Goshawk Ball 2010

We are attending a mandatory ball!? I have to get all dressed up? We have to leave Kingsville and go to Pensacola and be surrounded by handsomely groomed servicemen (and women) - with my husband standing out as the most handsome in his whites? Ohhh brother....how will I ever go on?

Okay, so it didn't take much arm twisting to leave Kingsville this past weekend. After all, it was our first Military Ball experience - thrown in honor of the T-45 Goshawk. A great number of people who created, maintained and continue flying the Goshawk enjoyed an evening of formal wear, food, and speeches. To be honest, there's not much more to say about it. Since Brian and I are only a couple months into his training here in Kingsville - and because he did his primary training in Enid at the Vance Air Force Base, we didn't know a lot of people at the event. We did meet a lot of cool people but I didn't really want to stay out until the wee hours clutching my bottled water.

One of my personal favorite parts of the trip was the day after the "events" - SATURDAY. Brian and I borrowed a friend's jeep, drove with the top off (...the jeep's top of;-), and went to Destin to get some of our favorite seafood. Dewey Destins is fabulous hole-in-the-wall restaurant with some of the freshest fish I've had in my life...and their hush puppies - mind blowing. Afterwards, we went to a pool and fell asleep for an hour.


Our evening concluded with shish-kebop's and friends that also did their primary in Enid. Finally, people we knew and loved :-) Overall - a great trip. Thank you, John, for watching June-Buggy and Tommy the terrorist. :-)

The Realization of the Little Jellybean

The Long Version of the Story: (skim below to find the short version...)
It all began after an evening of drinks and wonderful food at a place called Brewsters. Brian and I were out with our dear military friends where we discussed everything from politics to the environment and then airplanes (surprise surprise ;-). As the evening was wrapping up, my friend Meghan and I joked about how when we tell people we have "good news," people always ask, "are you pregnant?" I mean, c'mon people, there are other things that happen in life. We also couldn't resist making fun of people that broadcast what-should-be private information on facebook. Among my favorites are, "we are trying for another!" (don't really need to know that) or "my baby's poo is green, what should I do?" (eww) Will I ever pose awkward questions or comments to friends and family? Yes - but on facebook? I hope NOT!

Brian and I left our friends by continuing a heated debate about the government on our 45 min trek from Corpus back to Kingsville. As soon as we arrived at our house, I fell into bed - exhausted - and then woke up at 1 am. "What the...?" I couldn't figure out why I was awake. So I did what any nocturne human should do; I grabbed a hand full of york peppermint patties and watched a perfectly mindless movie called "Confessions of a Shop-a-holic." Meanwhile, my black lab looked on in sheer confusion. Actually, he couldn't stop staring at me. First I took him outside - then I filled up his dog bowl - checked his water dish - and still, to no avail, he wouldn't stop staring at me! This is what made me realize something must be going on with me. It was somewhat easy to conclude this because I'll never forget my step-mom telling me about how close their family dog, Reilly, would stick to her while she was undergoing chemo treatments. Rielly knew something was up - and now my dog, Juneau knew something was up. So despite the late night sweets and silly movie, Juneau talked me into taking a pregnancy test the next morning.

Sunday morning, 8 am - Pregnancy test #1 - Holy crap - positive. Inner monologue "we've moved three times since I've gotten these EPT thingy's so they could be flawed....I'll do another one later....but if it's true...wow"
Church at 9 am
Back home at 10am - Pregnancy test #2 - Holy crap - still positive. Inner monologue "oh my word, this is incredible...how do I tell Brian!?"

With shaking hands, I threw together a French toast breakfast - and while Brian wandered throughout the house, I hopped from room to room, trying to avoid suspicion, in order to wrap my EPT tests for him to see AFTER the French toast. (...because who want to see a tink stick with food on the table...c'mon...) After eating 3 bites of my breakfast, I cleared the table and told him to unwrap a little brown box. He went from a quiet, non-conversational, morning stupor into pure elation! We hugged, we laughed and we cried. My nerves were instantly at ease.

