Sing For Joy

O-6

My husband was promoted to O-6 this past Monday.  He's a Colonel now! We both still find it hard to believe.  Not everyone makes it to this rank and we know plenty of people who didn't who should have-and, are we really old enough to be at this point?  I mean, I used to be intimidated by the Colonels and now I'm married to one!  It was a great day and the days leading up to it were fun, too.  I didn't sleep much because my mind wouldn't shut down long enough, but I was running on adrenaline.  We are so thankful for this promotion and for everyone who was here to share in the special day with us.  Joe's parents came in Wednesday for Thanksgiving.  It was just the 6 of us on Thanksgiving Day and things went well.  Joe made another delicious turkey on the grill.  His parents brought him a "charcoal chimney."  I had never heard of it but you use it instead of lighter fluid.  Either way, the turkey was great and so was everything else, if I do say so myself!  One of the desserts I made was a Honey Almond Citrus Pound Cake.  So good!

Saturday, Joe's brother and his oldest daughter came into town.  Ellie and Gracie had a great time with Jenna and it was great to have Tim in our house for the first time since 2001.  My mom and Step Dad also came into town that day and stopped by for awhile before going to their hotel.

Sunday, my Dad and Step mom and my cousin and her husband arrived.  Everyone came to our house for dinner that night.  We had drinks and yummy appetizers and it was wonderful to have everyone here.  I really missed having Granny with us and thought about her often.  I surprised Joe that night with a DVD my sister made for me.  It was lots of pictures of him throughout his career in different locations and then some of the two of us and some with the girls.  He loved it and so did the rest of the family.  

Monday was the ceremony.  Joe's boss from his last deployment officiated and it was great to have him part of the day.  I sent an invitation to a friend of Joe's from Pilot Training who was also in our wedding and he was there!  We had not seen him since the wedding.  He came with another old Air Force friend who was also in our wedding!

Right after the ceremony we served lunch to everyone.  I had it catered by a local girl who specializes in lasagna.  We had 4 different kinds and they all tasted great.  She let me borrow a food warmer that can be plugged into the car outlet and the wall outlet and that little invention saved the day!  She also brought us some yummy muffins.  They were delicious and I asked for the recipe when I returned the warmer.  She didn't give it to me but said that she sells them.  But her young son said, " You mean the Pecan Pie Muffins?"  And then I knew what they were called and what to google!  I've already found a couple versions of the recipe. 

Monday night, we took everyone who came in from out of town to dinner at Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town Alexandria.  It was such a fun night with great company and delicious food.  It was a perfect way to end the extra long weekend.  

I'll hopefully have some good pictures to post soon.  The ones that a classmate took with our camera did not turn out very well and I'm waiting for others who took pictures to send them to us.  In the meantime, here's one from our dinner at Gadsby's.

Flowers from the Colonel....

Thankful......



I am thankful for Joe's parents making it safely to our home today. They drove from West Michigan. I am thankful that more family will be coming into town over the weekend for Joe's promotion on Monday. I'm thankful to live near Washington D.C. I am thankful to be a military wife and Mom. I'm thankful for Jesus.

The headlines made me blog again

I really have wanted to write on my blog again and get back to it on a more regular basis.  Today while reading the paper, I was given inspriation to write.  It's one of those times where I'm hoping the thoughts will come as I write and I can fully explain what I'm feeling.  The headline read "America's economic pain brings hunger pangs."  More people than ever in our country are hungry and don't always know where there next meal will come from or when they will have enough money to buy more food for their family.  I suppose part of the reason this really hit me is that I was sitting in Starbucks having one of their breakfast sandwiches and drinking a latte while reading this article.  Feeling like I deserved this outing because I spent most of yesterday cleaning the house and preparing a meal and having friends over for dinner.  I also complain about not having enough space in the pantry for all the food I buy.  Same thing with the small freezer that came with the house we are renting.  Of course, we do have an extra one in the garage that we brought with us.   I want to help.  I want to give all those families something to eat, especially the children.  I want them to have nutritious food.   When our country can spend millions of dollars to see if there is water on the moon, there should not be one hungry person in this country.  I know there are all kinds of opinions about this-we can't just give hand outs all the time when there are others working hard to make sure their family has food on the table, but it still hit me hard.  Especially this time of year.  I hope to find a small way to help and that others will want to as well.

