The orphan party

For the last few years, since she's been at her European duty station, Younger Daughter has been throwing what she calls "Orphan Parties" at Christmas.

These are Christmas Eve gatherings of as many service people as want to celebrate together, since so many are far away from their families. She has a spacious apartment, and the party starts on Christmas Eve evening and lasts past midnight. She is arranging car pools and designated drivers, and is also offering floor and couch space for those who just want to crash overnight rather than navigate their way home (especially helpful for those who overindulge).

Although adult beverages will be available (brought by guests, since she doesn't supply either food or alcohol), the entire party is wholesome and family-friendly. This year she is expecting 20 adults and six kids, including three babies ranging in age from seven months to eighteen months. She has gifts for each party attendee, including stockings for the older children. (She decided on just stuffed animals for the babies.)

When we last spoke a couple days ago, she said she was working on games and prizes. 

• People are encouraged to wear (modest) pajamas, so she'll have a prize for the "best dressed" nightwear.

• She plans a "hide the pickle" game, in which a pickle-shaped ornament is hidden somewhere in the apartment. The extra rule is the finder must visibly hold the pickle at all times, and others can steal it if they want.

Gifts and prizes are equally fun or goofy. She has four anonymous gifts, wrapped up, but they can only be given if the gift is identified through a series of clues.

• One of the prizes is a coupon for a free painting (she's very artistic, and apparently people hound her for artwork).

• Another prize is a very large bottle of hot sauce shaped like the Grinch’s head.

• Because (as she puts it) so many party attendees are immature, one of the prizes is a Nerf gun, which is apparently very popular among sailors.

• For caffeine addicts, she found a vintage mocha coffee set at a thrift store. She said it was a little pricey, but very handsome.

I love the idea of an Orphan Party! It's tough on military personnel to be so far away from loved ones, but she is helping forge both ties and memories by offering a place to safely celebrate.

The orphan party

Younger Daughter is currently at her overseas duty station in Europe. Like many military personnel, she finds herself far away from family during the festive season of Christmas.

Her solution? She's throwing an "Orphan Party" on Christmas Eve, which will continue at least until midnight and probably later. She has a spacious apartment and large terrace, so lots of people who have no other family nearby will join together and make merry. She did this last year as well, and apparently it was a wonderful success.

We talked to her a couple days ago, and she explained the plans. Apparently the guest list is now up to 23 (including some children and, no kidding, two German shepherd puppies). She's offering the space, including a portable fire pit on the terrace, and the guests are bringing everything else

Besides decorating her apartment, she's assembling themed flowers consisting of bundles of pine branches, berries, and white flowers, some of which will be suspended from the ceiling to make fake mistletoe.

Even more fun, it's a pajama party, so everyone will show up in (modest) sleep wear. There will be a prize for the best pajamas.

All food, all beverages (alcoholic and otherwise), all snacks and treats, are being brought by the various guests. (Her words: "I'm not making a damned thing.") Younger Daughter has personalized gifts for everyone – everyone! – and she splurged a bit for these, including stockings for the kids. (The kids' stockings will contain candy, chocolate, small toys, and – just to annoy the parents – harmonicas.) The packages under the Christmas tree shown above are just some of the gifts she's wrapped for her guests.

Someone is bringing a hot chocolate bar, where the beverage can be enjoyed plain or mixed with Kahlua or Irish cream or other modifiers. Someone else is bringing all the necessary ingredients for s'mores, to be toasted over the fire pit. Yet someone else is bringing a karaoke machine so people can sing Christmas carols.

Above all, the guests are cognizant that children will be present, so everyone plans to keep things fairly wholesome. For those choosing to indulge in adult beverages, Younger Daughter is making sure everyone has designated drivers, and in a few instances she's offering spare beds and floor space for those who just want to sleep it off.

Oddly enough, a card game I used to play with the girls when they were young – called King's Corner – has become quite the sensation among Younger Daughter's cohorts. Apparently they're planning a King's Corner playoff during the party, with a Nerf gun prize.

