Photo Shoot!

      So today we were so blessed to have our friend Kim take our Christmas card photos. I had wanted to do nice photos for our first Christmas card together but unfortunately everything is so expensive! I was disheartened that we would not be able to have nice photos and I had begun planning alternatives when Kim offered to take them for us and edit and everything! It was so much fun to take pictures and it means so much to me to have nice photos of the two of us in our new home. We took some photos here on base then took the rest at Giant Springs State Park just outside of base. Unfortunately the bugs at Giant Springs were horrendous and Kim looked like she was standing in a snow storm of bugs when she was taking the picutres. She was a trooper though and took fantastic pictures! Anthony put up with the photos like a champ too even though he hates having his pictures taken. He knew how much this meant to me and he didn't complain once! What a great group of people I have around me! Here is a taste of what we did!

Pumpkin Carving!

 The patients all ready for surgery!

Kim and Ryan planning their pumpkin 

Cory was such a gentlemen and set a table for us to have dinner!

The boys beginning their carving

Ryan slightly judging Cory as he carves 

Lilly watching with concern 

Cory's Jack Skellington pumpkin

I got Anthony to carve the tricky parts of my pumpkin. 

Minnesota!!!

Anthony's awesome batman!

October Updates!

Hello world!
I am so sorry for my absence. I kept reminding myself that I really should update my blog then I would get distracted and suddenly a week would go by and I had forgotten about it completely! Our lives have not changed dramatically since the last update, just much more busy!

Anthony- He is still living his missile life and September was a terrible month for him. For a few weeks, he would come home from work as I was leaving to go to work so we did not get to see each other much. Now that October is here, we are hoping that he will have a better schedule. However, with the government shutdown, things have been changing on almost a daily basis so we really don't know what's happening. He originally was supposed to have government inspections in early October, then they were moved to late October and now there is a rumor that they are not happening? I can't keep track with all the changes, all I know is that we can't make plans longer than a few days out because we don't know what next week is going to look like! Oh well, it's not like we really are going anywhere anytime soon! Anthony is a better sport about all this than I am but even he is starting to get tired of having so many different schedules and working constantly. Someday we hope that he will get moved to a job where he has real hours. Perhaps in December or January but I'll believe that when I see it.

Work- Things on base in general have been crazy because the government screwed everyone over. Everyone was very grumpy, especially when they were worried that they might not be getting paid. Luckily, the Youth Center was deemed essential so we stayed open and I still got paid! For now I am still working as basically a secretary at the Youth Center on base. I love the people I work with but I did not go to 5 years of college to answer phones and shred papers. I am working on my substitute teaching application but unfortunately we are still facing the same issue of the one car family. Right now we are at a stalemate and soon we are just going to have to pull the trigger and get a car because there was frost on the grass this morning and I am not biking miles in freezing weather! Luckily, my boss at the youth center was really great to work with and I will be working there on Monday, Tuesday and some Fridays and Saturdays. That way I have 3 free days a week to sub and I still have some income coming in from the youth center because subs out here get terrible pay!

Church- Lately I have been attending Bible study on Monday mornings to study Catechism and the Catholic Church. These ladies are fantastic because they help me to see how to survive life as a military spouse. We get together on Mondays, have some coffee and treats and talk about what it means to be a Catholic and Christian in this world. We are studying prayer right now and it has been wonderful to learn how to pray like God intended. The church on base has a very small group that regularly attend so they are constantly asking for help, which we are happy to do. Some Saturdays we usher or count money or whatever we need. One Saturday someone approached me and asked if I could help with Sunday School. I said I would be an assistant but I would not be comfortable with my own classroom because I have never taught before and frankly, I have only been a Catholic for 2 years and I am still learning a lot! The next Sunday I showed up to help with school and much to my surprise, I am in charge of teaching the 5th, 6th and 7th graders! Crap! It has now been 3 weeks of teaching and I love that class. I do my best with the teachings and I feel pretty comfortable because we are really just learning the Bible. We go over the Gospel from Mass, discuss the meaning, move on to the Bible lesson from the day and we always end with a game. So far the kids seem to have a lot of fun but they ask some very difficult questions! How am I supposed to know what language Adam and Eve spoke in the Garden of Eden!?!? They definitely keep me on my toes and I am trying to get them to see how to take lessons from Church and apply them to their everyday life. Hopefully it goes well!

Finally, Kim just introduced me to a class on Wednesday nights called Sacred Marriage. The class teaches you how God created marriage to make us more holy, not necessarily more happy all the time. Last Wednesday we discussed that people don't necessarily fall out of love, they fall out of repentance. People are quick to jump out of a marriage because it becomes difficult and we are seeking our own happiness in marriage, not considering what God is trying to teach us during difficult times. We learned how God gives us a spouse whose shortcomings are exactly what we need to make us more Christ-like. This was a very difficult concept to wrap my mind around but it makes sense the more I think about it. God gave me a spouse who will challenge me because I have my own failings that I need to work on. The book we are reading is fantastic so far and I think more couples need to think less about what they can get out of the relationship and more about what God wants them to get out of the relationship. I look forward to going back to the class and I would recommend this book to any newly married couples!

Friends- Unfortunately I have not been able to make it to many spouses club meetings because I have been working until 7:30 at night and all the meetings start at about 6:30 on weekdays. I made it to this months book club meeting and that was fantastic! I have never read The Great Gatspy before and I'm almost done! The book has been good so far and the movie was wonderful but sad. I hope to make it to more events if my work schedule lets me. I also ran the breast cancer 5k on base here on Thursday which was rough! I am so not in running shape but we got to run on the flight line so it was at least cool scenery.

Well I think that's all for now! More updates to come soon!

Halloween preparation!

Although we do not have a lot yet, here is the beginning of my decorating! Anthony and I have decided to save most of the decorating money for Christmas but I like to at least look a little festive. Everything is fake because, well, everything dies out here! The bottoms of the flower pots and the pumpkin are filled with rocks because the wind takes everything here! Hopefully we get lots of little trick or treaters this year and now to work on my costume! More updates to come! And I am very sorry for my absence!