What you really want... pictures.

This past weekend, we had a beautiful Saturday. Those have been rarities around these parts, so we took full advantage, and tried to get ourselves out of the house as much as possible.

We started the day off with experiencing the monthly base flea market. What we found, was that really it was a huge garage sale that the Americans sell their baby items to the Portuguese. Big deal, apparently, there was a line to get in.

Before lunch, we also took Mas on his walk. We made it a long one since it was so nice out. He was pooped. While I made lunch, Brandon decided to take care of our little yard, since we are forced to. :)

Exhilarating. I know.

After, we drove to the other side of the island (which only takes 15 minutes) to Angra, the capital city, and went to Modelos. It is the Walmart/HEB of the island, but definitely not as big. They have everything from TVs and whole fish to spray paint and sweaters, but no full size mirrors. I wanted to take more pictures, but to avoid looking like a hug American tourist, I resisted.

Before returning home, we stopped in Praia to meet up with some friends for an afternoon meit de laite (latte). By the time, we got home, it was time to get ready for dinner with some friends that arrived the same day as us on the island and whom are also in our Portuguese class with us. We went to a place called Rooshas. I am not sure if that is spelled correctly, and I also do not know what it translates into. They served Portuguese food, obviously, which Brandon and I have found to be just okay. The fun part was they served their dishes in the clay tiles that they lay roofs with. We felt very Portuguese, we enjoyed dinner and conversation for 3 hours.

Of course, I cannot forget our son. This is what his weekend consisted of. Lots of sun bathing.

and there you have it. Happy Tuesday!

Job. Part 2.

Well remember when I said everything was falling into place, ya scratch that. I am kinda back to square 1 on my attempt to get a job.

Subbing. check. Still on board for that. Starting Monday.

Secretary at the Contracting Squadron. I was informed I did not get the position because I lacked Air Force work experience. Oh well.

Bank. Was all pumped for my interview, when a couple hours prior I receive a phone call saying they had made a mistake and my credit report came back not up to par enough for them to be able to offer me a position. After a lot of work and conversation, that I will not bore you with, I wrote a letter to justify why my credit is the way it is, and asking them to reconsider me as an applicant. The manager at the bank faxed that for me to headquarters, and I am still awaiting a response.

New part-time job. In the midst, of all the bank "drama", I received an email from the Assistant Education Secretary saying she got my name from a friend, and knew I was looking for a part-time job, lalalala. Basically, she would like me to work for her Mondays and Tuesdays and then any other time she needs off. For example, when she goes on vacation in May.

I am highly considering this one, I just want to make sure the bank is a definite no. Everything will hopefully be straightened out in a couple of says. I think I said that last time. ;)

Job

I blogged a little bit ago about my attempts at finding a part-time job, which you can find here. This week everything has been moving along and falling into place. I wanted to update everyone on the status.

I received an email at the beginning of the week from a Major in the Contracting Squadron. He wanted to know if I was still interested in a secretarial position I applied for weeks ago.

*Since there is so many people rotating through all the time, the normal process is to fill out an app. online which they basically keep in file for 90 days and call you if it so happens they need someone. If those 90 days go by without any response, you fill the app. out again!* So good news, I got a response! I went and spoke with him on Monday afternoon. Nothing out of the ordinary, simple conversation, not really an interview. It would be a full time position. He told me he would get back to me by the end of this week, hopefully. To say the least, I am grateful for the possible opportunity but less than thrilled about the position. I did a little bit of secretarial work while I was at Messina Hof, and found that it was not for me! We will see if I am offered the position when he gets back with me, but as of right now, it is looking like I don't feel that is where I need to be.

My background check is still processing with the school, and will be complete by next week. The secretary informed my I could "start" April 26th. She said they need subs daily, so we will see how often I get called and go in. I am going in next week to observe in the classrooms. This is not a mandatory requirement, but I feel it mandatory for myself so the kids don't eat me!!

Lastly, my interview with the bank is today at 1pm! I am really hoping for this one. This one would be part-time, so I would still be able to sub at the school.

In Brandon news, he finally got a hold of the Scout Master, and is the new Assistant Scout Master! They meet Monday evenings, there are about 12 boys as of now, and thats about all we know so far. He will have his first camp-out at the end of the month on the other side of the island. I plan to bake cookies!!

I have been slacking in the picture department, we will try to take more to share with everyone.

Genesis 47:13-27

So I stole this from another blog I came across. Is that allowed? Anyway, I did. Brandon and I read it and found it very accurate and actually really not that surprised by his analysis. What do you think?

