Being on Base.

I had never known anything of the military until I was with Nathan. I always swore up and down I'd never marry anyone in the military. All I attributed it to was moving every two years. Well, clearly the Lord had other plans, and gave me an AMAZING husband, who just so happened to be committed to the Air Force for at least 4 1/2 years. I had never been on a military base before we got to Montgomery. So I thought I would write some things I have found interesting, and really really nice (some weird too):

1. Every building on base is the same color- terracotta roofs and tan walls. It's really easy to get lost.

2. You have to go through security gates every time you come back on base. It's kinda scary the first time a man with a machine gun walks out and asks you for your ID. But I felt really cool the first time I flashed my military ID without Nathan in the car, and they let me in. "Oh yeah, that's right."

3. I was reading one afternoon at 5pm only to hear our national anthem playing outside. They play another song outside at 6am. It's kinda creepy.

4. It's strange to walk outside at 7am and see masses of people in the same clothes walking toward the same place. It's eerie.

5. They have just about everything you would want on base. It's like it's own small town- grocery store, department store, post office, library, pool, chapel, thrift store, golf course, bowling alley, movie theater, furniture store, gas station. Literally, you don't have to leave.

6. It's strange to be walking into the grocery store with a huge cargo plane taking off from the runway across the street from the parking lot.

7. You can only drive 25mph on base. And you get pulled over and ticketed for talking on your cell phone!

8. EVERYTHING is in military time (2:00pm=1400 hours). I am constantly trying to translate to figure out what time I am supposed to be somewhere.

9. There are abbreviations for everything. One wife saw a book called Air Force as a Second Language. I'm constantly asking, "What does that three-letter acronym stand for?"

10. It was awesome to get a doctor's appointment on the same day I called! And I picked up my prescription and didn't have to pay a dime. Government insurance beats the cheapo plan we had!

There's probably a lot more things that I may remember later. This really is a culture shock, and its own little world. But I'm beginning to like it.

(the picture above is the overhead view of the base we're on)

What Are We Doing?

Hey everyone. I don't know who is really going to read this or keep up with it, but I thought I would start a blog to keep people updated as we travel and move. I've read other people's blogs in trying to figure out what you're supposed to write in these things. I also feel all this pressure to be super wise and spiritual and reflective; I guess we'll see how often that happens! But I like the idea, and enjoy reading other people's posts. So maybe, even for us, this will just be a way to track the things we're doing and the things God is teaching us in our everyday lives.

So, what are we doing? Well right now, we're in week 3 (of 6) in Montgomery, AL where Nathan is in "Air Force school". He's gone pretty much every week day from 7-4, doing various training things and learning more about planes and missiles and other things I couldn't even venture to explain. Sometimes they do physical activities too. The next three pictures show Nate participating in something called Project X. It's like an obstacle course, team-building activity where they have to figure out how to get to the finish line with only a certain amount of supplies. There are certain areas they can't touch (red zones=bombs) and they have to work together to figure it all out. I got to watch from up above, and the Colonel running the whole thing was giving me all the answers so I could laugh at them. There were some obstacles with water, so that if you weren't careful, you fell in. Got to see a couple of those too- pretty funny!

The boys also play an Air Force game called Icarus. Nathan says it's dodgeball hyped-up-on-crack Air Force-style. There's all these crazy rules, but its fun to watch, if you can keep up with whats going on.

I think he's having a good time. He is in a group with mostly married men, so that's fun. And they're mostly inside all day, which is a good thing here with temperatures near or over 100 degrees every day! The humidity is what'll get ya.

As for me, I have minimal responsibilty and I love it! I spend most days sleeping in a little bit, going to free classes they offer at the gym (I'm sore most days of the week), spending time with other wives I met here, reading, scrapbooking, going shopping, etc. My life is pretty easy here, and I love it! I'm thankful to the Lord for this time of no running around or being busy. He knew what I needed. It's so refreshing! Some of my friendships here have proven to be very encouraging. The first few women I met are believers, and we've grown very close pretty quickly. You form relationships fast in the Air Force because everyone's kinda in the same boat. It's nice.

We've been doing a lot of fun stuff on the weekends. One outing was Military Appreciation Day at the Baseball field:

The only thing weird about the whole baseball experience was the mascot. The team was called "The Biscuits", but that's not what their mascot was. A giant anteater? You be the guess. I think if I was a small child, that thing would have scared me! There were fireworks after the game, so that was fun!

We also got to see Stomp while it was in town. Nathan LOVED it! He's always banging around on things, so it was really fun to watch the way they made rhythms with almost anything! It was money well-spent.

That kinda sums it all up now. We're enjoying ourselves a lot! We miss Louisville, but are enjoying this new adventure the Lord is taking us on. In 3 weeks, on July 17, we will be done down here and basically have to go straight to Dayton, OH so we can find a place to live! Until then, we'll survive the heat and enjoy the time.