For the record - everything I had read said that it takes 6 months on average for a couple to conceive. It didn't take that long for us ! It seems that God has blessed us with child-ready bodies :-) So while the possible 2010 due date is a bit of a surprise- we were hoping to start our family soon. (We thought we would go for a 2011 due date...) What's that one saying: "I showed MY plans to the Lord and he laughed." I think it goes something like that....

The Short Version of the Story:
We're expecting! I'm currently 2 months pregnant and due on December 30th - Who in the family wants to spend Christmas in Kingsville, TX!?! This little dude or dudette could be quite the holiday blessing! Currently, I am getting close to the end of this blasted first trimester - the sleepiness and nausea makes me feel like my body is being taken hostage. I have yet to find out why some women love this pregnancy thing. It sure is a great reminder of denying oneself (coffee and booze) and sacrificing (feeling like crap) - I'm a "babystep" towards understanding what it means to make it "more of You and less of me" (John 3:30). God is quite the pro at blessing and humbling me at the same time.

In conclusion, my uterus is the size of a grapefruit (when it's normally a fist) and the little one is the size of Pinto bean. I weigh two pounds more than I normally do - and I have promised to have eating contests with some of the military boys once I'm supposed to gain a pound a week. (watch out, Greg and Tim! HA) We go in tomorrow morning to measure the heart rate and get my lab results. We're praying for nothing but pure health! Can't wait to see the little beaner on the ultrasound again :-D

Shop Class is MY Soulcraft!

It's hard to read a book about work when I'm unemployed, but I must admit, it was well worth it - "Shop Class as Soulcraft," by Mathew Crawford, was an eye-opening read. I love books that allow me to view society in a different way, and this book was definitely one of them. Being a certified teacher, I have fallen victim to hoping my students become a doctor or a lawyer - heck, I wanted to become a doctor or a lawyer! Yet as I've gotten older, I've realized more that it doesn't matter what you call yourself, it ultimately matters what you enjoy doing. And by "do" I mean, what are you getting out of your career pursuits? Is it fulfilling? rewarding? Are the rewards measurable by more than your paycheck? Crawford expands the mind by tackling what careers bring real rewards - the answer may be surprising for any "climb-the-ladder" American.

Crawford is a fellow through the University of VA and owner of his own Motorcycle repair shop. His "must-take-everything-apart-to-know-how-it-works" mentality reminds me of some of the greatest men in my life, my grandpa and my husband. A mind like that should be put to use by several years in upper education and a career at a prestigious think-tank - that would be the best use of intellect, right? He would disagree. Crawford argues for the trade careers to make a comeback as our society continues to look down on such options. He argues that it's only when a plumber is fixing a sewage problem, an electrician is wiring a building, or a repairman is repairing a vehicle that one really practices the full range of problem-solving skills. He gains ground on this point by sharing personal motorcycle repair stories (a modern day Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance if you will...) and quoting academic theories - for example, intrinsic value (inner value) is more deeply gained when not affected by external praise but more so from visual results. If one can observe how one made an impact, then there is a greater chance that he or she will continue excelling in that field. And this brings me to Crawford's crux and best quote in the book,

"...any job that can be scaled up, depersonalized, and made to answer to forces remote from the scene of work is vulnerable to degradation, even to the point of requiring that the person who does the job actively suppress his better judgement."

Beyond the scope of personal job enjoyment, Crawford extends his argument to reach the very way in which we treat the jobs in which we find little value: with depersonalization. I'm left to consider companies that continue to outsource work, wall street's lack of accountability and how people within the government can pass laws that won't affect them. Through the great advancements of technology, we have become less connected to our work - ask anyone in HR, companies are having a hard time finding employees that can keep allegiance to their company. Yet, it isn't just the employees, companies aren't faithful to their employees as they ship their careers away. How more depersonalized can it get when we are put on a hold with a computer asking us to say "yes" or "no" into our phones? It's a dangerous path we're on as workers within the United States - whatever shall we do?

