4(ish) Months

Alright the "unofficial" countdown has begun... After the whole 1 month fiasco, it seems the Marine Corps will be giving us a little more time to prepare for our move. Thank you Lord. I already felt like the 1yr & 8mo was a short time to be in one place, but I married Quinn at the tail-end of his time here. Now, by the time we leave, I will have lived here for just over 1yr.

However, in that short amount of time I've learned quite a bit:

1. Depression isn't worth it. I am going to confess something that up to this point only Quinn knew... I hated, and I mean hated my first month here. I would mope, cry, feel sorry for myself, complain about everything I had to leave behind, want to go back and visit my family, was angry that I couldn't find a job... and on and on. This caused many arguments, and my new husband of only 1-4wks pain. I made everything in the sentence above in red to show how selfish I was being. Quinn has given up so much to serve our country and made sacrifices for us to get married earlier... and in my "depressed" state of mind- everything was about me. Not okay.
   
   
2. Finding the right church is essential. I love the worship at Severn Run, the messages are always in-your-face (in the good way!), and people will love you if you reach out to them. After finding the Young Married's class, we had instant friends, people to turn to when we need help, and most of all just be around and learn from each other. I will miss these people so much when we leave here. It's scary to think we have to "start-over" again, but at the end of my life it will be awesome to look back on all the friends I've had, even if just for a "season."
   
   
3. Open your house (and heart) to others. I've hosted baby showers for women that I barely knew... and ended up gaining good friends in the process. I completely believe that Christ's example of loving people is the way to live. I even took a page from my mom's "house rules" and made our home have an open fridge policy. You visit the first time and I'll serve you, the second- you're "home" help yourself. I love that everyone who comes to our house feels comfortable enough to help themselves...
   
   
4. Take advantage of your surroundings. I will openly admit Maryland is not my favorite place, I would never choose to live here, and I think the majority of people here are complete jerks! But... I've had the opportunity to go to Washington DC, Arlington VA, Baltimore MD, Philadelphia PA, Gettysburg PA, Quantico VA, Norfolk VA, & Annapolis MD. Talk about that being an expensive trip! I am hoping to squeeze in a few more day-trips to DC and hopefully a mini-road trip up to NY before we leave. I'd love to see Boston, Hershey PA, and the Eastern Shore of MD, but I'm not sure we have enough time left or the weather will hold out long enough.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be a military wife. I know my mom thought that I would be the one who lived down the street and my sister would run off and join the Peace Corps... guess she got us backwards! Anyway, I am learning to accept this life all the pros (and even cons) and take things as they come. God has a plan, and evidently right now and island is in the near future.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
~Romans 8:28 [HCSB]

1 month? Really... come on now.

So I'm jumping the gun, things could will probably change like 25 times... but it's almost 2am and I can't sleep and here's why...


Earlier today as I'm finishing up a batch of blueberry muffins for Amanda's bake sale to support her sister-in-law's "religious endeavors" (evidently in order to become a nun you cannot have any debt), Quinn walks storms in at 3pm, way too early for him to be home from work. He then proceeds to drop everything in his hands either at the front door or on the kitchen table, then opens the fridge, cracks open a beer, and starts drinking before he even acknowledges me standing right there in front of him putting muffins into ziplock baggies.

Me- I take it today was rough?
Him- Do you want the good news or bad news?
Me- Bad first.
Him- We might be moving soon.
Me- How soon?
Him- My orders say October...*
Me- Oh. (in my head I'm screaming!) The good news?
Him- We got the duty station we wanted...
Me- How on earth are we suppose to prepare for that in a month?**
Him- Yeah...about that...

*We weren't suppose to move until July 2011... this is coming way early, most likely a result of his re-enlistment. Not entirely sure.

**This move requires boats & planes... everything we own will be placed in one of those giant shipping containers you see on barges. TMO will only pay to ship one car- his. We need to sell mine. I have no idea what to do about the guinea pigs, they are allowed where we are getting stationed, but I can't seem to find an airline that will fly them there... it's breaking my heart.

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

Did I mention I had a job interview on Monday?
Yeah, the call about me getting the job will be interesting...
[the interview went EXTREMELY well]

Alright, now that I've cleared my head, maybe I can get some rest. Like I said the Marine Corps will change their minds, it's happened before, it'll happen again. I need to get used to it... it's hard to swallow something like that though, haha...

That Girl

See this girl:[Canberra, Australia - 2007]

That girl...

1. Was traveling the world (okay, not the world but New Zealand & Australia)
2. She had just met an amazing guy (Quinn)
3. Was about to start her junior year at ASU
4. Was on fire for the Lord
5. Had great hopes for the future

I miss that girl.
Don't get me wrong..
I love my husband.
I love the new friends I've made.
I love our little piggies.
Having our "own" home.
Our new church & young married's group.

But...
I miss having drive.
Having deadlines.
Something to work towards.
A passion for something. Anything.
Instead of just dabbling in everything.
Being on fire for God!

I feel...
Like I'm in that middle zone.
A transitioning period.
Which in essence- I am.
We are waiting...

