Peter's training update

I'm sitting at a Panera this warm, Spring morning, drinking chai and catching up on my email. I drove into town from my parents last night to skype with Peter. And it was so fun to have a long skype date with him and see his face. It felt like we were just sitting at the kitchen table talking about our day.

He's been doing really well and getting great marks on his flights. They fly every day, sometimes twice a day. A few of his flights have been canceled due to weather, but not too many. He was able to take off yesterday before a storm came over Pueblo and then had to fly longer, skirting and looking down on the storm, waiting to land. He said it was a lot of fun and that he was probably smiling from ear to ear during that flight. It was looking like he was going to finish early, sometime next week, even with some flight cancelations in there. But yesterday he was given a proficiency advance. So he will skip his next couple of flights and solo today as well as do a "pre check ride" right afterward. Tomorrow he will do his check ride (final exam) that includes ground and flight time and then done and leave on Friday! Awesome. I always knew he was advanced :-D. He will have to go to Madison, Wi to do paperwork called in/out processing with his unit and that will take a couple of days. But he will (if today and tomorrow go well) be back in Texas sometime next week, probably mid-late week and then I'll be back on Sunday night, May 8th. 

I can't wait to see him again. We have an appointment on the 9th with our new doctor and they want to do an ultrasound for their records. Now he'll get to be there for that, which I was hoping would be the case. 

I'm doing well. The baby is growing and kicking and having the hiccups regularly. :-D I can't believe that he/she will be here so soon! In 7.5 weeks I will be considered full term. Full term = 37-42 weeks, so they could come over a period of 5 weeks, what will the birthday be? And I wonder if they (he/she) still looks like their dad. Can't wait to see their face again too!

Hope you are all well. Looking forward to seeing the Bostonians tomorrow!

2 years!

Yesterday Peter and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. It has been a wonderful two years, the best years of my life. He called in the morning before his day got started to say happy anniversary and surprised me with 2 red roses that were delivered to the door. Why do I just love getting flowers from him? We ended the day with a long date, a sykpe date in the McDonald's parking lot (my parents don't have the internet). It was a happy day, one that I was constantly thankful for my husband.

We did celebrate our anniversary about a month ago, right before Peter left for IFS. We slept in, made a special breakfast of pancakes and sausage and packed a picnic lunch. That afternoon we hiked around, ate our lunch and exchanged our "cotton" presents, since cotton is the 2 year anniversary theme. For dinner we went to a place called Meers, which Bon Appetite Magazine has ranked as the #3 best burger in the US. It was great, very reminiscent of the cowboy days. It didn't look at all like a modern-day, popular restaurant.

AZ time with my Bro and Heidi

I just got back to an internet connection to catch up on last weekend. I spent few days in Arizona with my brother and a friend from college, Heidi. Amazingly too, Wichita Falls, TX (my new home), was quite a bit hotter than Phoenix, AZ was...it was only 88-92 degrees while I was visiting there and over 100 in Texas. I am sure not living in Wisconsin anymore. 

I met Andrew's roommate, saw where he worked, and ran some errands with him - just normal life. He took me to a favorite restaurant of his, In and Out Burger, and a Red Wings playoff game. We wore Wings shirts and represented Michigan along with half the people there. Our seats were near the Phoenix goal, so we had plenty of action and checks to watch. It was fun. 

Heidi and I took some long walks and talked about our big life changes, my baby and her up-coming wedding and marriage to Sean. It was so good to have that time. They "had" to go up to Sedona one afternoon and I tagged along. We had a picnic looking at the red rock formations and walked around the town. 

And then I flew to Michigan on Tuesday morning and, after several delays and detours because of storms in the mid-west, arrived Wednesday morning. But I got to know the man next to me well and hear all about his family and work. I think he was a little nervous about flying the way he kept chatting at 3 in the morning. 

one crazy day

I'm sitting in a shaded outdoor patio of a Starbucks in downtown Tempe, AZ. The temperature is perfect and there is a light breeze. There are a lot of people around me slowly enjoying a Saturday morning coffee while marathon walkers quietly go past. I've had several "congrats" and offers to buy me a coffee as strangers notice my growing stomach. It is a beautiful and calm morning. And it makes everything that happened yesterday seem so unreal.

