Military Mom Wins "America's Favorite Mom" Contest

Terrific News!

SOLDIERS’ ANGELS FOUNDER WINS!
Patti Patton Bader Named “America’s Favorite Mom”

PASADENA, CA May 11, 2008 –Soldiers’ Angels founder Patti Patton Bader was named “America’s Favorite Mom” in a primetime television show Sunday night on NBC. Sponsored by Teleflora and hosted by Donnie and Marie Osmond, the show highlighted fifteen outstanding mothers who had distinguished themselves in categories ranging from Working Moms to Military Moms and “Non-Mom” Moms. 

Humbled by the honor, Bader is thrilled to be able to use it to continue the Soldiers’ Angels mission of “May No Soldier Go Unloved.”  As the grand prize winner, she will receive $250,000, a set of household appliances, and other valuable items.  Bader hopes to apply the winnings to her plans for a small ranch that will allow newly returned soldiers to relax with their families after deployments.

“I really am lucky to know so many heroes in my life,” said Bader, who herself has two sons in the Army, one currently deployed to Iraq.  “Whether they are the troops who serve our country or the amazing mothers here on this America’s Favorite Mom program, I am honored to be in the presence of such inspirational people and also am humbled to know that America thinks the same of me.”

Bader is also excited about the opportunities this platform gives her to help people learn more about America’s military heroes and options for supporting them and their families.  The attention she has received through the America’s Favorite Mom events has already drawn a number of new volunteers who want to use their talents and connections to help support the troops.

One-Way Communication

The other day, I wrote about the silver linings to deployment.  On the flip side, I've already come up with what I think is perhaps the worst thing about deployment: one-way communication.

When something really, really good or really, really bad happens, I hate that I can't get in touch with my husband to let him know.  And of course those things always seem to happen when there's a lull in our communication.  Several years ago, my grandmother passed away while my husband was at NTC.  I had no way of contacting him and telling him that I needed him.  I didn't hear from him until three days later, which meant that I had to deal with all of my emotions on my own, far from family since I was in Germany.  It was torture not to be able to reach him at such a sad time.

Right now I am dealing with the same feeling, though on the opposite side of the coin.  I have something really amazing and exciting to tell him, but I just have to keep waiting until he calls me.

I hate that I can't pick up a phone and share big life events with him.

"America's Favorite Mom" Will be Crowned Tonight

A reminder to watch NBC tonight at 7:00 EDT to see Donny and Marie Osmond crown America's Favorite Mom. There are three Military Moms vying for the title.

If one of these three moms win the title, here's how they plan to spend the prize money:

Patti Patton-Bader 

Patton Bader wants America’s soldiers to be the big winners. “I plan on using everything to help heroes. Everything,” she says, referring to the wide variety of prizes she could receive if she is lucky enough to win. “It is a true honor to stand with these fourteen outstanding moms," she adds.

Melinda Gintilas

If Melinda wins, Adam said, they plan to donate part of the prize to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and spend $10,000 or so buying groceries for families at the Fort Carson post exchange.

Rosanna Vasquez-Brown

I can't find an article that states how Rosanna plans to spend the money, but click here to watch her moving video.

All mom's are special, and I hope all of you are having a wonderful Mother's Day, but I'm biased and I'd love to see a Military Mom win! Good luck to all of you.

Silver Linings

My husband has only been gone for four days, but I've already come up with a few silver linings that I'm focusing on.  There are some things that I've decided I like about deployment.

Military Spouse Appreciation Day: A Guest Blogger Honors Military Spouses

Today is Military Spouse Appreciation Day, a day to recognize the service and sacrifices of military spouses. SpouseBUZZ is pleased to welcome guest blogger, Lieutenant General William Caldwell, Commanding General, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Ft. Leavenworth. I'll turn it over to General Caldwell:

In 1984 President Reagan proclaimed the Friday before Mother's Day of each year to be Military Spouse Appreciation Day. We owe you, American military spouses, a great debt of gratitude for your strength and perseverance, especially during this time of war. Truly, your strength is the strength of our Nation.

All of us who have been deployed have drawn comfort from care packages, love letters, journal entries, holiday decorations, and prayers. Knowing that our Families are well looked after allows us to focus on our task to bring peace and stability to troubled areas of the world. The very security of this great nation is in the hands of our spouses at home.

We’ve watched you nurse your wounded warriors back to health in military hospitals. You’re there, still full of hope, when Troopers with head injuries don’t recognize their family. You encourage them. You decorate their rooms. You read their favorite books to them. You are the first to notice when they can squeeze your hand again for the first time.

