Keeping up with the Joneses: Tornado Relief, Spring in MS, and UPT update

             As everyone has already heard, we had some really bad weather down here the last week in April (thats really no surprise). As a matter of fact, I think I may have jinxed us.. in my last blog I mentioned that we have yet to have a tornado warning but it was only Monday.. well two days later was when the big tornado outbreak occurred. I seriously believe God was watching out for us as we were surrounded by tornados and two EF-5 tornados. The one in Tuscaloosa and the one in Smithville, MS (which is just 45 min north of here) We had trees up-rooted here and lost power for about five hours, but compared to our neighboring communities, that was nothing. Ever since these tornados all you hear about is the Tuscaloosa victims and their damage, the media didn't really even pay attention to some of the smaller towns like Smithville, MS. My friend Jaime and I decided to take up donations on base and deliver them to the First Baptist Church in Amory. It was a HUGE success! My backseat and trunk were full of donations from spouses of the base! There are pictures at the bottom of the page just so you can see how full it was. It was an awesome thing that so many people donated and it felt so good to be able to go to Amory and drop them off. One thing I was not expecting to see was a list of 'missing people' still from the tornado. There were probably 13 people on that list, it made me so sad for these people and our neighboring communities and reminded me once more just how blessed we are.

          Despite all of the storms that occur, spring in Mississippi is beautiful! It's not great for allergy sufferers like Brenton and I, but we are getting used to it. The weather is gorgeous! It is actually starting to get hot though, lower to mid 90s all this upcoming week.. summer here we come! With the weather being so nice right now, we are trying to be outside as much as possible because once the hot weather gets here.. I really don't see myself suffering in the hot sun and humidity. Yesterday we went to the Market Street Festival down town. For those of you in KC, its very similar to Santa Cali Gon in Independence. It was a lot of fun but so hot! We stayed just long enough to get a funnel cake and sno cone and browse the booths a bit. After perusing the Market Street Festival we came home and planted flowers and veggies, now I admit I am not one who has ever liked to plant but the base housing office gave us a $25 voucher to a local nursery, I couldn't turn that down so decided to go with Jaime and we bought some pretty flowers! Surprisingly, it makes me happy and I think I might just be starting to care about flowers.

            Girls Night Out! This was the coolest event hosted by the Landings! (our housing office on base) All of the ladies that live on base were invited to a night of FREE pampering which included: manicures, pedicures, massages, facials, hair cuts/styles, and a glorious chocolate fountain with fresh fruit and marshmallows.. oh and there were sandwiches and chicken, but who cares about that when you have fresh pineapple, strawberries, and a chocolate fountain?! Yes, that night was pure bliss. I enjoyed myself very much, especially all of the chocolate covered strawberries! I think it is wonderful that the housing office does this as well as the businesses from Columbus that come in to do this. We are all hard working women and definitely deserve to be pampered once in a while! I don't know if anyone has told you but, its not easy being the wife of a student pilot :)

            Quick update with pilot training: Brenton is doing outstanding so far! He is almost done with academics and starts phase II which is flying on the 18th of this month! All of our days revolve around simulators/studying/and class right now. Saturdays and Sunday mornings are our times to spend together though. As I have said before, I am so excited for him and proud of him, I know he will be a great pilot! We still haven't decided what route to go though, we are on the fence of bombers and cargo. What ever he decides, I just hope its a good location! Although I did tell him earlier this week that no matter where we go, I think I will end up finding something I like about it. For example, take this place: Columbus AFB, MS. I cried and cried when I heard we were moving here, and now I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else but here for the time being. I guess its a good and positive way to look at it: no matter where we go, there will always be a new adventure and new experiences that await us!

Here are some pics of the donations