Happy Birthday Jonathan!

Yesterday was my Beloved One's 26th Birthday!!!! I am truly such a blessed woman around to have his love each and every day! Our hearts reciprocating the love that was birthed that June 2001 between us and it's been my greatest earthly treasure.

Here's what my Jonathan looked like when we first met....

And then here's him on our wedding day of course... so handsome!

And here's him now... More wonderful than 10 years ago. I am so blessed to be this man's wife!

No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. -CS Lewis

This entry has been formulating in my head for about six months. I tried to write it a few times, and just couldn’t. Finally, I had all my thoughts completely written. I decided to post after our cruise. Then my hard drive died committed suicide Monday and certain things were not backed up. So I’m starting from scratch.
I am going to reveal something that takes a lot of courage and humbling on my part. I am divulging it to the online community of those who read my entries (which I know is far greater than the regular ones who post comments) rather than to a private, filtered group. I have chosen this because at this point, I actually believe my speaking out will do more good than my silence any longer. By baring myself, I may be helping others. Before I speak, I would like to make a few statements. I would like to ask that in what I say, you give me (and my husband, consequently) the benefit of the doubt as Christians. Most of you probably have no personal experience in this area and limited exposure. Understand that I, As the Writer, share all this already feeling inadequate, alone, alienated, left out (intentionally and unintentionally), pitied (when I desire sympathy, not pity), lost, overlooked, and very broken. You, As the Reader, may feel criticized, misunderstood, a desire to comfort (but lost as to how), optimism for me, impatience toward me, awkwardness leading to avoiding talking to me about this… I probably have left things out that you the audience feel simply because I am not you and I cannot fully understand what you feel. With these thoughts in mind, let us please bear graciously with each other. Know too that I will merely graze the surface of what has transpired and continues to transpire; don’t assume this is exhaustive. With this preface that has piqued your curiosity I now proceed…
Think back twenty months ago to fall 2005, what were you doing then? What life changes have occurred since then: job change, move, engagement, marriage, death of a dearly loved one? That fall, Jonathan and I proceeded to a very normal step in new marriage… we sought through our love to bring a new life into this world. With joyful anticipation we kept the plan from our families, dearly wishing to surprise them with an announcement… at Thanksgiving… at Christmas… certainly before our move to Texas in January! By spring, with seven of my close friends having achieved pregnancy in their first/second months, I knew something wasn’t right. I begged and pleaded with military doctors to give me a referral to a specialist for testing. I was frustratedly turned away with a pat on the hand (“there, there”), an offer of a hankie, and the typical indolent advice that I was young, should relax, and I hadn’t been trying that long (yes, this still smarts). After attempting 3 different doctors, in May my referral went through, and by August I went to my first appointment (yes, the wait is that long). After many less than fun tests and blood work on both Jonathan and me, we were labeled “unexplained infertility.” Understand, this just means “the absence of a definable cause for a couple's failure to achieve pregnancy after 12 months of attempting conception despite a thorough evaluation.” It does not mean either of us is infertile (def: unable to produce children). Period. It also doesn’t mean there isn’t a cause, it just means the medical field isn’t advanced enough to figure it out.
There are very few MTF’s (military treatment facilities) that specialize in RE (Reproductive Endocrinology) to provide evaluation and services. Without the MTF’s, the cost is entirely out-of-pocket and terribly expensive. 1 of the ~6 in the US happened to be in San Antonio. We tried different protocols there, and plan more trips in the future. My revelation now allows more openness (which I desire) for future things that seem of import in my life: the subcutaneous shots I’ll self-administer, that trip to the ER last October and why I’m concerned about it reoccurring, the last-minute flights out to San Antonio, how good my husband has gotten at intramuscular shots (*grins*), etc. I won’t post about this often, as there are times without much to say. But now I am no longer hiding…

Back from the Bahamas!

We're back from a lovely vacation!! We had such a terrific and memorable time, I've got a few pictures here from our time! It was definitely interesting doing a cruise, having never done one before (together). We are much more an off-the-beaten-path couple, preferring the road less traveled and splendid adventures instead being served and coddled. Of course this was extremely convenient, inexpensive, and close (so few days leave had to be taken). The travels we talk about and plan for sometime in the future - a Greece via Germany trip, a Grand Canyon hiking trip - these must wait for their proper times. So in the meantime we take wonderful little jaunts like this!

Our ship - the Elation

The stewards use towels to make animals to leave on your bed at night. I think this is an elephant.

Us on one of our many walks on deck! At night it was cool and black outside, we very often the only ones feeling that wind on our faces. Well worth it!

