March 2013

Tim's was something between 6 and 7

On Friday morning I kissed Tim goodbye and told him not to come back until he’d gotten rid of his mustache! It has been five painful weeks of bristly kisses, all for a Navy tradition (Naval and Marine aviators grow mustaches when they go to the boat to do carrier qualifications).

We are finally nearing the end of flight school, and I just can’t believe we’re almost there! When we started dating, Tim had told me that it’s usually a good idea to wait until flight school was finished to get married - a three year wait after college graduation.

I don’t think we would have survived if we had waited until now to get married. We would have missed out on so much together! Leaving our family and friends to go to a new place every 6 to 12 months was fun, frightening, and faith-building. We saw God provide for us each time – an apartment here, a beach house there, a farm here, a lake there… and we don’t even know where the next “there” is.

Wherever “there” is, it won’t be just us anymore. Tim’s graduation date is April 12^th, and my due date is May 6^th. Both, of course, are subject to change. And speaking of changing…

I got my “cloth” diapers in the mail yesterday! Go ahead…laugh, ridicule… I am determined to use these on our child, especially since I did the math. If I can stick it through with these, we will save a thousand dollars (in just one year of diapering). Our savings will multiply if we have more children!

That being said, these are not yo-mama’s cloth diapers. They are super cute. They are re-sizable (for newborns through toddlers). They look like a normal diaper, except they’re made of PUL fabric and have snaps. The inside of the diaper has a pocket where you insert an absorbent cloth liner. To re-use them, you pull out the liner, then put both in the wash for a rinse cycle, and then add soap and wash. I got enough diapers so that I would only have to do a batch every 2-3 days (because I’m NOT washing them with our other laundry).

Diapers!

The Northpointe PCA girls did a baby shower for me in February. They thoughtfully donated towards two gift cards that I would be able to use after we moved (we had planned on moving this month). One gift card went toward the re-usable diapers, and the other gift card was for JoAnn’s, so that I could do some baby sewing. 

So, I have been enjoying the adventure of housekeeping (cleaning, sewing, and cooking) while Tim has been out saving the world, learning to fly jets and do cool tricks in the air and land on boats and stuff. However, Tim is excited about Baby, too. He already has a list of things that he wants to teach his sons and a list of things that he wants to teach his daughters. I have a little list, too, but mine looks a little less like the Westminster catechism than his does and a little more like a grocery list.

In addition to the sheer terrors of flying at high speeds, Tim has been enjoying fixing up our ’92 Toyota Camry. Two weeks ago the radiator started to leak, so Tim replaced the radiator. Two days later the engine started to chug, and Tim found oil in the spark plug…uh…place, so he fixed that and replaced the spark plugs. Then he decided to replace the struts on the hood (we’ve been holding it up by hand for a few years now). I’m so thankful that he is willing to take the time to do that.

One thing that concerned me during flight school was Tim’s call sign. Students are assigned a call sign by their peers in Advanced Flight School, and usually it’s based on something stupid that they’ve done. 

Not only are call signs usually based on something dumb that you did, they often tend to be bad words, euphemisms, inappropriate… Needless to say, I was so relieved when Tim brought home his new name patches two days ago! SLATOR!

Last Traps Before They Sell the Boat

One of the interpretations is: Sounds Like A Terror On Radio. Considering the other options, I was pleased with this one. It has a floral design to match his class patch (not shown here): an unemployed jet pilot wearing a Hawaiian shirt and looking for work (thanks to sequestration). 

His class patch (again, not shown here) matches the patch for their boat detachment: A picture of the carrier with a FOR SALE sign. The carrier that Tim landed on this week was originally meant to deploy. It was held back because of sequestration, and is the carrier that the Navy may have to lose.

"Traps" are arrested landings (tailhook landings). When Tim caught the wire and landed, he went from about 120 knots to 0 in two seconds. He says it was the most exciting part of flight school so far.

Now my man is home and clean shaven again. I'm thankful for his success, safety, and most of all, his testimony. Flying jets is a demanding, high-skill, and dangerous job with a selective and rigorous training process. Not many people can claim this job distinction, but it still falls under the category of "humanly attainable." Living a consistent Christian life requires wisdom and strength beyond the humanly attainable: only God can give it.