Updates on my Adventures

First and foremost: please do not send any more mail to me in Mississippi. I'll post my address for overseas as soon as I get it.

Secondly, I'm glad I can finally get on here and do some updating.

Thirdly, I'm currently sitting in my room, feet propped up, TV watching me, fireplace going and sporting civilian pjs. Man alive- life is good right now. :)

I am on pass until Wednesday, and the only thing I have planned.... a massage for tomorrow. I'm so thankful that everything has been prepaid. I am absolutely in love with my room. I couldn't have asked for a better room to be in. Oh yeah... I'm staying at a little Bed & Breakfast, literally in the middle of nowhere. This is the first time I've rented a room from a Bed & Breakfast, but am falling in love with the idea to fulfill one of my goals in life: to run a Bed & Breakfast on a 10 acre ranch with a massage center. How amazing would that be!

Training here as been good and worth it. I apologize if I do not share what we've been doing, but I hope you understand, it is not my privilege to share.

On a lighter note... I got an email from our Public Affairs NCO for the 116th Calvary Brigade Combat Team. She was in receipt of some photos I had taken of our training. (If you did not know, I was asked to be our unit's photographer.) Well, her e-mail asked if she could submit some of my photos to the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense to be used for media and website publishing. She also asked if if I could continue submitting pictures while overseas. What a great honor that was. SO! I'll put some of my photos here, and you may even see some of them used for military purposes too!

This is my blog for the night. Hopefully I can make another blog before heading overseas. One love to all, p~

Updates on my

Moving On...

Tonight I had a tender mercy from the Lord.

I've learned that sometimes, the Lord doesn't just give you the easy way out of things- even when you know what the choice or decision is "supposed" to be. Sometimes, the tender mercy is necessary for you to fight for what you really want. Why the Lord does what he does, I don't know, but He knows best.

Moral of the story- the Lord won't always give you the easy way out of lives choices, even if you don't deserve it. But He does it because His ways are not our ways, and His laws are higher than our laws. He is the Master and has already been preparing the way for us to accomplish His purposes. I don't always understand His choices, but I do know that He has always wanted more in my life than I've wanted for my own.

To understand the will of the Lord is to loose your OWN plans and find the courage to Trust and have Faith in Him. Finding Hope.... indeed I am.

Living in the Now & Eggs

Week one...

It seems a little weird to think that I've only been here in Mississippi for one week. The time has slowly passed. I find myself focused on my little day-to-day tasks and not so much as to what's going on at home, with the family, with friends, or too far in the future. I think, for the first time in my life, I'm actually living in the NOW. A strange, yet, comforting experience.

Since being here, I've had the opportunity to view the local wild life. On Kaua'i we have chickens. In Idaho, it's the field rats, elk, and occasional stray dog. In Mississippi, it's the skunks. Yes, dear friends, there are skunks galore. Strange indeed.

Unfortunately, the food has not gotten better - however, it's free right? So, I really shouldn't be complaining. BUT, let me tell you a little story about what happened at one of the"Breakfast Club" meetings. And as many of you know, I'm not a very good story teller, so you'll have to bear with me. I'll try to remember to add in the "applause", "laugh", etc... when appropriate. :)

So, the other morning, Allen, Sgt Wallace and I sat down to breakfast. **oohhh** ("The Breakfast Club" as Sgt Wallace indicated one morning.) We signed in on yet another roster, received our breakfast for the morning (trying to vary and change up the same breakfast for the past week is a little difficult), placed my tray down, went back for fruit, yogurt, and my liquids. There. I was ready to eat! **applause**

I made a comment that there was a lot of butter on my grits and proceeded to push the in-view cholesterol to the side. Hm, well, the eggs look a bit better- especially since I dolled it up with cheese! Glorious cheese! **applause** I dip my fork and bring the delightful looking contents to my lips. Chomp-chomp... spit! Ugh! **gasp** I spat out my eggs on my tray and the rest in my napkin. Allen and Sgt Wallace were staring at me with that... "um, that's a little rude" look. I began to smile and maybe even chuckled... I gave a quick light-hearted laugh and told them that I just ate stick of butter. **laugh, knee slap, applause, laugh harder**

"WHAT!", was the reply. Much to our amazement, I moved the remaining cheese to the side, and there you go- in my eggs there was an ever so slowly melting stick of butter! **laugh**

I knew that our eggs were imitation eggs, but I didn't think they'd make "butter" try to taste like eggs and then feed it to us! LOL!!!! Point being - these southern folk reaaallllyyyyy love their butter!

