I Want a Church

My religious background is somewhat of a jumble: I was baptized Catholic, but no one ever followed up on that. I went to a Baptist church for youth group on and off with friends in Middle and High School, and got really into a Presbyterian church when I was in college. I went to every Sunday service (and sometimes twice) and the mid week college group, I had a small group, I led a middle school girls’ small group, and I sometimes went to their youth group mid week. That church [MPPC] is still my hands down favorite church of all the churches I’ve attended, and if I lived nearby, I would probably still be as involved with it now as I was then. I could watch their sermons on the internet, but it’s not quite the same.

I liked that they were open minded about what Christians are supposed to be and that they put their faith into action: we had a regular group doing work in Ethiopia, but also groups regularly at work at home in the nearby low income high crime neighborhoods and at the AIDS hospice, among other places. When I went to Kenya to work an NGO one summer through MPPC, I learned more about myself than at any other time in my life. That church encouraged me to develop my beliefs and to develop as a person more than any other church I’ve ever been to.

Now that I’m settled in one place again for a couple years, I think I’d like to find a new church again. I miss the fellowship I had with people — my best friends in college were mostly people I met at church. I’ve always loved the ritual and traditions of Catholicism, so I think I might check out the local Catholic churches and check out their RCIA classes. I also want to check out Episcopalian churches because they share a lot of tradition with Catholicism, and one of the Episcopalian churches around here has some interesting thoughts on their website.

Freshman year of college, one of my best friends said this to me: “I don’t know what God is saying to that person and I don’t know the state of that person’s soul. I know that what I am doing is what’s best for me, but I can’t make that judgment for anyone else.” Another friend recently posted this on his blog: “I am not the judge of a person’s soul and I can not, nor am I trying to, make a statement about what makes a person eligible for salvation. I believe that each and every person, regardless of faith, makes their own case before God when the time comes for their particular judgment. I believe in a God whose love far surpasses man’s ability to understand and which is not limited by the boundaries we place upon ourselves.” Both of them happen to be Catholic, and I don’t know if these beliefs are common within the Catholic Church, but if I could find a church that espoused those beliefs, I would also find my new church home.

Two Random OCS Pictures

This one is from the first day. All of a sudden the Candi-O’s weren’t so nice and were yelling out random things impossible to keep up with: “FIX YOUR SHOES! OUTBOARD OVER INBOARD! TUCK IN YOUR PANTS! DISCIPLINE DITTY! SESPI SOUND OFF! DON’T CUT THE DECK! DO NOT TOUCH MY BULKHEAD! HYDRATE AT WILL!” I’m either being told to sound off or being yelled at for not wearing my belt. I can’t tell if I’m wearing the belt or not.

This second one is from Tuesday night, a few hours before I DOR’d. I’m the one in front immediately to the left of the class chief (who was actually a senior chief). My chrome dome fell off when I was doing push ups because it was way too big. It’s lots of fun when you’re running too and it blocks your eyes so you can’t see where you’re going. Although the fact that you could look around and the DI/Class Chief wouldn’t know that you were looking around was a plus. Staring at the back of someone’s head gets old. We had just been introduced to our class team, been told to get outside, and then told “GET ON YOUR FACE AND PUSH!” Done. “Get up! On your face! Get up! On your face! Push it out! Who told you you could touch the deck? Get your knees up! Get your knees up!” Makes me tired just looking at it, but just look at my awesome form. My knees are straight and not bending toward the ground.

The Reception/”Hey We’re Married” Party

That was a fun, if very stressful, weekend.

The fam and my best friend Crap got here on Wednesday. On Thursday, it was pouring, so we went shopping and got some last minute decorations and party needs. Friday, we went to Charleston. I love Charleston.

The famous pineapple fountain. Not sure why it’s famous, but it is, so we had to take the obligatory picture. (That’s the infamous Crap.)

My parents

My little brother and I raced to the fountain, and then posed for a picture of us tying. In reality, I won.

Friday night, a couple of my friends from DC came down. They requested fresh baked goods, so we had a late night cocktail baking party.

My friends called at midnight and said they were about an hour away, but had gotten a flat tire and had to wait for someone to come change their tire for them would be on their way again as soon as they had changed it themselves. No worries, I said, I’ll be up when you get here. They called again at 1:30 to let me know that they were about 7 miles from my house, but their spare had gotten a flat. Oi. They called a tow truck and were going to have their car towed to my house, but when the tow truck showed up, they realized it could only take one of them. So at about 3 am, I left my house to go pick them up and bring them to my house. Good thing I love them so much

Here they are:

This is my sister in law. Isn’t she cute? She’s two and a half, and she spent about an hour trying to figure out to blow up this balloon. She couldn’t figure it out, but she loved watching me blow it up and imitating my face while I was doing it.

Here’s our cake topper.