Still here

Busy.

Happy-most of the time.  So are the girls and Joe.

Lots of company this month.  That keeps me busy and happy.

Love going to D.C. and hope to go often.

Went last month for the National Book Festival and it was a fantastic day.  The highlight for us was seeing Paula Deen.  But we also saw James Patterson and the authors of the Spiderwick Chronicles and the Judy Moody series.  Fatigue and the rain and the crowds made us leave before we saw Judy Blume and Nicholas Sparks. 

Joe will have his promotion at the end of November.  Still waiting for the official date from the Air Force, but that's what we're planning on now.  Very excited about having family and maybe even some friends come for the event.

I have written a number of great blog posts in my head but can't seem to get in this chair at the computer to type them.

Ellie did her FIRST EVER CLASS PRESENTATION IN FRONT OF HER WHOLE CIVICS CLASS THIS WEEK.  In the past, she has done them either on video or for a small group.  She was nervous and the teacher had to ask her to speak up, but she got an A.  I am so proud of that girl I could cry.  Actually, I already have. 

Answered prayers

Ellie made a friend at school today.....

Joe and I are going on a date tonight-just the two of us to have time to talk and catch up with each other.....

Gracie is still enjoying school and spending time with her new friends....

God is good!  All the time!

A new kind of first

So, I haven't been writing here in awhile and really want to get back into it.  In the meantime, a short catch up post will have to do.

We are continuing to settle in to the new area.  I need the GPS and/or the map less and less when I'm driving around.  I've even driven to Joe's school in D.C. twice.  I'm going to volunteer at a bookstore there once a week.  In return for volunteering, Joe and I will receive two tickets to a gala taking place in November.  It is for an Award Ceremony honoring a Patriotic American.  Gen Colin Powell was the firs recipient of this award a few years ago.  It is a formal event and I am very excited to attend! 

When we registered Ellie for school, the counselor that helped us was so kind and encouraging.  She has taken such good care of Ellie and even made sure Ellie received the electives she really wanted.  She's taking art this semester and creative writing next semester. 

The girls started school on Tuesday.  Gracie had a great first day.  She loves her teacher and made a couple of friends quickly.  There are only about 10 girls in her class!  Both the girls she is friends with ride her bus as well!  That's answered prayer.

Ellie had an o.k. first day.  But, in reality, it was one of her best first days of school ever-especially at a brand new school.  She asked for help when she needed it, talked to her teachers, even in front of the class-not just one on one, she was fine to go to the bus stop on her own and she returned home without being too frustrated.   But she doesn't have a friend yet and it is bringing her down.  She even cried about it last night.  That is unusual for Ellie because normally when she is emotional about something, she'll write about it or keep it inside.  I'm glad she was able to show her feelings and talk to me about it.  I did the best I could to help her but wow, it is not easy.  This is definitely one of those times I wish I could wave a "magic Mom wand" and make everything all better!  This school is much bigger than her school in Texas and she feels like most of the kids there are so different.  It's definitely much more culturally diverse than any other school Ellie has attended.  I know something will work out for her, I just hope it's sooner rather than later.

Joe is enjoying his school but he's definitely doing a lot of work.  He comes home at a decent time everyday-usually between 3 and 5 in the afternoon.  He immediately does reading and homework until dinner and then he's back at the school work until he goes to bed.  He says he's an extremely overpaid student.  Right now he's on a trip with a group from the school for one of his classes.  He's in St. Louis and was able to have dinner with old friends. 

Life here is all about "firsts" for us.  I hope that someday I can re-read this post and realize how far we have all come and see God's hand at work in our lives.  I've already seen evidence of Him and I know I will continue to.  He is faithful!

One of the "lasts."

There were lots of "lasts"  that had to take place in our remaining days in Texas and one of the big events took place just two days before we left.

 This funny looking group of people with things sticking out of their ears is our friends from church who came to see Joe's "fini flight."  That was his last time flying  a C-130 at Dyess, and depending on future jobs, his last time flying while he's in the Air Force.  A little sad to think about, but, there's still hope he'll fly again.  We loved having our friends on the flightline with us for the big day, despite the extremely hot temperatures.  But they really wanted to witness this!

