Clapping Hands

I have typically gravitated towards the more traditional worship services on Sunday because that's generally how I grew up but I have occasionally gone to the more lively "hand clapping" services. This morning I went to Alamo Heights United Methodist Church for their more upbeat service and really enjoyed it. They had a visiting band from San Antonio called Abandon. They were very talented and really inspired the congregation. The sermon was about Ruth under the series of "Girl Power - Women of the Old Testament." I was kind of hoping that it would be about Tabitha but it wasn't. Ruth followed Naomi, her mother-in-law, wherever she went to demonstrate her love and commitment. The main points made by the preacher were that Ruth and God's love is undeserved, steadfast, and complete. It was a great service overall. I then went to a couple cafes at the Quarry and ate my packed lunch while I studied for FP boards.

Tabitha and Natalie spent the day with Mom. Apparently Natalie did very well at church and otherwise had a good day. I got a call from Dad today as well. He just completed his flyfishing class so he's going to be hanging out up in Traverse City until Mom finds him up there in a couple days after she has completed dogsitting duties.

Edison's Laboratory

This picture is from a few Saturdays ago when Todd and Alicia came to visit in Ann Arbor. Todd and I took Evan and Natalie to Greenfield Village. Evan got to see Thomas the Train but we also toured around the rest of this incredible open air museum. Henry Ford had incredible vision so many years ago to start collecting these important artifacts from American history. One of the particularly impressive buildings is the Edison laboratory and workshop. This picture is from that visit.

I really miss my family right now. I talked to Tabitha a couple times today. I particularly thought of her today when I was inprocessing and was told by the second-year RAM's that we would have some roll calls and other get-togethers like the fighter pilot community. I remembered how she had played crud with the other Hawkettes at Spangdahlem. I am so proud of the way she had integrated into the squadron and represented their team. The first time the wives figured out that she was pregnant was when she didn't play crud for the spring wives' Crud Tournament. Basically when they figured that out, we had been outed to the entire base community that Natalie was on her way!

City of Love

Natalie had trouble going to sleep tonight. Tabitha called me on my cell phone so that I could say goodnight to her. Tabitha put her back down and then heard her crying again. She had climbed out of her crib. Sooo... tomorrow she will have to look for a gate to convert the crib to a big girl bed.

I arrived in San Antonio this evening and configured my room and new accomodations. I also met Matt and Chris, the new roommates. They were very welcoming and kind. We had a nice dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant.

This year will be very difficult and I am not looking forward to living apart from the family. We will hopefully receive our schedule soon so that we can start planning on when I can come back to Michigan for a visit or when Tabitha and Natalie can come down to visit me.