Bailey's graduation.

Yesterday afternoon Bailey graduated from her two month long puppy school obedience class. I am so proud of her and all that she has learned over the past few months. I've learned that she is such a smart dog and loves to be challenged by learning new tricks and games. It was so important for me to invest the time and energy into teaching her right and wrong. Puppy school may just be the best money we have ever spent; she is a much better dog now! Now she is all grown up and graduated. What can I say, I'm a proud mama :)

Here is a picture of Bailey and her classmate Elvis on their last day of school...

Contentment vs. fulfillment.

Today I am really struggling with contentment, mainly in the area of my job. I am sitting here bored out of my mind at work because there is really no work for me today and thinking how I would rather be doing anything else. I sit here desiring to go home and return to my days of doing nothing on base. At the same time, I want to slap myself for even thinking that way because I tend to forget how much I hated sitting around doing nothing. I really do need to work and I should be thankful to even have a job right now. I can't even count the number of wives on base that are job hunting with no success and here I am complaining about a really nice job.

I was reading some scripture this morning to try to help overcome this feeling and started to realize that maybe its not contentment that I lack, but rather fulfillment. My job at this point (or at least today) is not fulfilling me or challenging me. Most people would say that they would love to sit at work in a comfortable office and play on the computer and get paid for it; I just find myself thinking of everything else I could be doing with my time.

Part of me wants to just quit my job and try to find fulfillment. You see, that right there is my problem! I always seem to be focusing on what is next or what could be better. I am not finding satisfaction in what I have and that is a huge issue! I need to stop and realize that my job is a blessing. I am working for decent pay at a job that is actually in my career field, and working with great Christian people. I am getting valuable experience that will help my career and I need to understand that everyday will not be thrilling.

Now that I have given myself a pep talk, I am off to lunch. I plan to come back to work with a better attitude and a spirit of thankfulness. Please pray for me that I can learn to find joy and fulfillment in even the smallest, most mundane tasks in my life!

Happy weekend, unhappy puppy.

First, let me start off by telling you about my weekend. As you know, I went to Montgomery, Alabama for a few days to visit Jake. It was wonderful! Basically Jake and I just relaxed the entire weekend. We watched movies, went on walks, did some shopping, and went out to eat to all the yummy places I have missed so much (Red Robin, Panera, Chic-fil-a, Starbucks). It was just an absolutely great weekend! It was so fun to do some real shopping at all my favorite stores and be in a city for a few days. While shopping, I found a completely perfect dress for my graduation and bought a few more things for the house.

Now for the two weird things about my weekend.

#1: I got some ridiculous bug bite that is the most awful thing ever! When I first noticed it on my ankle Friday, I thought it was just a mosquito bite because it itched really bad and was kind of red, but now I have no clue what it is. Over the weekend it swelled up so bad that there was no longer any definition between my foot and ankle; it was just a big swollen mess. And it not only itched but it hurt like a bruise! In my mind I saw myself showing up to work on Monday on crutches (thats how bad it was!).  I was really worried about it all weekend but it seems to be slowly going down a bit as of today. Then to my surprise, I woke up this morning with the same thing on my wrist!! I have no idea what is getting me but it seriously is like a huge swollen bump that feels like an awful bruise. The weird part is that there is no visible bite mark like there usually is with bug bites. Anyone have any ideas of what could be getting me? Stupid southern bugs...

#2: When I got home last night, I got serious cold shoulder treatment from my dog Bailey. This weekend we had her stay in our yard while I was gone instead of putting her in a kennel because the weather was so nice. Some friends of ours came over and fed her twice a day and took her on walks over to the park with their dog. She got plenty of love from them and got to stay in her comfy yard with her bed and her toys instead of being stuck in a horrible kennel all weekend. I thought she would be happy. Well, when I first got home she was ridiculously happy to see me, jumping all around and barking with excitement, but that changed pretty quick. She was mad at me all night! She even gave me a mean glare and then ran over and peed on the rug (which she hasn't done in probably 2 months!) She didn't want me to hold her and she wouldn't follow me around the house like she usually does. That was the first time I have ever left her since I got her at Christmas so I really think she was mad at me and giving me a dog's version of the "silent treatment". Maybe she thought I abandoned her or something. This morning she seemed to be over it thankfully but I seriously didn't know that she even realized I had been gone that long. Anyways, she was mad at me last night and I was not too thrilled with her either. Hopefully tonight will go better!

