Hello all! I've started a new blog! I've realized that this one is a little depressing; dark colors, dark-ish theme, etc. That may be because I started it while Wilson was deployed. Go figure.
I actually started "Joy in the Morning" a while ago and posted the new address on my facebook wall, but I've discovered that not everyone got that memo. Anywho, here's the new blog: ajoyfulmorning.blogspot.com
Come on over!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
New Puppy Stuff Shopping!
Yesterday, Wilson and I went shopping for our new puppy's stuff. Wow, this crap is expensive! A bed, kennel, baby gate, puppy pads (training a dog to go outside to pee is hard enough when you have immediate access to the outside, let alone living on the second floor of an apartment building!), collar, leash, a tag, and just a couple of chew toys= over $100. It adds up! Yeah, I decided to go to the dollar tree to look for a brush because the ones at PetSmart looked just like the $1 ones at the Tree, except the pet store ones cost $7-10! Um....I don't think so punks! Well, we are still really excited, even if I am a little slow getting over the sticker shock.
Church was really good today. It was a little blue because Wilson had to work today, but I made it through. =) We had a missionary couple from Africa as guest speakers. The church supports them in their ministry to indigenous tribes in Niger (actually pronounced "Nee-jair" in case you were wondering). The husband preached and was very interesting. Very well-spoken and he offered us some unique perspectives, including how different parts of the world view Americans. The African Muslims that he knows love Obama because he's black and they hate Bush. But when this missionary tells them that Obama is in favor of homosexual "marriage" and abortion, while Bush was against these things, the Africans are shocked. As Muslims, they are staunchly opposed to homosexuality and abortion and have never heard that Obama supports these things. Our missionary spoke a lot about African sentiments and tribal differences, as well as the state of Christianity worldwide.
More fun facts from church today: At the end of WWII, approx. 3% of the world's population was evangelical Christian. Today that number is up to 12%. We hear that Islam is the world's fastest-growing religion, but it's not. Christianity is. In fact, Christianity is mostly growing due to conversions, while Islam is mostly growing due to reproduction and large families. Also, today 2/3 of the world's Christians live in Asia, Africa, and South America. Christianity can no longer be considered a "Western religion". Up until the 1700's, the vast majority of Christians lived in Asia and Northern Africa; it wasn't until later that the religion moved West. Interesting, huh? Do you know which country sends out the second-highest number of missionaries? (America is first with 55,000.) South Korea. 41,000 missionaries have been sent from that country alone. Wanna know who's next in line? Brazil with some 20,000. Don't think that the US has a monopoly on Christianity. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Some theologians and "missionists" (I think that was the term) estimate that by 2050, the world will see fewer non-Latino white evangelical Christians than black or Latino evangelicals. South America, Asia, and Africa are seeing a resurgence in Christianity that is unprecedented. The Lord is working among these people and they are responding in droves. Christianity is booming, my friends, and it's spreading like wildfire across the world. Get excited!!
Church was really good today. It was a little blue because Wilson had to work today, but I made it through. =) We had a missionary couple from Africa as guest speakers. The church supports them in their ministry to indigenous tribes in Niger (actually pronounced "Nee-jair" in case you were wondering). The husband preached and was very interesting. Very well-spoken and he offered us some unique perspectives, including how different parts of the world view Americans. The African Muslims that he knows love Obama because he's black and they hate Bush. But when this missionary tells them that Obama is in favor of homosexual "marriage" and abortion, while Bush was against these things, the Africans are shocked. As Muslims, they are staunchly opposed to homosexuality and abortion and have never heard that Obama supports these things. Our missionary spoke a lot about African sentiments and tribal differences, as well as the state of Christianity worldwide.
More fun facts from church today: At the end of WWII, approx. 3% of the world's population was evangelical Christian. Today that number is up to 12%. We hear that Islam is the world's fastest-growing religion, but it's not. Christianity is. In fact, Christianity is mostly growing due to conversions, while Islam is mostly growing due to reproduction and large families. Also, today 2/3 of the world's Christians live in Asia, Africa, and South America. Christianity can no longer be considered a "Western religion". Up until the 1700's, the vast majority of Christians lived in Asia and Northern Africa; it wasn't until later that the religion moved West. Interesting, huh? Do you know which country sends out the second-highest number of missionaries? (America is first with 55,000.) South Korea. 41,000 missionaries have been sent from that country alone. Wanna know who's next in line? Brazil with some 20,000. Don't think that the US has a monopoly on Christianity. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Some theologians and "missionists" (I think that was the term) estimate that by 2050, the world will see fewer non-Latino white evangelical Christians than black or Latino evangelicals. South America, Asia, and Africa are seeing a resurgence in Christianity that is unprecedented. The Lord is working among these people and they are responding in droves. Christianity is booming, my friends, and it's spreading like wildfire across the world. Get excited!!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wow...it's been a long time!