Last year's party had about 20 people and just by chance there were no children present. She said everyone had a blast. Weirdly enough, one of the highlights was the cigars and chestnuts one guest brought. At the time, Younger Daughter was living in a different apartment with a massive patio, so people assembled around the fire pit smoking cigars and playing a game in which they tried to toss chestnuts into others' drinks. Sounds odd, but apparently it was a smashing success.

I simply love the idea of an Orphan Party. If Younger Daughter, like so many of her fellow military personnel, are forced to be far away from loved ones over the holidays, I'm glad they're celebrating together.

A note on Younger Daughter

In light of the developing conflict in the Middle East, several readers have expressed concern for our Navy daughter, who is currently stationed in Europe.

We just talked with her today, and she's fine. Since she's on shore duty for the next few years, we're praying she won't be directly involved in this horrible situation. She's confident she's not in immediate physical danger.

The same can't be said for other members of the military. And, of course, things can change in a moment as the political winds shift and the conflict involves more and more nations and people.

It breaks my heart to read about so many innocent lives lost. Please continue to pray that this conflict can be resolved without further escalation.

Advice for boot camp

I received a comment as follows: "We have a family friend (one of our sons' buddies) who will be joining the Navy next month. He is a great young man – a solid Christian and very driven in whatever he sets his focus on. I wondered if you might ask your Navy daughter what items she wished she had had or were useful when she went off to boot camp? Or if not practical during basic, what sorts of things would be good for a care box later when he is deployed or in special training? (I believe he is going "nuclear reactor school" to learn how to maintain the power plants on large aircraft carriers and/or subs.) Any feedback would be most appreciated! Best Regards, TimfromOhio"

The photo above is a screenshot from Younger Daughter's boot camp graduation in 2017. I also put up a blog post about the things recruits were restricted to bringing when going to boot camp (here).

Anyway, I sent the query from "TimfromOhio" to Younger Daughter, and this is her response:

"Don't send anything while he's in boot camp, except letters – care packages will get him in trouble. He'll be in school for a long time, so he won't really need much since he'll be at a shore command, but nice socks are always a plus, homemade snacks, etc. I'd say maybe a nice boot camp graduation gift like a watch or a wallet, something small that he can take with him while he travels."

Oh, and I remember Younger Daughter saying when she got her penicillin shot in boot camp, she spent some time scooting around on her rear end, sort of rubbing it in. Apparently it's a lot more painful if you don't do this. (Further advice along these lines can be found online at various forums, apparently.)

Hope this helps!

A nice surprise for Younger Daughter

Younger Daughter had barely arrived at her overseas duty station in Europe when she received a call from the Base Commander.

She was informed she had achieved the rank of E6 (Petty Officer First Class). The Base Commander congratulated her, then passed the phone to the Base Operations Officer and the Base Executive Officer, who also offered their congratulations.

Not a bad advancement for five and a half years in the Navy!

Update on Younger Daughter

Whew, what a schedule our poor Younger Daughter has endured over the past couple of days.

After her flight from Denver to Norfolk was canceled, the airline put her up in a hotel. A very nice hotel.

Here are some of her messages:

"So I finally got in touch with everybody [in Europe], although I got almost NO sleep. Right now I'm waiting to hear back from the travel organization to see if they'll authorize me a commercial flight, because the next military flight isn't until June 12th. Meh, it's all part of the grand adventure, I guess."

Then later: "I will say this hotel is a much nicer place than I normally stay at!"

In the evening: "I have a flight booked now! I get to Norfolk at 1500 tomorrow, early morning flight. Hopefully it goes smooth from there. I'll get to Europe eventually - either wait until the 12th [of June] for a military flight or they'll pay to fly me commercial. I won't find out which one until tomorrow."