One last update before I go: I finished painting our bedroom! It looks wonderful thanks to the people at the Sherwin-Williams paint store (they helped me for like an hour when I couldn't choose between two colors that probably looked almost identical...ha!). Its kind of an olive green color but it is just pretty and relaxing and our room looks a million times better! AND I still have half the paint left! I think I am going to paint the kitchen now too :) I know I am paint crazy but it just makes everything look so much better and why waste perfectly good paint!

Okay I lied, I have another update before I go. You know that Jake and I fenced in our backyard a while ago for Bailey right? Well the people that do the yard work for our housing community will not mow inside any fenced area so now we are responsible for keeping that looking tidy. For a while it wasn't a problem because the grass didn't grow much because of the cold weather we were having. In fact, when Jake came home 2 weeks ago he was planning on cutting it but it wasn't even long enough. To be honest, I haven't really even had time to notice that recently our grass has grown excessively tall; I mean, half way up my legs tall...its ridiculous. Turns out that the housing people noticed this too and left me a friendly little note saying that if it was not cut by Wednesday we would be fined. Ugh! We didn't want to buy a lawnmower because our yard is so small so we decided just to use an edger to cut the grass. We lucked out that when our friends John and Sarah left for their new base, because they left us their old one. So here I am; I have the tool to cut the grass but have no idea how to use it and have no motivation to be out there in the 90 degree weather after a long day at work. I am just going to have to get over it and figure it out! Anyways, thats the fun I have waiting for me after work today. Wish me luck...

Waiting eagerly for friday.

Sorry I haven't updated yet this week. I have been busy busy busy! (with good stuff though, not homework). I know you have just been dying to know how my weekend turned out with the housework haha.

First lets talk about the garden. For someone who has never had experience with gardening, I think I did a pretty great job. The front of our house is completely transformed! I planted a Japanese maple tree (which will grow pretty tall hopefully), 2 flowerwood plants (which are green leafy plants that bloom pink and white flowers mid summer), a red rose bush, and a bunch of random little pretty flowers in front. I also got a gorgeous potted plant with bright orange/red flowers to go right by my front door. Hopefully, if I planted everything right, it should all be noticeably growing within a week or two.  I plan to post some pictures but I want to wait until I have some roses to show off :) I also still need to replant some hedges to fill in the gaps in our current hedges and buy a nice, bright colored flower wreath to hang on our door. Then it will be complete!

The spring cleaning went well but it was definitely not as productive as the gardening. Being that its the least fun job, I am doing it little by little and hopefully will do some more in the next few days and weeks. As for the paint, I'm still deciding on a color for the bedroom. I bought a sample of the blue color that I was thinking of but when I put it on the wall  it just didn't look how I imagined it. I think I will be going for more of a light sage green now and see how that looks.

I also finished my last paper this last weekend (which seemed to take forever to finish!) so now I am done with my school work...Hallelujah! Although I feel like lately I have been just as busy at night and somehow have more than enough stuff to occupy what I thought would be a lot of free time. I absolutely cherish the time from when I get home from work until I go to bed but it always seems to fly by too fast.

