A lot about nothing

This past weekend was cold and rainy, so we mostly stayed inside and relaxed, and it was nice.  I clocked in a lot of time on the couch with a book.  Saturday, the base that James works at had family day and so I was allowed to come on base and see his office and the planes that he works with.  Very cool!  Sunday evening we took Casper to his first obedience class.  Poor puppy has absolutely no idea how to sit on command; he just looks at you like you're crazy.  He even stumped the teacher!  I can tell that although he is smart, he is stubborn and independent.  I think he will not be the star pupil of the class, but we're going to do our best anyway.

Today I am having a hard time thinking of anything worthwhile to say, so I will just end with a few random facts about me. Quirks if you will.

*I don't sleep or shower with my wedding/engagement rings on.  The only jewelry I don't take off to sleep is my stud earrings.

*I love comfy pajama pants and often change into them right after dinner.  They're so much more comfortable than jeans.

*If I were on death row, my last meal would be Olive Garden salad, Red Lobster's cheddar bay biscuits, linguine with shrimp in a cream sauce, and Ben and Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie ice cream.  James said his would be steak.  Clearly I've thought about this too much.

*When I go on vacation, I like to see nature or culture, but I'm not big on theme parks.  I'll take the beach or the mountains or a cool historic house any day over Disney World or Sea World or an amusement park.

How about you?

Not bored yet

We've been here for 2 months now and somehow I haven't gotten bored staying at home yet.  I don't know what I was expecting; I've never been easily bored.  I was always the kid that could entertain herself for hours.  Usually with a book.  As a kid I had a friend who always needed to be doing an activity and she would say "I'm bored" a lot and I would always think "how can you be bored already??  Can't we just sit here and do something calm for a while?"

I guess I thought that after a while I'd start wanting to get a job.  Nope...hasn't happened yet.  I'm finding plenty to do with errands and cleaning and cooking and blogging and walking the dog and running and crafting and church-related activities.  I find myself thinking "how did I even fit a job in here before?" I just couldn't do as much and I was stressed a lot.  I don't like living like that.

Right now dinner is in the crockpot, my kitchen is clean, I just vacuumed and mopped the floors, and it's a beautiful sunny day.  It feels good.  Maybe eventually I will start looking for a job...but right now I'm just enjoying this life.

*Disclaimer:  Even though I'm happy and my husband is fine with me not working, I still feel like I have to justify why I'm not working...or even job hunting.  Women used to be home-makers all the time and that was normal, but now it's just looked on as lazy or weird.  Especially since I don't have kids yet.  That's the only thing I dislike about not working.  So far it's not enough motivation for me to try to get a job.  :-p

Sightseeing in MD

Last week I didn't post because my mom was here!  I had a great time showing her around town in the beautiful fall weather. 

Wednesday it was overcast and drizzly but that didn't stop us from going to see the historic Dr. Mudd's house.  I forgot my camera so please excuse the bad quality of my iPod photos.  This house is where John Wilkes Booth stopped to get his broken leg set after he jumped off the balcony after shooting Lincoln.  He rode on horse from Washington D.C., so he traveled a good 25 miles before he stopped.  Dr. Mudd didn't know that the president had been shot yet when he helped Booth, but he still received prison time for harboring and aiding a fugitive. 

No pictures were allowed on the inside of the house, but they had many original pieces as well as reconstructed period pieces in the house.  The grounds were just beautiful.  Rolling hills and fields as far as you could see.  The pictures don't do it justice.

On Thursday, we took Casper jogging on a beautiful trail in the beautiful sunshine.

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon making my balcony beautiful!  Thanks mom for the beautiful flowers and chairs!

Mums just feel so festive to me, so I'm hoping they last for a little while even though my balcony is shaded and they are supposed to get full sun.

We had a wonderful visit and I was sad to drop her off at the airport on Friday.  Thanks for coming Mom!

Then Friday evening we officially adopted Casper, so he's ours for good now, yay!  We love him, except for the times when he goes crazy and jumps off the couch and lands on your face and scratches it.  We don't like that.  This week I will be signing him up for obedience classes so we can learn to work on some of the behaviors that we don't like.  Such as jumping on faces.  That will be number 1.  To be fair, James got him riled up while playing with him.  We may be working on that too.  ;-)

Convictions from the book of Luke

In my Bible reading today I came across Luke 4:18.  Jesus is at the beginning of His ministry and He reads from Isaiah in the synagogue and says:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."

In this passage, Jesus is defining His ministry.  To preach to the poor, to release the captives, to free the oppressed and give sight to the blind. 

