Lightbulb moment

Well, I don't have any pictures to share today.  Only a few words.  The last couple of days I have gotten into the swing of things a little bit more.  I have busied my self with making grocery trips or errands for E, making meals, doing laundry, reading books (I am on my third for this week!), reading the bible, and being there for E.

For any of you who don't know, E has this quirky little superstition that 23 is bad for him.  He claims that on the 23rd of every month something bad happens.  Well, June 23rd 2014 was no different.  He got some bad news in class that really made him feel discouraged.  It broke my heart that there was really nothing I could do to fix it.  But it made me very thankful that I was here, even if all I could do was give him a hug.  The next few days have been much better for him.

Watching E go through this gave me a whole new perspective on this time in our lives.  Sometimes this experience leaves me drained.  I start to feel used when I spend all day by myself and then E comes home and wants me to do things for him.  He doesn't always ask me, but I do things for him because I want to.  Sometimes I do these things selfishly, thinking that if I do things for him, he will want to return the favor.  Only there never seems to be time or energy left at the end of the day for him to go out of his way to do things for me.  This made me easily irritated.  I cracked at every note of sarcasm or gentle joking.  I'm embarrassed to say that I almost started resenting him.  When he had that bad day it opened my eyes.  E has more pressure on him than I know.  Classwork is really not his thing, and that is all he does some days.  After spending some time thinking about it, and praying about it I knew that this time in our lives was about E needing me, which was just as good as him doing things for me.  Both of us are very much so the kind of people who like to do things for ourselves, and we don't like to even allow people to help.  It seems as though E has reached his breaking point and has opened up to letting me help him.  Whether I research helpful study habits, make him dinner, or give him 10 minute back rubs between study sessions I know he appreciates it, even if he doesn't always admit it.

This bad day also made me realize how happy I should be that I'm even here. Even though some days the only time I get to spend with E is when we go to bed, it's more time than I would have had with him had I not come along.  I know that if I had stayed in Minnesota, I would have given anything to have had 5 minutes with E.  I also thought about how thankful I was that I could be here for his bad day.  As helpless as I felt, I would have felt more helpless if I had not been here.

That's enough of the thoughtful stuff, though.  Yesterday E woke up very early and did land navigation courses.  He came back around 0900 and reported he had been bitten by a snake! (He passed, by the way! WOO!!)  I couldn't help but think about the river float the other day and everyone being so scared of the snakes, only to have E get bitten by one in the dark!  When he showed me the bite, you really could only see one tiny spec, and then the area was kinda rough like he had goosebumps.  I'm still a little uneasy that he didn't at least have someone check it out, but that's just the girl in me I suppose.  E said someone else got bit by a spider in the dark because he walked into the web.  Supposedly that person's neck swelled, but the swelling went down and he was fine.  I'm not going to lie to you, I was a little bit nervous about this whole land navigation thing.  I'd heard stories already of people breaking their legs during this course due to uneven ground and the like.  So I was pretty thankful that E came out alive ;)

Yesterday I spent most of the day out on the hammock in front of our building.  People were everywhere! E guessed that it was a family day event, and maybe a graduation ceremony too.  I saw a big critter that might have been a groundhog, AND there was a birds nest right above where I was swinging!

The rest of the evening I read while E studied.  Today he takes a test.  I'm praying for him.

That's all for now! I'll be back :)

Hammock time!

Too bad the rain came 20 minutes after I figured out how to hang it up! Today i went grocery shopping, then tried to be outside while I wait for the laundry. Now I sit in the laundry room instead of my room. A change of scenery is nice at least!

Fun in the sun

In case you can't tell from the title, here's a picture of my feet after yesterday.  Can you guess what we did??

Well I'll get to that in a bit.  But for now I'll start from the beginning of the weekend.  On Friday night I went with E to Buffalo Wild Wings.  There we met up with other people from E's class.  Although I met and talked to a lot of people, we spent most of the night talking to someone who was also from Minnesota!  It was fun comparing notes and learning that he grew up really close to me.  