It seems funny to write about this but I am excited to say that I have finally found a new girl  friend out here! Jake and I met her and her husband kind of randomly when we were walking our dogs a while ago and thought they were really nice but we never really saw them much after that. Well, it turns out that her husband and Jake are in the same training right now out in Alabama and have become pretty good friends. Us wives thought we should do something too and so we decided to get together on Tuesday for dinner and a movie. I ended up staying at her house for like 5 hours just talking and hanging out and it was a lot of fun. I definitely needed girl time with someone who was easy to talk to. We both like the same things like shopping, decorating, scrap-booking, watching reality tv shows (haha) and we just seemed to have a lot in common and lots to talk about. Plus she just started working on her masters degree and she is working so we both have busy schedules. Yesterday we went on a walk with our dogs and played with them in the park and it was a lot of fun. Anyways, it is giving me hope that there actually are some more girls out here for me to hang out with.

As for now I am waiting impatiently for Friday and I have been all week because that is when I get to see my hubby! I have decided to drive out to Alabama this weekend to see Jake for a few days now that all my schoolwork is done and I don't have much else that I have to do. It will be great to see him and where he has been living for the past month and also meet all his new friends out there. Bailey is going to hang here in Mississippi for the weekend with some friends of ours. It will be a quick trip for me because I won't get there until late tomorrow night and will be coming home on Sunday evening to get back to work but it will be so worth it to see Jake!

Well thats about all the news I have right now. I will write again when I get back and tell you all  about my trip!

Spring cleaning, painting, & gardening.

Well spring is officially here and it is showing all over Mississippi. Its amazing that a place that was so ugly and dead in the winter can now be so full of green and beauty.

Spring cleaning is my first order of business, which I plan to start tonight. I know that we just moved in a few months ago but its amazing how much clutter can accumulate over such a short time. Everything has somehow gotten so disorganized around the house and its been driving me nuts! Time to get everything back in order!

Lately, I've also been really into decorating the house. Since I've started to work we have had some extra money and Jake has been letting me spend it to fix up the house some more. I've always liked to decorate but have never had much luck with it turning out the way I wanted it to. I think now I'm finally starting to find my "style" and buying bits and pieces to make everything look nicer. I've also had a random motivation this week to paint. Seriously, I just want to paint all the rooms in the house. I know we will only be here for a year and a half but I still think it might be worth it. We painted the living room and it has made such a difference. I am contemplating painting the bedroom now. Maybe a bluish grey? Not sure though, give me ideas if you've got any. Anyways, I can proudly say that our house looks much different from when we first moved in and I still have so many great ideas that I want to do!

The yard on the other hand is my biggest disappointment and frustration. On base here its kind of luck of the draw when you get a house assigned and whether or not the person who lived there before you took time to make their yard look nice. I would say that most people's look pretty decent. Jake and I have come to the conclusion that our front yard is probably in the bottom 25% of the yards (for being the ugliest). It is the only one on our street that has no pretty bushes or flowers in bloom. It also has a big spot where no grass grows. Its hard when I go on walks to see these beautiful gardens around base and mine is awful. I have decided that I am going to do something about it! The problem is that I have never ever gardened before and have no clue even where to start. I am going to try and weed the flowerbeds this weekend and then put some fresh mulch over everything, oh and also trim the big ugly monster bush in front of our kitchen window. I figure thats a pretty good start. Next week I'm going to attempt to plant some flowers and maybe a small tree or bush. Thankfully, the base is giving us some free vouchers to go buy some plants at the nearby nursery. I'm still thinking that this will be easier said than done. I also don't want to get too carried away with the flowers because I will be gone for 2 months and they are just going to die anyways. All I know is that something needs to be done to that poor yard! I'm not worried about the backyard at all; thats Bailey's domain :) We never like to hang out outside anyways because of the bugs and we have no patio furniture so I figure Bailey can just do whatever she wants to that back area (digging holes and all!). No one can see it from the street anyways.

Well there you have it. Am I getting in over my head here with all this? I sure hope not. Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Sunday never fails to bring a fresh new week.

