You want to go WHERE?

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9 times out of 10, that’s pretty much the response people give when we tell them our first base choice is Mississippi.

So….why did we choose Mississippi?

1. The weather.  Yes, it’s true.  We do know that the weather is hot, muggy, and humid.  (That’s the main reason people are so shocked to find out that’s our choice!)  Michael and I both get cold very easily and we prefer warm/hot weather.  Michael was in Mississippi last year for field training….in the summer…and he loved it.

2. Michael’s brothers are also in the Air Force, and they had already taken the other two locations.  😉  Why not check out the third option?

3.  Columbus is cute!!!  Okay, okay, so this was mostly my reason.  Those were not Michael’s words when he saw the pictures of the city.  But, seriously.  Just do a google image search of Columbus, Mississippi.  Aren’t there some cute pictures??

-Bonnie

UPT Base Selection

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Today, Bonnie and I put in our top preferences for our base for Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT).

For the Pilot AFSC (92T0), there are only 3 real choices. They are all pretty similar; remote locations, nice housing, etc.
The choices are: Columbus AFB, Laughlin AFB, or Vance AFB. There was an option to do Whiting Field (Naval Base) but we didn’t want that.

Our preferences are:

Columbus AFB
Lauglin AFB
Vance AFB

Now we just have to wait and see where the Air Force assigns us!

-The Pilot

Amazing Race

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Some interesting moments this week!  From crashing a bike (yikes!  something I would do?) to chasing sheep, it was exciting.  I felt bad about the time penalty…and got a little emotional with the losing team.  For the most part, I like all of the teams in the race.  From here on out, I’ll probably be sad with all the eliminations!  lol

Tommy or Andy: Who should we pick?  Who’s feeling it?  You’ve got a good smile.

Cathi: I LOVE bicycles!

Cathi: (on bike)  Okay!  Ding ding!

Zac: My sheep’s trying to run off!

Tommy: You count them, I’m remembering.

Phil: That means you are team number one.
Tommy or Andy: Come on.
Phil: I’m not kidding you.
Tommy or Andy: Come on, Phil.

Cathi: There’s some tension….building.

Fall Into Reading

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My sister Melinda posted recently about a reading challenge she is participating in.  I considered joining in on this challenge….but I think I’ve decided against it.  To be honest…I’m scared I wouldn’t make it!  Instead…I’m going to compile a list of books I want to read/finish reading before I get married.  That gives me a little less than three months to check off as many books as I can.

Which…basically is the essence of the reading challenge.  But somehow I feel like adding my name to the linky makes it more binding and scary.

So without further ado….my list of book reading goals for the next few months.  😀

1. The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace

2. The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian

3. Beautiful in God’s Eyes by Elizabeth George

4. Claim by Lisa T. Bergren

5. The Glamour of Grammar by Roy Peter Clark

6. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

7. Man of the Family by Ralph Moody

8. The Guerrillas Have Taken Our Son by Chad and Pat Stendal

9. A Thousand Shall Fall by Susi Hasel Mundy

10. The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink

11. A Woman’s Call to Prayer by Elizabeth George

12. The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges

Hmm….that looks a little ambitious to me.  I’m not the fastest reader ever.  We shall see.  Expect a report in December….that may or may not look completely different from this list.

-Bonnie

What’s on my mp3 player…

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“This” by Darius Rucker.

Yes.  I am a country music fan.

My routine when I get in the car is something like this: lock door, scoot seat almost all the way forward, buckle seat belt, turn on country radio station.

Which is how I discovered “This.”  It quickly became one of my favorite country songs.

I don’t know that Darius Rucker is a Christian.  But I love the truth in this song.  Every little thing in life works out perfectly…even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time.  In the song, he talks about things that “went wrong” in his life.  Difficulties he faced, changes to plans, frustrations he encountered.  The chorus always ends with, “Thank God for all I ever missed, ’cause it led me here to this.”

I love it.

I think about all of the things that I “almost” did after graduating high school.  Like how I considered going to a college in Lubbock, Texas.  Or how I began pursuing teaching overseas for a semester.  Or considering a job that would have required a lot of travel.  All were “serious” considerations.  If I had gone with any of those options…..would I be here right now?  Would I have gone to EBC, the college that has taught me, frustrated me, and grown me so much?  Would I have had the opportunity to spend so much quality time with my friend Jeanette, who also went to EBC?  Would I have been able to get to know my friend Cristina, who is an amazing friend and mentor?  Would I have become friends with Michael, fallen in love, and been planning my wedding?

Probably not.  And those are only a few of the things I would have missed.

It’s amazing how God does indeed lead my life.  Sometimes as I “just” live day to day it’s harder to see (or I forget to see) what He is doing.  But when I take the time to look back…..His hand is everywhere.

I love this song.  And I love my life.  And I am so thankful for how God has and is working in my life!

-Bonnie

Amazing Race! Episode 2

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Another episode down!  The challenges didn’t seem as difficult or crazy as they sometimes get.  But there were some funny moments!  I don’t really want to post spoilers here…..so on with the quotes!

Mr. Sunderland: Banana.