As it started getting late, we had a couple of people asking E or I to be a DD for them to get to a bar & grill not to far from where we were.  We ran into a little problem because I don't know how to drive manual very well, as I've only had one lesson and that's the car that E and I have.  But I also was really nervous about driving a bunch of people that I didn't know at all, in the dark, and they were intoxicated on top of it.  So Captain W (the fellow Minnesotan we were talking to all night) could see the hesitation on my face and volunteered to drive them.  We followed in our truck and the plan was to bring him back to his vehicle after he'd dropped off the group going to the next bar.  As we were following we kept getting further and further away from anything that looked like a restaurant.  Eventually we turned around.  Watching them drive in front of us switching lanes at the last minute made me really glad I wasn't driving, because I would have been a wreck.  We did eventually find the place (they totally could have just walked from BWW) and then went home for the night.

Then comes Saturday!! After running to pick up some uniforms for E we met up to go tubing down the river that was not too far away from post.  We arrived at 1130 like everyone said we should do and only a few people were on time.  We didn't even leave the parking lot until 1200.  Then we drove and drove and drove and kept thinking we were lost.  We eventually found the place and rented tubes.  We turn around and realize that we've lost two people.  They had to drive back because one of them realized they had forgotten their wallet (but didn't think to ask anyone to pay for them).  They arrived and then we had to wait for more people.  And then once they arrived, we had to wait for more people.  The theme of the day was waiting.  

Eventually we were off.  The float was slow to begin with but we weren't in a big hurry.  We knew that it was only 4 miles and didn't expect it to take too long...little did we know it was going to take us until about 1845.  Along the river we encountered mini rapids, snakes, and spiders.  We had many laughs from good embarassing story telling, grown men shrieking and running across tubes of people to get away from snakes and spiders, and simply being in good company.  I got to know a lot of people and still have to really think to try to remember everybody's names (because I have to know both first and last names! and there were 19 people there).  Eventually the float came to an end and we sat around waiting for the bus to come pick us up. It was taking a long time, so someone called to see what the hold up was.  We found out that we were waiting in the wrong spot.  We were supposed to walk up a ways to meet the bus.  The bus ride back to our cars was an adventure in itself.  We almost got stuck going up a hill, and almost got crashed into by a fast car.  We were all thankful to arrive back in one piece.

At this point I was hot and a little bit burnt.  I had a headache and it had been a long day.  We decided to go out for dinner with a few people on our way back home.  So there we sat, in our wet clothes, eating dinner listening to mediocre live music.  Overall it was a very full, very fun day.

I met another wife, who didn't seem to have any problem with the extra time.  Apparently grocery shopping and preparing meals for the week kept her busy enough.  But maybe we will get together and go do stuff in the future.  It was fun to meet people this weekend.

Now to the best part.  Despite my mom-like efforts to convince E to wear sunscreen and to keep applying, he now looks like a bright tomato.  You can see the spots where he sprayed on sunscreen and refused to rub it in (despite my begging him to rub it in).  Now he is sitting covered in cooling aloe gel.

This morning we went to church and got a homemade pie!  It was nice to come back and have so many people remember us.  After church we went out to lunch with E's friend from NDSU just like old times.  Now I have to find something to occupy me for the rest of the day because E has so much homework.

This weekend was well worth all of the sitting around though.  I was nervous about feeling out of place with E and all of his classmates, but I felt really welcomed.  Most of the time I could follow what they talked about, and there were plenty of girls that showed up anyway.

I can't wait to see what next weekend holds!

Familiar faces

Look at the pretty flowers I picked from the side of the road today!  I think they are a good visual of how my day feels.  Today started off pretty slow.  Gave E a hair cut at 0700 and then sat around for a while.  I sent in an application for a job today that I would love love love to get! 

Today one of my friends from high school just happened to be in the area and stopped by with his girlfriend for dinner! How nice of them!  Unfortunately E had to study, so he couldn't be there.  It was really nice to see familiar faces and to have a face to face conversation with people that were not my husband! It also felt a little nice to not be the most clueless person in the room.  After an hour of easy conversation they left on their next great adventure and I was left feeling refreshed.  The last couple of days have been pretty good, even considering today's dinner was the first time I've been out in a few days.  I have been busily writing cover letters and fixing my resume.  My aunt was very helpful and took the time out of her day to read through my cover letter and then go through it with me on the phone.  Not to mention she made me feel pretty good about myself and my accomplishments to this date.

