Irritation...

Well I made it to Dallas and had a 12 hour layover. Beyond "not cool." They put me on standby for every flight between now and then, but after seeing that the first one was overbooked and then the ticket agent telling me that every flight until mine was full, Helen asked if she could come pick me up. I called all the right people to square it away, but yeah Helen's driving up to get me. It's really irritating. I prayed. I asked God to get me home quickly, but He didn't. As it is, I will still be getting home sooner than if I waited for my ticketed flight, but only by an hour, 2 hours at the most. Why didn't He? He's certainly capable of it, and wanting to see my wife isn't even an ungodly thing to want.

I'm mostly just ranting. I realize that God has my beast interest at heart, but it's really hard to see from here. I've been awake for the last 36 hours, I haven't showered in more than 24 hours, and I haven't seen my wife in 6 months. I want to trust Him, but it's hard. It's really frustrating and irritating.

"...the Lord takes away and He does no wrong." I should be glad that I made it here safely. I should be glad that God is going to protect my wife as she drives up here. I should be thankful that He has given us a car that will make it all the way to Dallas in one piece.

"Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, 'I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'" Mark 9:24

Nothing Blog-Worthy

Well, we haven't said anything for awhile, but that's just because nothing interesting that I can tell you about is happening. I didn't have to work this week, so I've been spending a lot of time out at our friend's goat dairy milking goats, putting labels on bottles, and smushing ice cream into cups. All fairly mundane activities, but it does make me feel like I'm being productive. I meant to get a picture of me and a goat for the blog here, but I can only remember two (out of forty) of the goats' names, so that seemed dishonest somehow... as if I friended them on Facebook because I milked them once.

Anyway, things should get noticeably more exciting pretty soon, but I'll tell you about that when the time comes.

In other people's lives, my friend Stephen is in Italy right now. He says the Pantheon isn't that exciting. I say he clearly has no appreciation for marble (amazing marble) and ingenious, ancient engineering that we still don't understand today. I'm just saying, the Pantheon is way beyond cool. When I went there, it looked like it was set up for a wedding. Exactly how much money do you have to have to get married in the Pantheon, do you think? If that one ends in divorce, there are going to be some pretty furious parents. Hope the Italians have a lower divorce rate than we do.

I found the camera cord!!

Well, I finally found the cord to my camera!! Here are the promised pictures of Dallas:

Yup, that's our giant sunroof!

And, for random fyi: Dallas is named after the 1995 song "Dallas" sung by Alan Jackson, because Matt bought her for me right before he left for Iraq. Here are the lyrics:

Dallas packed her suitcase

And drove off in the brand new car I bought her

She made leaving me look easy

I wish she'd made it look a little harder

I took her out of Texas

When she was just a girl

But old Tennessee and me

Couldn't take Texas out of her

Oh how I wish Dallas was in Tennessee

If I could move Texas east

Then she'd be here with me

Then nothin' else would come between the two of us

If Dallas was in Tennessee

By now she's leaving Memphis

And everything we had behind her

Lord I hope the gold band on her hand

Will serve as a reminder

That true love is a treasure

That's very seldom found

But you can't stay together if there's no common ground

Oh how I wish Dallas was in Tennessee

If I could move Texas east

Then she'd be here with me

Then nothin' else would come between the two of us

If Dallas was in Tennessee

Oh if Dallas was in Tennessee

Dallas packed her suitcase

And drove off in the brand new car I bought her

Ok, so put "deployment" instead of "divorce," and that's pretty much what happened, except Texas would need to move A LOT farther east...

My Second Bought with Anthrax...

Not as bad as it sounds, of course, but it does hurt. That's one thing that the Marine Corps is really good at, being sure that I get stuck with all the needles that I need to get stuck with. This latest one is a doosie. The smallpox vaccination still beats it by a long shot, but this one feels like I broke my shoulder. I couldn't even sleep on that side last night. So yeah, that's the closest that I've come to actual combat injury. See what I mean about not having war stories? One day I'm going to retire and end up as that substitute teacher who has flashbacks during class, but mine will be of sitting behind a desk... which I suppose I could pull off in a classroom.

I went and had my R&R brief today- Oh! I haven't told y'all about that yet. I'm going to be coming home for a couple of weeks of "Rest and Relaxation," which is where that military acronym comes from. Although, I suppose it's not strictly a military acronym... Anyway, as with everything, I had to receive a brief. It consisted mostly of instructions about how to conduct myself while on vacation. Things like "don't drink and drive," "don't be stupid," "don't break the law," those kinds of things. The only part that I found helpful was when the chaplain talked about how shocking the change might be. He made the point that everyone has adjusted to living without me there and my arrival is going to throw that balance off for a couple of weeks, so don't be too worried about awkwardness and all that. Anyhow, it was still fairly common sense, but things that I just hadn't thought about. The really disappointing thing is that everyone is going to want to see me, but I won't be able to see everyone this time around. I am planning on not reenlisting, though, so Helen and I will move back to Texas eventually.

Actually, looking at our future has been kind of exciting, recently. There's a position that Helen would like to get while I'm getting my degree at A&M, and it even takes advantage of her degree and the line of work that she's interested in. The twist is that she wants to take a year-long internship that would make her much more competitive for the position, and this internship can be done at any one of a whole slew of hospitals all over the nation! In fact, when we were looking at it, there's only one state that doesn't have a hospital with this internship. I see this as a great opportunity to go on an adventure and direct our own lives after having been hobbled by the military for 5 years. Helen is not yet convinced that the lack of stability is worth the adventure. I'm willing to say "let's go anywhere we want and I'll get any kind of job that I can" but what Helen hears is "entry-level, unskilled labor, starting at minimum wage." She's probably right, actually. It's even more important because her internship won't be paying anything at all. It only costs a very small amount, but that very small amount can be insurmountable without an income, I suppose. I dunno, she has some sort of attachment to being able to afford the car and a real bed and groceries and whatnot. Whatever that's all about...

In other news... well, I don't think there really is any other news. Helen is as wonderful and amazing as ever, and I really can't wait to see her again because I miss her a whole lot. She's such a perfect blessing to me. God knew exactly what He was doing when He gave her to me... imagine that. Being married to her is like a little slice of Heaven here on earth and she makes me look forward longingly to my true Home. Our marriage has already taught me so much about how singular my passion for Christ can be. I really enjoy being married to this fantastic, amazing, lovely, beautiful, industrious, reliable, trustworthy, productive, intelligent, alluring, competent, loving, careful, seductive, helpful, committed, adorable, wise, Godly, gorgeous, caring and entirely precious gift from God, named Helen.

A Momentous Occasion!

Matt and I have now officially taken another step on the ladder of adulthood: we have now not only bought but paid off our first "real" car!! Yay!! So now almost a year into our marriage, and we are debt-free!! Whoohoo!! Well, actually I just put something on the credit card, but it was only $30, and I only used the credit card because I don't like to use my debit card over the internet... but stop being technical! And we're going to buy a house eventually, but that's different, too. God has blessed us exceedingly, and while we know our life will not always be this financially simple, I am very grateful to my God and my husband that both have provided so well for me. :D (Of course, God provided my husband for me to provide for me, so really the glory is all God's... doesn't it always turn out that way?)


Note: I'll post pictures of Dallas (my baby car) later, since I don't have the appropriate cord at the moment.