Goodbye Kim, Hello Mom & Dad!

Kim left this morning for IN and my parents returned this afternoon! Here's a few pictures of my time with Kim.Easter Sunday

I took the day off on Thursday for Kim's birthday, made her breakfast in bed and Nathan had some flowers delivered! Sweet boy.

We headed to the Guthrie Theater for a audio tour, it was really interesting.

After a bit of relaxing and a movie, Kim's three best friends from high school surprised her and came for dinner!
(Kim, Alia, Kristin, Amy)

Here are my parents and uncle and aunt about to leave Bali and head home.
They are back and safe and sleeping! Welcome home parents, I love you.

DC Trip

This upcoming week all the JAG's in training here at Montgomery are going to DC. I don't know many other jobs where they fly all the newbies to headquarters and show them around like distinguished visitors. We'll be going to the Pentagon, the White House, the Supreme Court, a couple of military appeals courts where we'll get sworn in, and eat some fancy dinners at a dining out (a military term for a fancy dinner). We get to meet the TJAG (the top dog), and we're going to the DJAG's house for dinner (the #2 JAG). I'm pretty sure we're also going to Bolling AFB and possibly Andrews AFB. We're staying in a hotel in Georgetown, which will be fun, since I lived there for a summer back in college. I'll post some pictures of the week next weekend.

I've really been enjoying my time here at JASOC. We're done with our first of two moot courts; although, I should have taken Trial Advocacy in law school. Of course, the required PT such as softball, ultimate frisbee, football, and volleyball have been fun (did I mention that I get paid to do those things?). However, I am really looking forward to being with Kelly again and moving to Colorado....it's been too many months (11) of living out of a suitcase.

Letterman's Top 10 Reasons to Join the Air Force

Better2gether!?!?!?!!!!!

We will be better together in 15 days!!!!! Finally... we will reunite, can't wait :-)

Happy Easter! He is Risen!

Don't you feel like busting out in praise like this?

Impacted by LIFE!

Recently I have been really impacted by the sanctity of life.  I know Sanctity of Life Sunday was a while ago but since then or even a little before God has been working on my heart regarding the issue surrounding the sanctity of human life.  I have been so intrigued getting to know the Lord's heart for those who cannot speak for themselves.  I am not a very articulate writer and have a hard time explaining what I mean but wanted to share something more raw and real on here.  I do feel the Lord working so diligently on me in this area though and maybe it's part of my becoming more motherly and it's just built in but seriously, thanks Lord for those desires and deep heart aches for these babes that need a voice.

Here's a letter from Joshua Harris that I just found tonight about Barak Obama that relates to my thoughts on this subject.

And here is a letter from President Bush from Sanctity of Human Life Sunday January 2007.

And this website is very informative and helpful if you would like to learn more about why choosing life is so important.  Thanks Loraena for that link.

My Cousin's Deployment

My cousin Jeremy's description after his first night flying over Iraq…

When there were lulls, I would go to the back and look out over Iraq. What a view. So surreal to see this place you've been hearing all about for so long, so strange how I used to plan these kinds of things when I was in 3rd grade, and here I was doing it. And when the sun started coming up I saw what a beautiful country it was, I was stunned. Nothing like how I imagined it would be, really a gorgeous place. Of course it might not be so serene from ground level, but from 20,000 ft at dawn, wow.

Jeremy is also AF and has been for eight years! He does really top secret important stuff. This week is his first week of deployment in Kuwait. He has been emailing about some of his first experiences while working there and I thought you would enjoy it too. Here's Jeremy's job description for us civilians:

Our aircraft has the ability to disrupt enemy communications through electronic jamming. Basically, we prevent the bad guys from talking to each other (like if we're sending someone in to capture/kill them, they can't be warned by their buddies/body guards). I fly on the EC-130H Compass Call.

Here's a picture of him during one of his "shifts"?

Please pray for my cous and his unit while they are gone.

Well, I dropped my parents off at the airport today. They are officially in the air on their way to Indonesia! They are totally excited and it's fun to imagine some of the things we did that they are going to experience (check out these post for more details). I will miss them here at the house, and having them gone makes my life more lonely. But, it also means... time in MN is coming to a close! Next week Kim will be home for Easter break and that should be fun to spend time with her since she's so much fun! I miss David so much and I cannot wait to finally be with him again and to be a part of his new career... 28 days and counting down :-)

Flight of the Conchords- Business Time

Good Movie

Have you seen the movie Juno? What did you think? I saw it a few weeks ago with my good friends Nate & Tiffany and we all really enjoyed the movie. It was a great mix of humor, the harsh reality of teenage pregnancy, infertility and adoption! If you haven’t heard much about this movie I would recommend it. It’s also nice to see a secular movie with a message that involves a pro-life statement. Check out this review from Christianity Today.

P.S. If you like The Office Dwight K. Schrute makes an appearance as well!
P.S.S. Did you know Dwight has a page on Wikipedia!? So funny!

New video of COT

The AF just posted a new video of COT on their website. It does a really good job of portraying what it was like. Take a look. Just click on HERE, and then click on the "Always with Honor - COT Video."

My Husband...

sent me flowers! I love them, they are so beautiful. I was sitting in my office yesterday and the Fedex guy came, just like everyday and he's got a fun colored box under his arm... for me! David sent me some beautiful flowers just to say he loves and appreciates me! Thanks David, I love you too and miss you so much!

Florida Trip

This week our class went on a field trip to Florida to visit Eglin AFB and Hurlburt Field. It was a great few days of seeing what the real, operational Air Force is like. Maxwell is mostly a training base, so it's not your typical base. Eglin is more of a typical base, and Hurlburt Field is where the AF Special Operations Forces train. The first day we spent at Hurlburt. We had a lot of briefings from important people, but we were also able to do some fun things like get a tour of an AC-130, try on $8,000 Night Vision Goggles, and play with some chemical weapon suits (see below). The next day we spent at Eglin AFB. Most of the day we toured the facilities of the Security Forces (military police), who we work with closely in court-martials (our criminal cases). We got a demonstration from the military working dogs, which was fun. We also spent some time at the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal. This is where all the branches send specialized troops for bomb squads training. They work incredibly hard to stay ahead of our enemy's weapon making capabilities.

Overall, JASOC has been much more enjoyable than COT. The classes are interesting and challenging, and the staff is great. We still have PT, but it's not until 0615, which is much more tolerable than 0445. Everyone I've met is great....if I make a career out of the AF, my fellow students will be my colleagues throughout. In fact, the 66 of us here make up more than 5% of the AF JAGs. Since we move around a lot and continuously have courses during our career, you get to know many, many fellow Judge Advocates. Good thing I like everyone so far!

A sweet helicopter that is being retired this year.