And I can't help but notice that not many churches today follow Christ's example.  Sure, we give money to help these causes, but we don't make it personal.  We don't actually interact with the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed.

We create children's ministries and women's ministries and Bible studies, and that is great, these things are needed and good.  But I believe there is a problem when we LIMIT our ministries to the people already inside the church walls who look and act and believe just like we do.

I am as guilty of it as anybody.  It is easy to talk but it is difficult to get out of your comfort zone and GO.  So I am praying today that God will give me the strength to put aside my fears and my prejudices and my uncomfortableness, and give me an opportunity to go and do.  Because I am new to the area, I don't know what the need is here; I don't know where or who, but that is not an excuse to sit back and forget about it.  I will be on the lookout for the place where God wants me to serve.

Let's follow Christ's example and go into our communities, get our hands dirty, and share the love of Jesus with those who need Him the most.

Fall is appearing!

Fall has decided to show up here in Maryland and it is beautiful!  Every week I see more bright colors.  And when it's not raining (which is a lot of the time), the weather has been just gorgeous!  I am really enjoying this season.

Thoughts on a Monday Morning

1.  We had a fun weekend at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.  I'd never been to one before, and my favorite part was the food.  I had a loaded baked potato, half of a soft pretzel, and dark chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick.  I should have taken a picture, it was awesome!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and it was fun watching jousting and archery and visiting the shops.  There were a lot of weird costumes though, and a lot of girls seemed to think it was "dress like a slut" day.  But other than that, it was an enjoyable experience.

This picture is grainy because my camera died after 2 pictures so I had to use my iPod, but it's from the jousting.

2.  We are currently fostering a dog from a nearby shelter until he can be adopted (hopefully by us).  His name is Casper and he is a 4-year old American Eskimo.  At first he was really low key because he was sick, but as soon as we got him on antibiotics he perked right up.  He can get a little hyper, but he's really sweet and friendly and we love him.  Once we adopt him, we'll try some obedience school to help him get some manners.

Seriously, look at that face!  I don't know how anybody could have given up this cutie pie.  So far we've noticed very few behavioral problems and he seems pretty smart so a little training will probably help with those.

3.  Today I started week 3 of my running program.  Actually this is the 5th week I've been running, but I repeated week 2 because of a twisted ankle and I'm repeating week 3 because my knees were hurting too much to run last week.  I got running shoes and some cushy insoles this weekend and tried them out today.  I can tell that they are helping, but one knee still hurts, so I don't know what to do about that.  I have had a history of knee pain though since college, so it's probably not caused by running.  I think I may try to see a chiropractor about it if it keeps up.  On the plus side, I can see definite stamina improvement and that is good.

4.  My kitchen is infested with fruit flies!  Apparently they are a problem here.  I tried to set up a fruit trap for them with cellophane that they can get into but not out of, but so far it's not working.  At least they aren't cockroaches!  I'll take fruit flies over roaches any day.

5.  Is Maryland considered part of New England?  If they are, I think they may kick me out because I don't like clam chowder.  It tastes like fishy potato soup.  Eww.

Happy Columbus Day!

Moving is a pain

An hour at the DMV and about $360 later, I am officially a Maryland driver. (I blocked out all the information on my driver's license in case someone stumbles on this blog and decides to steal my identity.)

I don't know if this is just the standard for moving to a different state, but getting our cars legal here has been incredibly frustrating and complicated. First, everything is more expensive here. Second, Maryland state inspections are totally different from Texas state inspections. Mine passed, but James had a lot of problems. He had to get several things fixed and the tinting completely removed from his windows before they would pass his car. Third, the MVA (the equivalent of the DMV) requires that you bring just about every important piece of documentation that you have. They needed my social security, my birth certificate, my marriage license, two forms of proof of residence, my inspection statement, and my firstborn child. Just kidding.

Anyway, I am very glad to have this annoying, complicated process completed! Now to figure out what to do about tires before it starts snowing...

Thanksgiving a little early

"But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” " Luke 19:40

I find that I am full of thanks these days. 

Thank you Lord for a safe move.
Thank you for good family time before we left.
Thank you for providing the money to move without stressing.
Thank you for James' job!
Extra thanks that I got to quit mine!
Thank you for electricity during the hurricane.
Thank you for beautiful weather.
Thank you for nature.
Thank you for this time to make a habit of exercise.
Thank you for a new church!
Thank you for friends.

Thank you for Your word, Your faithfulness, and Your blessings that are raining down on us. You have been so gracious to us!