Jan's Christmas Letter

December 2007
Dear Good Friends and Family,
It’s that time of year and although I am not in the Christmas spirit, I am home sick with some bug (high fever, everything hurts including your hair follicles) and sitting seems to be all I’m capable of doing. The upside is I am writing a Christmas letter and if it actually makes it into the mail I will have been in touch with those near and dear to me.
2007 will go down in the Lovell household as a memorable year. Seth and his love of four years became engaged last Christmas and we began the year planning another wedding. Eli and Katy, his college sweetheart, had tied the knot in 2006 on August 12 and began their senior year in college as newlyweds. Two weddings in two years can be stressful but because we love both girls and think the world of them, the stress was minimal compared to the joy we felt at the addition of two wonderful daughter-in-laws!
The wedding was planned for June 30 and all was progressing well until the best man, Eli, found out in April that he was being deployed to Iraq. A couple weeks later Seth found out that he was also being deployed. I cannot put into words the pain I felt each time I was told a son of mine was going off to war. You’re talking about a woman who cried in the middle of Wal-Mart the Christmas Ed tried to talk me into buying paint-ball guns for the boys. (They didn’t end up getting them that year but after having a year to adjust to the idea I did give in the next year.)
The boys were scheduled to depart for training in Mississippi towards the end of June. The wedding was moved up to June 9 and everyone kicked in to help. The church was available, the bride and groom and wedding party could all be there, and the minister could perform the ceremony. At the last minute, when nothing else panned out, good friends offered their scenic back yard for the rehearsal dinner. The wedding was beautiful and bittersweet. The minister talked about two people planning a wedding and a year’s separation at the same time. He talked about the fact that God does not promise us life will not be hard but he does give us the tools to deal with life’s difficult times.
This year God has given us wonderful family and friends to support us, to give us hugs when there is nothing to say, and to make us laugh when it seems like there is nothing funny left in the world. He has given us the power of personal conversation with him through prayer. He has given us three wonderful sons and two incredible daughter-in-laws who make us proud each and every day. He has given us each other to cling to when the expected call from Iraq is delayed a couple days and your mind goes to the worst places. And funny as it may sound he has given us ballroom dancing!
In the Spring, Ed and I began taking ballroom dance lessons. We found them challenging and fun. Little did we know what a lifeline they would be. Every Thursday evening from 8:00 to 9:00 we work on our ballroom dance steps. Your body and your mind are engaged and for one hour your mind cannot go to the crazy places. We walk out of the class each Thursday night and look at each other and smile. As our friend Betsy Dishman put it, “what better way to spend an hour than staring into the eyes of your spouse?” It truly is a calm in the storm.
Rule of thumb for a Christmas letter is one page but I think considering the year I’ve had you can excuse my ramblings. This will be going into page two.
Joshua is finishing up graduate school at William and Mary. He is studying to become a school counselor like his mother. I can’t think of a higher honor than to have Joshua join me in this profession. Between his internship this fall at an elementary school and this spring at a high school, a full time course load and an assistantship at the college he is one very busy guy. Now add to this the time he spends traveling back and forth on the weekends to Baltimore to visit the love of his life, Lillian, and I wonder how he does it all. In the midst of all this he finds time to call his parents regularly and visit more than he should. He will be glad when this year is over and his brothers are back on American soil and he is finished school and employed somewhere around Baltimore!
Brittany, Seth’s new wife is keeping the home fires burning in their home in Staunton. She is a full time student at James Madison University and works almost full time at our local emergency room as a tech. Whenever time permits she also runs with the local rescue squad and even if time doesn’t permit she visits her in-laws on a regular basis. She was a wonderful support during Seth’s time in Afghanistan and continues to be during this deployment.
Before being deployed Eli managed to graduate from Bridgewater College in May (unlike most of his classmates he didn’t need to worry about finding a job) and he and Katy bought a house in Gibbsonsville, North Carolina. Katy will begin a three-year doctoral program in physical therapy at Elon University on January 7. That is good news and bad. Good news because it will keep her busy while Eli finishes the last of his deployment and bad because she will start her schooling right in the middle of Eli’s two week leave.
Seth and Eli are scheduled to leave Iraq December 25 for a two week leave. We think they will be home sometime around the 27/28 of December but you never know with the Army. It will be great to see them but somewhat bittersweet as they are not home to stay. Seth had an interesting take on it in his last email home:

“… the thing I am looking forward to the most is something that most people would not guess. I am looking forward to saying goodbye to my parents and my beautiful wife when I return to Iraq. I know this sounds odd, but consider my reasoning. Since joining the military in May of 2003 I have had to say goodbye to my family, friends, parents, and wife a total number of seven times, at the end of my two weeks it will be my eighth goodbye. These farewells are not a simple “see you later,” they are painful, and everyone involved knows that it will be a long time before we are reunited. ... One lesson that I have learned in the military is that goodbyes are not something that gets easier with practice. Saying goodbye to my family in Gulfport was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, and something I never want to do again. Saying goodbye in the airport when I leave to go back to Iraq will mark the final time in my six-year enlistment that I will have to say a hard goodbye. When I return to the states I will have less than a year left on my contract, and no chance of deployment. I will not reenlist for one simple reason, I can’t say goodbye again. Leave will be an amazing time for my family and me, but like everything in my life since I received word of my deployment, it will be bittersweet. I am looking forward to leave, and I am also looking forward to my final goodbye in the military.”

Ed has found a second therapy in blogging. You can find news about the boys as well as additional musings from Seth and Eli at www.lovellsoldiers.blogspot.com. The picture at the top of the blog and on the Christmas card was taken in Gulfport, Mississippi when we were blessed to spend five days together before they left for Iraq.
Two pages definitely need to be the limit even with my excused ramblings. As I write this letter, two of my sons are in harms way. We hope for a positive outcome but our Lord knew differently with his son. He knows the pain we go through and he truly does give us the tools to go through the tough times. We wish you a joyous holiday, many laughs, good times with family and friends and a true understanding of the meaning of the season.