Then later: "I had just JUUUUST started to fall asleep when I got a call from Japan. So yeah, I'm flying early to Norfolk tomorrow morning, and they're going to try and get me on a commercial flight to [her duty station] on either the 30th or the 31st from Norfolk. I'm starting to think this is a big conspiracy to keep me from getting sleep. I have to be up by 0230. Flight is at 0530, but the shuttle times leave on the hour so the 0300 shuttle is my best option. I don't get in until 3PM though, I have a layover in Newark."

Then later: "I have a flight! It's super inefficient. But I go from Denver to Newark, to Norfolk, to JFK in NY, to Paris, to [the duty station]. The Newark to Norfolk to JFK seems stupid too, but ah well. They're all paid for by the military. Actually the Norfolk to [Europe] flight is only $600. The Navy knows how to get a good deal, especially since the flight is tomorrow. I made over 70 phone calls to figure all this out."

Early this morning she wrote: "I feel like I've been at the airport for a decade. I'm actively getting older. The precious remnants of my 20s are slipping away. Not to be dramatic or anything."

She then proceeded to update us throughout the day, hopping through various airports: Newark, JFK, and finally Norfolk. She should be boarding a commercial flight shortly to Paris, and from there will transfer to her duty station.

Yowza, that's a lot of hassle for one canceled flight!

Aw nuts

This is a beautiful photo of Mt. Fuji taken by Younger Daughter.

Younger Daughter is in a froth of frustration. She's been stationed in Japan, if you remember, but now her term of enlistment in the Navy is finished. However after much thought, she decided to re-up for another (shorter) enlistment IF the Navy would meet her "dream sheet" requirements. Rather to her surprise, they did.

She is now coming back to the States for some additional training before heading to Europe for three years of shore-duty. Since she hasn't been home in over three years, she hoped to spend a couple weeks with us before heading to the training center.

It was for this reason we postponed our Christmas gift-exchanges: We were waiting for Younger Daughter to join us. We even kept our Christmas tree up, since she hasn't seen many for the last few years.

To her bitter disappointment, Younger Daughter must report to training almost immediately. We won't have a chance to see her before hand. However she's already been approved for a generous amount of leave (almost a month) in May, which is certainly a prettier time of year to visit anyway. We'll have a nice long visit before she heads to Europe.

I guess we can take the Christmas tree down. The neighbors were probably looking at us funny anyway.

Happy birthday, Younger Daughter!

Today is Younger Daughter's 24th birthday!

Goodness, where do the years go? It seems only yesterday that she was a baby.

Younger Daughter, as most of you know, is in the Navy and stationed in Japan. She got to celebrate her birthday in the worst way possible: by heading out to sea for six months. "Mom, I don't wannnaaaaaa go underway," she joked. I replied, "Then don't go. Simple as that."

She is now at a juncture in her naval career where this may or may not be her last deployment. She has put in a request for a shore-duty placement at a desirable location. If she gets offered this position, she may stay in the Navy for another tour of duty. If not, she has many civilian options open to her. She should find out in the next two months whether her request was approved.

But whatever her future, today's her birthday. Love you, honey!

The only (American) casualty of Japan's earthquake

As you may remember, Younger Daughter is currently stationed in Japan with the Navy.

When I heard about the recent 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit the nation, I was concerned but not worried. That's because Younger Daughter actually wasn't home – she had been sent to another ship for about two weeks for a training mission.

As it turns out, she arrived back in Japan shortly after the tremor. Thankfully she was able to make it back to her apartment without too much issue, where she managed to photograph the only (American) casualty of the earthquake:

I sincerely hope the rest of Japan has similarly mild damage.

Update on Younger Daughter

Some time ago, a reader posted a comment as follows: "Any news you can give us about Younger daughter? Every time I hear Navy I think of her."

Younger Daughter, as most of you know, joined the Navy four years ago for a six-year enlistment. She spent a year going through boot camp, A School, and C School before being assigned to her overseas duty station. I've been gently nagging Younger Daughter to write a blog post updating everyone as to how she's doing, and she did! Here's her post.

-----------------------------------------

Hello, all! Mom's been reminding me with a decreasingly gentle nature for several weeks to give you an update on how I'm doing. I'm fine! Wasn't that easy?