October! I can't believe that I haven't written since October! Wow, so much has happened. Wilson and I have been to SC and back twice since then, for Camille's wedding and Thanksgiving. Christmas was spent here in Virginia, just the two of us. It was fun decorating the house and so relaxing and laid back. Wilson spent 3 weeks of December in Law Officer School learning the rules of evidence and how to interview and gather information. So now he gets to basically do the work of a paralegal (among other things) for the legal cases on his ship. He's been really busy with all of that work, plus the scheduling for his ship for the next few months. It's been crazy!
My job has been going pretty well, too. 'Tis the season for full hospitals, so things are busy. The other day, my co-worker only had time to eat a bag of chips during her whole 12-hr shift! It's nuts! I'm still only working a day or two every week, but I'm planning to start volunteering with our local pregnancy care center. Hopefully that will all come together in the next couple of weeks so my schedule will fill up some.
Oh! Our other big news is that we will probably be getting a puppy in the next month. We are so excited!! As many of you know, I have pet allergies, but we found a few breeds that are low-shedding dogs. After an hour or so petting the pooches, we settled on Min-Pins (miniature pinschers) because they don't cause any reaction in me at all. It's amazing! We found a small-time breeder who had a new litter in December, so come mid-February we should have a puppy! The litter had 2 female black and brown pups, which is what we prefer. These are the puppies we will be choosing from:
This is the larger of the two girls. She is very outgoing and adventuresome. She climbed right up into my lap and started sniffing and licking me!
This little girl is the smaller of the two. She is really tiny and a cuddler. She took a few minutes to warm up to us, but then she just curled up snuggled in!
We went to visit them yesterday, and Wilson wanted to take all 6 puppies home with us! They are still getting their feet under them and slide on the hardwood floors. It was so hard to leave! But hey, for you military folks out there, most army posts and major navy bases have a veterinarian on base and they are MUCH cheaper that civilian docs. They don't do surgery (spay/neuter) but they give yearly check-ups and vaccinations. Just FYI!
Well, I think that's the major news on this front. I'll try to be a little more consistent with my updates. Once every 3 months is just deplorable!! Thank you all for your prayers and phone calls and support! Love you!
My job has been going pretty well, too. 'Tis the season for full hospitals, so things are busy. The other day, my co-worker only had time to eat a bag of chips during her whole 12-hr shift! It's nuts! I'm still only working a day or two every week, but I'm planning to start volunteering with our local pregnancy care center. Hopefully that will all come together in the next couple of weeks so my schedule will fill up some.
Oh! Our other big news is that we will probably be getting a puppy in the next month. We are so excited!! As many of you know, I have pet allergies, but we found a few breeds that are low-shedding dogs. After an hour or so petting the pooches, we settled on Min-Pins (miniature pinschers) because they don't cause any reaction in me at all. It's amazing! We found a small-time breeder who had a new litter in December, so come mid-February we should have a puppy! The litter had 2 female black and brown pups, which is what we prefer. These are the puppies we will be choosing from:
This is the larger of the two girls. She is very outgoing and adventuresome. She climbed right up into my lap and started sniffing and licking me!
This little girl is the smaller of the two. She is really tiny and a cuddler. She took a few minutes to warm up to us, but then she just curled up snuggled in!We went to visit them yesterday, and Wilson wanted to take all 6 puppies home with us! They are still getting their feet under them and slide on the hardwood floors. It was so hard to leave! But hey, for you military folks out there, most army posts and major navy bases have a veterinarian on base and they are MUCH cheaper that civilian docs. They don't do surgery (spay/neuter) but they give yearly check-ups and vaccinations. Just FYI!
Well, I think that's the major news on this front. I'll try to be a little more consistent with my updates. Once every 3 months is just deplorable!! Thank you all for your prayers and phone calls and support! Love you!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Today is the Day!!
Hey folks! Sorry I never finished my stories, but I got really busy these last few days preparing for Wilson's homecoming. His ship pulls in this afternoon and I am counting down the hours. Thank you all so much for everything you've done for me these last 10 weeks. I couldn't have done it without you! I love you!!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Funny Story!
Hey y'all! So Wilson sent me a really long email with a couple of great stories. You ready??
