The One Constant is Change

Time comes and goes so quickly, I'm constantly reminded too appreciate each and every moment as you never know what waits for you in the next. My 5 week adventure to Idaho has come to an end - already!! As usual, the one certain thing about the military is that it will change and you will likely meet some great people along the way... and then promptly have to say good bye (that's the crappy part in case you didn't know). I had a great time here, a great class, and great instructors. I never thought that I would come to the level of understanding and appreciation for this new job in just 5 short weeks but I have. I am headed home with a much better attitude about my job awaiting me there and even a hint of excitement for the job! Yet somehow I'm sad. My bags are packed, I said bye to my classmates, and am eager to be home and see my kids. But every new good bye also reminds me of previous ones. In particular, Casie (one of my classmates) and I were swapping deployment stories tonight and I find myself missing some of my downrange friends - Josh, Magoo, Milton, Professor, Fowler, Sacco, Nikki and many others. But those were the folks I saw most on a daily basis, ran races with, had off base adventures with, disagreed with, smoked sheesha with, etc. Everything that builds a relationship that can't be duplicated. It's unique to that place and time, just like so many other things in our lives. I believe that God is always with us, always teaching us, always giving us opportunities to rely on Him no matter the time in our life. So tonight I'm feeling blessed to have had so many opportunities to experience new places, meet new people, learn new things. 

[Pre-Air Force 10K while deployed]

In these past two weeks I've got to go wine tasting in Idaho (fantastic!), accomplish an end-of-course exercise, and go to the range one more time to work with/watch the A-10 in all its glory - wow! Pretty busy and super fast (S2S - my AF peeps get it). Let me just say, the Idaho vineyards did not disappoint  We visited 4 and they all had some pretty great wine along with some great views - rolling vineyard hills with snow capped mountains in the distance. Our first stop was Bitner, followed by Koenig, Fujishin and St Chapelle. Needless to say, a good time was had and a few bottles of wine were purchased to enjoy later. 

[View from Bitner Vineyards]

This week we had our exercise and I was pleased to see that we all knew enough to complete the course which is saying something since I had a steep learning curve, haha. All in all it was really good though. The instructors here have put together a pretty balanced course that really teaches and provides opportunity for confidence building throughout. It's been so great that I'm considering moving back here to help teach sometime. But we'll see where the winds blow Brian and me, just saying, I won't complain if it's Idaho :-) We finished up with a class/instructor dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I'm pleased to report that I had some shrimp tacos and NO cheesecake despite my cravings telling me otherwise! This is a first for me but I realized that I've been working hard to eat right and workout while I've been here, why blow it now? Tomorrow the only benefit I'd get from it would be an upset stomach and disappointment in myself at not resisting. So now I can go into my LONG travel day guilt free and stomach ache free (I hope, as it has been acting up this week, hehe). 

[On the Range with my Class]

I've had some great talks with God this week and some great reading. I can't wait to get home and discuss with Brian about how we will incorporate some of it into our lives and get his take on it. For example - love and respect. Yes, there's a book on it, but that's mostly because the whole idea of it was brought up in the Bible. That women need love and men need respect. It is clearly stated. But, my question is, what speaks the most respect to my husband so that he feels respected AND loved? And vise a versa for me... In the Amplified Bible it expands on Eph 5:33 as this - 

Let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [the she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly.] 

Furthermore, the study I'm doing says to make a list of things to do/say and to have Brian make one as well - then see where the lists merge and implement as much as possible. Wow! I mean it's not new knowledge to me but there's a lot in that verse to quantify/implement. So that is my project going home, I know that God will guide me/us in this and that we can only grow and learn to love Jesus and each other more out of it.
On that note, to bed with me! I have a plane to catch!