Yesterday was the day that I left Wichita Falls, TX to go see family for the next 3 weeks while Peter is finishing up the first training school. My friend, Josie, picked me up to take me to my first OB appointment in TX. It was very long and thorough, 2 hours to be exact. But it was great. I even found out what position the baby was in and heard their little hiccups as the nurse checked for the heart beat. Afterward we went back to my house, loaded my luggage in the car, picked up another friend and headed for the airport and shopping in Dallas - a good 2.5 hours away.

After making a couple wrong turns in the construction traffic and finding out there were 2 airports in Dallas and that we were heading for the wrong one, Josie got a call that her neighborhood had been evacuated due to wildfires. The fence in her back yard didn't exist anymore and the news was calling Wichita Falls a disaster area. Thirty minutes later another call said that the training area on the base had been evacuated as well. And then, as I was getting out at the correct airport with little time to spare, another call saying that base housing was now being evacuated. I debated if I should just cancel the trip and go home with my friends to face this disaster, not knowing what I could do or where people were being evacuated to. Josie told me to just go and leaving would also meet the goal of evacuating. It was with a very strange, surreal feeling that I stood in line to check in.

After going through security though, I received another call that my dear, old Gran had fallen down the basement steps and was still in x-rays after being rushed to the hospital. My mom was very upset as she waited on the results and fearing what could-be. There was nothing for me to do at that point but to fly to Phoenix and hear an update there. But before boarding I got another call that base housing was clear and no longer was under evacuation, our homes were "safe" from the fires.

In Phoenix, my brother picked me up from the airport. The news was that my Gran had a few broken ribs, some staples and stitches on her head and face, and bruises and scratches. It will be a long recovery, but she will be okay. Praise the Lord. I will be in Michigan in a few days to see her too. I was able to call and talk to Peter after that and tell him all the un-expected craziness that had happened. It was good to talk, but it seemed so unreal. And unreal to have felt so calm through it all. The Lord's peace is supernatural and transcends understanding. And He is so GOOD.

the happenings while we're apart

Peter had his first flight yesterday, called the dollar ride because you give the instructor a dollar afterward. Although, if you're Peter you only have a $20 in your wallet and will have to get back to him. Needless to say, the flight went really well. As well as the academic instruction when he was called on and to tell what he would do in such a such scenario and answered correctly. When he sends me a picture of it, I'll put it up. His flight (class) are all still in their dress uniform though since someone each time has failed the Bold Face/OPS limits test, so hopefully soon they will all pass and be able to wear their flight suit all day instead of just when they fly.

I have been home, knitting and trying to figure out how to make this house more of "home". I've also met several wives on base and have spent a lot of time with them. It almost feels like starting Wheaton again with how many people I'm meeting and that they are all the same age as me and with husbands that are all flying. I volunteered to sell trinkets at one classes graduation and meet a few girls that just looked like they were Christians (it must be something with the eyes or the smile). They were and invited me to a wives Bible study on Tuesdays. I feel very much like this is becoming home and that I'm building community already, which is way more than I expected. It is such a blessing. Some of my new friends will drive me to the airport tomorrow so I can go visit family for a couple of weeks while Peter finishes this first part of training. They're even going to check our mail, water the plants, and care for the lawn too.

Peter starts IFS!!!

Peter left this morning for Pueblo, CO to start IFS or Initial Flight School. He'll be gone for 3-6 weeks depending largely on the weather and how much flying time he gets. It's exciting! We've been waiting for an opening in this school for the last 6 months and he's finally starting it. He feels well prepared and is ready. And me too. Although, anticipating the good-bye, and the good-bye itself, seems to be the hardest thing about the separation. Now the countdown begins till we're both home again. (And we'll be able to talk/skype while he's away too). I'll also be doing some traveling to see family and friends while he's away, a good use of time.

I have things to knit and sew for our baby and our niece who will be born in August. And cheery, yellow daffodils that Peter got for me. He heard me say what a happy flower they were and went to buy them for me yesterday before he left. When he got to the florist he found out that he would have to special order them since they were no longer in season, but he was determined to get yellow daffodils as a reminder of him. I love them. And I so love that man!

New Friends

A week ago Peter and I ran into a couple at an OB tour of the hospital who we had briefly met before. It was so fun to talk to them and get to know them that we all went continued to hang out at their house afterwards. Then they came over for dinner this week. And it felt as natural and easy as if we've been friends for years. We talked for hours and played Apples to Apples - slowly though because of all the comments. It was such a fun night! And they are a strong Christian couple that we share a lot in common with. How amazing that the Lord keeps bringing Christians across our path here. Our cup is over-flowing with friends right now, we are so blessed in so many ways.