Right now E is getting done with his study session and is on his way here to pick me up to go get his uniforms.  Last week we brought them in to have stuff sewn on.  Which brings me to a funny story.  That evening right before we were about to go to bed E stops in his tracks and has a look of sheer panic on his face. He said "oh NOOOOO! I gave that lady all of my PC's (patrol cap)" He spent quite some time trying to find a PC to borrow in the morning before he could go buy another one. It might not have seemed funny to him then, but it sure was funny after the fact!

That is all! Ta ta for now!

High hopes

The last couple of days have been filled with job searching (for our move to Washington).  In the past months this has been a daunting and disappointing experience, so you can just imagine my surprise when I found opportunities galore!  I have found countless positions seeking Spanish/English bilingual employees, and I even found a position for a volunteer coordinator in Seattle.  I am most excited about the volunteer coordinator position.  Overall, my last few days have been filled with hope and inspiration.  I have felt like I've made some progress, and I really have something to look forward to.  I ask that you pray for me as I start applying for jobs.

Really not a whole lot of new stuff to report.  I walked to the PX yesterday and I ate an ice cream cone in the food court like a loner.  Then I just walked around and looked at stuff for a while, resisting the temptation to buy bags and shoes.  Then I walk all the way back to the hotel.  It's not a long walk, but yesterday was the first day of hot muggy weather.

Today there is no water from 0800 until 1600.  They left a note on our door yesterday saying it would be out in the whole building.  I didn't get up until 0900...so I have to wait until 1600 to shower.  But where do I have to go anyway??

My mom has been very kind in thinking of me and she offered to let me help on a project so that I would have something to do this summer, seeing as getting a job (not at the commissary) isn't a real possibility.  I am very thankful to have something to spend some time on and something productive and worthwhile.

Oh! I almost forgot about this funny little thing that happened yesterday! Just after E left for class I hear a knock on the door.  I really thought it was E, because he keeps knocking instead of using his key when he knows I'm here.  So I went to the door and looked out the peep hole.  Only it wasn't E.  It was some other person and they looked a little panicked and in a rush.  He bangs on the door again and shouts "Dude, common!!"  I backed away from the door and went back to my business, since it wasn't Ethan.  Then I hear the door next door open and they leave.  As it turns out, the person in the apartment right next to ours is in E's class! And apparently so was the guy that was knocking on our door!  I wonder how many more times people are going to get our rooms mixed up?

Sunday fun day

Today we went to church.  E did some research earlier in the week and found a nice church a little ways off post.  We arrived a little early, and much to E's dismay we went inside early instead of going to get doughnuts before church started.  No sooner had we found a place to sit than people started coming up to us left and right and introducing themselves to us.

This church has people from so many places, and it has so many people that will be very helpful and understanding for E and I.  Many of the people attending the church have either been in the military in the past, have worked on post, or are still working on post.  We spent a good twenty minutes getting to meet people until church started.  Then again during the meet-and-greet portion of the service, and then after the service.  We met many people who gave us advice and direction and offered us ways to be involved.  More importantly, they offered suggestions on how to keep me busy!  Sometime in the near future I should be able to connect with other wives and go out and do fun stuff with them, but I was also given some direction and some suggestions about where I could volunteer (some of which included with the church).

After that we were invited to the Sunday school classes between services, so we stayed for that.

Then comes E's favorite part of the day.  The anxiously awaited trip to the Waffle House!!

He thought he was so sneaky.  As we were leaving the church parking lot he goes "I'm going to take you out for a treat!"  Little did he know, I knew he was going to do it before we even left for church!

It was yummy!! Although, I'll have to say that it made me a little homesick for Minnesota for a minute when I realized how much I miss the no-smoking laws... But I quickly got over it!

