I am so full of thanks...

Ok, it's been a while but I thought here was a fitting reminder of not only our nation's heritage/history, but also an encouragement to continue a most worthy tradition of thankfulness for all our great blessings:

by the President of the United States of America (1863)

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[Signed]
A. Lincoln

Awesomeness

Ok...this is going to be a short blog but here are a few of the awesome things I have done in the past week:
1) Went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Hugh Jackman, albeit missing his trademark hairdo, was very enjoyable to watch ;-)
2) Got a haircut/color - curly, layered, angled bob of sorts...with sideswept bangs. I definitely look younger, perhaps around the late teens/early 20s mark again, which was proved as I got carded at a martini bar tonight. Awesome!
3) Started using Proactiv face cleaning system, to see if it lived up to all the hype. My face reacted badly to something in Kyrgyzstan, and I wanted to stop looking like my face had been chewed up by a wild animal. So far, a week in, I am seeing marked improvement!
4) Ran the Spokane Bloomsday 2009 12K race...well, ran/walked - and despite all the unexpected issues with cramping achilles tendons and a sore right knee, we still managed to finish 5 minutes faster than last year! Now to start training for a half marathon, wait I have to find out where/when there is going to be a half marathon...
5) Demonstrated to Ben that although a long way away from winning, I am well on my way to learning to eat sensibly - not eating so much that I feel sick afterwards, and earn stupified looks from family and friends as they don't understand where I put it all...so yay for portion control!
6) Bought a new sofa - dark brown leather with a left-facing chaise! We have been looking for a while, and saw this one a week or so ago. We were going to wait but it was on a really good sale this weekend, we figured we can better afford it now rather than later when we have kids, and it's a leather sofa! :-D It should get delivered next week...
7) Went to see Star Trek - AWESOMELY AWESOME!! So good...and fun to see such a great cast of actors - the guy who played the villain on Heroes as Spock, Eric Bana as the villain Nero, Karl Urban as Dr McCoy, and Simon Pegg as Scotty (my favorite bit of casting!). Definitely will be looking to buy it when it comes out on dvd. Don't think I'll ever be a Trekky though...

And that's about all I can think of to write about right now. Other than that we're having to discuss options on how to deal with Maggie, our cat, who has, in the past few days, decided to start peeing everywhere but the litter box - first in one of our houseplants, then on one of our recliner chairs, then just tonight on the carpet by one of the windows. I don't get it...we haven't changed anything around the house (added a new pet, moved furniture, etc), and she only started doing this a few days ago. I don't think she has a bladder infection because its like she is deliberately choosing where to pee. I don't want to make her an outside cat because Frankie (our other cat) will lose his buddy, she is declawed and won't be able to defend herself, and will get dirty and I will miss her. But I don't know how to modify her behavior or figure out what she's doing...cats are notoriously difficult to train and we're baffled as to why this has happened all of a sudden.

But I will end there for tonight...

Live long and prosper!!

There's No Place Like Home...

Good morning all,

Firstly I'd like to apologize for not updating this while I was deployed, the internet connection was patchy at best and every time I tried logging in it either wouldn't let me or every website I tried getting onto was in Russian or Dutch.

But anyway, I am home now...I got home yesterday around noon. I left Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan on Sunday (Central Asia time), made an overnight stop in England, and landed at Fairchild AFB Washington yesterday. (For those of you who didn't know, I was deployed to Manas AB, Kyrgyz Republic, outside of the capital Bishkek). It was the best first deployment you could ask for...I went with an awesome team of aircraft maintainers, and learned so much about maintenance, about managing people (including having to administer discipline - NOT fun), and about life in general. I refocused my life on living to glorify God and honor my husband, worked out a lot (although not as much as I was hoping to), worked on conquering my compulsive snacking problem, and drank gallons of coffee so strong you could float a fork in it.

But with all that said, I am very glad to be home! I'm pretty sure Ben is too...the house was filled with flowers and as a welcome home present he got me the first two seasons of MacGuyver on dvd! I also had, as my first dinner back, the food I've been craving and even dreaming about for over a month - Papa Murphy's Gourmet Classic Italian pizza and a cheesy bread!

Well I think I am going to sign off for now, but promise to post again soon...hopefully with a few pictures. My love to you all!!