Flight Suits and Fairytales

All is as it should be...

Besides my wedding day, Monday ranked right up there as the absolute best day of my life. After five long months, my most favorite person in the entire world finally came home!! On Sunday night, an email popped up in my inbox with the title: Jet Return. Before I opened it, I laid my head down and prayed that it would be sooner, rather than later, and that Chris was actually still going to be on one of those jets. When I finally opened it, my emotions got the best of me. I couldn't believe that he was actually coming home, that I would finally be able to talk with him again (we were a little limited while he was gone), and that I would be able to hug him anytime I wanted to!! Needless to say, I didn't sleep at all on Sunday night!!

On Monday afternoon, we all met up at the squadron to wait for the jets to arrive. There was food & drinks galore, and the pub (our meeting place) was filled with signs, streamers, balloons, and plenty of excited families. At around 2, we were all herded into the buses so that we could go out to the flight line to see the jets land. Getting to see 14 F-15's make their final approaches and land, right there in front of us, was something that I will never forget. It was absolutely amazing to see! Once they landed, we had to load back into the buses so that they could transfer us over to where the jets were lined up. When we pulled up, people couldn't get out of the bus fast enough!! We all tumbled out onto the flight line and anxiously waited for the canopies to open. My friend Wendy's husband, Jason, flew back with Chris & it was so fun to experience the excitement with her and her girls. It seemed to take forever, but FINALLY we were able to run to the jets to welcome back our heroes. My sweet friend, Amber, agreed to take some pictures of this great day for me. She was amazing, and really captured the emotions of the day, taking over 400 great shots! Enjoy a few of my favs below...

Wendy, Sydney, Me & Cara w/ our signs!

Jason & Chris were in the second plane from the top.

Finally!!

Sweet Kisses :)

Oh, I'm so happy!!

Chris, me, Wendy, Sydney, Jason & Cara in front of the jet.

Us, finally together again!

Yay for FALL!!

I am so excited that September is finally here!! I love the Fall, and I am so looking forward to another one in England! Summertime here just isn't very summery, and the Winter can get VERY bleak...BUT, Fall is absolutely perfect & I try to take full advantage :)

Okay...so, that's all I got!

Cheers!
Amy

A Blessed Occasion!!!

So, in case you haven't heard, we have a wonderful new addition to our family!! Yes, that's right, my little brother got married!! Wasn't it just yesterday that we were playing hide-n-go-seek around the neighborhood? Oh, how time flies!

I got to meet my awesome new Sis-in-Law while I was visiting Texas this summer, and I gotta tell you, I absolutely adore her. It was so fun getting to see them together, and witnessing the love that they share. She is such a beautiful, sweet, compassionate, Christ-filled woman, and I know that she is the perfect companion for Travis. Though I wish we could have spent more time getting to know each other, I am really looking forward to sharing life's adventures with her as my new sister. What a blessing she is!

Enjoy some pictures of their special day below...

This is my tearful mom when she saw Trav for the first time as a married man!!

The new Van Wig Clan...Peter, Stephanie, Travis, & my sweet Mama

Awww, I am so happy for you both!!!

Who says women can't change tires?!?!?!

Okay, so I admit...we had to have the help of a man, but hey, we were well on our way until we got to the part about removing the lug-nuts!! My friend Wendy had a car crisis yesterday (a super flat tire) and after much consideration, we decided that we could definitely change it ourselves! Another friend of ours, Holli, was over at her house, so we thought that (surely!!) we could combine our strength and get this thing done. We jacked up the car, figured out which tools to use (oh, this took some time!), and were well on our way to unlocking the wheel when we realized that sometimes "man strength" can really come in handy when you're in a pickle! Wendy ended up calling the squadron & they sent over a very new Lt. to help three ladies out. Oh, what he must have been thinking when he got that assignment!! Much to our amazement, he actually got all 5 lug-nuts off, and was proceeding to take off the tire when he realized that it was stuck. After about 15 minutes of tugging & pulling & pulling & tugging, he finally gave up and decided to ask the Car Care Center what our next option was. They gave him some very shady advice (which we reluctantly followed), but kicking the tire was actually the only thing that worked! So, after about three good kicks, off it popped! Getting the new tire on, and lowering the car back down was the easy part...I think I actually cheered! So, there ya go...who says that women can't change tires?!?!

When Chris heard that we all attempted to accomplish this seemingly easy feat, he promptly called to let me know that he would have paid money to see the fiasco! Oh, how I'll be glad when he gets home!! :)

PS~ Thanks Lt. Russell for totally coming to our rescue!!

WooHoo!!

After much time & a little bit of frustration, I have finally gotten my blog back to normal! And, the best part is that I did it myself (you will only truly understand my excitement if you are as computer-challenged as I am!!). So anyway, this is a very happy moment for me, and I just wanted to bask in it for a little while!!

Love to you all!!
Amy

Great Lyrics

One of my most favorite things about being back in Texas is that I can listen to Christian radio stations. We don't have them in England, and I haven't gotten around to downloading any songs on my iPod since Chris has been gone. I am in LOVE with KLTY here in Arlington because it's so nice to listen to music that you can sing along with & feel good about the lyrics. Have you ever been really jammin' away to a song and suddenly realized that the words that came out of your mouth were a little embarrassing? Hmmm, does that just happen to me?? Anyway, I have really enjoyed the Christian radio here, and wanted to share some lyrics of a great song that I heard recently...don't worry, I'll just write the chorus!!

Give me Your eyes for just one second,

Give me Your eyes so I can see,

Everything that I keep missing,

Give me Your love for humanity.

Give me Your arms for the broken hearted,

Ones that are far beyond my reach,

Give me Your heart for the once forgotten,

Give me Your eyes so I can see.

"Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath

Charleston, SC

After my fun trip to San Antonio w/ the cutest niece & nephew on the planet (I'm not biased, I swear!!), my mom took my brother's girlfriend, Stephanie, and I on a girls trip to Charleston, South Carolina. We stayed in the gorgeous French Quarter Inn which was right in the middle of the old downtown area. We would get up early in the mornings, eat a yummy breakfast on the terrace, and then head to the open-air market that was literally 5 steps from the front of the hotel. Charleston has some of the most amazing food I have ever had, and we definitely tried to sample it all!! We shopped on King Street, visited the Middleton Place Plantation, and took a great walking tour with the famous Ed Grimball. Ed was, by far, the greatest tour guide EVER! He said at the beginning of our tour that he hoped that we would all grow to be friends by the end, and I truly think that we did! He took us all over downtown Charleston. From the Battery, to Rainbow Row, and on down to the 4 corners intersection where all 4 divisions of law merge at one location. It was awesome!! Honestly, I was sad to leave that beautiful city. It definitely goes down on my list of best places in the US!! Here are some pictures of our trip!!