the past week was long.  so long, it was actually two weeks, back to back.  i had to work last weekend, then wasn't able to take my comp days off the last week due to a drill.  the drill was a two and a half day, multi agency what if exercise for a potential worst case scenario in the port.  all this while also trying to stay caught up with school and spending time with stephanie.  

i found out last week that my gpa for admission into the psychology honors society (psi chi) will only use the grades from the courses that i take at vanguard, which is awesome.  i should be able to get in with those guidelines.  

This past week

The past couple days have been pretty promising. 

-Two of Stephanie's friends from GA are coming to visit us in July.  One of them was able to make it last year.

-Stephanie's best friend from college and her husband got bumped from another flight so they got two free tickets and decided yesterday that they wanted to come to CA.

-Last night during class we got our fall course schedules.  I was expecting to have two electives and a core class.  My core class should have been during November.  But because I've already taken a couple of the classes that we are scheduled to take the fall semester, they put me with a different group, which caused me two take two core classes and an elective.  But now instead of taking a classes each month, I'll get to double up in October and take November off!  All that is to day, October will be a busy month with school but thankfully I'll have November and December with no classes to enjoy Willow...and our families which are planning on visiting.  

-I've also decided not to seek a second job anymore.  It wouldn't be worth my time for the small amount of money that would come in.  

***we have another willow appointment tomorrow where we are getting an ultrasound, too fun***

"the questions, the inspection, oh, the lovely thinking—the beautiful thinking."

this past week during my class, foundations of a christian life, which is an elective since i've already taken the class which the rest of my cohort are taking, we are talking about naturalist's perspective versus a christian's perspective in the question of sin.  we went to genesis, comparing man's life before and after the fall.  i hadn't been aware of the specific, descriptive comparison that is in the bible.  

this got me thinking about steinbeck's "east of eden."  this is one of my more favorite books.  in the end, steinbeck breaks down the point of the novel.  in looking for the bible verse that he quotes in the novel, i found the site that has a couple paragraphs from the book.  it's a inspiring little blurb if you have the time. steinbeck

It's to be a little girl!

well we found out that our little one is a little girl.

the nurse was pretty certain, as our the baby was "not shy."

  here she is, in her angel pose!

as we were watching, she lifted both

her hands and placed them at her cheek.

oooo, look at that foot!

Hi folks!

i've decided to create a blog.  being that we have a little one joining us soon, i wanted a way to quickly pass on pictures and experiences to all our family and to try and minimize the distance that is felt.  also, just as when stephanie and i were dating, it's good for me to take the time to write out ideas, to solidify them...or to create an even more cluster of them.

this past week was pretty good.  the past couple months i've felt really burdened about my occupational future.  deeply wanted to relad (get out) to move closer to family.  this would also allow me to pursue a job that truly interested me.  this is something that we've been praying for at small groups and has been constantly on my mind.  at work people are beginning to depart to their new units and it's so exciting for me to hear where people are going.  well last thursday i was in my class at school and i had this strange feeling of wanted to remain in the cg.  i realized that it could be just because people were leaving and that i also wanted to go to so many different units.  getting past this point i did a gut check to see if it's the fear of relading, being removed from the security of active duty.  this is the beef of my questioning.  am i wanted to remain in the cg for fear of getting out? 

 i came up with this...my experience since changing departments, going from pollution response to vessel inspections has been really good for me.  i'm having good interactions with warrant officers and junior officers that are encouraging for me.  they've given me a different perspective from the cg that i haven't seen in awhile, if ever.  people wanting to do their job, do it well, but also realizing that being in the cg has it's limits.  adversely my first class (my immediate supervisor) isn't the best guy to be working for as it was while i was in pollution response.  the actual job of inspecting i enjoy.  instead of forcing to make people spend tens of thousands of dollars from an advisory role, i'm ensuring people keep their boats safe and mostly this is a rewarding position.  i'm also within a decent reach of my next promotion which would finally place me in a supervisory role.  the position where i'm current at (e-5) is only short term and the next rank (e-6) would put me where i want to be.  i have a strong desire to finally serve as a true supervisor.  this is the crux of my decision.  

other positive benefits is that it would allow stephanie do as she pleases very comfortably, and that's be the mother first.  i still want to go to so many different places.  i would continue to have a ton of time off.  

all this is to say...i'm still thinking, praying, seeking guidance.  but as we were leaning towards getting out, now we are leaning towards staying in.