Goes Unpunished!!!
So I have disappeared for a bit... again. It is a little hard to want to write when I spend my days writing about my day to Marc in letters. I feel like that is journal enough and not everyone needs to hear about my everyday life. It is quite thrilling and is filled with working, working out, and maybe a funny cat story. My life is certainly fascinating! However, I will have to post about working out though because I have some pretty fantastic news about that but it will have to wait until I get my newest test results next week.
So while Marc has been away at BMT (bootcamp), I have thrown myself into various projects to keep from going crazy. This may or may not have been a successful adventure. Anyway, one of my projects was being the best Air Force wife ever! Not only was I going to write my husband every day but I would find those that were struggling and send them lovely words of encouragement. I was able to get names through a Facebook group and Marc even sent me a list of guys he thought could use some encouragement. Most of the names on the list were simply last names and I had to do some recon work to find first names. I was only successful with a few. One of the first names I found was Kortney. I thought I immediately knew why this lovely lass would need some encouragement because being the only girl would be really tough! I wrote this lovely phrase, "There aren't very many women brave enough to face that and I admire you for it." Not only did I send an encouraging letter but I went above and beyond and recruited Melissa's family as well. This girl was going to get 6 letters encouraging her on in her BMT experience. I have been a little excited at just how supportive I was as an Air Force wife. I was rocking it!
Tonight Marc got to call home and it was a short 10 minutes and then he was gone. However, I will get to see him next week. I was reading through the comments on the Facebook page to see how other phone calls had gone. I was more than a little stunned to see that a mom wrote about how wonderful her conversation had been with her son and how proud she was of him. This SON happened to be Kortney. Yep..... I about crawled under a rock and died. Thankfully, only my letter had arrived and I was able to cancel Melissa's letters before they could cause any real damage. I will be writing an apology letter tonight and hopefully I will be able to get this permanent red coloring off of my face soon. Yeah.... no good deed!
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Friday, January 31, 2014
The 11 & The 19
Yesterday marked the 7 month anniversary of a tragedy that
struck my home community. This is
a day that I haven’t ever been able to write about or explain the feelings that
I had. The horrific events of that
day left our community united, heartbroken, and desperate for answers. For on June 30, 2013 19 firefighters
from the Granite Mountain Hotshots lost their lives in the Yarnell Fire. That morning I had been in the presence
of one of those men’s fathers. I
typically don’t find myself in fire stations but on that morning I had to go
because my finger had swollen to the point that my wedding ring needed to be
cut off. I was there mere hours
before that man would lose a son, a boy that I had gone to high school with. It was a devastating time for our
community and yet it brought a unity that couldn’t be described. Rather than three separate cities, we
were one and were united in honoring those fallen men. The rodeo and the 4th of
July parade were used to honor those fallen heroes and many tributes still
stand today. There are still 19
purple ribbons tied to the fence of Chino Valley High School and there is a
spot in the baseball dugout dedicated to honor Wade Parker.
I
haven’t ever written about these events because I didn’t feel I could do the
situation or those men justice.
These were men with families, wives, children, fiancés, etc. These were good men and we mourn their
loss. I didn’t write this because
I suddenly felt like I had to the words to describe the situation, these men,
my feelings, or any of it.
However, tonight I was able to pay homage to these men and I wanted to
express those feelings.
In
June 1973, 11 volunteer firefighters lost their lives. These men were from Kingman, Arizona
and one of them was a principal at the time. Last year Kingman opened a new high school and in honor of
this man it was named Lee Williams High School and their mascot is the
volunteers. Tonight they held a
silent night basketball game.
Though I have grown up around the sport, I was unaware of what that would
even mean. A silent basketball
game???? During this basketball
game the crowd is asked to be silent (no cheering, clapping, or any sound)
until the team has scored 11 points.
Last year was the first time for this event and tonight marked the
second. I was curious because I
wondered if a gym-full of people could really be silent and to pay their
respects to those who have lost their lives. I was amazed to find that they were silent, even the Lee
Williams coach hardly made noise and would only direct the players if he
absolutely needed to. It was
amazing to watch.
Friday, January 17, 2014
A Week Late
So my goal was to blog weekly but I think my new goal will be to average a blog post a week. This last week has been crazy for our family and full of lots of new changes. I started my new job today and am excited for this next chapter.
I spent a lot of time this week sewing and my straight lines are getting much straighter. I got to impress Marc with my engineering and building skills. I have epically failed at making one of the dinners for next week. I have laughed and almost cried. I have enjoyed the quiet moments and tried to make snuggle time happen more often. However, the kitties have started sleeping under blankets and so sometimes snuggle time is ruined because I accidentally kick someone or sit on them when I get into bed. I don't know why we have this new habit but we are trying to make it work for everyone.