I really should be doing homework right now but I would rather blog instead :) First I just want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who posted a reply to my last post. Seriously, your words encouraged me so much! I was really just having a lonely day and the best way for me to deal with it was to write about it. I know that I will begin to feel at home here and make friends, but as both Sarah and Angela pointed out from personal experience, it just takes some time.

After an amazing 3-day weekend of rest, I am back to my optimistic self and ready for a new week. Plus I had the most wonderful weekend! Jake came home on Friday and it wasn't until he walked through the door that I even realized how much I had missed him. We were only apart for 2 weeks but it felt like forever! When he got back he was starving so we went over to the bowling alley to get some food and just hang out for a while. It was so funny because we were both so nervous and excited to be around eachother again that it was almost like we were dating again haha! It was wonderful :) All of Friday night and Saturday we were just able to hang out with eachother. We watched movies, went on walks, and really just enjoyed being together again. When we are apart I don't think I fully realize that he is my best friend and really my other half and that I am not truly me without him with me. I know I am being cheesy but its true! It was great to be with him on Easter Sunday and just have him around the house.

Unfortunately the weekend flew by and he is now back in Alabama for 4 more weeks of training. Me and Bailey are getting back to our new norm of a quiet house and am back to working for hours straight on my homework. There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel though! If I can stay on top of my work, I will officially be done with college one week from now!! WOOO!! After that, I can come home from work and do whatever I want! I can actually go to the gym and watch movies, keep up with the housework, and get a full nights sleep. I still have 4 papers to write between now and then (one of them being a ridiculously long research paper) but I am so motivated to power through and be DONE!

Well, I really need to get started on those last papers and try to knock one out tonight. Tomorrow, its back to work and life as usual. It was so wonderful to have such a refreshing weekend and to be able to spend it with my amazing husband! Thanks again to all of you who have read my blog and been so wonderful to me in this hard time of transition.

Loneliness breaks the spirit.

Well I hate to disappoint but I don't have much to say here because this week has not been very exciting at all (or fun for that matter). Basically I have worked a full day everyday then have come home to do 3-4 hours of homework every night and somewhere in there I also cleaned the house and took Bailey to puppy class. Honestly it was just not a fun week; nothing specifically bad happened, it was just lonely and filled with too much work.

My frustration lately is really that I am just so lonely. Its not just because Jake is gone (although that does make it all so much worse) but its that I don't have anyone out here that I can just sit and have a real conversation with. I feel like I am trying so hard to make friends and invest in people's lives here and none of it is going anywhere. I put in so much effort to go do things with the other wives here but its always me being the one initiating it and thats no fun. Talking on the phone to friends and family helps but its not the same as having someone here that I can call to come over and hang out or just go out to eat with. What's worse is that I feel like other wives are starting to pair up in little cliques and I am not in any of them. I seriously feel like I just started Jr. High again or something and am awkwardly trying to fit in. And now that Jake is away, the most interaction I get during the day is not even with a person...its with my dog! That is just sad! I mean I have work everyday but everyone is so busy and always in their own office so we never really talk at all. I am just so lonely. I wish Jake never had to leave because when he is gone I realize that he is the only one I have here and that makes me sad.  Am I ever going to find someone out here that I can relate to and become good friends with? I know God is in control here but I have been in Mississippi now for months and still don't really have anyone. My heart has really been aching this week more than ever to go home. I know its only 5 weeks away but that still feels like forever. It just means 5 more weeks of doing the exact same thing everyday, being away from Jake everyday, and being lonely constantly.

I know I'll get over it; I'm just venting. Thanks for listening...
   

Details of my week...

This week has been pretty good, but it has gone by so sloooowwww. Seriously, the days have seemed to drag on and on lately for some reason. I just want these next few weeks to fly by so that I can be done with school, see Jake, and go back to California to be with family and friends.