Waiting on...
His re-enlistment to go through.
A deployment date/time frame.
Our next duty location.
A job for me.

I don't mind waiting, sometimes answers would be nice though.

To me, Maryland has become a staging zone, a place to re-focus, re-purpose, return to God, and allow myself to learn from my past (achievements/mistakes alike), and prepare for what is to come. Whatever and where ever that may be.

3yrs ago I saw my life completely differently.
God sure had different plans for me, right?!

"Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint."
~Isaiah 40:30-31

So here I am Lord. Waiting.
...and working on myself in the process.

I love this song. You may recognize it from the movie "Fireproof"...
Listen to it, you won't be disappointed.

The D'backs came to town...

The Diamondbacks played a 3 game series against the Washington Nationals... Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. Friday we had been invited to dinner at our friends, so no game (Quinn later found out he missed the free Miller Lite pitcher and cup set giveaway). Saturday the boys went golfing, unfortunately the guy who set up the tee time made it for 12 noon... they NEVER finish a game of golf in under 5hrs. The game started at 7pm, technically we COULD have gone, but he was wiped. Sooooo... Sunday rolls around. OF COURSE it is raining when we wake up, pours while we are at church, lets up while we clean the house, then begins to pour again. We flipped on the TV and the pre-game show in DC comes on- NO RAIN! What the heck... so we quickly grabbed water bottles and jumped in the truck. 30ish minutes later (no traffic-whoo!) we were parking and had only missed the 1st inning (and the D'backs only home run, oh well).

The stadium is really nice, there are a lot of things to do for the kids (playground, batting cages, and pictures with the presidents-they race instead of the hot dogs like at the D'backs games). It's a "green" stadium, which is super cool, and very clean.

During the 6th inning some stupid protesters ran onto the field with a sign trying to protest the SB1070- seriously? It's a baseball game, get over it already people! I have pictures of it, but I have decided they don't deserve recognition for what they did. The news already covered it, I will not feed into their "15min of fame." I'm glad they got arrested and each fined $1,000. Then during the 7th inning stretch I was very disheartened... I felt like the only two people singing along with "God Bless America," were Quinn and I... no joke. The capitol of the United States of America and NO ONE SINGS ALONG TO A PATRIOTIC SONG. But...everyone has a grand 'ole time singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." So incredibly sad. =/

Overall it was a fun (rushed) afternoon. We even caught the tail-end of our friends open house for their daughter's baptism back on base! Here are some pictures of the day:

Where did she go?

These past two weeks have been jam-packed with friends! Which is awesome.

Let's see...

• We've had friends over for dinner
• Went to friends' houses for dinner
• Had a community dinner because Quinn had duty, Nate was TAD, and Lucas is deployed. It is much easier to make one part of the meal and eat pot-luck style!
• Went out to dinner with friends
• Went to the movies
• Hosted game night
  
• Attended Young Married's on Wednesdays
• Quinn now has soccer games on Mondays
  
• Went to a house-warming party

Here are a couple pictures from the housewarming for Kat & Alex (their house is really pretty!)

[Me, Tay, Danielle, Kat, & Gini]

[Kendric, Quinn, Nate, Blake, & Jason]

Other than that, nothing too out of the ordinary has been going on around here. I did get a MAJOR headache all day this past Wednesday, come Thursday morning at 6am... a HUGE thunderstorm, it stormed and rained all day long. Crazy. I've also been having some serious issues sleeping, which stinks. I'm trying to get off the computer and not watch TV at least an hour before I go to bed now, supposedly the light from electronic screens is more intense and causes some people to be wide awake. We'll see how it goes.

Hope you are all doing well!!

Swimming Piggies 7/30/10

Some how I managed to skip over actually posting this...
But, here it is!



My little piggies swimming away! Beans likes it a lot... Twix is a little apprehensive. I love how they make themselves like mini-torpedoes, ears back + flat bodies, so cute!

Gun Powder River Tubing

Sunday afternoon we headed up to Monkton, MD (about 45-55min north) to enjoy a leisurely tube down the Gun Powder River.

The river was actually really pretty!

This is Holly... the day we went tubing she hit 33wks pregnant! No joke! She was a trooper... especially considering she ended up getting the raw(est) end of the deal. Steph's friends had told her about this section of the river, it ended up requiring getting out multiple times to cross downed trees, going through class 1 rapids, and she got a big scrape on her back and multiple thorns in her arms (that I ended up pulling out) from the current taking her into a disgusting tree. Next time we're going down the section she went the prior weekend, 1.5hr float, calm waters, and no obstacles!

Steph enjoying her floating feast of hummus, carrots, and cherry tomatoes!
(The only one with no injuries)

Brandon & Holly
(Brandon's back got scraped up when he pulled Holly out of the tree that was attacking her)

Quinn & I
(I fell off a log into waist deep water cutting my knee, Quinn cut his palm open on a branch & got some weird rash on his side)

The trip was really fun, at the end of the day we decided that our "battle" wounds were worth the 3.5hr float... but next time we were taking the calm route! We hope to go one more time before the end of summer =)