The spouse on the home front pays the bills, fixes the car, gets the kids to soccer practice, helps with the homework and building the kids pinewood derby car...  you are our true heroes.  You have unique experiences that only other military spouses can comprehend.

Some spouses, like Deanna Salie, have had to comfort children when there was someone in uniform at the door, and when dad didn’t come home. Deanna’s husband, Army SFC David Salie, gave the ultimate sacrifice in Baqouba, Iraq, on Valentine’s Day in 2005. In one of David’s “just in case” videos he made for Deanna before he left for Iraq, he asked Deanna that in the event something did happen to him, “Hold our kids tight for me, and make sure they know who their daddy was and what he stood for.”

All military spouses know why their loved ones serve, and they share in their hardship and sacrifice and ask for little in return. It is humbling to those of us who wear the uniform to know that our best friends, our spouses, are serving along side us. Those of us in uniform serve because we love our Nation; our spouses do it for love of us.  Our service men and women could not continue in this profession without your help, and for that we are eternally grateful….and so is our Nation.

Thank you for your guest post, General Caldwell. It's nice to see "the brass" reaching out to military spouses. And thanks to all military spouses for what you do each day to support your spouse, and each other.

Fit Club - Report In!

Well, diet and exercise wise, this last week was a total wash.

Several of the SpouseBUZZ authors came to visit, and unless you count giggling madly and staying up late as forms of exercise, I did about ZILCH.  Although I will work out today.

I also dug in with relish to foods like waffles with real syrup, a bleu cheese burger, chips, and the dreaded Onion Petals at Logan's Road House.

Not my finest week in my fitness journey, to be sure.

But never fear!  Fitness Magazine has come to my rescue!

Discussion Time

Let's have a discussion about new military daddies!   

Read the article after the jump - then please share your thoughts and opinions on the information provided.

Kindness DOES matter

Recently had a flight down to Dallas, TX on Southwest Airlines. Which I have to say was an experience…it’s more like riding a bus. You get on and people get off at various stops, at which time you are free to move about the cabin and change seats before the next group of riders comes on….the same thing happens at the next stop. I kinda liked the system and will definitely fly them again! However, I digress.

 It was during one of the stops (out of St. Louis – not to point the finger at any one city) that I learned the importance of the small things – a smile, a thank you – and the impressions we leave with others.

Request for Milspouse Bloggers

If you operate a blog (or know of a blog) that you'd like to share with the rest of us, and it was not listed on this thread, please leave the blog name and url in the comment section. I'm sure there are new blogs which have cropped up since we posted the first list and we'd love to know about them so that we can pass the links on to SpouseBUZZ readers. 

Tonight on SBTR: Protect Yourself and Your Belongings

Tonight on SBTR, we are hosting a show about protecting your belongings, and your identity. Joining us for the first half of the program will be Tim Decker, USAA's Executive Director of Bank Fraud Services. Tim will talk with us about how to protect ourselves from "fraudsters" and "scams."

During the second half of the program, we'll be joined by Justin Schmitt, USAA's Executive Director of Property and Casualty Communications. Many military families rent their homes and apartments so we'll speak with Justin about the benefits of purchasing renter's insurance; why it's important, what it covers and how much it costs.

Tim and Justin will be taking your calls and answering your questions. In honor of Military Spouse Appreciation Day (May 9), USAA will present two lucky callers (must be a military spouse) with iPod Nanos, so get ready to phone your questions in. You could walk away with a brand new iPod!   

Don't miss tonight's show, it's going to be chock full of advice and tips. Click here at 9:00 p.m. EDT to listen in. And please join us in the chat room.

We've Known Each Other That Long...

As the week hurtles toward Saturday and my law school graduation ceremony, I am taking stock of the past two years and thought it might be fun if you did too...

Starting From Scratch

I wrote before about how, during the last deployment, I made so many Pillsbury biscuits that I cooked a lonely ring into my small bar pan.  And then I wrote a few months ago about how sad I felt when my husband broke the pan.  I had planned to bake more biscuits on this next deployment, and now my pan was gone.

What I haven't yet written about was how HomefrontSix mailed me a brand new bar pan when she read that mine had broken.  I started to cry when the box arrived on my doorstep; it was a reminder of how lucky I am to have this SpouseBUZZ community and how all of you will take care of me while my husband is gone.