Andy: We’re gonna catch some waves, dude.
Tommy: Don’t “dude” me, dude.

Cathi: We’re excited to see the kids, who will not be excited to see us, because they will think we’re toast.  But we’re not toast yet.

(driving)  These guys are on a different level.

Bill (untangling rope): This is Christmas tree lights gone crazy.

Marcus: I know how you feel, Big Easy.

Marcus: And I’m going to hit a tree.  Get away from me, tree.  You bother me.

Ron: You do it.
Bill: All right, I’m going to spelunk.

Tommy: It’s like Indiana Jones in the temple of….Jakarta.

Cathi: Oh, you just rocked that!

Liz or Marie (dancing): Please, can I have some money?  I saw you laughing.

Tommy or Andy: You ladies have a great time at the mall!

Sandy: Let’s do the sprint of our lives.

-Bonnie

Super Woman vs. Abiding Woman

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One of the blogs in my reader linked to this a while back.  I was going to comment here on which one in particular was convicting…but as I was re-reading the list….I’m afraid more than just one was convicting.

Such a good reminder to let go of self and truly rest in the Lord and abide in Him.

“Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”  – John 15:4-5

-Bonnie

Prepare for your marriage

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We’ve been engaged for almost seven months.  During that time, I’ve had several people give advice and comments and ideas and suggestions.  The best piece of advice I got, however, was from a dear friend.

“Remember that you’re planning your marriage, not just your wedding.  The details of the wedding are important, yes, but they are secondary to the lifetime that you are planning together.”

That stuck in my mind.  At the time it was so encouraging to just…..relax.  Even if I wasn’t “stressing out,” I could just breathe deeply and relax.  Now, as I ponder that bit of advice while typing, I am again so encouraged.

In our planning process, we have had ups and downs…..quite a few downs.  Pieces have fallen into place….and many times fallen out of place again.  But a lot of those things are very minor when I consider the fact that I get to spend my life with the most incredible man in the world (who just so happens to be sitting next to me right now doing homework).  There are much bigger things to prepare for than just choosing a cake, planning the order of the ceremony, and picking our song selections.

How do we love each other according to 1 Corinthians 13?  How can we effectively communicate with each other when we make decisions, have disagreements, or want to express our appreciation?  How can we pray for each other?

Those things we’ll need our whole lives.  And I must say, they are very exciting prospects to consider.  I can think of nothing more exciting than spending my life with my Pilot, growing together in Christ.

The wedding day will be wonderful, gorgeous, and perfect.  But it will only last a day.  Our marriage is forever!

My sister sent me a link to a blog post with 10 Wedding Tips.  Does point number one look familiar?  🙂  Some of the other points on there were very helpful to consider as well.

-Bonnie

Amazing Race!!

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Sooooo………….I am pretty much a super fan of the tv show The Amazing Race.  And tonight was the premiere of season 19!  It was pretty exciting (and intense) watching the opening leg of the race.  There are some good teams this season!

It’s rather early to say which teams I really like….but I must say I do like Bill and Cathi.  I love sweet married couples who race…and they are just the cutest grandparents!  It’s awesome that they are doing the race!  I also like Ernie and Cindy, as some of the clips in their bio/intro video reminded me of The Pilot and myself.  🙂  And, of course, Laurence and Zac, who were part of a homeschool group very close to us (the same group The Pilot graduated with).

Not until the show was over did I realize that I should keep a list of quotes as I watch each week.  There are some hilarious lines!  I wrote down as many as I could remember after the close of the episode.

Liz or Marie (unfortunately I don’t remember who it was) (to monk) I can’t really hug you.

Cathi: “Take a taxi ride”….oh, my dream has come true!

Cathi: (boating for challenge) It’s so beautiful out here.

Cathi: This is the most fun I’ve had all day.

Cathi: (after being informed they were still in the race)  We need to get some ginseng to get our energy up.

 

I look forward to the rest of the season!

-Bonnie

Creative Dreams…

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The other day I shared with The Pilot an odd dream I had….and he commented, “Well, I can say for sure that you use the right side of your brain in your dreams.”

It’s true.  I’ve had some really wacky dreams, some really random dreams, and some really odd dreams.

Exhibit A:  A dream I had in June 2010.

I was a spy and I had some sort of small device or item that the bad guy was after.  Riding a motorized wheelchair, I sped through the mall away from the enemy, guarding the precious device carefully.  Expertly, I rode up this circular ramp that went around a pool.  The bad guy saw me and threw his poison pizza slice at me.  I immediately knew all that had to happen was for it to touch me…and I would be dead or at least have very serious injuries.

I saw the poison pizza coming and cleverly decided to jump into the pool.  As soon as I had done so, however, I realized how…unclever…that had been.  Right on my heels, the bad guy jumped in as well and started swimming toward me.  I had to evade the pizza.  In the process of swimming away, I dropped my spy device and was trying to reach for it in the water.  The bad guy reached for it as well.  I touched part of the pizza crust and I thought, “Well, I don’t want to die, so I’ll just say that part isn’t poison.”

It was very epic.  I don’t remember the end of the dream…I hope I made it away safely…with my spy device and without any pizza.

-Bonnie