Moral of the story - eat hard boiled eggs!

Camp Shelby...

Landed in Mississippi safely. Slept off and on while on the plane and bus.

Getting settled in a little... the barracks are, well - barracks', and yeah. That's about it for that one.

Dining Facility- it's food.

And, yeah, that's about it.

Here's a friend. I'll let him type a little something: Hello Hope fans, This is your temporary fill in Allen, and let me tell you what I've been here for a few days down here in Mississippi and DANG its a hot muggy beast. I'm excited to work with Pili for the next year and maybe just maybe she will let me write on here again... :)

Ha ha ha! No, Allen- you can't write on here EVER again. Just kidding.

Allen is a great person. He helped me get on the internet so I'll be able to get on here periodically.

Alright friends... remember to write! The address is a couple of entries down. Please write.

One love, p~

Thoughts on Leaving

It's 4:27AM in the morning. Tuesday, 21 September 2010. I'm supposed to leave for deployment and report to the airport before 7AM... just hours away.

Obviously, I can't sleep.

Honestly, I haven't even started packing my gear.

Not quite sure what it is that makes me think - "No worries. I got this." However, that's where my brain is at currently. I'm pretty sure, at this point, I should be stressing out about not having my things done. But, instead, I am here... blogging my little brain away while multi-tasking the following:

-compressing the movies I've purchased online

-laundry

-transferring music from my cds to my iTunes

-occasionally transferring gear from downstairs to the living room

-organizing my electronics

-fighting the head nodding monster (I'm awake, I'm falling asleep, I'm awake, I'm falling asleep)

-eating a late night snack and

-packing my boxes that I am having sent to myself overseas (I know... I'm weird)

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These past few days I've had the opportunity to meet with some friends to say goodbye. And although it was soooo very nice to be with them again, it was also a little sad. Unfortunately, I haven't done my usual rounds of seeing EVERYONE and giving them all goodbye hugs. It's been a little difficult.

You see, I've learned, recently, that I really don't like saying "goodbye" to people. It seems I have a downfall- being social and knowing a lot of people.... waaaaay too many people to say "so long" to. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but the finality of it all is what tends to get me these days. Sometimes saying goodbye just... well, it sucks.

I've reflected back to my high school days of when I went to attend Kamehameha Schools, a private boarding school on O'ahu, and how it felt when I left my beautiful Kaua'i. Every time I returned home and visited with friends, it was if they moved on without me in their lives. (As it should be, because obviously, I wasn't there.) Or when my family had to leave because my dad was being stationed in a new area. It seems that I've grown up doing the leaving. And although it seems that my life has been based on this pattern of voyaging out on new adventures and after a period of time, I "leave"- I'm hoping this time will be a little different.

If I physically did not say goodbye to you or embrace you with a warm hug- please accept my apologies. It's not that I'm "trying" to be rude on purpose, I just needed to focus on what was ahead and not who or what I am leaving behind. Trust me, I would have loved to have thrown a huge party and have everyone there, but I didn't.

SO, if you are reading this, PLEASE know that I love you all very much. I truly do. I am thankful for the time I've had you in my life. I look forward to returning and hearing about all of your fun and exciting adventures too.

Be safe and stay well.

Much love, Pili girl~

Address for P in Mississippi

Hey friends and family!!!

Alrighty then, here's the address where I'll be while continuing my training state side. PLEASE feel free to send letters... even if it's just a smiley face on a piece of paper. :0) Would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear from you!