Now I sit and quietly try not to disturb E as he does a bunch of homework and important sounding things.  He told me today at breakfast that he's figured out a couple of good people to be friends with that seem to be down to earth.  E seems to be settling right in and I think is grateful for the business in his life after having a month of loafing around with no real productivity.  He seems to be making all kinds of connections, and people are eager to help us out at every chance we can get.

Oh! I almost forgot! I know some of you have been asking for pictures of the base and all that jazz, which I hadn't gotten around to yet because of all the rain, and my not knowing where I'm going or what I'm doing, but I was just informed last night by E that he volunteered to be the photographer...so he needs the camera.  So much for practicing my photography skills this summer :P  I'll just have to practice on the weekends.  However, E said I could maybe help him with some of it (FB and uploading and such) so maybe that will give me a little bit of things to do as well.

I finished my first book since we've arrived, and now I'm on to the second!  It's called How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway.  In case you were wondering, it's a novel, not a self-help book.  I'm finding it very interesting so far as it is about a Japanese woman that married an American sailor during WWII or shortly thereafter.  It made me think, for as bored as I think I am, and for as lost in the military protocol as I feel, at least I can speak English, know American culture, and nobody is holding anything against me because of how I look!

Anyway, that's really all I have to report for now!

Highs and Lows

After sitting around for a few days with little to occupy myself with I finally got up the gumption to go to the employment office (I actually can't remember the title of the office because it was ridiculously long and did not sound at all like a place where people would help me find a job).  Those of you that know me well can appreciate the act of bravery that it really was for me to walk around post by myself, waltz into the office and ask people for help.  I am so naturally introverted and easily intimidated that walking around a place where everyone appears to know exactly what they are doing and they look and act so professional, I feel out of my element.  I'm sure at every moment that I'm probably messing something up, or doing something that's not right.

On my way to the office (about a 15 minute walk) I not only find every color of roadside weed flowers, and birds picking up worms from the rain-soaked soil, but I also find that EVERYONE stops for pedestrians.  Even when there was no crosswalk (which there aren't many of anyway...there aren't may sidewalks to be honest either) people stopped to let me cross the road.  Not sure if this is a military base thing or a Missouri thing, because even the airport shuttle van things stopped in the parking lot for me (although he seemed irritated unlike everyone else...).

Upon arriving to the building I really had no idea what I'm doing.  I must have not gotten the woman  gene that makes me stop and ask for directions, because I really hate it.  I'd rather try to find it myself.  After going up the elevator and realizing there were about 20 different offices, all with titles I didn't understand I was too afraid to walk into one and all of a sudden be in a place I wasn't authorized to be in...So I went back downstairs to the people that checked us into our hotel room and asked for directions.  They called it the employment office and they told me to go RIGHT when I got off the elevator.  Just to double check I said "Okay, so I go to the RIGHT?" and they said yes like they were positive.  So I get off the elevator on the second floor and go right.  I meet closed doors that lead to a long hallway of offices...none of them say "employment office".  I fight my urge to just leave the building altogether and I start walking. The first office is open and I see a lot of women at desks.  After taking another five steps I realize that I really don't know where I'm going and all of the other office doors are closed.  So I go back to the office with the nice looking ladies.  I have learned recently that in many situations if you just stand in one place and look really confused or make it very clear with your body language that you have no idea what you're doing, someone will come up to you and help you.  So I walked about two feet into the office and stood there and waited for someone to waive me over.  And TA DA!!! It worked!  A very nice woman asked me what I was looking for and I said "the employment office??".  She then took it upon herself to take me there herself!  As it turns out, I was supposed to go left off the elevator, not right.  But it's just as well that I found the nice lady because I never would have guessed that I was supposed to go through the door she took me through.

As it turns out, I won't really be able to use my social work degree here.  Looks like I can apply to work at the commissary (Grocery store for those of you who don't talk military). I was told that I'd have a hard time getting a job because I didn't really have a "foot in the door" or "a leg up" because I'm new and because I'm not disabled...Needless to say, I left a little disheartened.

However, God has blessed us and at the moment it's not necissarily crucial that I have a job.  It just would have been nice to give me something to do.  So it's back to the drawing board for me.