The answer is a bit simple - but people thought that careers in the trades were simple - support trade educational programs within our schools. If one really wants the next generation to have any opportunity in the world, that doesn't mean that we funnel them into college and years worth of educational debt - instead, let's allow more students to experience welding, fixing, repairing, and creating instead of dreaming about an "intellectual career" that may prove to not be as intellectual as one thought. Hats off to Crawford for truly emphasizing what "opportunities" can really mean.

What's Next

The box cutters are still on the counter and yet the speed of Naval Flight training has made Brian and I wonder if we should ever put them away. So what's going to happen? We could be at the Kingsville NAS for a year OR move within 5 months if Brian gets an E-2 or C-2 - if the latter occurs, we could get a PCS for the east or west coast while Brian stays to train in Corpus. Have I lost you yet? No worries, sometimes I lose myself. This is why I have included pictures!

The first picture is of the EA-6B prowler. The EA stands for Electronic Attack which means that the majority of what the Prowler does is jam radars - it can disrupt everything from cell phones and garage door openers to forms of detonators.


The second picture is an E-2 Hawkeye. The big disc on top serves as a long distance radar where the crew can receive weather, serve as air defense, air traffic control, and the control for search and rescue missions. It seems like this is the most low-key plane in the bunch...Brian would take off and cruise....then land.


This third picture is a C-2 Greyhound. This plane is mostly land-based because it brings cargo from land to the carrier. If Brian got the E-2 or this C-2, our time in Kingsville would be cut due to the training that would be required for these propeller driven planes - instead of a 12 month stay, we would be here 6 months and Brian would continue his training in Corpus Christi. Meanwhile, our PCS (permanent change of command), could be in Virginia, California, or Washington State. If I understand this correctly, this would mean that all of our stuff would go to our new PCS while Brian would be training 45 minutes from here! Crazy


This jet is called the FA-18F Super Hornet which replaced the Navy's F-14 Tomcat, (the jet the pilots were flying in the documentary, Speed and Angels). The Super Hornet is pretty much like the FA-18 Hornet (pictured below) except for the advancement in technological stuff and it's a bit larger.


This jet is the FA-18 Hornet. Uhh, have you seen Top Gun?


So far Brian isn't preferring any one of these planes to the other - he has just finished ground school and has recently started his simulation flights. In a matter of weeks, his training in the T-45 (jet trainer) will begin and he can make a better-informed decision about what plane he wants down the road.

These pictures were taken at the Air Show in Kingsville, TX at the end of March. It was awesome to have Avie and Mariah join us to peruse the air craft and watch the Blue Angels do their thing! I highly recommend going to a show if they ever come near you - the noise, the community - it's a part of Americana at its finest! For most of you Fam and Friends in KC,near St. Joeseph, MO, they will be there May 1st and 2nd.

Lastly, for those of you who never saw what Brian flew in Enid, OK, I've included a picture of the T-6 Texan. T-45 pictures to come!

Book Review: "The Way the Crow Flies" by Ann-Marie MacDonald

I seldom read novels, but when this 800 page read was given to me by my book-junkie-mother-in-law with the phrase, "this reminds me of you," I couldn't resist. I began....and then I began again....it's hard to get pumped about a massive book sometimes. It all begins with a young Canadian Air Force Family relocating to Centralia, Canada from a base in Germany. Jack McCarthy is a high ranking military person, (will I ever remember the ranks!?), and Mimi is an Air Force wife and mother of Mike and Madeline. The car is loaded and the family is scurrying along the Canadian countryside in order to arrive at their new duty station. Mike and Madeline hit and tease each other, Mimi yells in French from the front, and Jack offers to pull over and get some ice cream. The set-up is quite surreal but anything seems surreal when it's set back in the 1950's and 60's. The family discusses the Wall, the space race, the possibilities of nuclear disaster, and ultimately, what their neighbor country, the United States, will do about all of it.