A windy shot of the happy Lovers

The 2nd night they have a Midnight Gala Buffet. Everyone dresses up in their finest and it looks fabulous! There are over 63 desserts, over 180 kinds of food - all gourmet!!! And something about doing something so fabulous at midnight makes it all the more fun!

Ther are ice sculptures all over too. There was one of the ship, as well as this dragon.

They made all sorts of fancy things with melons, but this was the best - a sailboat!

Here are the 60+ desserts - my favorite part, of course!!!

A shot of us at dinner the last night.

This was us after SCUBA. I can't wait to get the underwater pics developed!

That completes our fantastic cruise to the Bahamas. Underwater pics later. And a great bonus? The day we left, we sold our boat in Corpus Christi! A lovely touch to celebrate!

Off On a Cruise!

Sorry for not updating before now. Been a pretty busy week, as in unplanned busy. Things just started rolling and didn't stop from about mid-week last week. More later, but we didn't see any hogs on our first or second hunting trips. We're going to try again next week. I did catch a mild cold from Monday night's hunting late into the cold night, but we still had a great time. Oh well.

Tomorrow we leave for our cruise!!!! I am super excited as it's a true get-away without computers or cell phone availability! We've got a 4 hour SCUBA dive planned in the warm tropical reefs out of Nassau, I can't wait for that! In Freeport we'll just find our way around and make it an adventure. I can't wait for some special undivided time together with my Beloved.

Until Monday everyone, have a blessed weekend!

Katrina's Sayings

This is how cute my first niece is.... From a conversation Karen relayed to me today.

Last night, Seth & Karen had given Katrina one of her first suckers. She was enjoying it, but they heard a lot of gagging from her (not real gagging, but gag-like noises). When they asked her if she was all right, she told them,

"I'm ok, but my hair keeps trying to eat my sucker!"

I love the precious things she says!

Hog Hunt

Um, yeah... so next Wednesday, I'm going to kill one of these (the wild boar, not the man!):

Jonathan's booked a day hunt for some Georgia hog/boar a short distance from our house! He wants me to get a good shot at one of these big wild ones! I'm excited, if I really get it it'll be the first big game I've gotten yet. Now we have to figure out which gun I'm going to take!

Anyway, both Jonathan and I noticed that things still seemed somewhat out of order around here, so we've spend time lately working on getting everything that was out of boxes now nicely organized in it's own spot.

The shed Jonathan's building is coming along great! Today is pouring the foundation work! And I get to help! :) Happy Friday everyone!

Thirty Pints of Blood

A Contrast in Worldviews March 6, 2007 by Charles Colson Copyright (c) 2007 Prison Fellowship

What difference does a worldview make? Around the world, we are seeing the clash of civilizations in action. In recent days, that clash has given us a story of life, and stories of death.

In Baghdad yesterday, a terrorist blew himself up with a car bomb, killing at least twenty-eight people and wounding dozens more. One witness told the Associated Press that pieces of human flesh were scattered all around the marketplace.

In Afghanistan last month, another terrorist blew himself up near a crowd gathered for a ceremony to open a hospital emergency ward. A few days later, a Sunni Muslim blew herself up and forty others at a college in Baghdad.

In all three cases, Muslims blew up Muslims. The response of Europe and the Muslim world to the stories of death? Outrage? No. Silence. Did the Western press condemn them? No.

Last week, another story was told on NBC News—this time, a riveting story of life.

NBC has been running a gripping series on the emergency military triage facilities in Iraq. Last Thursday, NBC showed wounded Iraqi insurgents being brought to Camp Speicher near Tikrit. Two of them had been caught placing an explosive device on a nearby road, intending to kill Americans, when a U.S. helicopter opened fire on them.

The U.S. medical team moved heaven and earth to save their lives. One insurgent, however, was not going to survive unless he got thirty pints of blood.

But the base was low on blood. The call went out for volunteer donors; minutes later, dozens of G.I.s had lined up.

At the head of the line was a battle-hardened soldier named Brian Suam. Asked if it mattered that his blood was going to an insurgent, he smiled and said, no— "A human life is a human life."

I have never seen a more dramatic example of worldviews in contrast, nor have I been prouder of an American G.I. On one hand, we have the horrors of a civilization that values death—even the death of its own children—if by killing them they can hurt the infidels. On the other side, we have a story that makes us realize just how deeply embedded within American life is our Judeo-Christian heritage. This heritage teaches that human life is sacred—even the life of an enemy who falls into our hands.

These stories make nonsense of the claim that there is no real difference between Christianity and Islam. The clash of civilizations is not only about a fundamental difference between ways of viewing God, reality, life, and life's meaning; it's also about good versus evil, life versus death.

Of course, this doesn't apply to peace-loving Muslims, but to the radicals now surging in the Arab world.