Okay, now for the rest of it. I've been stationed in Japa – whoops, my unnamed overseas duty station – for around three years now. In fact, I hit three years this January. I'll be leaving some time in 2023. At this point, I'm leaning towards getting out of the Navy, but it depends on the orders they offer me next – I won't turn up my nose at a shore duty in Italy or Spain, for example. I've been to a few good port visits, been on a few deployments, and overall had a pretty good time.

The food out here is great and the toilets are phenomenal. I've seen a fair bit of Japan, and I hope to use this last year out here to see as much more as possible, and perhaps revisit some of the prettier locations.

At this point, the future is wide open, with a lot of unknowns. If the Navy coaxes me to stay in with those magical orders, then life will stay as it is for a while. If I get orders that I don't care for (I’ll go to Norfolk when hell freezes over), then I'll get out and make the transition to being allowed to wear comfortable shoes again.

The Navy has treated me pretty well, all things considered. I live in a nice apartment with an ocean view, I've put a substantial amount of money aside (both for retirement and towards buying a house someday), and I've seen a wide portion of the world. The downside is my knees hurt, my back hurts, and I just can't stop swearing.

I've still kept up with a few hobbies. I completed NaNoWriMo with Mom this year, which I haven't done since I was a teenager (it was a lot easier back when I didn't have a job). I also still do a lot of miscellaneous art – digital and traditional. I've mostly been on a watercolors kick recently. And outside that, it's just a quiet life. Busy, but mostly good.

– Younger Daughter

Another care package for a sailor

A few months ago, you might remember we sent Younger Daughter a care package consisting of many bags of dehydrated vegetables to enjoy while she's on deployment.

Younger Daughter has a passion for mangoes, so last time I was in the city I picked her up a few pounds of dehydrated mangoes. They've been sitting in the kitchen for about a month. Finally I sent her a message: "I still haven't shipped your box with the mangoes. I have plenty of room for something else to pack in the box. What else would you like me to send? No sense wasting the space."

She replied that she wanted some fry sauce (eww, whatever), and then added: "Would you be willing to try making some cookies? We got some homemade cookies from a third-grade class a while back, and they actually shipped really well – they wrapped them in plastic wrap and they were still soft. My favorites are snickerdoodles and your peanut butter cookies. I asked around and general comments included 'snickerdoodles and anything lemon' so the guys in my shop would be eternally grateful."

Later she added a plea on behalf of one of her fellow sailors: "By the way, Juan likes oatmeal raisin, and I wholeheartedly agree with him – would you be willing to swap out one of the other types for some oatmeal? We'll all love you forever as the bestest mom. Plus he's Juan, he's all of our favorites. And his family sends him the chocolate macadamia nuts that he shares with all of us, so I figure I owe him one."

So there you go. Suddenly I had cookie requests from everyone in Younger Daughter's shop. Time to get baking.

Out came a bunch of cookbooks and recipe sheets as I prepped for a marathon in the kitchen.

The making of these cookies spanned about a week. I started with a quadruple batch of lemon cookies, which are dusted with powdered sugar.

I bagged these up and tucked them in the freezer to stay fresh while I concentrated on other things.

I made the dough for peanut butter cookies and snickerdoodles, then put the dough in plastic tubs and tucked it in the refrigerator, with baking hints taped on top (375F, bake 7-8 minutes), while I made oatmeal-raisin cookies for Juan.

On baking day, I cleared off the table and set out every cooling rack I owned.

First batch of snickerdoodles, ready for the oven.

Snickerdoodles, peanut butter...

I had an appreciative audience underfoot.

This is the "stacking" stage. Almost done.

Shipping materials.

Box 1: A bag of dried mangoes and two bottles of fry sauce (eew, whatever).

I stapled warnings on the lemon cookies because they contain walnuts. I'd hate for someone with a nut allergy to eat one.

I tried not to crush the cookies as I packed them, but I have a feeling a fair number will arrive in crumb form. Oh well.

