisses are something I would never change
2.Mild, Medium or Hot sauce? no sauce. I mean seriously I am a ketchup only kind of girl
3.What is the worst uniform you had to wear for a job? I am feeling spoiled but I have to say I have never were a uniform. I did apply to be the chick fil a cow and was turned down. I would love to be the chick fil a cow. I know I have lost my mind
4.You have invisible powers… where is the first place you would go? I would love to know what others think about me. really I would give anything to go back to AL and go to a mom's night out. I could talk to these ladies for hours. I miss them so much I really think my heart aches
5.What’s left on your “to do” list for this summer? Tomorow I order all of our school books. They should be here by Monday. I finished up my list this week. I got the pillow case dresses in the mail and wrote out our new budget

I am new to this and thought I would take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Pam. My husband has been in the Army for 16 years, 14 active. We have four children ages 13, 10, 7 and 4. My husband is currently on his fourth tour to Iraq, his seventh deployment in the last 13 years. We homeschool and consider ourselves a fairly conservative family. I love my husband in a way I did not think was possible even five years ago.

Letters to my Hero

Dear Rob,
I love you and hope you had a great day. We had a good day. The repair guy did not get here until after 3pm. He did not bring a new filter so he will have to come back with a filter for the fridge. At first he said the dishwasher issue was rust. Then he smelled the rinse aid spot and said oh this is vinegar. Which is total trash but whatever, I have used vinegar forever.
We do not have any plans the rest of the week except to mail Michael’s hard drive back to BJU. Speaking of home schooling can you please call me soon? We need to talk about what exactly we are ordering. I am hoping to order by the end of the week so I can get free shipping. I am hoping to start working on school next week.
Michael is determined to get a new DS game. He needs about $6 more dollars. He read 26 books to Grace tonight. I paid him 10 cents a book. The picture is of him reading to Grace.
I love you babe, I am going to try to go to bed early again tonight. I went to bed before 9 last night but it was after 11 before Faith was asleep. I do not know what is going on with her and Hope but they are not sleeping.
Pamela PETRIE

Wordless Wednesday

My heart is so full this week. Last week my kids went to VBS at a local church and had the best time. On Friday night they had a little presentation and all the kids got to sing. I have to say there is nothing better than watching your children Praise God without fear. My oldest daughter has no problem raising her hands in church and praising like no one is looking and I pray she never looses that.

Letters to my Hero

Dear Ron, I mean Rob,
You better come home soon before I forget your name. I am totally teasing because you are not here to be mad. I love you babe and cannot wait for you to come home.
Today we really needed you. Yesterday I noticed a wet spot in front of the fireplace. I thought a child had spilled something and was not admitting it. Today I noticed the spot was bigger. Then I realized the fridge sounded like it had running water. I have waited around all day for the plumber who has not called. With your moms help I was able to get the water turned off.
We stayed home all day and I finished up the dresses and can drop them off at the post office tomorrow. I am so sorry I did not tell you about it before. I thought I had told you about the dresses and I did not tell you on the blog because I did not want anyone to think I was bragging.


I love you babe but I am going to close and go to bed early. I hope you get to call soon. Thank you for talking to Michael today. He really did have a good attitude after talking to you. He even took a 2 or 3 hour nap today.

Letters to my Hero

Dear Rob,
Before I forget I have to tell you something. Every time I try to use my IPHONE and write I love Rob or Rob is doing okay it changes your name to Ron. I promise I do not love Ron. Sorry, I thought you needed this laugh.
We had a good day, busy day but a good day. I offered to make eggs and sausage for Kim’s kids and they said no thank you they would prefer pop tarts. Easy enough! They brought a HUGE Hershey bar with them. So I put it in the food processor and made chocolate chip cookies. I have to be honest and say these are now my favorite cookies. Then I let the girls use my sewing machine and taught them how to make tote bags. Then I dropped them off. We really had a good weekend. They slept all over the house. I am sending you a picture of the boys at the movies with their DS’s in hand. All weekend every time I heard them talk to one another I could not help but think of you and their dad. They are so much like you guys.
After I dropped them off I took our kids and went to Sam’s. I picked up pancake mix and trash bags. Can you believe this is the first time we have had to buy trash bags in over 5 months. Something weird did happen at Sam’s. Michael went to look at games while I ordered dinner. When he got back to the table he said his hand hurt. He had tripped over his own feet and fell doing a flip flop on the ground. He put his hand down to break his fall and when he did he hurt it. I do not think it is broken. He has scratches on the side of his face but they look old. We got in the van and he got really quiet. I asked him if he was okay and he said he was tired and his hand hurt. I had him soak it in Epsom salt when we got home. Then he got a attitude with me and angry with me. He has not done this in a while so I sent him to bed and within minutes he was asleep. I have to admit this kind of worries me. I really think I will make him a appointment to make sure he is ok.
The silly cat got out again this evening. I have to tell you this is twice today and it is ticking me off. I told the kids I am tired of chasing after her.
We are home all day tomorrow and I cannot wait to talk to you. I miss us being able to talk on line. The kids are doing well, I have not told them when you are coming home. I have said about 5 more fencing classes. I cannot wait to have a real time line (side note to blog readers, I will let you know when he is coming home after he is already back on U.S. soil).
I love you babe but I am going to climb into bed. I really want to spend the day straightening up and deep cleaning tomorrow.
Pamela PETRIE

Military Monday

This is the first time I have done this so it will be short. Instead of telling you about our military life I am going to encourage you to look around and read some of the letters I write to my husband. I think that is the best way to show you how military wives live everyday without there spouses.