I have finished Just Ella by Annette K. Larsen and I LOVED IT! I am now reading "Bewitched" by Alex Flinn who is one of my favorite authors. That means that I have finished by two books for January. I am hoping to get our keyboard set up this next week so the piano practicing can start. Next week I also plan on coming home from work and hopefully working out like an hourish every day. I am super excited and can't wait to see what it does for my weight loss goals. It has been a good couple of weeks and lets hope the next few are good as well.
I spent a lot of time this week sewing and my straight lines are getting much straighter. I got to impress Marc with my engineering and building skills. I have epically failed at making one of the dinners for next week. I have laughed and almost cried. I have enjoyed the quiet moments and tried to make snuggle time happen more often. However, the kitties have started sleeping under blankets and so sometimes snuggle time is ruined because I accidentally kick someone or sit on them when I get into bed. I don't know why we have this new habit but we are trying to make it work for everyone.
I have finished Just Ella by Annette K. Larsen and I LOVED IT! I am now reading "Bewitched" by Alex Flinn who is one of my favorite authors. That means that I have finished by two books for January. I am hoping to get our keyboard set up this next week so the piano practicing can start. Next week I also plan on coming home from work and hopefully working out like an hourish every day. I am super excited and can't wait to see what it does for my weight loss goals. It has been a good couple of weeks and lets hope the next few are good as well.
Monday, January 6, 2014
New Year's Resolutions
So once again our lives went on hold and I stopped blogging.
Marc finally has a contract with the United States Air Force and he will be working in Intelligence. It wasn't the job we were hoping for but I think it will be really good for our family and we have grown to become excited about this new challenge. Marc will leave for Basic Military Training on March 4th in San Antonio, Texas. He will then do 5 months of training in Sierra Vista, Arizona and then 5 months Pensacola, Florida. From my understanding I couldn't live with Marc during any of that time and so I will be waiting a year to see where our first post is.
However, I should be hearing at the end of this week if I have employment as an educational interpreter and that will be a journey all of its own. It is the first time that I will truly be living alone and I guess we will see how independent I truly am. I was worried about how I would spend my year and so I made a list of 14 goals for 2014. These are things that I want to work on through out the year to keep me busy and maybe I won't miss my husband quite so much!
These are numbered though not in any particular order:
1 - Lose 70 pounds
I know it is tacky to list weight loss as a New Year's goal because everyone does that and no one ever sticks to it. However, I have already lost 12-15 pounds and I want to keep the momentum going.
2 - Workout Regularly
I would love to work out 6 days a week and that will be my goal. I will mix up some cardio and some strength training.
3 - Eat Better
I would like to eat clean but I need it to be doable eating. So we will start small and try to stick to an 80/20 rule.
4 - Read the Book of Mormon
Last year I read the scriptures every day but I started with a smaller book. This year I want to keep the momentum going.
5 - Read a Book or Two Every Month
I have some how lost the joy in reading a book. School beat that out of me and so I want to get started again. I technically cheated for the month of January because I finished two books on New Years Day. I finished "The Four Agreements" by Miguel Ruiz and "Between the Lines" by Jodi Picoult. However, since then I have read "Sleeping Beauty's Daughters" by Diane Zahler and I just started "Just Ella" by Annette K. Larsen.
6 - Make Friends
Over the last few years we have really struggled to make any real friends. We don't fit the typical mold for what is expected in our culture and that can make things hard. I am hoping that we are both able to find individuals that we click with over the next year and make some lasting friendships.
7 - Play the Piano
This has been a skill that I haven't used in quite awhile. I was embarrassed by my lack of talent and therefore stopped playing and now I have even less of a talent. I don't want anything huge or grand but I want to enjoy playing again FOR ME.
8 - Save Money
This has been something that we have worked on over our marriage and I am excited to put some of our plans into action this year. I want to set aside some money for the future and I want to set aside some money for us to be able to play. Marc and I want to go on a cruise for our 5 year anniversary and I want to see if I can make that happen. (Especially because our 5 year anniversary will occur after we have spent a year living apart!!!)
9 - Enjoy the Quiet Moments
I want to take time every day to just be still. No music, no tv, no phone, no distractions. I want to enjoy the moments of holding a sleeping cat or listening to the birds chirp.
10 - Write Marc Daily
I don't want our separation to separate us. So I plan on writing Marc every day. It might be a letter or maybe an email but I want to be able to share as much about what is going on at home as possible. I know he won't be able to write back daily but this is my goal!
11 - Blog Weekly
I don't want to hide anymore. I always get scared when our lives are in the air but then I miss the little things. I want to have a history of our lives and remember all of the times that we have shared together.
12 - Become Nationally Certified
This will be the most challenging goal this year and the one that I can't completely control. But I can do my part and study and prepare myself. This will be crucial to have before our first post so that I can work anywhere in the United States. Right now I could do that in an educational setting (minus two states) but I want to have as many doors open as I possibly can!