…and the obligatory cake cutting picture:

But my sister actually cut the cake, because we weren’t sure the best way to do it. Sidenote: That cake was from Walmart, and not only did it look cute and not cost a fortune, it was delicious. Buttercream frosting can never be wrong.

Chris and his brothers:

Me and my siblings:

When everybody had gone, it was just me, my siblings, and my friends left at the house.

My brother decided to give everyone knuckle tattoos (his are real). Alcohol may have been involved.

Chris was asleep with Bones on the couch.

On Sunday, we relaxed and watched some football until my sister, Crap, and my grandpa had to go to the airport. Saturday had been a nice day, but on Sunday all of a sudden there were these ominous black rain clouds. It was pouring by the time they got to the airport at 2… and it only got worse. There flight got delayed by an hour every hour until 8. At that point, their flight attendant told them that they would not make their connection in Atlanta and she would recommend getting off the plane and rebooking for a later flight. My sister called to consult with us, and decided to do that. (Crap couldn’t do that, because she had to be back in LA today or she would be dropped from all her classes this semester. Luckily, she was able to rebook and make it back to LA from Atlanta in time.). The snarky lady at the Delta desk who had refused to give them any information before they got off the plane then informed them that they should not have gotten off the plane and refused to give them their bags, even though they had retrieved bags for others who had gotten off the plane. Unfortunately, my grandpa had packed all his blood pressure and diabetes medicine in his checked luggage, so he had to do without it. The snarky lady is lucky my sister didn’t hit her. Her temper makes mine look weak. When they showed up the next day for their new flight, the Delta lady had no idea what had happened and said they weren’t on that flight. Luckily, everything worked out and they made it home eventually. Delta offered my sister a $25 voucher for her troubles. Moral of the story: Avoid Delta. US Airways from here on out.

I have more to update, but this post is long enough, so I’ll write another post later.

Job Dilemma

I have had no luck finding a job in Georgia, and now I’m at the point where I have to look at other options. Basically, right now I have two options.

OPTION 1: Go back to school and get my PhD in psychology, which will allow me to become a practicing psychologist and work with military/law enforcement with PTSD. That’s been an interest of mine since my dad (a policeman) retired early with PTSD. MyCAA would cover the cost of the Master’s, which would leave me to pay for the PhD. I might contemplate trying to go back into the Navy as a psychologist, which should be way easier for co-location than it would have been before and they would pay back my PhD loans. Downside: There’s no guarantee the Navy would take me back, which would stick me with more loans and I already have a perfectly good Master’s (and loans) that would be going to waste. Plus, all that schooling would take a while.* But, it would be easy to move around with Chris.

OPTION 2: Go to DC and accept the job offer that’s still on the table… I turned them down for the Navy but they said to give them a call if it didn’t work out for any reason. All my friends from grad school are there (that’s what happens when you go to a policy school), but Chris wouldn’t be. And I would have to take Bones, which would be ok with me and I could probably find a decent apartment that would take her, but Chris would miss her and she would miss him. He left for work without saying bye to her yesterday and she spent half the day looking for him. The other problem with that option is that I would be stuck in DC, and since Chris has 14 years left til retirement, he’s probably not going to be in DC for all 14 of them. There’s not even a guarantee he could get there after his tour here, especially since he wants to put in an officer packet. He’s also thinking about STA-21 though, and then he could go to a school in DC, but still… he would leave after that. And since I left the Navy because I wanted to be near Chris for the first few years of our marriage at least, leaving him would be pretty lame.

ARGH. I’m so tired of not doing anything constructive and not earning any of my own money. I hate having to use Chris’s bank account to pay off my credit cards. Or that if I buy him a present, he’s paying for it. Sometimes I’m ready to just be done with this and go back to DC, but I can’t make that call because I like living in my house, with my husband and my dog. Although something else to consider is that Chris is going to be deploying a lot over the couple years, and when he leaves, I will have very few friends and no job or anything to occupy me. I would have that in DC. And DC is close enough that I could visit relatively often, or he could.

I wish I could make up my mind, or that Chris would say something more helpful than, “Do what will make you happy.”

*Note for Casey: I used the proper a while this time, and I had you in mind when I typed it.

It’s Almost Celebrating Time!

So if you’ve been reading awhile, you’ll remember that I got engaged and married in August, over a period of three days. Engaged, license next day, ceremony next day, with no family or friends present.

I didn’t mind the small ceremony part. I’m a small ceremony kind of girl. We were going to do a big ceremony and then we realized that both of us were feeling uneasy about it and it was really something we were doing for our parents. So instead, we’re planning what we like to call our “Hey we’re married and we have a house!” party.

