Monday Blues

Air Force wives, rejoice! Now you can see your handsome hubby in his dress blues once a week! Thanks to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Schwartz, Mondays are now mandatory "Blues Days" for most career fields, Air Force wide. I guess this doesn't sit well with some people, and there are some career fields where this is not practical, and therefore, it's not required for them. (Can you see Adam in his former life as a heavy equipment operator, driving a loader in his dress blues? Or running that jackhammer?) But as a personnelist, it's perfectly fitting.

I checked, and I don't have any recent pictures of Adam in his blues, but here's one from 2004 (one rank ago!). Yes, it's of terrible quality - again, we don't have a scanner, so I took a picture of a picture in order to get this on here...and it wasn't even in the sunlight. So pardon the dark and grainy quality. But I felt this post needed a visual aid!


There's not a lot about the military life that takes my breath away anymore. I've seen enough emotionally moving ceremonies, been to fancy parties where high-ranking servicemen seemed to be dripping with ribbons and medals from their mess coats. I've seen the convoys, the amazing airshows. I've witnessed plenty of marching formations, and the hairs rarely stand up on the back of my neck anymore when life stops at 5pm each day while the national anthem plays. It's been almost nine years, and what once seemed such an odd and beautiful and even barbaric way of life, has become normal to me, even secure.

But last Monday, I was at the MPF for some reason, and I remember that my breath was taken away, once again, by the sight of all the servicemen and women in their blues, walking in the parking lot and working in the building. It was beautiful to me. Perhaps my sense of beauty has been "warped" slightly by almost a decade of being a military spouse, but I believe many would share my feelings. I know my hubby's mom would have loved it!

So then, I put myself back in my own high school shoes, and thought again about how I would have felt about my life as a military spouse, had I had any inkling. At 17, when I first fell in love with Adam, I could not have made up a story about this life if I'd tried! How much I've learned - about myself, how capable I am when I really need to be; about my husband, how much he is willing to sacrifice for those he loves; about my Lord, how dearly he loves me, and how precious His grace. It's interesting to look back with a smile and see how far the Lord has brought us...and then look forward with excitement to what the future holds!

You never know what will happen next. But I'm counting on getting a good look at my man in uniform before he heads off to work next Monday morning. I can't think of a better way for an Air Force wife to beat the Monday blues!

AWANA Sparks

Drake is participating in AWANA again this year! Last year he was in Cubbies, the AWANA preschool program. This year he's in Sparks, the Kindergarten through 2nd grade program. It's quite a bit different from Cubbies - much more like school and less like play. There is a game time, though, and he enjoys that the most! (Especially since he's been assigned to the Red Team - red is his favorite color of all time.)

The purpose of AWANA is "helping churches and parents worldwide raise children and youth to know, love and serve Christ." That's a pretty great purpose! In case you're curious, the acronym "AWANA" stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. That's taken from 2 Timothy 2:15, which says, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." AWANA is mostly about memorizing scripture, but also continally presents the gospel and builds on that foundation. We are really happy with it, and feel that it's a good "extracurricular" activity for Drake to be involved in right now.

We hope to be enjoying AWANA for years to come!


After his first week of studying, Drake had earned his Sparks vest! To do that, he had to memorize John 3:16 and be able to answer 4 questions explaining its meaning. He is pretty proud of his new vest! He also earned his Sparks handbook, but they were all out - so he has photocopies of his next few lessons for now!