Monday Minute

1. Who is your "what-if" person?
(What-if person being what if I married this person or am now in a relationship with "this" person)Honestly I do not have one. I have my best friend
(high school sweatheart) as my husband. My mom still lives in my home town and as she tells me about the people she runs into I am reminded of how blessed I am to have gotten such a wonderful Godly husband.

2. What is your nickname? I do not have any right now. In middle school I was called Kool-Aid lips. When I started babysitting at 13 I was called goo goo and it has still stuck. I do not think anyone in that family has said my real name in 25 years and I love it. It helps me feel like my babies are still babies and not grown up
3. . If you could choose how you died, how would you like to die? With my husband in his arms. no really that is what he said. I have no care at all. Although I would like it to be in a way that we can donate my organs
4. If you could have named yourself, which name would you have picked? Never thought about it. I have four children that let me name them. That is what children are for right
5. Who were you named after or for what reason did your parents choose your name? oh my, I do not know who I was name after but I will say my dad wanted me to be named Gypsy Dawn. Can you imagine walking around telling people your name is gypsy.

Dear Rob, we are having storms so I have the laptop off . I love you babe

Mamarazzi Monday

I know it seems like it is always pictures of Grace. I will try to do better next week, I promise.

Letters to my Hero

Dear Rob,
Good evening my love. We have had a great day. The man was here at 7:30 to power wash the house and clean the gutters. Michael tried to mow the grass but then said the lawn mower was smoking. I tried hard not to curse considering it is only a few months old.
I got all the laundry done and will fold it and put it away tomorow. We went to see Karate Kid today. It was really good. But honestly I kept thinking "I wonder what Will Smith thought every time his son got punched". The kids loved it. Grace even set a couple of rows down with the girls. I thought for sure when it got scarry she would come running to me but she did not.


I stopped at the movie store and rented the original Karate Kid for us to watch after church tomorow.
I love you babe and can not wait to talk to you soon.
Pamela PETRIE

Letters to my Hero

Dear Rob,
We had a wonderful, amazing, encouraging day. We got up at 4am and took Kim to the airport and then came home and relaxed. We went swimming on post for 3 hours. Honestly if I had taken something for Michael to eat I may still be there. It was so much fun. The entire pool was no more than 5 feet and a HUGE kid section. I did not have to carry Grace around. She even started putting her face under the water.
We came home and collapsed. Actually I made dinner and then relaxed. Then we went to the closing ceremony for VBS tonight. It went really well. The kids had a great time. I met the mom of Michael’s new friend. Can you believe they live in our neighborhood? To me that is only God. I told her we would get together next week to talk. It seems like we are on the same wave length. The church seems amazing. She said the men have a lot more functions then the women. I will tell you more about it when we can talk. For now I guess I should go to bed. I am running on 4 hours from last night and 6 the night before. And I already know the guy will be here at 8am to power wash the deck, porch and entire house and then he is going to clean out the gutters. I did talk to a neighbor today and he said the city never comes out and our grass is not long at all. I am going to have Michael mow it in the morning just to be safe. I am so tempted to have someone trim the bushes so you do not have to do it.

I love you babe and wish you were here this weekend to do things with us. I miss you so much. It is almost harder now that I know you are coming home soon.
Pamela PETRIE

Letters to my Hero

Dear Rob,
I love you and miss you. It is so weird; now that I know you are coming home soon I can almost feel you. It does not seem so lonely. Kim is here tonight and tomorrow she will be with her husband. It is almost like the world is going back to where it should be. I know it sounds like I have lost my mind.
We have had a great lazy day. As much as I am ready for school, I also am enjoying our easy days. The lady came to inspect the house. She said everything looked good except we need to trim the bushes and mow the grass. She said the city would fine us. Let me just tell you it is not even ankle high. I think she was blowing smoke. If we keep it much shorter it will die. I was impressed to see that she really did walk in every room and turn on every light. She was really nice though. I already got a call about them replacing the dishwasher. Oh, I think she is annoyed that we do not have a answering machine on our home phone. She said I called yesterday but did not get a message. My thoughts were she left a message on my cell phone at 4:45pm; it was not even 24 hours so I am not stressed.
Guess what? The PX called today. They said it was a courtesy call to see how we were treated in customer service recently. I was so nice to the lady. I said I did not file a complaint but………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
She said man you handled that well and with kindness. I told her that our children were being good and that everyone was in a good mood. But that I probably would have lost it if that was not the case. She apologized a million times and told me I should have filed a complaint.
I made bread today and cookies for the cookie jar. Really I just wanted the house to smell good while the lady was here. But it did feel good to have baked goods around. I need to make laundry soap this weekend if I get a chance.
I got an e-mail saying they are beginning to decorate for the welcome home ceremonies. It is on a day I cannot go. I cannot believe it is close to you coming home.
I love you babe but I better get in bed. We have to leave for the airport at 4am. Then we are going swimming.
Pamela PETRIE

5 Question Friday

1. What were your school colors? I think maroon and gold, is that bad that I do not know


2. What's the best compliment you ever received? To be told that I am a good mother or that my children are well behaved


3. Do you buy cheap or expensive toilet paper? a mix, I buy angel soft and love it.


4. Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? Or have you had one for someone else? yes, well kind of. I always find out before hand and feel bad about it


5. What is one material possession that you "can't live without"? Besides my Bible it would be my cell phone or laptop
Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them (like, totally, duh!), then c'mon back to link up! If you don't have a blog, feel free to leave your answers in the comments of this post or any post along the way!


Questions for Friday, July 23rd: (Special thanks to Christy [for inspiration], Kelly, Brittany Ciara, Emily, and Sami [for inspiration] for their question suggestions! Wanna be linked in a future 5QF? Just c'mon over here, to my community, and offer up your best question suggestions!)