On one last up note,  just as I was leaving on my walk I felt a little mist.  I just prayed that the rain would hold off until I got back.  And what do you know, as soon as I sat down to type up this post it started storming!

I suppose that's all for now.  I have to find some projects to keep me busy this summer!

Second dinner made in our tiny kitchen

The beginning

Two days ago my husband E and I landed in Ft Leonard Wood, MO.  It is my first experience on an Army base and I have so much to learn and so much to share.

First, we started off our grand adventure at 0200.  The alarm went off and before we could even get out of bed to turn it off I get a text message from my mother saying "she is here!"  My littlest cousin was born just in time! We packed up the last of our things into my sister in law's truck (she graciously switched vehicles with us for the summer so that we could bring enough stuff with us), and headed off to the hospital.  We met the precious little angel in the middle of the night and felt so blessed to be among the first people to see her tiny little fingers and toes.  After saying some final goodbyes we hit the road.

Shortly after leaving the cities we were hit with a downpour.  It seems as though the rain is following us wherever we go.  Just as we were about to pull off the road to wait out the rain, it let up and we were able to keep driving.  It rained on and off the rest of the way.  After stopping for lunch in Iowa we continued to drive straight through to Missouri with only stops for gas.

Sometime after we passed through Kansas City, we came across the scariest road either of us has ever been on.  It went up and down and twisted and turned and the speed limit was 55mph the whole way. It also had no shoulder.  One inch to the side and you were off the road and onto the slippery gravel or grass. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad had we been able to go at a nice slow pace, but there were angry drivers behind us who clearly had a death wish trying to go 70mph.

We arrived on base at about 1430, a mere 12.5 hours after we started our journey, and about 2 hours too early to check in.  So we did some exploring.  We looked and looked and looked for at least an hour for the store that sells military uniforms and the like with no success.  Later we found out that we were just across the street from it the whole time.

We were able to check into our hotel that we will be living in for four months a little early.  We are going to be spoiled here.  We have a little kitchenette for cooking meals, two rooms, two tv's, free wifi, free laundry, and free continental breakfast five days a week.  On top of all of that, just like any ordinary hotel someone comes in to make our bed and give us new towels on a daily basis.  So spoiled.

After getting settled we went out to dinner with a friend who graciously answered all of our pesky questions and gave us countless pointers and bits of advice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday E thought he'd be spending the whole day in classes, only to wake up early, get dressed, and find out that he really only had to sign a few papers.  We spent the rest of the day together making sure he had everything he needed (USB printer cables were harder to find than we expected) from patches for E to crayons for me.  After all of that we hit the hay early to get a good nights sleep in for E's first day.

E seems to be enjoying his first day, reporting that there are about 30-40 people in his class.  He seems much more relaxed after having met them, getting expectations and the lay of the land.  While he is off learning things I am also learning things of my own.  This week I hope to find a job, or at least start that process.  I have also started making a menu for cooking dinners in our ity-bity kitchen (I have a new-found appreciation for our last kitchen, which we thought was small).  On top of all of that I have been taking note of civilian protocol when it comes to the army and learning what different ranks on uniforms look like.  All in all its enough to keep me busy for the time being.

Did I mention the rain is following us?  It has rained every day on and off since we left!  Feels like God might be preparing us for Washington.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, I know this post is getting long, but I have one more thing.  I figured I'd explain the title I chose for my blog while we are here.  First, I've never been to a military base before.  For some reason I thought it would be smaller...much smaller.  But with the different shops and restaurants and gas station and pool and mini golf and hotels and hospital and on and on, it is way bigger than I imagined.  Aside from all of that, I kept hearing people call this place (Fort Leonard Wood) "Fort Lost-in-the-woods".  So I assumed that anything remotely civilized would be way far away. Well, as it turns out there is a town surrounding the fort that has even more things like Walmart and hotels and restaurants, etc.  I mean, there's no Target, Best Buy, or even a mall, but I hardly feel lost in the woods.  We have everything we could possibly need, and then some!  Anyway, that's the reason behind my title.

Take care! More posts to come!