It's time for the West to wake up. As Thomas Friedman of the New York Times put it last week, there is no accepted source of Arab-Muslim authority today for peace-loving Muslims "to anchor their souls in." We need, Friedman writes, "a counter-terrorism strategy that delegitimizes suicide bombers." But that will happen only when Muslim leaders condemn violence.

Friedman is right. We ignore the horrors of radical Islam to our peril. If we do nothing, in time, the stories of life will be overwhelmed by the stories of death.

Hollywood's 'Amazing' Glaze

By CHARLOTTE ALLEN
February 23, 2007; From The Wall Street Journal

It is rare that a Hollywood film takes up a subject like William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the British parliamentarian who devoted nearly his entire 45-year political career to banning the British slave trade. Alas, a lot of people watching "Amazing Grace," Michael Apted's just-released film, may get the impression -- perhaps deliberately fostered by Mr. Apted -- that Wilberforce was a mostly secular humanitarian whose main passion was not Christian faith but politics and social justice. Along the way, they may also get the impression that the hymn "Amazing Grace" is no more than an uplifting piece of music that sounds especially rousing on the bagpipes.
In fact, William Wilberforce was driven by a version of Christianity that today would be derided as "fundamentalist." One of his sons, sharing his father's outlook, was the Anglican bishop Samuel Wilberforce, who wrote a passionate critique of "The Origin of the Species," arguing that Darwin's then-new theory could not fully account for the emergence of human beings. William Wilberforce himself, as a student at Cambridge University in the 1770s and as a young member of Parliament soon after, had no more than a nominal sense of faith. Then, in 1785, he began reading evangelical treatises and underwent what he called "the Great Change," almost dropping out of politics to study for the ministry until friends persuaded him that he could do more good where he was.
And he did a great deal of good, as Mr. Apted's movie shows. His relentless campaign eventually led Parliament to ban the slave trade, in 1807, and to pass a law shortly after his death in 1833, making the entire institution of slavery illegal. But it is impossible to understand Wilberforce's long antislavery campaign without seeing it as part of a larger Christian impulse. The man who prodded Parliament so famously also wrote theological tracts, sponsored missionary and charitable works, and fought for what he called the "reformation of manners," a campaign against vice. This is the Wilberforce that Mr. Apted has played down.
And little wonder. Even during the 18th century, evangelicals were derided as over-emotional "enthusiasts" by their Enlightenment-influenced contemporaries. By the time of Wilberforce's "great change," liberal 18th-century theologians had sought to make Christianity more "reasonable," de-emphasizing sin, salvation and Christ's divinity in favor of ethics, morality and a rather distant, deistic God. Relatedly, large numbers of ordinary English people, especially among the working classes, had begun drifting away from the tepid Christianity that seemed to prevail. Evangelicalism sought to counter such trends and to reinvigorate Christian belief.
Perhaps the leading evangelical force of the day was the Methodism of John Wesley: It focused on preaching, the close study of the Bible, communal hymn-singing and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Central to the Methodist project was the notion that good works and charity were essential components of the Christian life. Methodism spawned a vast network of churches and ramified into the evangelical branches of Anglicanism. Nearly all the social-reform movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries -- from temperance and soup kitchens to slum settlement houses and prison reform -- owe something to Methodism and its related evangelical strains. The campaign against slavery was the most momentous of such reforms and, over time, the most successful.
It is thus fitting that John Wesley happened to write his last letter -- sent in February 1791, days before his death -- to William Wilberforce. Wesley urged Wilberforce to devote himself unstintingly to his antislavery campaign, a "glorious enterprise" that opposed "that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature." Wesley also urged him to "go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it."
Wesley had begun preaching against slavery 20 years before and in 1774 published an abolitionist tract, "Thoughts on Slavery." Wilberforce came into contact with the burgeoning antislavery movement in 1787, when he met Thomas Clarkson, an evangelical Anglican who had devoted his life to the abolitionist cause. Two years later, Wilberforce gave his first speech against the slave trade in Parliament.
As for the hymn "Amazing Grace," from which the film takes its name, it is the work of a friend of Wilberforce's named John Newton (played in the movie by Albert Finney). Newton had spent a dissolute youth as a seaman and eventually became a slave-ship captain. In his 20s he underwent a kind of spiritual crisis, reading the Bible and Thomas à Kempis's "Imitation of Christ." A decade later, having heard Wesley preach, he fell in with England's evangelical movement and left sea-faring and slave-trading behind. Years later, under the influence of Wilberforce's admonitions, he joined the antislavery campaign. The famous hymn amounted to an autobiography of his conversion: "Amazing grace . . . that saved a wretch like me." In the most moving moment of the film -- and one of the few that addresses a Christian theme directly -- the aged and now-blind Newton declares to Wilberforce: "I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior."
This idea of slaving as sin is key. As sociologist Rodney Stark noted in "For the Glory of God" (2003), the abolition of slavery in the West during the 19th century was a uniquely Christian endeavor. When chattel slavery, long absent from Europe, reappeared in imperial form in the 16th and 17th centuries -- mostly in response to the need for cheap labor in the New World -- the first calls to end the practice came from pious Christians, notably the Quakers. Evangelicals, not least Methodists, quickly joined the cause, and a movement was born.
Thanks to Wilberforce, the movement's most visible champion, Britain ended slavery well before America, but the abolitionist cause in America, too, was driven by Christian churches more than is often acknowledged. Steven Spielberg's 1997 "Amistad," about the fate of blacks on a mutinous slave ship, also obscured the Christian zeal of the abolitionists.
Nowadays it is all too common -- and not only in Hollywood -- to assume that conservative Christian belief and a commitment to social justice are incompatible. Wilberforce's embrace of both suggests that this divide is a creation of our own time and, so to speak, sinfully wrong-headed. Unfortunately director Apted, as he recently told Christianity Today magazine, decided to play down Wilberforce's religious convictions -- that would be too "preachy," he said -- and instead turned his story into a yarn of political triumph. The film's original screenwriter, Colin Welland, who wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed and unabashedly Christian "Chariots of Fire," was replaced.
The movie "Amazing Grace" nods occasionally in the direction of granting a role to faith in social reform, but it would do us all well to supplement our time in the movie theater by doing some reading about the heroic and amazing Christian who was the real William Wilberforce.

