SA Adams

On the 5th of February Mackenzie became on of the newest Sailors in the US Navy Fleet. Paul's Mom and I were able to fly there and attend the ceremony. It was exciting. We couldn't see him so I began to worry that maybe he wasn't there but afterward I went down into the big crowd and scanned for him. I turned and there he was! All grown up. I didn't recognized him. He didn't recognized me because of my red hair. Boy, does he look good!!!! His A School is right there by the RTC and they let him have overnight liberties. We could have been with him till Sunday night but we couldn't afford to change the airplane tickets, motel, and car rental so we took him back to base on Sat. night. We didn't know if we would be able to check him in a Sun. morning at 6am. It's so confusing and new to us both! Boy is it hard to say good-bye again. I am proud of Mackenzie for sticking to this commitment. It has been very challenging for him. But, now he has his iphone back and life will get a little more normal again. Navy normal? There are alot of rules and regulations. To get into each building he has to ask for permission to "Come Aboard" and he was so excited to show me how to fold everything. Mackenzie folding clothes, ironing, polishing shoes, making a bed so a quarter can bounce off of it....it's a little mind boggeling!

Cool!

Yesterday we got another letter from Kenzie and it wasn't even Thursday! He seems to be seeing the light at the end of a long boot camp tunnel. He writes, "Today was my last official inspection. It was in my dress whites. I also had my E-2 patches on which was way cool. We have been doing fire fighting to. It is really cool. The confidence chamber was a experience. It burned. But I was able to say my name and division. Our petty officers let us listen to music last night which was cool. I have my last PFA tommorrow then Battlestations. Hopefully I pass so I graduate on time and can see you... Study, study, study is what I will be doing. I do feel like I will be able to pass...I wish I had a book HaHA. I make up stories alot to keep my mind active. I've had more dreams here then I usually do. It might be stress or something. My rack(his bed)as time goes on gets more and more comfortable while the food get worse and worse. Tonight was lasagna...nothing compared to my mothers. One of my new friends here got a Dear John tonight. He has watch to. I would take it if I didn't have watch tommorrow. We had yet another firedrill, this would be our 30th. No joke. Did I tell you I got a new nickname, Patch Adams, because I was missing one of my rank patches." Then at the end of his letter he wrote "Oh mama can't you see what the navys done to me. They took away my favorite jeans now, and dressed me up in dungarees!"

I will not judge others by what they look like!

This is a huge micrography picture that all my students helped me with. They each got to sign their name and it turned into Martin Luther King's face! I draw the basic outline first and then they filled it in. We talked about how he was just one man with a dream and then how we as individuals can help to make that dream come true. "I have a dream that one day my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character!" I think that Dr King knew that we are all children of God. Me too!

A Christmas Cat

This cat was a how to draw a cat project that I did with my kindergarten classes. The kids get so excited because all of them look like a cat. They all have different expressions. Then at the end we put a Santa hat on them. It is fun to see how they all turn out and I don't have room or time to publish them all. But, this one is so funny. This little guy does not have much patience for art but I thought "you know, I feel this way sometimes at this time of year!" This is why I teach kids!

Smiles from the art room!

These are some of the different art projects I've been having the students do at school lately. The penguins are done by Kindergarten students. They make me Smile! The snowman is Zoe's. We talked about perspective and use of space. We also talked about how snowmen can have any kind of hat or scarf or expression. They turned out cute.

2 1/2 weeks to go!

I sent Mackenzie a questionaire to fill out with a bunch of questions. Here are some things I learned from him. He left on Dec 1st with only a little sleep that night. He finally got to go to sleep on Dec 3rd at 8pm. He slept for 7 hours and then had watch that first night. They get a big shot and he said that it made his left leg bad for a week! The snow and cold have been "A miserable bad idea"! HaHa, life goes on. His rack mate is from New York and is a married 29 year old. It doesn't sound like they talk much. He has had 3 hair cuts. The swearing is really bugging him. The food is bearable. He says he always has a apple and cranberry juice. He has passed all his inspections. Their division is working well as a team and could get Hall of Fame. They hold the highest divisional average on the base! It sounds like he does a lot of scrubbing floors! He says everyday is eventful and that Great Lakes is very beautiful if it wasn't for so much pain and tiredness. They had a fire drill and he thought it was funny cause "we have to put our grey blankets around our head. Its like the march of the penguins! He probably did fire fighting training this last week and this week he will be training for the gas chamber. Then they put them through what is called Battlestations. It is a real ship simulation. They put them through all kinds of different drills and situations. At the end, if they pass, they are Sailors!!!! I am excited for Mackenzie. He says he has continued to feel like he is being watched over. Thank-you for all your letters and prayers for him. It helps! He says I should get on facebook and tell all his friends that they "Fail" at the whole letter sending LOL!
But for the rest of you - WAY TO GO!

Mackenie Updates

This last week we got two letters from Mackenzie! Yah! In the first one he said he was dead tired. He runs about 4 miles in a row and does about 400 push-ups or more most days. On his lastest fitness test he says he can do 80 push-ups, 82 sit-ups, and run a mile and a half in 9 minutes. He has lost 10 pounds and now his dress blues don't fit very well and it's too late to get smaller ones in boot camp. But he is excited that he has a slight six pack now. He wrote some of his rules again - 1)follow orders precisely. 2) Being quiet isn't a bad thing until your asked to speak. 3)Drink a ton of water. 4)Use the Head(bathroom) always when allowed. 5) Sanitizer is key. 6)Don't swear it makes you sound stupid. 7) Confidence and baring helps alot 8) At night be careful in the Head, you may see something you don't want to. His RDC gave him the nickname "Dams".
I guess it's shorter than Adams? He says his RDC are a little crazy and do things funny. Though they are still scary HaHa...He has also decided that he is not the only one with hard to read hand writing. Grandpa and Grandma, he says it is wicked hard to read your letters but he loves them!