What's new

It's only Tuesday and this week has been full of opportunities!

Yesterday, I received my employment packet and my official job offer letter. It sure is a lot of paperwork to fill out!

Josh also has been keeping busy with a leadership course this week (it is required before he begins API- aviation preflight indoctrination). He seems to be enjoying it so far.

Josh also went to a basketball tryout/information session last night to see if he might be interested in playing basketball through an intramural league (it's called "Captains Cup").

Last, but not least, Josh may have the opportunity to get a "family" membership with a few other flight students to one of the nicest golf courses in the area (apparently Boo Weekly has it as a course of record or something like that).

I have been feverishly studying for my occupational therapy exam, as I will likely receive notice of my eligibility to test any day now. The licensing body has received my transcripts and they are now processing my letter to test.

Although I would prefer our busyness for the week stopped there, I received a letter today requesting that I submit my research proposal for consideration at the Congress of Spinal Cord Medicine and Rehabilitation Conference (sponsored by the American Spinal Injury Association). There's just one problem- the deadline is THURSDAY and I'm supposed to be studying! This is an incredible opportunity, so I will be considering it through this evening and I will make a decision by tomorrow. The Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center of the Delaware Valley is even willing to pay for my expenses to present at this conference (it is in Dallas in September).

Well, that's a little taste of our week for now :)

Culture Shock Can Be Good

(A picture of the house in daylight)

(down our street)

Well, something I might have left out of the last post is that after a very long drive, and having seen glimpses of our new hometown (for now), we got back to the Navy Lodge and I let out a long cry. Josh and I have been through a lot of changes in the last 6 months (he finished school, we got married, we moved to Baltimore, I finished school, I've been looking for a job and studying for my exam, and now we've moved again)- strangely though, I haven't felt that affected by all of those changes, but the culture shock of Pensacola did me in I guess!

It seems a good cry was all I needed though and now we are loving where we live. I suppose I just needed to get my bearings and feel like I had a small idea of where things were located.

Although we have experienced quite a culture shock, thanks to my wonderful husband, we are taking it like he took his Plebe summer/boot camp (as if it were summer camp!)

Our eyes are in the infancy stage of opening to a whole new world- that isn't necessarily bad, just different.

Josh and I went to a Waffle House (they are hard to avoid) and took a picture for Mom Gropp (she's not a fan of the food). Everyone in the restaurant (including some customers) said hello to us several times. We then sat down and had a pretty tasty breakfast sandwich and didn't say a word while we ate so we could listen to the gossip- haha. The big gossip on the street at this Waffle House was that the manager decided to stop carrying Splenda packets because they were too expensive! Now the customers go to the Walmart and bring their own in. I mean, really, why carry Splenda if you won't lose customers?!

(at Waffle House)

Until last night we hadn't had a home-cooked meal because, well, nothing was unpacked and we had no food! Although we are thrilled to begin cooking again (last night was our first dinner here), we've had some interesting choices in meals. My favorite has been going to Sonic. It's fast food (which is the only kind of food you can get when you eat out for the most part), but it's a "drive in". Josh and I showed up and thought the drive in signs were just for fun so we walked to the front door of the place and they looked at us as if we were aliens and said to go back to our car to order and that they would bring our food to us. We thought that was pretty cool in and of itself, but it only got better when our "waitress" (for a lack of better words) delivered our food on rollerskates!!!! It was pretty awesome.

One last story is that we very quickly discovered yesterday not to go to the grocery store/commissary on payday (A friend warned me of this but I guess I didn't really realize it would happen quite like this).

As Josh and I pulled up to the gate to go to the Commissary (Navy grocery store), there was a 30 car line that went out into the highway were were trying to come off of. My friend wasn't kidding! It seemed like the world was about to end and everyone in town was going to stock up so that they could hide in some shelter. I really shouldn't make light of this, as apparently it is a big problem in the Navy (people spending too much money and then living paycheck to paycheck), but it was certainly an eye opener to Josh and I.

We are really having a blast living in a house and being quite removed from city life. Josh had fun out in the driveway washing his wheels and I am having a lot of fun unpacking and decorating the house. We are so thankful for the little things this homeowner put into the house to make it very easy to live in without having to buy lots of extras (e.g. closet organizers for storage, shelves in the garage, a bike rack in the garage, hooks and bars and hangers everywhere, etc etc.) We are also really enjoying not having white walls- it's so warm and cozy.

(Josh cleaning car wheels at sunset)




Mess in guest bedroom


(mess in kitchen- movers have to unpack you if you want them to, but they just place everything on the nearest counter or floor...we still asked them to because we knew dealing with all of those boxes and the packing paper could be a nightmare)

We are really blessed and pray that even when valleys come we would still sing "blessed by the name of the Lord".


(a picture of Perdido Key- the beach area about 10 minutes from our house- Visitors?? Anyone? hehe)

Thanks for sharing in our adventures!

What is an "NFO"?

Now that Josh is nearly done with what is called "Introductory Flight Screening" or (IFS), he will resume doing various tasks at the Naval Academy until we move to FL in December. Once we are in Florida, Josh will begin something called "Aviation Preflight Indoctrination" (API).
I thought I would pass this helpful link along that describes what Josh will be learning about and doing when we move to FL. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Flight_Officer

On a separate note: if you are on the "email" list that forwards our blog posts to your email, please let us know if at any time it becomes too cumbersome to you and we can take your email off of the list. Also, if you receive a post of the blog in an email, click on the blue link to see it in the actual blog (and to see pictures when we post them).

Feel free to post comments directly on the blog or in an email back to us. We love hearing from you all, keeping in touch, and sharing our lives.

Love,
Whit and Josh

So Close, yet so far!

Hey Everyone-

I saw whitney having so much fun on this whole blog thing, so I thought I'd give a MAN's insight on our life's adventures!!!

So let's start with me! I've gotten very far in the IFS program, and have solo'ed for over 1.5 hours, and have around 10 solo landings. I am only one flight away from completing the program, but lo and behold, yesterday, I had my first cancelled flight. This has historically been a significant problem with IFS, seeing as student pilots are not allowed to take off with crosswinds of more than 15 knots in the forecast (despite some of our incredible skills!) Regardless, I have been blessed to come this far without having to have cancelled a single flight, but today, I had to cancel one more flight! Unfortunate, I know, but I still have plenty of time to get one good day of flying in. I am looking forward to being done, although I feel as though I can get used to the whole "flying every day for my job" thing. Things are looking pretty good.

As per Whitney's current adventures: she's busy!!! Today, for instance, I came home and tried to do some small fixes on the computer to keep it running smoothly, but was abruptly booted from the seat of priviledge, as she was: "Late for work!!!" She's the best, and you have no idea how great it is to spend every day with her.

Well, I better get going before I get booted by the "long coffee break taker"!

Hope this post finds you all well!


-Josh

FLYING HIGH

Hello All,

Just a quick post to say that Josh passed his FAA exam (he needed to pass this exam to continue on in his flight training) . This evening at 5:00 he will be going on his first "Solo" cross country flight. Please pray for his safety as he goes out on this great adventure!