Whenever I came across some Sunday comics, I laid them uncrumpled across the top of the box so they could get passed around and enjoyed.

It took five boxes to pack everything.

I hope Juan enjoys his cookies.

Care package for a sailor

Younger Daughter (who, as you remember, is in the Navy) is deployed once again. From her overseas duty station, she's now at sea for the next six months. Her internet is understandably spotty during this time – it gets worse the farther from shore they are – so we communicate when and how we can.

Life aboard a ship, I gather, obsessively centers on one thing: food. Frequently Younger Daughter is served "midrats" (midnight rations), meals provided for those who are working nights, and apparently the monotony and indifferent quality are a common complaint.

So a couple weeks ago she happened to see the blog post I put up about dehydrating broccoli and wistfully mentioned she would love some dehydrated broccoli. Younger Daughter is fond of a particular soup she used to make when she was a teenager consisting of noodles and various vegetables, and she thought she might be able to cobble together something similar with ramen noodles, a microwave, and boiling water – if only she had dried vegetables.

Well how can any mother resist that kind of cry for help? Next thing I knew, out came the dehydrators and I was trying my hand at drying a variety of new things.

First thing I did was list the vegetables I had canned up in the pantry. Of them, Younger Daughter especially craved corn. I have lots and lots of corn canned up, but I had never tried dehydrating canned corn. Time to experiment.

I started with seven pints...

...which I drained and rinsed.

I used the fine-mesh inserts on the trays.

I wasn't sure how many trays seven pints of corn would fill up, so I just kept spreading and stacking. Of the twelve possible trays (between two dehydrators), the corn filled eight.

Then I divvied them between the two machines, set them up outside (where the noise wouldn't drive us nuts), set the temperature at 125F, and let them run for eight hours.

It turned out better than I hoped.

Each kernel was golden and perfectly dry, yet somehow chewy (not hard like popcorn). The occasional dark kernel is from corn that was a bit above water-level in the jars when canned up. They're discolored, but otherwise fine.

I put the dried corn into a bowl...

...and turned my attention to another one of Younger Daughter's favorite veggies, cabbage.

Cabbage is certainly not something I'd ever tried dehydrating before, so this was unknown territory. The little instruction book that came with the dehydrator didn't even cover it. But a touch of online research suggested slicing the cabbage thin and drying it at 125F for eight hours.

So I peeled off the outer leaves...

...and sliced it thin.

I cut out the core, since the online source said it's too tough and dense to dry. Makes sense.

Four heads of cabbage filled two large bowls.

Those four heads also filled all twelve dehydrator trays full. In fact, I probably crowded the shredded cabbage on the trays a little thicker than I should have, but oh well.

I set the temp at 125F for four hours, rotated the trays, and set them for another four hours.

It turned out much better than I anticipated. I figured the cabbage would have dried down to thin threads of nothingness, but actually it turned out quite decent and with more substance than I expected. However a few pieces were still "damp," so I separated the majority of dried cabbage into a large bowl, and put the still-damp pieces into a smaller bowl.

I snipped these pieces smaller and spread them on a couple of trays for another hour of drying, which did the trick.

It's worth nothing that dehydrating cabbage makes no sense from an economic viewpoint, unless it's spread out in the sun and dried that way. The amount of electricity we used to run two dehydrators for a total of eight hour (or nine, depending on whether you count the extra drying time) far exceeds the cost of the cabbages. The biggest benefit is feeding a hungry sailor stuck out in the middle of the ocean.

After this it was easy to pull together everything else, since it was already dry. In the end I packed up cabbage, corn, broccoli, garlic, and onions. The corn, onions, and garlic came from our own garden, so it will be truly a taste of home.

I also slipped a box of tea into the care package (she requested tea bags, not loose leaf).

What the heck. There are worse things a kid could ask for than a box of dehydrated vegetables.

In only a few short weeks, this box will find its way to the middle of the ocean. Hopefully the veggies will relieve the tedium of midrats.