Wild Animal Safari

Dusty, Amy, Brandon, Maddie and myself went to the Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, GA. It was a BLAST!!! If you haven't been, you should go, whether you have small children or not. I know the four of us "grown ups" enjoyed it more than Maddie, who is 2! We rented a van, that would be the snazzy zebra 1992 Dodge Caravan with only bars for windows, and piled in with our cameras, 4 bags of animal food, and wet wipes, and boy was I glad the mom of the group thought to bring wet wipes. Thanks Amy! Dusty volunteered to drive and he was such a good sport about it. He had to drive really slow 1. because of the 5 mph speed limit, 2. there were animals everywhere that would just walk in front of the van and 3. we took endless pictures, which you can see below, sorry! The animals would stick their head through the bars and into the van to get us to feed them! And boy were they hungry! The animals we saw were: an American Alligator (sorry no pics of this- it was at the second part of the park which was a walkabout.); an American Black Bear (also at the walkabout); several American Buffaloes; several Blackbuck Antelopes; Black Mane Lion (caged); 2 Camels (also caged); a Liger (who, besides me and Amy, thought that Napoleon Dynamite made this up?? He didn't, it's real! Don't worry, he too was caged); Capuchin (a little monkey who was caged); Coati/Coatimundi (raccoon- like carnivore, also caged); Elks; Giraffe; several Grevy's Zebras; 3 Kangaroos (caged in the walkabout); Rhinoceros (caged); and lastly a couple Siberian Tigers (caged). Most of the animals were out running around and we could feed from our hands, but not the Zebra's and a couple others- they bite. They also had Cows, Longhorns, Deer, Pot-bellied Pigs and Piglets, Llamas, Emus, Baboon (caged in the walkabout). Funny story and probably the highlight of the trip if you ask everyone but me. I was feeding a Llama and Amy made a comment to be careful because they spit...yup...sure enough, the Llama spit his food out all over me! It went on my chest, neck, face, mouth, yup, pretty disgusting!!! Luckily, or unfortunately, no one was taking a picture at that moment so we have no documentation, but it really did happen. The last picture with me holding the pink t-shirt up that says "I Got Slobbered", that's from the Llama. We just had the best time!!! I recommend everyone going!!!

It's That Time of Year Again...

We have moved! Yes, you read that right. We are no longer in Savannah at Fort Stewart. We have moved to Fort Benning, GA (Columbus)...closer to both Dalton and Memphis! Dusty will start the Captains Career Course May 15. It lasts approximately 6 months. Yes you read that right too...we will only be in Columbus for 6 months before packing up and moving to Fort Bragg, North Carolina (Fayetteville).

I will be between Columbus and Savannah until the middle of June. I am finishing the school year up with my parapro job at the elementary school in Savannah and will visit on the weekends.

We house hunted a couple weeks ago in Columbus for about 5 hours and finally settled on the house we are in. We love it! Since being married, we have lived in a 15X8 in Summerland Key, FL; a duplex on post at Ft. Benning with Greg and James; another duplex on post at Ft. Leonard Wood (Missouri); a townhouse in Pooler, GA; and a 700 square foot apartment in Savannah for 4 months...so needless to say, we are ecstatic to have our OWN house, sharing NO walls with anyone, having our OWN backyard to run around in, throw the ball to the dogs (well just Paisley), sunbathe, and cook out. It has been great! I think we might be getting spoiled!

We moved in on Saturday and worked pretty hard moving in and setting things up with the help of about 4 other couples. I wanted to share the photos of the new house with you. We are really enjoying it!!!

We have already had company! My sister's husband, Beau Bray, and their 9 month old baby Branton, came for a quick visit Wednesday night to Thursday evening. While Beau went to the golf course Thursday morning for his golf lesson, Dusty and I put Branton in the stroller and went for a walk around the park near our house. It's so nice to be close to it. We walked about a mile, then let Branton swing and bounce on the little bouncer things (sorry, I cannot think of what they are really called). We shopped, ate BBQ, had frozen yogurt for dessert, and played in the backyard. We had a really nice visit with them.

Tomorrow, we are heading to the family beach house with Danny and Liz (Dusty's parents) for the weekend. I am currently on spring break and will go back to Savannah on Monday. Dusty starts work on Tuesday. Here are some pictures of the house and Branton. Hope they all fit! Enjoy!!!

Changes Already...

As you all have already read below, Dusty and I will be moving a lot in the next 2 years. We are looking forward to the new posts we'll be stationed at and the new friends we'll make. We learned that instead of going to Fort Carson, Colorado for our group assignment, instead we'll be going to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, about 45 minutes from Nashville, Tennessee. We are really looking forward to it; being close to family and friends is a definite plus. Just wanted to update everyone and let you know of the changes. Everything else stays the same, but instead of Carson it's Campbell. Thanks for all your love and support!

We have lots of exciting news to share with everyone! First off, Dusty made it through Special Forces Selection and Assessment and was selected to move forward in the training. This is a huge accomplishment and I am so proud of Dusty and always will be. He left on the 5th of February and tryouts/assessment/selection started on the 6th. He is now through and on his way home and I am anxious to hear more about it. All he said was "it was pretty crappy". So I can't wait to hear more about his adventure!

And so here is what the future looks like for us:

Sometime, don't really know when, in April/May/June time frame, we will be moving from Savannah to Fort Benning, GA (Columbus) for Captains Career Course. That will last about 6 months. From there we'll move to Fort Bragg, North Carolina (Fayetteville) for about 14 months. And then from there, we will move to our assigned location, which is, drum roll please.....

FORT CARSON, COLORADO

Dusty's language he'll be learning is Arabic and the geographical region he'll focus on is Europe, Africa and parts of the Middle East, including Iraq.

We are so excited about what God has planned for our lives. Thank you so much to everyone who supports, prays, and loves us. It means the world and we love you!!!

Wednesday, February 9, I had a job interview for a parapro position (in a kindergarten class) at Marshpoint Elementary School in Savannah. The interview went well and last Monday, the principle called and offered me the job. I said yes and am so excited! She said I would start immediately, so with me being in Dalton, I hopped in the car and came back to Savannah....and played the waiting game. A whole week has passed and I still haven't started. Saturday morning, I had to go to Savannah Tech and take the GA Work Ready Exam. After 2.5 hrs of testing, I received the Gold Certificate. I am hoping to start sometime this week. I am anxious to start working, being around children, using my degree, making money, having something to do, meeting new people, and so on. And the best thing is, Dusty has NO idea....I know he'll be surprised and proud. He will be home either Friday or Saturday of this week...WOO HOO! I'm ready for him to be home and get back to being together. When I hear about the outcome of SFAS (where Dusty has been for the past 2.5 weeks), I will be sure to let everyone know. After all, it is the answer to our future, especially the next 2-5 yrs of our lives. We'll see what God has in store for us. Thanks to everyone for your love and support!