Recruit Training did not go quite as we expected. We spent a ton of money on needed supplies, excitedly marked all items and carefully packed the seabag. We then sent ds off to 2-weeks of Recruit Training, only to have him sent home after 3 days due to a major panic attack. The CO and XO both expressed to ds as he was leaving that they were very upset at having to make this decision, but felt like they had to for his safety.

Ds was, of course, heart-broken. He spent the rest of the day and most of the next in his room. This also meant that he would not be able to attend the Advanced Training (Military History of Pearl Harbor) or advance to E2.

The cadets were at the pool doing their swim training and ds was supposed to jump off the high dive and then swim across the length of the pool in his utilities (pants and shirt). He balked at the high dive so they said it was okay to jump from the side of the pool. He got partway across the pool and did not realize a)a SEAL diver was 2-feet behind him and b)he could stand up and touch the bottom of the pool if needed. He flipped out and thought he was drowning. They got him out of the pool, but he went into a full-blown panic attack. He was shaking, hyperventilating, and the muscles in his arms were contracting. The CO, XO and Medical Officer were afraid he could possibly have another panic attack later in the RT and they did not want to take the chance that the next one could be worse.

I don't know the reason for why this happened, but I am trusting God that he has a plan for ds's future. We are hoping that the new Sea Cadet unit in SC will have a winter Recruit Training for ds to attend, but in the meantime we will be enrolling ds into swim lessons to help him get over his fear of the water. He does fine in our pool, but it is only 4-feet deep. He does not like water in his eyes, not even shower water.

I have recently (just today in fact) revised our school schedule. I kept saying I needed to exercise, but could not find the time to add it to our busy schedule. I do not like to get up early and don't have time to exercise in the evenings. By the time we have dinner, get everything cleaned up and take the dogs for a walk, I don't have the time or the energy to go jogging or do crunches.

For now we are set to exercise each day at 3PM. Today was our first day so I got changed into my workout clothes and then after doing some stretches and crunches, I strapped my MP3 player to my arm, wrapped my knee in my new knee wrap and off we went.

I had done quite a workout on Saturday with ds's Sea Cadets unit. My husband and I are the PT leaders and as my husband had duty on Saturday it was all up to me. I took the kids through a decent workout with lots of lunges, squats, pushups, crunches, and of course a 1-mile run. The next two days were spent walking very carefully as my thighs were killing me. My husband laughed at me everytime he saw me trying to navigate a set of stairs.

Our run/jog went pretty well. Ds managed to jog most of the way, but I was forced to slow to a walk a few times as the top of my foot started hurting. I am not having any problems with my knee, for which I am thankful. I am hoping to soon be able to easily do a 1-mile run in less than 10 minutes. Who knows? There may be some marathons in my future.

I have recently read two very good books, both by the same author. The first was called "Snow Falling on Cedars" and the second was "East of the Mountains" by David Guterson.

The first book is about a Japanese man accused of murdering a white man in 1954 in Northwest Washington state. The men had grown up together, but due to life's circumstances had grown apart. This is a story about race, love and bitterness. It is ultimately, though, a story that will change and inspire you.

The second book is about an elderly man, a doctor, who finds out he has cancer. Because he knows what the end of his life is going to look like, he decides to commit suicide. This is his story about his trip into the mountains of his childhood to kill himself, and what he learns along the way.

Both books are masterfully written. Guterson is wonderful at describing and developing his characters and locations. I could not wait to finish each book, but when I was finally finished I wished there was more. I really wanted to keep going with the characters.

My next reading endeavor is to finish Don Quixote. I bought this book before leaving Virginia in June, but have not had the time or the inclination to read it. I finally picked it back up the other night and decided to skip over the very boring (IMO) "Translating Don Quixote" chapter. I am now finished with the first two chapters and it going well. There are 74 chapters and close to 1,000 pages, so I think it will be awhile before I finish.

One of my goals is to slowly work my way through a list of classic literature, preferably in chronological order. This goal was birthed in me after reading Susan Wise Bauer's book, "The Well-Educated Mind".

I have been scrapbooking for about 8 years, but have just recently gotten serious about it. I never seem to have the time or the space to get much accomplished. I recently started attending a once-per-month crop at an arts and crafts store and would like to start attending another one that is all day one Saturday per month. I manage to get around 4 pages done per evening at the crops. I am currently 6 years behind on my daughter's book and 11 years behind on my son's book.

Using my monthly allowance plus a gift card I had received I bought myself a Cricut machine for Christmas. It came with two cartridges, so I am all set to get going with it. I had bought myself a 2 1/2-inch Zyron sticker machine the month before so I can turn my newly made letters into stickers, making them so much easier to put on the page. I sat down last night and completed the following page for my ds scrapbook. I am quite pleased with how it turned out.