Curiousi

Well, here is the deal. Mid-September I will be done with Tech School and moving to Charleston SC to work on a large transport/carrier called the C-17 Globemaster III.



What do I mean "work on"? I will be troubleshooting and replacing communication and navigation systems. I am still enjoying the whole experience, and find it strange to be learning something that I am actually going to use...it's a good feeling.

It will be nice to live on the ocean, and within a few hours of my parents. There is one Whole Foods there so that's a start at least. I am very excited to be done with this portion of my training and get to live at home with my family for the first time in 8 months.

All I can say is, It's a wonderful Life.

The small way

I am nearer. Nearer, that is, to being a fool. It's a struggle I have always had. But these past few months have given me a kind of strength, and while the natural way (old way) drifts towards a selfish-glory strength, the spirit calls me to a humble-servant strength.

I'm still not sure where the great divide from thought to deed came from. Much of my life has been spent in recoil to the "Christian way." That is, I have taken some effort, at various times, to not "appear 'Christian'" Whatever that means. Even to the point of being ashamed of the physical presence of the Bible. I didn't like "easy indicators" of religion, things that people could look at and identify me as a "Christian."

"They should know the Love of G-d through my life." Said I.


I'm thinking, for me, that was mostly the deception of the devil.

So I am quite close to being a fool for me Lord. I think it is necessary for me to stand out in the faith, for it is too easy to hide everything away. I am certainly not speaking of being obnoxious, but I am speaking of not worrying if I am obnoxious or not. G-d has made for me a beautiful life of joy, and He calls me. I really want to answer.

My beautiful Wife.

Emily is here in sunny Texas. Yesterday we went to see X-men Origins where wolverine made me very jealous as a mighty strong lumberjack.

Unfortunately she has come down with a bit of a cold, but we are still having a nice time together.

Of recent.

Here I am on the last leg of tech training. About 4 more months. Hopefully within the next 2 weeks I will receive my orders to our station, wherever that might be. My school schedule is a wonderful midnight shift...which means I wake up about 9:30pm, get showered, eat, got to school, and get back to my dorm about 9am the next day. So far it hasn't been so bad. The biggest problem is that this means it is not very practical to have Emily and the kids move out here as I would hardly get to see them.

I would appreciate book recommendations as this is basically the only thing I can do in the middle of the night on the weekends while I'm not in school.

All Peace

Emily and Ivy are taking a nap, Ari is wandering around the house alternating between Captian-Hooking everything in site, and slowly bouncing off the walls with blanket over his head.

And I am drinking fresh brewed coffee. How is life? Good.

Pre Air Show

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to be volen-told to work at the Air Show. Basically I had a 12 hour shift directing traffic. The first part they drove myself and one oher guy several blocks off base, dropped us off and said, "keep people from parking on this street, and tell them where to park." Without telling US where they were supposed to park, they drove away. After a while we got things sortd out and the rest of the time was spent telling people they could not park here, which rarely made anybody happy. Aside from the constant stream of grumpy folks, and the occasional sneer from hippies, it wasnt so bad. One young boy came up to me and said "when I grow up I am going to be a soldier!"

Which instantly made me start tearing up. I think part of it was that it's a strange exprience to be looked up to like that. It also struck me as a somewhat depressing thought. But at the same time, in some way, at some point, I think that is the dream of most young boys. I think that violent ember is a beautiful thing. It should be encouraged as an element, and directed towards purpose (not specifically physical violence, but rather, a violent momentum.)

Anyway. Taking the kids to the airshow today. Perhaps some pictures are in order.

Yet more military....

I was able to go out with Emily for a little while today for coffee while Amy watched over the children. In my current phase at tech school if I go off base I have to wear my service dress uniform. This presents me with a rather humbling/awkward situation. When you are in uniform everybody notices. And I notice them notice. It is not that everybody tries to show they notice, but it is easy to see their internal reactions to the sight of a military uniform. Some feel proud, some feel guilty, some feel jealous, some feel superior, some feel pity. Above all of this, some actually approach me and offer a hand shake and some sort of "thank you for your service" remark. In fact, I have yet to go out in public in uniform and not get thank several times.

If people are not randomly coming up to you and thanking you for something, there is no way for you to really get what this might feel like. I have yet to really get a handle on how I even feel about this whole dynamic, as I am still working through and learning how to feel patriotic myself. But I can say that it is incredibly humbling as well as a source for a strange and awkward strength and pride.

This is learning.