Life in GA!

First off, see Mary's post because it's such a sweet spontaneous post about how she feels about her sisters. Brought tears to my eyes, I miss her so badly!!! I'd love to write my thoughts about her soon.
We are settled in, with only 2 boxes left in the garage. The guest rooms aren't in order, because wee went from a 3 BR house to a 4 BR one, so there's no furniture for one room yet. That should be fixed by tomorrow, where we have trip to Atlanta planned to go to IKEA and then to Fogo de Chao. Yes, Brazilian churrascaria, gaucho style! Our bedroom is finally almost done (painting, installing chair-rail, etc). I've been so blessed to have Jonathan around a ton to conqueur it all together!
Secondly, some of you know we were planning a 3 day weekend trip to Savannah. It's suppose to be a very historic and romantic town, similar to Charleston. We had chosen a luxurious B&B to stay at, although with trying to time it over the next few weekends, my choice of rooms (for our price) wasn't really available (but I could settle). However, last night we decided against it...... Instead....
We're going on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas!!!! We are psyched!!! I love our life right now, so much of what we get to enjoy is the together-ness and honeymoon-like state! All the adventures we go on are such an opportunity. We have been blessed, I know! Traveling with my best friend is so grand!

Jonathan's ALMOST HOME!!!!!

As I write this, I am sitting in a Starbucks inside a Kroger in Atlanta.... waiting for Jonathan's flight to come in. I had to drop off Mary at 6:40am, and his plane isn't scheduled to come in until 5pm, but he's trying to fly standby for a 1:00pm flight. I'm killing time at a place nearby the airport. I don't know Atlanta at all and I don't want to get lost, especially in a bad section of town. There is a Borders, Target, and Bed, Bath & Beyond at this location, so I'll probably browse those over the next few hours.

I miss Mary. She was a HUGE blessing! She painted and worked and painted and worked for hours and hours and never was the 1st to stop. Most nights we stayed up until 11ish working, although we made time in the day for trips to Starbucks, the mall, and various other fun spots. Last night (Friday) we stayed up until 2:11am and our alarms went off at 4:00am. Agh! On the 1 hour 20 minute drive to the airport, Mary was doing a good job talking to me so I'd be alert, but she kept saying gibberish because she would get into a twilight-sleep phase! Anyway, when I download pictures I'll post them, but she and I got the kithcen painted a Velvety Merlot and the master bath painted a Morning Breeze. I love them both!!! But I can't tell you how many man-hours went into all that. Mary is also amazing at checking off boxes to ensure to movers bring everything.

This was the worst move I've done. Lots of broken/smashed/damage to our stuff. Nothing irreplacable, but it's odd it would happen this way. Just like the Stang made it fine to San Antonio, but got real damaged coming back to NC. Anyway, bunches of paperwork to file.

So for now, I sign off with a breathlessly expectant Denise who will get to see her husband after 17 days not seeing him at all!!!!!!! I can't wait to run into his arms!!!!