My husband deployed last night.  I'm ready to get started on another biscuit ring.

Observations: The Extended Military Family

We often focus on the sisterhood (and brotherhood) of spouses here at SpouseBUZZ because, well, that's what SpouseBUZZ is all about. But over the past couple of days, I discovered that these bonds reach far beyond our fellow spouses, and it was a wonderful discovery.

The SpouseBUZZ team (minus two) began making their way to Washington last Sunday for a meet-up (little bit of business and a lot of pleasure). The nerve center was airforcewife's house. I arrived at the nerve center on Monday afternoon and was greeted by the smallest and youngest segments of airforcefamily - the kids. Before I could even get my door open, airforceboy was reaching in my car to give me a hug, and I got three or four more before I reached the front door! As soon as I stepped out of the car, the youngest airforce daughter excitedly approached me to show off her new caterpillar, and we had a discussion about the various colors of caterpillars. Once I finally got out of the car, the middle daughter ran to my car. "Hi, Ms. Andi. Oh, that's our neighbor's parking place, can you move your car here?" And with that, the traffic director guided me into a new parking spot.

Two Homes (or three, or four)

I don't know if this is normal, but I have a hard time letting go of homes.  Of course, anything outside of CONUS is easy.  But if we move within a day's drive, I try to pretend that I still sort of live in my old home while making a life at my new home.  The result is a special sort of multiple personality disorder that results in a ridiculous amount of driving and scheduling stress.  Throw in some part of my family anywhere nearby and the amount of time behind the wheel increases even more.

Did You Know?

AF Spouses Encouraged to Take Survey
Building a Lending Library for Troops
Commissaries Offer Online Dietician
DVDs Help Kids Cope With Deployment
Fisher House for St. Louis
Free Amusement Park Admission
Marines Face Strict New Motorcycle Rules
Military Spouse Appreciation Day May 9th
Must Read Blog on Transition
New Website Seeks User Input
Online Housing Referral Network Expands
Online Relocation Tool
VA Seeks More Volunteers
Vehicle Rules in Europe 

The Hard Conversations

On Sunday, my husband and I sat down and went over our finances.  Normally this is his lane, but since he'll be gone he's turning the reins over to me.  He showed me how the computer program works and we talked about what we're going to do with his extra entitlements.  In the course of discussing our day-to-day finances, I asked my husband what he would suggest I do if I did suddenly end up with SGLI money.

We Certainly Love Our Milpets

Let me begin this post by thanking all who participated and made this posting possible.  My hope is that the included photos will bring a smile to everyones face. 

I thoroughly enjoyed putting this post together.  Receiving the photos and the stories that accompanied the photos - made me grin from ear to ear.   

Now..........Behold the superb lineup of Milpets!

This and That

A reminder to watch NBC's Today Show this morning. In the 9:00 a.m. EDT hour, the military moms vying for America's Favorite Mom will be featured on the show. After you watch the show, go vote!

This month, our very own GBear has knocked Tony the Tiger off the cover of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes cereal boxes. GBear is being honored for her wonderful work with Sew Much Comfort and her picture will appear on the cereal boxes. The boxes are only available in commissaries. Pick one up, GBear's GRREEEAAAATTTTT!

Weekly Gratitude!!

I have not written anything for quite some time over here at SB....

Plain old fashioned busy.

I do however have a lot to to be thankful for, not just this week either. I have had a month of real good news and events.

I am blessed.

I am thankul for my health, it has been imperative in getting things done.

I am thankful for my 2 children and their ENERGY!

I am thankful for a Husband who is understanding.

I am thankful for wonderful friends, and family.

I am thankful, for suprises. They come in all shapes and sizes. My home sold in 2 days after listing it in the paper. Which was a blessing, and a SURPRISE!

What are you thankful for this week?

From the Mailbag: Cutting the Umbilical Cord

Funny that Sarah mentioned this just last week.

An email from a reader:

I'm heading into our first war deployment.  Many of the other spouses in our FRG are first timers, too, and it seems that we are all having some similar struggles with our husbands.  We are about two months out, and while I have read a lot about anticipatory grief and all those other things that the spouses go through, I haven't seen much about the psychology and/or emotions that our servicemembers experience during this time.  Have other spouses found that their servicemembers have shorter tempers?  I'm not talking about major marital crises, but more petty arguments and disagreements over things that are usually easy to skim over? 

Do we all sort of need some detachment before the deployment so that it's not such a blow when they leave?

Thoughts?