My dad, one of my brothers, and one of my sisters are driving out from CA. They left on Sunday, and I’m kind of jealous that I’m not with them even though I’m kind of over cross country road trips for now (I’ve done Monterey to Georgia, Georgia to Rhode Island, and then Rhode Island to Georgia again this year). My mom, my other brother and sister, and my BFF fly in on Wednesday night. Thursday night, Chris’s brother, his wife, and their puppy are coming down. On Friday, some of our friends (including my other BFF!) from DC are driving down and I think my family is going to do a day trip to either Savannah or Charleston, weather permitting. Saturday, Chris’s mom, step dad, other brother, sister, two step brothers, and grandparents will be here.

Saturday is the actual party day. We’ll have BBQ (courtesy of Sticky Fingers), beer, Firefly, Jack, good music, and a real wedding cake. Because that’s the part of the wedding I like. The wedding cake is going to be cute, and the topper is awesome (no pictures yet, because it will be a surprise, except to my sister who found it). We haven’t decided how to decorate the house yet. It will probably involve some white Christmas lights, and Chris would like a sign that says “We are married.”(We’re a little bit addicted to the Office.)

In any case, I’m excited for people to come. Pictures to follow…

Our Puppy is Growing…

I’m still around! I’ve just been crazy busy with Bones. If I take my eye off her for a second, she can get a little… destructive. She’s chewed through our iron cord, dug a hole in our carpeting, gotten teeth marks on some of the blinds in our house, and chewed up the corner of a new painting we bought for the kitchen. I’ve gotten very good at carpentry.

When we got Bones, she looked like this:

I think it’s about a month later, and now she looks like this:

She’s very cuddly. She likes to come lay on our laps when we’re playing on the computer or watching TV. Or just on the couch in general… she seems to think that she can just hop on up here whenever she wants. Although I have to admit, I’m not doing much to discourage her. Hey, I like cuddle puppies!

I thought Chris was being crazy when he said Bones was bigger than she was last week, but we took her to the dog park the other day and she played with the same Jack Russell Terrier puppy (Penelope) she played with last week. Except that last week when they played, Penelope was bigger than Bones and Bones was intimidated. This time, Bones was bigger and Bones chased Penelope right back.

It makes me wonder how big Bones is going to end up… hmm.

Books on My Upcoming List

Not necessarily in this order.

1. Right Now: A 12 Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda by Michael Steele
2. It Ain’t All About the Cooking by Paula Deen
3. Fifteen Stars: Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall by Stanley Weintraub
4. Hundred Dollar Baby by Robert B. Parker
5. Waking Nightmare by Kylie Brant

As always, suggestions welcome.

Don’t Count Your Chickens…

Apparently, the DOE site has a slow down on hiring, so while they continue to say that they’re very interested in me, there’s no job for me. They’re holding onto my resume though.

I got in touch with the USN Reserve Recruiter, but she doesn’t seem to be very interested in me right now (yeah, a DOR from OCS will do that, I know, it’s my own fault.)

No job. I’m getting tired of being a housewife. Sigh.

A Thought

If the cut on your thumb where you sliced it open with a bread knife is still wide open and bleeding a week later, you probably should have gotten stitches. Or at least closed it with super glue.

Books

So I ended 2009 with 116 books read. Not bad… and it confirms my suspicion that I spend entirely too much money on books.

Of those books, my favorites were:

• Caine Mutiny (Herman Wouk)
A surprisingly good–albeit long–read. Captain Queeg is insane. If you’re interested in psychology and the US Navy circa WW2, I’d recommend it.
• Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster)
No surprise here. I’ve read this book every year since second grade.
• Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives (Jim Sheeler)
Have you seen Taking Chance? This book is about the same thing and about a hundred times sadder. There’s a picture of a sailor escorting his best friend’s body home that is permanently imprinted on my brain.
• Fixing Hell (Larry C. James)
Written by the Army psychologist sent into Abu Gharib after the scandal broke to find out why and make sure it didn’t happen again. Behavioral psychology and the Army — two of my favorite things.
• From Baghdad with Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava (Jay Kopelman)
Touching… plus the picture of Lava on the cover reminds me of Bones

(And as always, I loved everything I read by Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, and Linda Lael Miller.)

My least favorites?

• Julie and Julia (Julie Powell)
I’m not opposed to the occasional f-bomb in a book — one of my favorite types of books is military memoirs. I am opposed to dropping it in ever other sentence because you’re not as great a writer as you think are. Plus, the book is supposed to be about cooking, but she manages to drop in criticisms of Republicans about once a page. And not justified criticism, mostly just name calling. Yes Julie, we get it: You hate Republicans. One of the very few books I’ve ever taken back to the store to get my money back. Julie Powell is an immature self centered brat.
• The Lucy Stone books (Leslie Meier)
I love mysteries. I love cheesy mysteries (hello, I read all the Hannah Swensen books!). These books are just… blah. I couldn’t get into them. I couldn’t even get through them when I was in student pool at OCS going through about a book a day and reading anything I could get my hands on to make time pass. I made my way through two and gave up on the series. The stories aren’t very interesting and I can’t stand the main character.