Who My Husband Is!

Well, my Sweetheart is out in the woods somewhere in Washington state. I won't be able to talk to him until late Thursday night. I can't wait! I can't believe he's only been gone 6 days! It's amazing how slow time goes. I have had a wonderful time here with my family and visiting his! I'm so grateful we're not in a house yet so I can have an excuse to be here the whole time!! They've been wonderful.

I would like to make another post about my dear Jonathan, who I've had the pleasure of knowing for 9 years this Valentine's Day, and being his Love for 6 years this June. Wow!

Jonathan is a wonderful brother and brother-in-law. He has found place of kinship with my brothers, after some rough times where they weren't sure they even liked him! His sense of humor is wonderful to me, and yet it's unique. My brother Carter once told me, "Jonathan can find the one area you're sensitive about, and yet he'll pick at it!" Of course, as they grew to know one another, they learned each other's quirks and learned how to joek and be serious, to work and play, and to be brothers. I can honestly say they couldn't be happier with his being in the family.

This was my brothers, Kiernan, Taige, and Jonathan all wrestling in Williamsburg! I think it was good natured, but the guys still seemed very serious about it. Wrestling was rather new to my brothers, but they caught on quick.


This was at my cousins's wedding in '06. My cousin Tricia was singing during the rehearsal and they boys all wanted to communicate to her how her singing made them feel. She loves to joke right back with them, and loves that they treat her like the brothers she never had!!!!

Jonathan was around when Noah was still small. :)

My husband loves the outdoors. I don't know anyone who loves it more than he does. He can spend hours outside bird watching, and he's excellent at identifying them too. He's a conservationist at heart, never wanting even a small animal to be left hurt. Just last week in the mountains, he rescued a stunned cardinal from his grandparents collie dogs. He has taken baby turkeys out of the tractors way. Yes, he's an avid hunter, because of the challenge, but a huge part of his hunting is learning an animals ways, tracking it, and the sport of it. So here's him with the biggest buck he's shot and found thus far.


He is a good friend to his Christian brothers, Air Force brothers, and blood brothers. He gladly takes adventures with them. He never minds getting dirty and working long hours to help, most times offering himself and me before anyone even thinks of asking us. He has a servants heart and never seems to think twice about serving others before self.

I love his sense of fun! For example, whenever we wash the cars together, he can't help but squirt me with the hose, whether or not I'm dressed or in a bathing suit! The first time he did that, I was so shocked at him (and it was so freezing water) that he says I got a look of pure hurt and betrayal on my face. He turned into a sad puppy dog... And yet, he loves to tease!!! Jennifer had to learn how to take his teasing and give it right back!


He loves, loves, loves children! He is usually one of the first to go get a baby and hold it. He doesn't even ask, he just does it naturally. He has a way with infants especially. Of the many times we've kept friends' kids for a date night, a few hours, or a few days, he has never ever ever said no. In fact, I know his heart so well, I do not even have to tell our friends "let me ask Jonathan", I know we want to serve our friends with children. He truly lives out Psalm 129!

He gets into mischief.... And gets others into it with him... And when the trouble comes, he always, always has a humorous word to offer! It's hard to stay upset at him! Don't even ask about this picture!

He has a very sweet spot in his heart for his precious little sister, Emily. She is the apple of the whole family's eye, but his tender affections towards her when he was a teen always gave a hint to the girls and the girls' mothers that he had a sweet and gentle heart inside that rough boyish exterior!

This is just a small piece of who Jonathan is to others..... He's so much more, but I don't even have time for that!!!! Later!

My Soldier!

Ok, I'm missing my husband a lot!! I can't even begin to convey the ache I feel for being without him. It's hard thinking of 16 more days like this! Yet I know as it gets closer to his coming home date, I'll just be breathlessly counting down the days until he arrives! Already thinking of that day I get to pick him up in Atlanta gives me butterflies in my stomach!!! Anyway, because I really miss him, and because he's away at land survial school for the Air Force's navigator training, I figured I'd post some pictures of him in uniform! My favorite is his olive drab flight suit, which I only have one picture of him in, and he's lieing down. Doesn't do him justice not showing the whole uniform, yet he's still so hot!!! My 2nd favorite is the BDU's, actually. Too bad he doesn't wear them much. Anyway, here's a little collection of a few picture of my Air Force Soldier!!!!

J & Katrina - On an evening he had to go out for an Exercise

Wilson, Boyd, Wade, Ollis - still Cadets, for a few more days.


The guys doing Color Guard for NASCAR. Here's Ricky Rudd, driver of the Air Force car.


I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely,without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.


Jonathan resting in his flight suit. Me looking crazy. Yes, those are 2nd LT bars!