Wilson was going to pull the ship into Algeria last week. The Algerians had given them a map with the depths in their harbor and the ship had passed onto Algeria their "draft" (how deep the ship sits in the water). With this info, the Algerians had told the ship to pull next to this one pier bow-first. As they are headed there, the Algerian "pilot" (read: navigator?) gets "this sick look" on his face and says, This no work. After working through the language barrier, Wilson finds out that the map they had given the ship showed the wrong depths and if they had kept going they would've run aground. Running aground is a HUGE deal!! Anyways, after looking at the info again, they figured out that they needed to pull into another pier, stern-first. They had "tugs" to help with this process, but the tugs couldn't hook up w/ the ship. So basically, Wilson had to back up, pull this huge long ship into a tiny cove and turn it around on a dime, without the use of tugs. Then, he had to back the ship up next to this pier. All with the Captain looking over his shoulder. He said that "I did it, but I shook for 2 hours afterward!" Once it was over though, everyone slapped him on the back and told him that that port had been the hardest one to pull into this whole deployment. The email made it sound like he wanted to collapse after it was all over!
There's another funny story, but it's getting late. I guess you are just going to have to wait!! ;-)
Wilson was going to pull the ship into Algeria last week. The Algerians had given them a map with the depths in their harbor and the ship had passed onto Algeria their "draft" (how deep the ship sits in the water). With this info, the Algerians had told the ship to pull next to this one pier bow-first. As they are headed there, the Algerian "pilot" (read: navigator?) gets "this sick look" on his face and says, This no work. After working through the language barrier, Wilson finds out that the map they had given the ship showed the wrong depths and if they had kept going they would've run aground. Running aground is a HUGE deal!! Anyways, after looking at the info again, they figured out that they needed to pull into another pier, stern-first. They had "tugs" to help with this process, but the tugs couldn't hook up w/ the ship. So basically, Wilson had to back up, pull this huge long ship into a tiny cove and turn it around on a dime, without the use of tugs. Then, he had to back the ship up next to this pier. All with the Captain looking over his shoulder. He said that "I did it, but I shook for 2 hours afterward!" Once it was over though, everyone slapped him on the back and told him that that port had been the hardest one to pull into this whole deployment. The email made it sound like he wanted to collapse after it was all over!
There's another funny story, but it's getting late. I guess you are just going to have to wait!! ;-)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Work Day #2
Work was much better today!! Things went really well and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Just wanted to let y'all know!! =)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
First day at work!
Hello all! Just an update about life here. My first real day at work was today. It was....Well, actually it was a bit of a disaster! I don't want to bore you with the details, but lots of things added up together to turn my 12-hour shift into a 14-hour one. After just one day, I've already got a pretty long list of system failures at this facility. Please pray for God to reveal His wisdom. I am really not sure what to do at this point. Right now, He's saying, "Wait and see. You will know." Haha, I can be pretty dumb sometimes though! My prayer is that I will know the answers when I see them, and that I won't be afraid to follow down the path He has for me.
Anyway, that was vague and confusing, so on to more upbeat themes. As I said previously, Wilson's ship is on its way home. They are 2 time zones closer already and moving this way quickly. He actually pulled the ship into port recently. He was nervous, but excited that he was able to do it. I also found out a little more about his job on the ship. Well, he actually has 2 right now: OI and CICO. CICO is Combat Information Communications Officer. He basically keeps tabs on the activity of other ships and such around them and helps get that info to the right people. This means that sometimes he gets awakened in the middle of the night, which bugs his wife considerably. He'll give away the CICO job sometime around January when a new person comes in. His other job is OI, Operations Information officer. In this capacity, he helps with personnel scheduling as well as the scheduling of drills and tests that take place at sea. He really enjoys the OI stuff and is excited that this is the job he will keep. I like it too because he knows a lot about what's going on! He really likes his boss, co-workers, and sailors and is having a great time. The countdown marches on, only a couple of weeks left now!! YAY!!
I am making good friends here as well. My church is wonderful and so are the Navy spouses clubs. Such a great resource and encouragement! Thank you all for your prayers and support. God is so faithful!
I am going to bed. It's been a crazy day!! Love y'all!
Anyway, that was vague and confusing, so on to more upbeat themes. As I said previously, Wilson's ship is on its way home. They are 2 time zones closer already and moving this way quickly. He actually pulled the ship into port recently. He was nervous, but excited that he was able to do it. I also found out a little more about his job on the ship. Well, he actually has 2 right now: OI and CICO. CICO is Combat Information Communications Officer. He basically keeps tabs on the activity of other ships and such around them and helps get that info to the right people. This means that sometimes he gets awakened in the middle of the night, which bugs his wife considerably. He'll give away the CICO job sometime around January when a new person comes in. His other job is OI, Operations Information officer. In this capacity, he helps with personnel scheduling as well as the scheduling of drills and tests that take place at sea. He really enjoys the OI stuff and is excited that this is the job he will keep. I like it too because he knows a lot about what's going on! He really likes his boss, co-workers, and sailors and is having a great time. The countdown marches on, only a couple of weeks left now!! YAY!!
I am making good friends here as well. My church is wonderful and so are the Navy spouses clubs. Such a great resource and encouragement! Thank you all for your prayers and support. God is so faithful!
I am going to bed. It's been a crazy day!! Love y'all!
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