We miss ...

... JB so badly.

We know we did the right thing in coming. We knew it would be difficult to be away from him. We knew that he was going to be gone for two weeks this month anyway. (He went to Utah and is now preparing to head to England.) But man, we really miss him.

It really makes me appreciate our servicemen. Those individuals who spend six month, twelve months, or more, away from their families. My sister-in-law Danielle spent Valentine's Day away from her husband. And she's one of many. Thank you to those individuals who are serving our country. Our month away from JB reminds me how amazing what they do really is.

I really missed JB today. This morning I spoke at another MOPs meeting. This time on "Finding Friendship & Community During Difficult Times." It went really great.

Afterwards, Joan and I took the boys to the beach. They ... loved ... it. We thought they would just dig in the sand, but Isaac wanted to take his shorts off right away. He played in his underwear for quite some time before we convinced him to put on his bathing suit.

Elijah took longer to get used to the waves. But as soon as he did, he was right there with brother. They were kicking the waves. They were jumping the waves. They were splashing and making foot prints and hand prints and throwing off all fear. They haven't seen waves since we lived in Eglin -- too long ago for them to remember.

I really missed JB at that moment. I knew he would love watching his boys run around with their bare chests in the ocean we grew up swimming in.

I also think he would have gotten a kick out of Elijah. Eljiah told me he had to go potty. I turned around to Joan to ask her where to take him. I turned back and told him to follow me to the restroom Joan had told me about.

"Why?" he asked.

"I'm going to take you potty," I said.

"But," he said, and glanced at the couple sitting a few feet away. "I just went pee pee."

I turned to see wet sand in front of him. I turned to the couple he glanced at -- laughing hysterically. "A boy after my own heart," the man said as Elijah finished pulling his pants up and went running into the waves.

Isaac was equally funny today. When my mom went to see why the boys were fighting after going to bed, she was informed by Elijah that his brother was "spitting at me."

"Why are you spitting at Elijah?" my mother asked Isaac.

"Because," Isaac replied. "That is my favorite thing to do."