And just for sweet memory.... from our Scotland Honeymoon!!! (P.S. We're tentatively planning a trip to Greece via Germany this year!!!!!! I love our adventures!)

Quick Update

Sorry no updates lately. Since we moved out of our home in TX on Dec 15th we're flown to NC, spent a few hurried weeks there, flew back to TX, closed things out there, drove to GA, found a house (looked at 20 something), drove to Charlotte, stayed a few days, drove up near Asheville in the mountains to visit Jonathan's grandparents, drove back to our families' homes, and I'm about to stay here for 2 1/2 weeks while Jonathan's in Washington state for survival school. Now that it's 2 days away I'm having some feelings of real anxiety and sadness. I hate being apart even for a night. The longest we've been away since his 29 day field training (our 3rd month of marriage back in July '04) was 7 days this past November when I was in Oxford. I'm going to miss him so badly! But just so I won't cry here, I won't say any more. Except that the next few weeks will be the times to get together with you NC girls!
Pictures of the house later. Stories and such. I haven't been on the computer much at all lately, sorry for no comments anywhere. I have been trying to read all the updates.
Give me a call or email for anyone wo wants to set up a definite date from Jan 17-28.

Pic Post

I try to keep a good mix between posts about what's happening, and picture posts. Lately, all I've really posted is pictures. I'm afraid today will be more of the same. We've had the most wonderful time here in NC with our families and dear friends! So enjoy the pics and know when I actually have time to sit and write about what's happening, I'll get around to that. They're from Crystal's visit to SA, Jonathan's graduation from nav school, and my visit to Charlotte last week. Love you all!

Crystal & I after an Air Force Christmas Party


Jonathan, Crystal, & me at the party


The beautiful RiverWalk with Christmas lights


Crystal & I on the Riverwalk


Jonathan & I after I pin his wings on - Finally an AirForce Aviator!


Joker Flight at Pre-Graduation Dinner - Newest Future Navs of the USAF


Lyric, Zoe, and Emma Freas - my favorite little girls in Charlotte!
We had such fun playing playdough, house, stories, and more!


Me with the Freas girls, before leaving. :(

Moving!

Orders came in Monday.... Packers come Thursday... Moving Friday! Must clean empty house & professionally clean carpets Friday.... & get ride to airport. (We're flying home for Christmas, & flying back to outprocess here, then drive to GA.)
Jonathan graduates Navigator school Friday, and I get to pin his wings on! I'm so proud of him!
It all came so fast!
Crystal is here, but she got the flu and has been so sick today. I hate it, I feel so sorry for her! She flys out Thursday morning.
Won't be on much in the next few days! See you NC'ers soon!

Thanksgiving

Here are a few Thanksgiving pictures. I didn't get as good or as many as I wished. Sorry no posts in a while. Crystal's here and I'm not spending a minute more on the computer than necessary!

Also, the move is approaching very quicky, one way or another. No orders yet, so nothing offically can be set up (packers,movers). Jonathan graduates from Navigator school next Friday and I pin his wings on! He'll officially be an Air Force flyer! That's our last day in San Antonio, unofficially.

This was Katrina asking Stuart, "Where's Haley?" They've been courting for a year now, so I guess she's gotten used to if you see one, you see the other! It was cute!


This was me with sweet little 5-month old Shiona. A beautiful baby, with the sweetest most gentle little temperment!


My wonderful Mom and Dad


This was suppose to be a picture of everybody, but Dad & Mom are missing, as are Uncle Lee & Dillon, Katrina, and of course, me, taking the picture. I've got to get more pushy about people being there for pictures, and taking multiple ones (as you see this one was bad)!

Oxford

“Oxford had represented to us two things so intertwined that we did not clearly distinguish them. One was the apostolic faith in its fullness, as represented by C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams. The other was high civilisation, sweet reason, and the life of the mind, which was no less represented by Lewis and Williams as well as many others. Religiously, we longed for the lively life in Christ, but we did not fully see that we were equally longing for the lively life of the mind – the delights of conversation once serious and gay, which is, whatever its subject, Christ or poetry or history, the ultimately civilised thing. When we spoke of the lively life in Christ, we meant keenness, to be sure, but we also meant the subtle discourse on the meanings of Christ’s way that is, in fact, only possible among highly articulate and civilised Christians.” -ASM

This post is quite overdue, but I did not desire a hastily written, less than thoughtful response on my Oxford experience. In truth, I left the city with my mind desperately trying to grasp all of Oxford in its fulless, the entirety of the experience. I only wish I could have stayed longer, and had my dear husband there with me. Those are my only two real regrets. I hope one day I can live there for perhaps a year.