13 - Make More Time for My Kiddos
I don't have any kiddos if you use the real world description. However, I have lots of little ones in my life that I care about very, very much. Some of these are my niece and nephews, some are my kitties, and some are kids that I have adopted through the library. I want these kiddos to know how important they are to me and I can do that through giving my time. It might be a FaceTime conversation or maybe a letter in the mail.
14 - Thrive in the Year Apart
I don't want this to be a year that I simply survive. I want to grow and develop and thrive this year. I want to try new things and meet new people. I want to develop talents and enjoy working on the house. I want to make this a very full year of wonderful things.
Wish me luck!!!
Marc finally has a contract with the United States Air Force and he will be working in Intelligence. It wasn't the job we were hoping for but I think it will be really good for our family and we have grown to become excited about this new challenge. Marc will leave for Basic Military Training on March 4th in San Antonio, Texas. He will then do 5 months of training in Sierra Vista, Arizona and then 5 months Pensacola, Florida. From my understanding I couldn't live with Marc during any of that time and so I will be waiting a year to see where our first post is.
However, I should be hearing at the end of this week if I have employment as an educational interpreter and that will be a journey all of its own. It is the first time that I will truly be living alone and I guess we will see how independent I truly am. I was worried about how I would spend my year and so I made a list of 14 goals for 2014. These are things that I want to work on through out the year to keep me busy and maybe I won't miss my husband quite so much!
These are numbered though not in any particular order:
1 - Lose 70 pounds
I know it is tacky to list weight loss as a New Year's goal because everyone does that and no one ever sticks to it. However, I have already lost 12-15 pounds and I want to keep the momentum going.
2 - Workout Regularly
I would love to work out 6 days a week and that will be my goal. I will mix up some cardio and some strength training.
3 - Eat Better
I would like to eat clean but I need it to be doable eating. So we will start small and try to stick to an 80/20 rule.
4 - Read the Book of Mormon
Last year I read the scriptures every day but I started with a smaller book. This year I want to keep the momentum going.
5 - Read a Book or Two Every Month
I have some how lost the joy in reading a book. School beat that out of me and so I want to get started again. I technically cheated for the month of January because I finished two books on New Years Day. I finished "The Four Agreements" by Miguel Ruiz and "Between the Lines" by Jodi Picoult. However, since then I have read "Sleeping Beauty's Daughters" by Diane Zahler and I just started "Just Ella" by Annette K. Larsen.
6 - Make Friends
Over the last few years we have really struggled to make any real friends. We don't fit the typical mold for what is expected in our culture and that can make things hard. I am hoping that we are both able to find individuals that we click with over the next year and make some lasting friendships.
7 - Play the Piano
This has been a skill that I haven't used in quite awhile. I was embarrassed by my lack of talent and therefore stopped playing and now I have even less of a talent. I don't want anything huge or grand but I want to enjoy playing again FOR ME.
8 - Save Money
This has been something that we have worked on over our marriage and I am excited to put some of our plans into action this year. I want to set aside some money for the future and I want to set aside some money for us to be able to play. Marc and I want to go on a cruise for our 5 year anniversary and I want to see if I can make that happen. (Especially because our 5 year anniversary will occur after we have spent a year living apart!!!)
9 - Enjoy the Quiet Moments
I want to take time every day to just be still. No music, no tv, no phone, no distractions. I want to enjoy the moments of holding a sleeping cat or listening to the birds chirp.
10 - Write Marc Daily
I don't want our separation to separate us. So I plan on writing Marc every day. It might be a letter or maybe an email but I want to be able to share as much about what is going on at home as possible. I know he won't be able to write back daily but this is my goal!
11 - Blog Weekly
I don't want to hide anymore. I always get scared when our lives are in the air but then I miss the little things. I want to have a history of our lives and remember all of the times that we have shared together.
12 - Become Nationally Certified
This will be the most challenging goal this year and the one that I can't completely control. But I can do my part and study and prepare myself. This will be crucial to have before our first post so that I can work anywhere in the United States. Right now I could do that in an educational setting (minus two states) but I want to have as many doors open as I possibly can!
13 - Make More Time for My Kiddos
I don't have any kiddos if you use the real world description. However, I have lots of little ones in my life that I care about very, very much. Some of these are my niece and nephews, some are my kitties, and some are kids that I have adopted through the library. I want these kiddos to know how important they are to me and I can do that through giving my time. It might be a FaceTime conversation or maybe a letter in the mail.
14 - Thrive in the Year Apart
I don't want this to be a year that I simply survive. I want to grow and develop and thrive this year. I want to try new things and meet new people. I want to develop talents and enjoy working on the house. I want to make this a very full year of wonderful things.
Wish me luck!!!
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