A bit of this and a bit of that

Pensacola
It's Saturday morning, and I am anxiously awaiting JB's arrival. He did his last call night in Pensacola last night. He now has one more week -- just four more round trip drives before he is off of that rotation. I cannot wait! My Tante Jan wrote on a comment recently that she "hopes I never get used to him being gone 80 hours a week." I never thought about it like that, but I agree! I really try to have a good attitude but folks, I really don't like it. I know that JB supposedly started with two of the more time intensive rotations, and I keep trying to remind myself of that. However, getting used to being by yourself is not something that is coming easily to me. I am so excited that he will be back on base and not doing any call for awhile.

Scrubs
Scrubs and I just got home for a walk. We walk a lot. We walk close to six miles a day. We are also starting to jog a little bit together. He's turning into a mighty fine dog if I do say so myself. He loves ice cubes and the dishwasher and peanut butter. We still feed him out of his chew toys and not out of his bowl, and if I put peanut butter on a chew toy, he will march right into his kennel and wait for me to arrive with the prize. He loves to chase his tail and chew on his back foot. He follows me around for every chore I do -- patiently waiting for me to throw every piece of clothes into the dryer and pull every pot out of the cabinet. He seems to be coming closer and closer to being house broken which is always encouraging. He sleeps through the night or only gets up one time and goes absolutely bonkers when JB walks into the house each evening -- his tail flickering back and forth a mile a minute. Each evening he sits on the couch with us until he falls asleep and then willingly goes to his crate for the night. What a fun friend! Of course, there is a lot of work involved as well that I don't take lightly, but the benefits are definitely worth it.

Hartleys
In other news, I spoke with Kristi last night. She and her family are doing as well as could be expected. I ask that you please just continue to pray for her family. Primarily pray for comfort during this very difficult time. Ryan and Jeff were scouting out land for Ryan and Dad to build some trails. They have been running a construction business. Dad was waiting up ahead with the horses for the plane to arrive and land, and it never arrived. They are planning a funeral on Monday and then Jeff's funeral will be on Tuesday. Jeff's family is very close to the Hartley's. His daughter was in Kristi's wedding. Like I said, when your town is 200 people, you know everyone. Kristi will stay at the ranch for awhile to help, but it is a very difficult situation. I was planning to go and see Kristi for a long weekend in early October. Now I am not sure when I will go. I have left it up to Kristi to tell me when she needs me. Right now there are so many people there I would just be in the way but as things settle down, I hope to spend some time with my best bud. I love their family so much and am so blessed by them. For those of you who don't Kristi, she and I were college roommates and have been bosom buddies ever since.

Writing
My stories for The Wedding Magazine are coming along pretty nicely. I plan to post them online as soon as they go to press so you can read them although I am not sure how many of you are interested in catering and outdoor weddings. I have another interview with one of the caterers via phone at 3pm today.

Parents
I am also anxiously counting the days until my parents come up to Eglin for Labor Day! I am so excited to see them and introduce them to our new home. The last time my mom was here was when we moved in so the place was in shambles. It will be nice to have her here without having to put her to work.

Adoption
Oh, I also meant to tell everyone that Thursday night, JB had dinner with some new local friends who have a two year old daughter they adopted from China. It was wonderful to meet them. Hannah is just precious! They have put us in touch with a whole "northern Florida" network of support that we look forward to connecting with over the next few years. This is a great answer to prayer. Speaking of the adoption, JB and I have our physicals on Monday. These are the last things we need before sending all of the required paperwork to the adoption agency. At that point, we should be able to proceed with our home study! Things are moving slowly, but they are moving.

All right, off to get a bit of work done before JB gets home. Have a great weekend everyone.