In attempting to complete my summary of Oxford, I am actually going to resort to a few quotes from Sheldon Vanauken's A Severe Mercy. He and his wife went, as agnostics in the 50's, to study at Oxford. There they encountered Christ and Christianity, and became followers. Van began a deep friendship with C.S. Lewis that continued to his death. Their experience has expressed much of mine, yet more poetically and articulately than I could. Later I will post fun and beautiful pictures, and some recounting of adventures, but I feel the Most Important thing I can do now is to express Oxford. It is not merely a city or a university, Oxford encompasses a way of life. The lively life in Christ.

“The sheer quality of the Christians we met at Oxford shattered our stereotype… Moreover the astonishing fact sank home: our own contemporaries could be at once highly intelligent, civilised, witty, fun to be with – and Christian.”
This couldn't express my own feelings any more. I attended a days worth of classes with Dad and heard each student (from their 20's to 60's) really thinking and producing ideas for creative apologetics, appealing to the unsaved through imagination (in the style of Lewis), graciousness in discussing faith, drawing people out for what they truly believe about eternity... Likewise, the Christians there so desire conversation, fellowship, and the discussing of ideas, that they meet each week, casually, at a pub to discuss whatever is on their minds. Each is free to come or go as they please, but honest and searching discourse is what follows. Hardly anyone agrees 100% with the other, but it's Truth (Biblically), that's sought. I did have to realize in America this wouldn't be quite the same. People in this program are coming from backgrounds in and out of the church, in the US, Canada, India, the UK, Iran, France, etc. They naturally have enormously different underlying ideas. Yet I loved the discussions! "…that’s what Oxford is, a place to talk about everything.” Even among my own family, each day's walks (for you walk everywhere) and each evening's gatherings were filled to the brim with earnest discussions. Not debates, and not everyone rousingly amening the other's opinion. No one is trying to "win" or "convert" the others, or to get a hearty clap on the back for a point well made. It's a chance to hear another Christian's thoughts and experiences, and to discuss what we know the Bible to say on a matter.

“For nearly two years… there was hardly a day or night that people did not come [to our home], both Christians and non-Christians; and there were literally hundreds of absorbing conversations. Oxford.”
“Although our Christian friends came often to the Studio, our non-Christian friends were, of course, equally welcome. Indeed, in some of the best discussions on Christian subjects, there would usually be a couple of non-Christians there, too, joining in with healthy skepticism. Our experience of Oxford was that everybody talked about everything.”

My heart yearns to take some of this back with me into my life here in the US. My mind ponders ways to incorporate it into our lives and those of other Christians here.... Thoughts are conceived, and perhaps shall give birth to a real outcome. Yet, I miss Oxford.

Jonathan's Aircraft Assignment

Last week Jonathan got his aircraft assignment: E-8 Joint STARS (JSTARS)! They changed things around completely for how they gave out the aircraft, but we are trusting that's God's design, just like the mix-up and change of plans to get us here. We'll go to Robbins AFB in Georgia, only 460 miles from our families! They don't get sationed anywhere else, so for the next 3 years, we'll be there (Jonathan will be deployed, but no TDY to another base). That is good news!
More info on the plane, for those interested: The Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) is a long-range, air-to-ground surveillance system designed to locate, classify and track ground targets in all weather conditions. While flying in friendly airspace, the joint Army-Air Force program can look deep behind hostile borders to detect and track ground movements in both forward and rear areas. It has a range of more than 150 miles (250 km). These capabilities make Joint STARS effective for dealing with any contingency, whether actual or impending military aggression, international treaty verification, or border violation. I think he said their deployment rate is right now reported as 45 days every 6 months, but that they are usually not gone 90 days out of a year. Not bad!
We're happy to know where we're going. And even though outsiders may look and think things like this are weird to be happy about: disappointments. But it's seeing the light in the disappointment and knowing God's faithfulness, because it's been there in the past, and it will be there for the future.
UPDATE: We just learned we have to move in mid-December!!!! Before we come home for Christmas! Yikes! Right now that just overwhelms me. I do not feel ready or willing to move that soon, so it's really a trust issue with me that the Lord is ordaining this time. Wow. Pray for us.

