A lot of stuff in very little time

Oh my gosh, I've been so busy lately! After one of my last posts, I got an awesome anonymous tip to check out Costa Rica for our vacation. I looked more into it, and I totally want to go there now. Since K and I went sky diving and swam with jellyfish!) in Hawaii last year, I want to do something neat and out of the ordinary on this vacation as well. In Costa Rica, there are two such activities we could do together: 1) river rafting (on fairly calm waters, so it's athletic but not quite so life-threatening, since I'm not the strongest swimmer) and 2) rainforest canopy tours. The second one is the one I'm most excited about. I don't think I know anyone who's ever ziplined through a rainforest before. It sounds scary, but awesome, and I am so game! Hopefully I can talk to K about it soon to see what he thinks.

Friday, my brother was in town for work for the race this weekend at Te.xas M.otor Speed.way. He was able to get my dad and his girlfriend passes to get into the pits all weekend, so they were down on Friday for that. I was jealous. They got to meet a lot of drivers. That night, I met my brother, dad and his girlfriend for dinner. With my brother being in North Carolina now, the four of us can't get together like that very often, so it was nice.

I intended to get up at 7:30 Saturday morning to officially begin my training for the M$150, which is one month from last weekend. I managed to turn off my alarm, though, I guess, because I woke up at 8:40, which was when I was supposed to be leaving. I needed to do several things for my bike before I could ride, so I skipped out on the scheduled ride. I went to go ride on a big trail on my own, but I realized when I was halfway there that I just didn't have time. I settled for a short ride around my neighborhood, and then I came home and got cleaned up.

I left my apartment and headed toward Te.xas M.otor Speed.way, giving myself plenty of time to get through traffic that wound up being nonexistent. I was supposed to pick my brother up at 1:30 to drive him to OK. He got out a bit late, so at about 2:00, we were on our way. He had a couple friends at the dirt track he used to race at back home, and they'd told him he could drive their cars that night. It had fallen through a couple days before, but my brother wanted to race so badly (He kept saying that April 8 would mark two years since he last raced) that he was going to OK just in case someone would let him drive their car in the races that night.

Go figure, no one offered. I was really sad for my brother because I know he's been aching to race again. It was great to see his face after the races, though, when one of the drivers looked at my brother, pointed at the car and said, "Get in." He got to drive around the track for a few laps, and when he was finished, he sat in the car for a couple minutes talking to us. It was obvious he wasn't ready to get out. I was glad for him that he was at least able to drive again, even if it was after the races were over.

By then, it was after 11 p.m. We headed back to the house and talked to Dad and his girlfriend for a bit before leaving after midnight to head back to Dallas. My brother had to leave with the team for the race track at 6:30 Sunday morning. I got him to his hotel at about 3. By the time I got home and got ready for bed, it was 4 a.m. I was exhausted.

I still made it up for church on Sunday, and I was really glad I did. The sermon was great, and there were two baptisms -- a baby and a grown man. I hadn't seen an adult baptized at this church before. I've got more to blog about that later.

Sunday afternoon, I was able to get out on my bike. I rode about 20 miles. It was uncomfortable. I have to get used to that seat again! That night, Jeremy and I got a good workout in too.

This morning, I mailed a care package off to K since I hadn't had time to make and send one on Saturday. I felt bad because I just kind of threw a bunch of snacks in, scribbled a letter and shipped it off. I've sent him a care package every week of this deployment. I almost skipped a week, but I felt really guilty, so I rushed to get one to him. It's just that that's all I can do for him as a wife right now. Surely I can find some time each week to make him a thoughtful package to brighten his day.

I stood in line for half an hour to mail the package this morning. When I got to work and checked my email, there was a message from the lieutenant colonel's wife. K's base got attacked again on Sunday. There were many injuries, and one soldier was killed. None of them were from K's battalion, but still ...

This is the second time in less than two months that K's base has been attacked. Logic says that it'll happen again. Which is scary and stressful.

I know it won't do me any good to panic or freak out about this. Still, my mind was on this all day.

K was lucky enough to not be one of the ones who was injured, and I know he's OK. I'll still feel better once I hear from him, but I have no idea when that'll happen. It could be tonight, since I haven't heard from him since this time last week, or it could be days from now if the military has blocked communication for rumor control.

I was able to get to the gym tonight and then run 4 miles with Jeremy. It felt good to be doing something physical to work out frustration, clear my head and benefit from the release of some much-needed endorphins.

After my workout and the rush and stress of these last few days, I'm also in some serious need of sleep. Hopefully I'll have some updates tomorrow because K calls me tonight. Fingers crossed.