Caleb and Lynnete Were Hurt

Last Wednesday (8 Feb), Caleb and Lynette were hurt in a freak accident. They were walking to Caleb's school when a tire fell of the axel of a moving boat trailor. Lynette was pushing Noah in a stroller and Caleb was walking right behind them. Lynette saw the tire, pushed Noah out of the way and then went back for Caleb. The tire hit her right leg really hard and then went straight toward Caleb. Two skull fractures, fractured chin, fractured jaw at both mandibles, three lost baby teeth (four after an operation) and a lung contusion. Caleb had to undergo surgery to put plates in his chin, pins in his jaw, and now his jaw is wired shut to allow healing. Caleb was released to go home last night. I'll write more, but wanted to thank all those who were praying for him. We now have to deal with feeding a five year old a diet where he doesn't have to chew (extremely challenging). There are still a few issues with his skull fractures, but the brain membranes were not broken and it appears there was no brain damage. Lynette's right leg is still injured and she has appointments set up to figure out how severe the injury is (no broken bones, but probably some ligament and joint damage). Caleb has recovered remarkable well and we continue to pray for a safe and quick recovery. He should be back in school in about a month.
I'll write more later on the whole event from my perspective. The accident had lots of island wide news coverage. Here's a link to an article in one of our papers.

Haze Gray and Underway

I've been so busy this last month, it is hard to put down in words. I recently transfered from my cozy office job sitting on top of a hill with a georgous view of Pearl Harbor, to the USS LAKE ERIE at Pearl Harbor. Sea duty for me. The title of this post refers to the color of U.S. Navy Ships (haze gray) and being at sea (underway).
My new job is extremely challenging, but still fun. I have 4-5 people working for me (scary), so I am not only responsible for my work, but the work of junior Sailors as well. This is my first major leadership position, so I have a little adjusting to do.
For those who are not familiar with life on a ship, I will briefly try to describe it. My office is on a ship. Wether we are tied to the pier (inport) or at sea (underway) I work on the ship. The ship has 6 different duty sections. This means that while the ship is in port, I must spend the night on the ship once every 6 days to do various different duties. And obviously, when we go to sea to train or do various exercises, I do not get to go home.
My bed on the ship is called a coffin rack. The bed lifts up like a coffin and under the bed is a locker for my clothes and gear. The beds (called racks in the Navy) are stacked three high. I have a middle rack (rank has its privileges) so I don't have to climb up, or lean down to get in it. The space to sleep in is essentially a box measureing 6 feet long, about 2 1/2 feet high and 3 feet wide.
I am short a person in the office, so I have been working from about 6:30 in the morning till about 5-6 at night. This is very different from my last job and I have noticed the kids are having a little problem adjusting to it. Lynette is very supportive of me, even though I know she is frustrated by the long hours, she doesn't take it out on me. She realizes how hard I am working, and supports me through this transition.
My ship's main mission right now is being a test platform for tracking and destroying ballistic missiles. Imagine this, finding a multi-stage ballistic missile on radar, firing another missile at it, hitting the part of the ballistic missile that has the warhead on it (in outer space). Pretty cool technology, and yes this is a part of the U.S. Missile Defense that the current administration is developing.