ER Trip

Well... We had a great time with Jonathan's siblings. I'll post pictures later. I decided to tell of my weekend visit to the ER.
Suffice it to say the boys left Friday at noon for the ranch for their wild boar hunt. They called at 5 to say they were 30 minutes away and would be completely out of cell range while there. We would talk Sunday on their way back home.
I went to bed Friday with intense lower-abdominal pain. I awoke at 2:45 in excrutiating pain. I headed to the kitchen to get some medication, and I lost my vision briefly. I reached up into the cabinent.... and suddenly found myself waking up from the kicthen floor looking at the ceiling, wondering how I got there and how long I'd been there. I had passed out. :/ I thought, "I've got to get back to bed" and headed to my room... Again, only to find myself on the floor of the closet, staring at the ceiling wondering how I'd gotten there. I assume both times were only a few seconds, but I can't know. I did later discover I'd bruised my head a little.
I figured this was serious, and headed to wake Catherine up. She was very alert and calm (I was too). She brought me the computer and I looked up a hospital. They apparently can't give medical advice, so gave me a nurses' line. I called & explained my situation. The nurse said, "This is an emergency, you can't drive yourself, get to a hospital." All we had was the Mustang, and Catherine can't drive a stick. So not wanting to wake our friends at 3 am (and them not being close anyway), I called those infamous numbers - 911. In less than 5 minutes, 2 police cars, a firetruck, and an ambulance were at our house. They took vitals (all good) & asked questions. Then I went to the hospital.
The guys in the amblance were very nice (I guess that's what Josh does, right?) and actually diagnosed the cause of my problem correctly (I'd later find). I did not let them start an IV (they gave me a choice). At the hosptial I was given an IV for fluids, some Demerol (that make me loopy) and given an exam. The inital thought was this was a strong over-reaction to some medication I've been on for 2 months (meaning, my body is suppose to react to it, but it did more than it should have).
I did have to have a CAT scan to rule out appendicitis. I had to drink about 48 oz of this chalky, white, coconut-flavored contrast. ICK! Catherine so graciously poured it every 20 minutes and helped coach me to drink it all. She chased nurses down when we were forgotten (in 9 hours I think I was only seen by doctors/nurses about 7 times). I finally was sent home with some painkiller and an antibiotic in case of infection. I had a lot of fluid built up and a little blood, which were both the cause of the pain. This was from an oversized cyst. Catherine was such an angel, reading to me and just being there.
It ruined a lot of our fun plans, but she was so sweet. I took the next 2 days easy, the boys returned (without any kills, I'm afraid), and Jonathan and I went in yesterday to my normal doctors for follow-up ultrasound, review, etc. Everything appears ok, but they want to see the cysts shrink and disappear (which they should).
I can't explain how utterly helpless you feel when you experience something like that and your husband (your protection and head) are compeltely unavialable. But isn't the Lord absolutely sovereign? What unique timing - it could not be a mistake. I don't pretend to understand, but I do profess faith that what He does is Right. BTW, Jonathan made up for not being there by being there when my pain levels increased on Monday morning and he held me and prayed for me, and showed so much tender care. I got to feeling better and was really touched at how sensitive he was.
I do hope not to experience this again, and I won't soon forget this weekend.

Out in West Texas Hunting

Well.... no axis deer for me this week, although we saw many of them. We didn't really go hunt, just sort of drove around trying to "spot and stalk", but more just spending time with our friends. I think next time we'll actually go out in a stand and really hunt. It was very nice to be out in the country again!!! Although I got my share of experiencing what being poked by a cactus feels like! Still not seen a rattlesnake. I'm determined to see one before we move!
I was using a borrowed gun, so Jonathan took me out to the range. I had 3 bullets. I shot the 50 yd target on the bottom right bullseye, and the 100 twice on the bullseye. I was very happy (as was Jonathan)! And then I shot Jana's 40lb bow and got the bulleye 3 times in a row! The shock of it is, I believe I am a really bad shot! When we went skeet shooting (for me to practice on my new shotgun, not for fun, because I think skeet is booooring!), I only got 2 out of 50!!! That's how awful I was! So I was really shocked I did well, because I don't have stellar vision and I don't think I'm very calm about following through a shot.

Anyway.... One sad thing that happened was our friends' little 2 year old girl tripped and fell into the hot, hot charcoal grill. She burned her face and both hands/wrists. She had a big blistered spot on one wrist. She spend the evening in agony, just crying and writhing, because there wasn't much to do for the pain. Everyone felt really sorry for her, but by the next morning, praise the Lord, she was mostly better. :/

We had a couple and their 7 month old over for dinner last night (a new addition to our Life Group). It was such a great time and ended too soon! Even though they've been with the church since it's beginning, they were both military and their small group was, so everyone moved! They were left without a group, and ours was located close. From last night, we saw that the Lord had lead them to ours for very special reasons, with them having been through some things over the years that Jonathan and I are experiencing. It just turned into such an encouraging evening, seeing God's providential leading. So I'm encouraged in my spirit knowing our relationship with them is meant to grow, and thinking how much I can learn from Rebecca (the wife).

Anyway.... I close with a really cute picture of my first niece. I miss her so much!