Since we found out we were going to be staying in AL another week we were free to enjoy last weekend before of moving!
One of David's good friends, Brandon, from JASOC invited us to join him at his home town in Columbia, SC. We drove there with him and had a great weekend meeting his parents and his fiancee! We had amazing home cooked food southern style!
Some of the great foods we enjoyed were... a pig picking right off the carcass, baked yellow squash, collard greens, and banana pudding! Yum yum!
We loved visiting Brandon's family and had a really great time with them. Thanks for having us, we really enjoyed SC.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Two weeks in AL.. my favorite part!
I have almost completed two full weeks in AL and two full weeks back with my man! Like I posted last week it was a bit slow for me. I pretty much did some job searching and waited in a line for my military ID for three days.
My favorite part of the week was the dinning out! Later in the afternoon on Thursday I hung out with two other wives I had met while we chatted and started to get ready for the dinner... you know I (don't) like to primp! We went to the dinner and it was another military function with rules and unique traditions that are so fun to learn. The service members refer to these dinners as The Mess. Technically a mess is a place where military personnel socialize, eat and live.
I believe there are twenty rules of the mess and they are posted for all to read. Some of the rules are, to great as many people as you can before the dinner starts, to tap your spoon on the table instead of clapping and one of the hardest, you may not us the lavatory unless the mess is dismissed!
The schedule of a dinning out (well the ONE I've attended) was mingling beforehand in the foyer, finding your seat and toasting certain special people such as the President of the US or the Queen of Australia. There is always a head table where the President of the mess sits and has a gravel and basically directs the dinner.
Once toasting is over the grog opens up. The grog is a mix of many different liquids.... placed in a toilet. Any person may stand and of course be called on by the President of the Mess and has to say a rhyme to call another service member to drink from the grog. This was very entertaining and we laughed a lot! Once the President has called the service member to the grog he/she must drink from the grog in front of everyone by toasting the mess by saying, "To the Mess!" and we would reply "Oh what a Mess!" Then they proceed to drink up and then hold the glass upside down and turn and salute the President.
One of David's buddies called him to the mess with this lovely rhyme.
Mr. President, Sir ... If I may interject.
And I mean this sincerely ... With all due respect.
I have a comment on offer ship ... About courage and conviction
And about why these two traits ... are to one of us here.. merely fiction.
You see....
There's among us a young JAGette ... whose shown absolutely no shame
In accepting... without protest ... the constant butchering... of his name.
It is to this individual ... this mouse among men
Whom I now introduce ... as one... David Blomgren.
There was General Lorenz, to begin with ... who though obviously quite keen
misread poor David's nameplate ... as one David Blumgreen.
To this David just smiled ... a nervous... sheepish grin
Letting the General repeat his error ... over... and over... and over.. and over again.
Next up was the DJAG ... who said the following.. without pardon
"Let's see your name is ... Oh, it's Daniel Bloom-garden!"
But the General caught his mistake ... saying, "Sorry, your name's harder than mine"
To which again David simply smiled, and said ... "No worries, sir, Bloom-Garden's just fine!"
Now in the grand scheme of things ... all this may seem no big deal
But Dave's actions were cowardly ... and our embarrassment quite real
We are proud, courageous airmen ... our color's Blue, it's not yellow
David doesn't fit in this mold ... his spine's made of jello.
And so it is. Mr. President ... that I ask you, as Top Dog
To make this "Whatever His Name Is" ... sip from that big... beautiful Grog.
As you can imagine we had a blast! I will post pictures some day, when we can hook up our camera once we are in CO. Can't wait to share that with you!
My favorite part of the week was the dinning out! Later in the afternoon on Thursday I hung out with two other wives I had met while we chatted and started to get ready for the dinner... you know I (don't) like to primp! We went to the dinner and it was another military function with rules and unique traditions that are so fun to learn. The service members refer to these dinners as The Mess. Technically a mess is a place where military personnel socialize, eat and live.
I believe there are twenty rules of the mess and they are posted for all to read. Some of the rules are, to great as many people as you can before the dinner starts, to tap your spoon on the table instead of clapping and one of the hardest, you may not us the lavatory unless the mess is dismissed!
The schedule of a dinning out (well the ONE I've attended) was mingling beforehand in the foyer, finding your seat and toasting certain special people such as the President of the US or the Queen of Australia. There is always a head table where the President of the mess sits and has a gravel and basically directs the dinner.
Once toasting is over the grog opens up. The grog is a mix of many different liquids.... placed in a toilet. Any person may stand and of course be called on by the President of the Mess and has to say a rhyme to call another service member to drink from the grog. This was very entertaining and we laughed a lot! Once the President has called the service member to the grog he/she must drink from the grog in front of everyone by toasting the mess by saying, "To the Mess!" and we would reply "Oh what a Mess!" Then they proceed to drink up and then hold the glass upside down and turn and salute the President.
One of David's buddies called him to the mess with this lovely rhyme.
Mr. President, Sir ... If I may interject.
And I mean this sincerely ... With all due respect.
I have a comment on offer ship ... About courage and conviction
And about why these two traits ... are to one of us here.. merely fiction.
You see....
There's among us a young JAGette ... whose shown absolutely no shame
In accepting... without protest ... the constant butchering... of his name.
It is to this individual ... this mouse among men
Whom I now introduce ... as one... David Blomgren.
There was General Lorenz, to begin with ... who though obviously quite keen
misread poor David's nameplate ... as one David Blumgreen.
To this David just smiled ... a nervous... sheepish grin
Letting the General repeat his error ... over... and over... and over.. and over again.