 Getting ready to land.....

Flying right over our heads.... Stepping off the plane and being sprayed by me with the fire hose!  It's an old military tradition. None of us saw this coming!  Unfortunately, this is the only picture of it.

 We love our C-130's and he's our favorite pilot!

Moved in....

It has been a long time between blog posts but I'm happy to say we are in our home in Virginia and slowly but surely getting settled. We had a good trip from TX to AR to KY to MI to VA. The highlight of the trip was definitely going to Mackinac Island with Joe's brother and his family-10 of us altogether.  Our 2 girls and their 3 girls and one son had so much fun together and we had great weather. 

 The bulk of the unpacking is complete and curtains have been hung.  No pictures on the walls yet.  Joe is already busy with reading and writing his first paper for school.  I attended an orientation for the spouses at his school last Friday and met a woman who has a son going into the 4th grade.  After the discussion we had, she belives he has Selective Mutism like Ellie.  She couldn't believe the similarities and he's even been treated for anxiety-but she's never heard of S.M.!   

We are happy with the house and have met nice neighbors on both sides of us, but there are no girls close to the girls' ages close by.  But it's a big neighborhood and hopefully they'll meet some friends when school starts. 

There is so much to say, but also so many other things still to do.  We're still looking for a church and had a very interesting experience yesterday.  

We went to a new church for their 9:00 service. ( It was just Joe and me because the girls went to NC yesterday with my Mom and Step Dad.)  We were surprised to learn there is no formal Sunday School for adults.  The youth band played and they did a good job.  The sermon was ok.  The only people that spoke to us were a greeter as we came in the main door and a guy who recognized Joe from ICAF.    We found out that their program for Gracie is during one service and for Ellie it would be for another service.  Not exactly ideal, plus we like going to worship as a family.  So, since it was only 10:30 and we didn’t have the girls with us, we actually visited a Second church!  We went to one in Springfield.  It is a very big church with a choir and an orchestra.  They did both traditional and contemporary music.   The sermon was good and people were friendly.  We saw a retired Air Force General and his wife in the choir that we’ve known for a few years.  He just recently retired and they were one of the couples that visited our base in Texas when we were there and we helped show them around the base.  They are a very strong Christian couple and we have always looked up to them.  We had no idea that was their church!  The second church is a possibility for us, but we'll probably visit a few more. 

 

I am hoping to get together with another Air Force spouse who just moved into the area this week.  Haven't seen her in years.  Joe and I have plans to go see the Washington Nationals play Wednesday night and Thursday I'll be headed to NC.  I'm looking forward to seeing lots of family while there.  We'll be back early next week and finish getting ready for the start of school-which isn't until Sept 8th!  There are still a few supplies to buy and shots to receive!

Moving on.....

We have four more nights to sleep in our house and 2 weeks from today we are scheduled to drive away from Abilene.  The movers come Monday which means the computer goes back in the box until we unpack in Virginia in early August.   Because we are moving a week earlier than originally planned, there is a lot to do between now and Monday.  Thankfully, Joe has a 3 day weekend.  And yesterday was the party on base to celebrate those who were selected for Colonel.  We had a great time and it was a fun way to get our long weekend started.  Now, where are those important papers I don't want the movers to pack.....time to get organized and I look forward to starting the blog up again in August!  Happy 4th of July to all of you!

Recommendations

In the spirit of fashionista Jillian, I had to share here what I discovered this weekend.  We spent Friday and Saturday in Dallas and Denton visiting Joe's cousin and her family.  The trip included eating too much good food, shopping, going to the Dallas World Aquarium, and watching some awesome volleyball games!   When we stopped at North Park Mall in Dallas, I went in The Body Shop and smelled the new scents they offer of their Body Butter:

This Wild Cherry is one of their new ones and I love it.  BUT!

Then I discovered they also offer  Butter for.....

LIPS!! 

This stuff is great-very smooth and lots of yummy scents.   I sure hope there is a Body Shop near us in Virginia!