They arrive and within a few short days, the moving truck arrives, Mike and Madeline meet the neighbors, and the McCarthy's are hosting parties. Their seasoned military neighbors cause them to drink, sing, dance, and speak German, French and English on a regular basis. I was quite allured by the strength of Mimi, the worldview at that time, and the similar military lifestyle this family was having compared to mine. (minus the country, rank, our lack of kids, and their lack of dogs). It was only a little more than a month ago that we moved from Enid, OK to Kingsville, TX and 6 months before that, we were coming from Overland Park, KS - and while I didn't get a "home" set up in a couple days, I did set one up over the course of a week. My time is improving with experience!

Then, Madeline goes to school and has to stay after with the teacher, Mr. March. To make an 800 page story relatively shorter, Madeline is sexually abused, a classmate of her turns up dead, Jack gets wrapped up in some top-secret defector mission that causes him to lie to his family, Mimi thinks he's having an affair, a neighbor of the McCarthy's is wrongly accused of the murder, and Mike joins the USMC and becomes MIA in the Vietnam war. The book holds the reader captive by the mere fact that you feel as though your witnessing a train derailment - by some supernatural force, I couldn't stop reading. The truth isn't exposed until 20 some years later when Madeline trudges through her inner psyche. It wasn't a fairy tale ending by no means, but it was an entertaining read. And yet, I am left wondering, I hope my mother-in-law was reminded of me just because of the military affiliation verses the "train derailment" aspects.

Lastly, a recurring theme that I savored throughout the read was the uniting hope in winning the space race during this time period. Forget NCAA bracketology or World Cup games, the world was really watching and waiting to see whether the boundaries of humanity could be pushed all the way to landing on the moon. As I relished and imagined what this excitement meant to people 50 some years ago, I was met with the current news that President Obama is cutting funds to NASA - our space program is now dependent on the Russians, or whomever would like to give us a ride to the space station. People that are still alive from the space race period must be having a heart attack today! We've gone from a democratic pride and uniting hope in testing the limits in 1969 to extinguishing a portion of a program that breed households of kids hoping to grow up to be astronauts and explorers. What do kids want to be today? What kinds of dreams are we pushing them to achieve? To be a consultant? An employee of a monster think-tank where at the end of the day, they have nothing to show for their work except a check and a headache from staring at a computer screen? To read more about the new space goals...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7099244.ece

The next book I'm going to delve into is "Shop Class as Soulcraft" by Matthew B. Crawford - his research is geared towards understanding why our inner desires to produce something is in disharmony with the majority of our careers today. This may be the reason why people can be so dissatisfied with their jobs - what do they have to show for it? I have a couple more pages to go in that one before I can give you my complete review. After all, our military relocation hasn't proved too fruitful for my job opportunities - as for now, I will continue reading with a vengeance!

Hello Blogosphere

Is this too narcissistic? That is all I can think about as I sit down to write my first post. I guess I may be a bit too traditional - typically I like to talk about myself when asked, but since no one is asking, I guess my excuse is to partake in a societal phenomenon. I don't want the millennial generation boat to leave without me! After all, I am just so darn interesting. So let's get down to business.

I am a mid-twenty something stay at home wife - not exactly by choice, but by the frequent change of military station due to my husband's flight training. This means that I can daydream about being a bartender, a professional basketball player, a piano prodigy, fashion designer or a hippie from time to time while I realistically apply for anything and everything. It also doesn't help that my dominant area of education is a little specialized, (French), and we've gone from Kansas City with about 2 million inhabitants to towns like Enid, OK with 47 thousand and Kingsville, TX with 26 thousand inhabitants. This limits career opportunities a bit! I've been told that we will be in a more permanent command after the completion of my husband's training, but a quick lesson to learn in the military life is to not have any expectations. (Note to self: this is a good life lesson in general). This little morsel of military wisdom has only been gained through 2 years of military spousal experience, otherwise, I am midwestern civilian, born and raised in Kansas.

Stay tuned for stories on the unexpected, the transition from civilian to military life, soul searching, spirituality, job searching, book reviews, and the pursuit of community no matter where one is through lots of good food and beaucoup drink - Santé!