Next up was the DJAG ... who said the following.. without pardon
"Let's see your name is ... Oh, it's Daniel Bloom-garden!"
But the General caught his mistake ... saying, "Sorry, your name's harder than mine"
To which again David simply smiled, and said ... "No worries, sir, Bloom-Garden's just fine!"
Now in the grand scheme of things ... all this may seem no big deal
But Dave's actions were cowardly ... and our embarrassment quite real
We are proud, courageous airmen ... our color's Blue, it's not yellow
David doesn't fit in this mold ... his spine's made of jello.
And so it is. Mr. President ... that I ask you, as Top Dog
To make this "Whatever His Name Is" ... sip from that big... beautiful Grog.
As you can imagine we had a blast! I will post pictures some day, when we can hook up our camera once we are in CO. Can't wait to share that with you!
Tricia is free!
Just wanted to share with everyone how Tricia has gotten her new lungs and is now released from the hospital! God is so good!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Kelly's in town!
So many wonderful things have happened since our last real update! David was privileged enough to be sent to Washington, DC to meet some higher up JAG officers and meet his future boss. He has had his last lecture for JASOC and has been preparing for a mock court-martial trial which he will present all day tomorrow. He will graduate from JASOC on Friday afternoon and we will move him off of Maxwell and right into another hotel in downtown Montgomery. David found out last week that he has to stay in Alabama another week for part of the JAG program of continuing education. This is a great thing that they implement into the program for JAGs and it’s also very smart of them to send David straight from JASOC to this class to save the government money. The only downfall is we have to wait another week to get to CO! We can handle the wait though.
On Saturday afternoon David welcomed me to Montgomery with flowers in his hand! A little over a week ago I finished working at Ryder, said goodbyes to friends and family and packed up the rest of our stuff in MN. The last month was so much fun for me getting to catch up with Kim and closing out my life in MN and moving out of my parent’s house again! I’m so thankful to be here at Maxwell to start to understand David’s life in the AF. I definitely feel like I am visiting David at his college where no one knows me and they only know about me. It’s like I’m an outsider at this point because I don’t know anything military and I don’t know really any of David’s close friends. I am still positive that this will all come in time and I know once we get to CO things will change a lot since we will both basically be new. It’s really fun to catch up with David on life and his activities here. Yesterday I got to go to his church here and out to lunch with a group of his friends and then a group of us played volleyball! I am glad I brought a few books with because I am clearly stuck here with no ID card yet but I am not complaining! I am happy to do David’s laundry, clean his room, make his lunch, watch TV and read!
On Thursday night there is a dinning out (a formal dinner where civilians can come) to celebrate JASOC graduation. And Friday after graduation we are going to South Carolina with one of David’s friends to celebrate his engagement and to meet his fiancé! I’ll try to update next week at some point before we leave for CO but I’m not sure what internet access we will have. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting us in prayer and encouragement as we have been apart, those 13weeks are over and we can move on!
Please don’t send any more mail to Montgomery as we do not know if David will have a mail box next week. We do not have a mailing address yet because we have not found a place to live in CO, we will keep you updated! Thank you loved ones, we love you too!
On Saturday afternoon David welcomed me to Montgomery with flowers in his hand! A little over a week ago I finished working at Ryder, said goodbyes to friends and family and packed up the rest of our stuff in MN. The last month was so much fun for me getting to catch up with Kim and closing out my life in MN and moving out of my parent’s house again! I’m so thankful to be here at Maxwell to start to understand David’s life in the AF. I definitely feel like I am visiting David at his college where no one knows me and they only know about me. It’s like I’m an outsider at this point because I don’t know anything military and I don’t know really any of David’s close friends. I am still positive that this will all come in time and I know once we get to CO things will change a lot since we will both basically be new. It’s really fun to catch up with David on life and his activities here. Yesterday I got to go to his church here and out to lunch with a group of his friends and then a group of us played volleyball! I am glad I brought a few books with because I am clearly stuck here with no ID card yet but I am not complaining! I am happy to do David’s laundry, clean his room, make his lunch, watch TV and read!
On Thursday night there is a dinning out (a formal dinner where civilians can come) to celebrate JASOC graduation. And Friday after graduation we are going to South Carolina with one of David’s friends to celebrate his engagement and to meet his fiancé! I’ll try to update next week at some point before we leave for CO but I’m not sure what internet access we will have. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting us in prayer and encouragement as we have been apart, those 13weeks are over and we can move on!
Please don’t send any more mail to Montgomery as we do not know if David will have a mail box next week. We do not have a mailing address yet because we have not found a place to live in CO, we will keep you updated! Thank you loved ones, we love you too!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Meeting the Big Shots
Last week my JASOC Class went to DC. It was a great week of visiting memorials and meeting lots of fellow JAGs. We were able to see the AF Memorial, the Supreme Court, the Old Executive Office, and spent a whole day in the Pentagon. The best part about the week was being able to meet other JAGs and see the variety of different jobs and experiences there are out there. We also spent some time with the TJAG and DJAG (the #1 and #2 JAGs). Here are some pics from the trip:
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Kyleen's Married!
Yesterday my cousin Kyleen got married! Here are some pictures from the wedding in Duluth.
Kyleen & Seth (yes, the guys in the wedding wore camouflage vests!)
Dawn (MOB), Laura, me!
Kurt & Dawn (Father & Mother of the bride)
Dean, Noah, John & Kurt
Jessica, Shelby, Bride :-)Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Exciting!!!!!
Tricia -------> has gotten her second call for a set of lungs that hopefully match her body! Keep updated by clicking here on Nate's blog. Please be praying for Tricia as hopefully she will get these lungs and be able to breath again!
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