Oh My Gosh

I am now grading papers for the two classes I am "facilitating". They are 5-7 pages long, each. And their are 35 of them! OH MY GOSH! I don't know if I will be teaching any more classes. This was my internship so I have to wait to find out if I "passed". I am looking at it as a break for a few weeks. Melanie arrives on Tuesday, so it will give me a chance to enjoy her company.

I have decided to become the alternate Sexual Assault Response Coordinator for the base. It is a volunteer gig, but something I think is important. I will have to get some training, but it is only one week. Hopefully my boss will be good with it as well.

I have been moved from the deployment cycle I was on. Now I will have to volunteer if I intend to deploy. I plan to do that, but I am going to wait until I am close to being done with my job as a Flight Commander. I will volunteer then. That will be at the year and a half to 2 year point so that will give me another 6 months or so on base before I start worrying about moving to another job on base. Who knows, I might try to get us moved to another base at that time. Or take a one year remote.

I finished up my second ACSC course last week. I was holding a low A going into the final. I have no idea how I did on the final. I probably won't know for a few weeks. I hate that part. I start my next class on Monday. It's a leadership course so I expect to enjoy it more. I don't care for the courses that focus on doctrine. I just don't get it a lot of the time.

My promotion ceremony is at the end of July. I think I have invited everyone and their dog who has any significance in my life. I was mostly hoping that family would be there, but it looks like it will just be Michelle. Dad is dependent on others to travel and I don't know that Aunt Anita will be able to make it. Sigh!

Derek is still not completely happy with his job, but he is coming up to the point where his 3 month trial period ends. We think he will go on to a permanent position, but until we get the official word we aren't going to count on it. There are times that I think that Derek would be happier staying home but that means the boys have to stay home and they really need to be with other kids. Plus, Derek's health really isn't up to caring for the boys. Perhaps when they are in school full-time it will something we can consider.

We had a crazy thunderstorm today. It kept knocking the power out and the rain was really heavy. It was awesome! It blew Derek's grill cover off and opened his smoker, so it was really windy! And now it's cooled off more than it has in a long time.

Thoughts

OK, I will get past it, but it's bothering me right now, at THIS minute, so I am going to write about it, becuase I can.

My two oldest have been hanging out with some very nice young ladies who live nearby. This was a good situation for everyone as it gave them friends to spend time with,e tc. However, something happened recently that has made the other girls parents feel that my girls (or our family) are a bad influence on them and we are causing them to not act as good Chirstian girls should. This was not said to Derek or I though, oh no, this was brought up in front of one of my girls. Yes, I am taking it with a grain of salt since I am hearing it second hand, but it syncs up with the vibes I have been getting from their family recently. My response is to tell the girls not to make any forward gestures. If the other girls want to spend time with them, AND their parents approve, then we will be alright, but other than that, I am NOT going to let my girls be hurt again. I am not sorry that they do not approve of how we are raising my children. I know my kids are good kids. Perhaps they are not perfect Christians. Perhaps they make mistakes, get mouthy, get in trouble, etc, but I expect that of two teenagers. In fact, I think they need that. They need to make some mistakes. They need to learn the hard way. They need to be allowed to do things on their own, without 100% adult supervision over every detail of their lives. Both girls felt like they were "bad" people because of what was said, which I DO NOT APPRECIATE! It's hard enough to be a teenager without adults making you feel bad becuase you are not "good enough" for them. This type of holier than thou, judgemental attitude is why Derek and I both have trouble going to church or finding a church we like. These people are not people we met through church, but they are devout in their beliefs. I have no problem with that, but I do not think I deserve to be judged or for my children to be judged. I am hurt and angry, both for myself and for my kids. Sadly, I think these people are hurting their own children by "protecting" them. They even said they were happy (originally) that their kids had girls their age to hang out with.