The Rosas-Standring Family

Words, and certainly not a blog entry could begin to capture the pure joy I feel at the idea of my Mom and Step-Dad coming to see me. Not to mention that their trip will be over Christmas. Since leaving the states there has been a real sense of disconnect from my family. I mean, how could their not be? Communication was very difficult at first, if it even happened at all. And now life relies on emails and instant messages. I have never really been an IMer but now I IM with my mother usually every day if not several times a day. If a a day or 2 go by when we do not IM it feels like we have not talked for weeks. And it is not like we really have anything to really talk about. But maybe that is what makes it so nice. It is just all the normal chit chat. Every time I talk to some of my other family member it is straight to business and a quick "how is it all" I mean... my Mom and Neal know everything that I did today and what we made for dinner and what funny thing the kids did that week. It makes me so happy to think that they will be sitting at a table across from me and the kids literally in exactly 216 hours that is 12,960 minutes. My Rent fan readers will love this... that is 512,640 minutes less then the 525,600 minutes that are in my year. And we will be in Mexico for at least 2,628,000 minutes and probably much more. I am soooo happy I can hardly contain myself. Even the kids have a count down. Only 777600 seconds to go!!!!!

Mom and Akilean!!!
Neal and Lena

I am having a really hard time with out my camera. There have been so many times that I have reached to take a picture and it will not work. It is a real bummer because Christmas is coming up and I want to be able to take pictures of the kids. Today they were running around the house dancing and just being the cutest little things in the whole world. They usually are the cutes things in the whole world. Just about every time we are in a restaurant or the park or even just walking down the street, people are always talking about them. I think Akilean gets a lot of attention because he has such a different look. We keep his hair pulled back and in a braid and he is just a darling and Lena is is usually in one f her little dress and usually dancing. They do get quite the audience. I wish I had a camera... I would show you!!! :(


I had to take a break just then to take a phone call. This has made me very happy because it was my Tara. I am sure her husband would have something to say about that but I think she is mine. She is one of those people that you know will always be there and will always tell you the truth, will make you laugh and will kick you in the ass when you need it. I love her so much and just the idea of her makes me happy. But talking to her, chatting, laughing... this thrills me. She is one of those friends that fills you with a sense of peace when you are having a hard time and they just .. I do not know how to explain it. Any one who is lucky enough to have one of these friends knows what I mean. I miss her and I love her and cannot wait to see her again. Hopefully I will see her soon.

Here she is with her son Jameson. Aren't they cute.

I cannot believe that my little brother Kevin is a Sargent in the army. That seems so crazy. Little Kevin, skinny little Kevin. Not that I tower over a lot of people my self but still. He is on his 3rd tour in Iraq. I am very happy that he will be able to be home on his leave over the holidays. He got really lucky on the timing of his leave. So strange... I remember Kevin running all over my parents huge house getting anything and everything that my friends could possibly want. It was a pitiful but very funny site. I miss him very much.

I remember when I took him to Europe with me when I first went. It was strange because people would come up and think he was Eminem. Now, at the time I had no idea who Eminem was so it threw me way off. But I have to say... he looked just like the young, newly discovered Eminem. I remember we would be at a cafe in Rome or in the Hofbruhaus near my job in Munich, Germany and you could hear people whispering to eachother trying to figure out if it was him or not. It was pretty funny.

But now he is all grown up and carries the big boy guns. (Which look really funny in his hands just because of how huge they are compared to his body) But there he is... keeping us safe. Very strange.



I also cannot believe that this is Lena holding this sign when he came home on one of his early tours. The kids look so little.

I got to talk to my grandma today too. That always makes me happy. She has not been doing great and has been in and out of the hospital. She sounds really good. And I love that when I call her she immediatly knows its me. All I have to do is say "grandma" and she knows. It is nice being the only grand-daghter. I cannot wait to see her.