This also fills the space for my lack of things to blog about. :)



Genesis 47:13-27
Recent Virginia Church Service- Stimulus Sermon
I would love to give the Pastor of this predominantly black church in Virginia a hug and a high five. This guy is obviously a leader.
Perhaps we should each decide who our real leader is.....It is amazing to see that very little has changed in 4,000 years.
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"Good morning, brothers and sisters; it's always a delight to see the pews crowded on Sunday morning, and so eager to get into God's Word. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will to the 47th chapter of Genesis, we'll begin our reading at verse 13, and go through verse 27. Brother Ray, would you stand and read that great passage for us? ".....(reading)...
"Thank you for that fine reading, Brother Ray. So we see that economic hard times fell upon Egypt, and the people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with this for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses that he had built. So the people brought their money to Pharaoh, like a great tax increase, and gave it all to him willingly in return for grain. And this went on until their money ran out, and they were hungry again. So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought their livestock - their cattle, their horses, their sheep, and their donkey - to barter for grain, and verse 17 says that only took them through the end of that year. But the famine wasn't over, was it? So the next year, the people came before Pharaoh and admitted they had nothing left, except their land and their own lives. 'There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh.' So they surrendered their homes, their land, and their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then sold themselves into slavery to him, in return for grain. What can we learn from this, brothers and sisters? That turning to the government instead of to God to be our provider in hard times only leads to slavery? Yes. That the only reason government wants to be our provider is to also become our master? Yes. But look how that passage ends, brothers and sisters! 'Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.' God provided for His people, just as He always has! They didn't end up giving all their possessions to government, no, it says they gained possessions!
But I also tell you a great truth today, and an ominous one. We see the same thing happening today - the government today wants to "share the wealth" once again, to take it from us and redistribute it back to us. It wants to take control of healthcare, just as it has taken control of education, and ration it back to us, and when government rations it, then government decides who gets it, and how much, and what kind. And if we go along with it, and do it willingly, then we will wind up no differently than the people of Egypt did four thousand years ago - as slaves to the government, and as slaves to our leaders.
What Mr. Obama's government is doing now is no different from what Pharaoh's government did then, and it will end the same. And a lot of people like to call Mr.Obama a "Messiah," don't they? Is he a Messiah? A savior? Didn't the Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made them his slaves, 'You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh'?
Well, I tell you this - I know the Messiah; the Messiah is a friend of mine; and Mr. OBAMA IS NO MESSIAH! No, brothers and sisters, if Mr. Obama is a character from the Bible, then he is Pharaoh.
Bow with me in prayer, if you will...Lord, You alone are worthy to be served, and we rely on You, and You alone. We confess that the government is not our deliverer, and never rightly will be. We read in the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, when Samuel warned the people of what a ruler would do, where it says 'And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day..' And Lord, we acknowledge that day has come. We cry out to You because of the ruler that we have chosen for ourselves as a nation. Lord, we pray for this nation. We pray for revival, and we pray for deliverance from those who would be our masters. Give us hearts to seek You and hands to serve You, and protect Your people from the atrocities of Pharaoh's government.
In God We Trust...

Daily Routines

Our life here on the island has slowly been progressing into a normal routine. I feel with the military you can never be into too normal of a routine, because things are always popping up and changing. However, you do the best you can, to avoid going crazy...

That be said here is what we have been up to:

B: Has been going to work Monday-Friday from 7:30a - 4:30p, like most others do. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays the whole base has mandatory PT (physical training) time. It actually starts at 7:00a, and lasts about an hour or so, those days he does not have to be in the office till 9:30a. He is looking into helping/assisting/volunteering, whatever you want to call it, with the Boy Scouts here on base. Option #2 is to help/assist/volunteer his time as a golf coach for his Communications Squadron. His office is awaiting their CDCs (training books) to come in to be able to certify him. In till then, he is unable to do certain things so he can completely focus on only the CDCs when they come in. Completing school is on the back burner until that time comes. Yet time is not being wasted, in the meantime, B is able to take CLEP test every week which test him out of specific college credits. He can easily get his associates degree completing these tests, which will roll right into a Bachelors degree. As well, he plans to apply to be part of the Honor Guard on base, again, only after those CDCs are complete.

me: While B is hard at work, I fill my time with cooking, cleaning, working out and playing with Mas. :) I have applied for a couple of federal jobs which I have heard no response. Apparently, I have heard there are only 74 jobs on base designated for spouses, and they are quite difficult to come by. I most recently applied to the Pentagon Federal Credit Union here on base, which I am praying has a positive outcome. My chances are looking good, I think, and I will hear from the manager to set up an interview before April 16th. Along with that, I submitted my 60 page application, YES 60 pages!!! to be a substitute teacher at the school on base. The application will take about a month to process, and then I will be set to go. Yup, I never would have thought, me = teacher, but hey life changes and you have to go with it. Once I do obtain a job, I have been looking in to going back to school online to get my MBA. Still completely haven't convinced myself that that is what I should be doing. :) In other news, I have been going to the church's women's bible study on Monday nights, along with zumba on Tuesday nights. Google it, I had to. As well, I am a key spouse for the Communications Squadron. I just got started with that so we will see what that entails.

Other than that, we take our daily Mason walks, grocery shopping Friday, and have been attending the base church every Sunday. Our Portuguese lessons started today, and will be from 11-12 every day for a month. All of our weekends, have been spent mainly inside due to lack of a car and non-stop sideways rain. However, on the sun-shiny days we have ventured out. We love drinking coffee here! Actually thats not an excuse we love to drink it in the US too.

And that is what we have been doing. We really have been enjoying our time here. Our car comes in this Thursday, so everyone get excited for that!!

Since this was a rather boring post I will leave y'all with Mas scratching his bum on a tree on one of his walks...