I am so close but still so far from being done with my classes. Close because in less than 3 weeks from now I will be completely done, but far because I have about 12 papers to write between now and then. Thats the thing about taking 12 units online, you seriously just write papers and more papers. I hate papers! It wouldn't be so bad except that I am working all day now and then the last thing I want to do when I come home is write papers. This week I have been an awful student and have procrastinated my 4 papers into the weekend. That means that I will be doing homework all Saturday and Sunday. Why do I always do that? Oh well, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and just need to get through it. At least its not like I'll be missing anything exciting this weekend; Jake is in Alabama and my one friend that I like to do things with is visiting with her husband this weekend (who has also been gone at training).

The reason I say "my one friend" is because this week two of my good friends left for their new bases and now I really only have one girl left here that I can hang out with and talk to. My friend Angela, who I met before coming to Columbus, left for McConnell AFB in Kansas and my friends Sarah and John, who Jake and I knew from LA, left for Travis AFB in California. It was ironic that the both left Wednesday morning. Thats the thing about making friends in the AF; you always have to say goodbye before you want to. I am happy for them though because they are moving on to new and exciting things in their lives. Thankfully my friend that is still here, Allison, is going to be here the whole time that we are here for training because her husband is in Jake's class. I'm looking forward to having some fun times with her this year and getting to know her better. I also have a friend that I know from Biola, Patty, moving out here to Columbus this August with her husband and I am beyond excited for her to get here! It will be great to have someone here that I already know and can spend time with.

Another thing worth mentioning about this week was the weather; yesterday was the scariest weather I have ever seen! It started off like any normal rainy day but at about 2pm a black sheet of clouds moved across the sky and at the same time all the tornado sirens started going off around town (I was in my office at this time). Then lightening and thunder were all of a sudden everywhere in the sky. I went outside to move my car under a cover and it was so creepy. It was completely dark at 2 in the afternoon and it was stormy but at the same time it was muggy and about 80 degrees which was strange. All of that paired with the awful sirens going off gave me chills as I felt like I was in some horrible movie. After this weather came the cold, wind, hard rain, and even harder hail and it continued for most of the day. I never actually saw a tornado come our way but there must have been a pretty good chance of one for the sirens to be going off the way they were. The worst part was that I was the only one in my office that was freaking out about the whole situation because everyone has always lived in the south and this crazy weather is apparently a regular occurrence here. I don't think I will ever get used to it!

Poor Bailey was home alone during all this crazy weather while I was at work and was probably so scared! I absolutely hate having to leave her alone for so long while I'm at work. I know she is a dog but she is really my best friend I have with me right now and is the best company. I feel so sad that she has to be by herself all day and when I am work I actually really miss her. Most of the time she gets to stay outside and play in her fence, which she really likes, but when the weather is weird, like yesterday, I have to keep her locked up in the house and she hates that. No matter what though she is always so extremely excited to see me when I get home and that is much better than coming home to an empty house.

Something good about this week is that I am almost done decorating the house (well, just the living room actually). When we first got here, I just put decorations up temporarily until we could afford some nicer things for the house that I really liked. Now that I have been working, I have been able to spend some money on making the house look just how I want it to. On top of that I found this AMAZING thrift store (seriously, amazing!) and have bought so much there. Its not a second-hand thrift store but rather new things that are either overstock from a company or slightly damaged, but all this is at the same prices as like a salvation army store. Anyways, I bought a bunch of stuff for ridiculously cheap prices and now our living room looks so much better! I will post a picture soon when I am completely finished with it. My next project is finishing Jake's office before he gets back from training. If I can finish my homework quickly, maybe I'll start on that this weekend.

On a final note, one of my best friends from home, Becca, brought her beautiful baby Audrie into the world yesterday. As far as I know, the birth went smoothly and the baby is very healthy. I just can't wait to see them both when I come home next month. I'm sure baby Audrie is so beautiful and I can't wait to spoil her a little bit. Congrats Becca!! I love you and miss you!

Anyways, those are my updates. Hope everyone is doing great! I miss you all SO much!!