| I had a training/prep session for the Pilgrimage retreat this weekend at Camp Bethel, and Zach had Friday/Saturday off for MLK Day (he has to work tomorrow), so he drove up from Jacksonville, picked me up at Duke, and we roadtripped up to Martinsville together :) As I've said before, roadtrips with Zach are my absolute favorite. Once we hit the road, he put in a fun oldies mix CD that I made a long time ago and we sang our little hearts out. Needless to say, my stomach hurt from laughing so hard by the time we arrived in Virginia. |
Zach stayed at home for the weekend while I continued onto camp. Training was absolutely wonderful; it's amazing to see God working already. There are still LOTS of openings for anyone ages 18+ at the retreat. The ever-so-lovely David Jamison and Alison Stultz have already registered, and if that's not enough to convince you, the fact that you'll be spending the weekend here should:
Yeah, that's what I thought.
I woke up without an alarm at 6AM on Saturday morning (I've been doing that a lot lately!), so I bundled up & explored camp. After watching the sunrise by the Grandmother Oak and having a lovely discussion with the four cows (one of whom I think is pregnant, but I apologized in case she was just really fat...), I wandered over to the shaky bridge (which is not-so-shaky when it's frozen) and had some quiet time :)
After training, I went back to Zach's house for dinner and got to see his family's new puppy! They're not actually keeping it; they just got a puppy about six months ago that is already the size of a small horse. But this little cutie didn't have the best living conditions, so they rescued it and are looking for a nice home.
I should note that I've never had a dog, nor do I really like them (sorry), but she was just so tiny & precious & absolutely stole my heart. When she bends down to eat, her back paws lift up into the air because her head clearly weighs more. She's also an excellent cuddler & was simply adorable when she nestled herself into Zach's coat pocket. Gah!
We left his house & began the drive back to Durham. Since pre-deployment training begins in less than a month & everything will be full speed ahead once that starts, Zach and I discussed all the stuff that 21-year-olds should never have to discuss---such as power of attorney and wills and all the emergency "just-in-case" scenarios. We talked about taxes and insurance payments and whatnot. Then we finally got down to the lighter topics, such as cell phone deactivation.
Zach: I just call and tell them I'm going overseas for seven months and they'll temporarily suspend my account.Me: You mean ten months.Zach: No, I mean seven.Me: No, ten.Zach: No, seven.Me: Zach, you're deploying for ten months.Zach: They've decided not to extend us. We're deploying for seven... :)
Surprise!
OH. MY. GOODNESS. I started crying and laughing and shrieking all at the same time---I can't even explain what I sounded like. Typical Marine Corps deployments are seven months, but Zach's unit was supposed to extend and be in Afghanistan for ten. And let's be honest---the USMC can't make up its mind about anything and I fully expect the plans to be changed another 17 times between now and then. If it does end up getting changed back to ten months, I know we'll get through it just fine. But seven months sounds SO much better!
I woke up this morning and was honestly convinced the entire thing was a dream. All day long, I've been texting him "seven months?" and he keeps telling me "yes, for real!" I don't know when it's gonna sink in. Definitely not any time soon! He'll be back with plenty of time to see me graduate---eeek! God is so good and we are so blessed :)
This week is going to be rather uneventful & full of boring things like internship applications, so I'll definitely be using my formspring to generate blog topic ideas. Some people were having trouble with the page before---hopefully it works now! Although it's anonymous, I know everyone who has submitted up to this point because they all want me to talk about them. Haha---such wonderful family and friends I have :) Maybe if I choose your topic or question, I'll send you some cute/crafty Beffie creation...