PFC Hope "Pili" Baclayon

B-BTRY, 1-148th FP, 116th CBCT

Bldg 2490, 25th Street

Camp Shelby, MS 39407

You can start sending mail now. *hint-hint*

Hawai'i No Ka 'Oe!!!

Today I was blessed to be able to come to beautiful Hawai'i Nei. Man alive, it's such a wonderful feeling to be home. Even if it's just for a few days & change... it was worth it. A good place to be to get ready to head out overseas.

Will blog more at a later date, and possibly put pictures on here of my nieces and family.

Love it!

"Beautiful"

Not exactly sure how much of myself I should be pouring into this blog, however, since I've been doing it for the past few years, I guess now would be a little too late to start thinking about that, huh?!? However, since we are in the age of technology, I guess I can use this to my advantage to have others get to know me. Not just the me that I portray on the outside, but the matters of the heart and mind.

I was once sitting in an ROTC class, and one of my instructors taught on time management, and what we do with our time... long story short- if we write in a journal, or write our thoughts down two things happen. 1. We can better manage and organize what's on our mind, and 2. We can see what is really important in our lives. Yes friends, what we write about is usually what is important to us. If not, then we wouldn't write about it.

I guess you all should be grateful that you get a bit of insight into my brain, heart, and life. (A bit scary to be so vulnerable, but, I think more scary that you'll actually read this! Ha!)

So here you go!

I'm sitting in the SLC airport, and randomly chose a song from my newly purchased and downloaded album of India.Aire, and the song "Beautiful" is perfect in every way.

The first little part of the song has a very simple and moving guitar intro. Then, the words piped in:

"The time is right, I'm gonna pack my bags

And take that journey down the road

Cause over the mountain I see the bright sunshine

And I want to live inside the glow"

How expressive it is of how I feel, especially since I booked last minute flights to see my family in California and then in Hawai'i. (And, especially embarking on my new upcoming military journey/adventure.)

But, when the lyrics about "...over the mountain I see the bright sunshine..." The sun just started to crest over the mountains on my left. Creeping, rising slowly- inviting everyone to greet the dawn, the magic, and the possibilities of a new day. A testament of God's love stating that all your cares and woes from the previous night's sunset can be washed away- a new slate to make your own new mistakes, hiccups, adventures, and to fall in love with the wishes, hopes, and dreams that God has for you/me/us to discover- today.

Yes, friends and family, if the soul is overtaken by the darkness and the long drawn out chill of the night- sometimes, you just have to wait it out, get through it, embrace it- for on the morrow, the sun certainly rises again. Ever ready to help you greet the new day. I'm sure if the Sun had a chance, it would pray that we would just hold on/hang in there until the morrow- so it can come "over the mountain so we can see the bright sunshine".

So breathe in, embrace the day, and know that the sun will always rise again. So Beautiful.

New Blog Title

Yes friends and family, the new title of my blog will be "Finding Hope"... well, the new title at least for the next year. It definitely holds a double meaning... if anyone can figure it out. ;)

Just finished AT a few days ago, and what an adventure that was. So many ups and downs with life, and learning about my strengths and weaknesses both inside and outside of the Army. At times I think the phrase "growing pains" is not used as often as it should. No matter what age in life you are, "growing pains" is exactly that... "pains". Never-the-less, with life, we learn things, and we grow, and we become a beautiful phoenix rising up from the ash filled earth to fly and soar through the breathtaking skies.

I've realized, in the Army, that sometimes I can get lost in all the hooah-hooah day-to-day things, that I forget about what's really important to me, and what my focus should be. Soooooooooooo, this coming year, deployment year, it's going to be spent rediscovering me. All the goods, bads, rights, and wrongs. I'm excited and nervous, at the same time, for this "re"self-discovery process. It should definitely give me the ride of my life!

And for all who still read this, I am contemplating closing my Facebook account for the deployment year. For sure, my phone will be shut off beginning December. (Won't be using it overseas.) I'm just taking personal security precautions, since I'll be in semi-safe/unsafe territory.

So, having said that, I'll blog as much as I can while in Mississippi, and then overseas. One love to all, and God bless. Make good choices~