Holding tank headaches!

Sunset over St. Andrew's Bay from the cockpit of our 1976 Irwin 28 MkIV

Rachel piloting the Irwin through the Gulf swells - that's Panama City Beach off her right shoulder

Hannah asleep in the v-berth, Rachel asleep on the starboard settee, and A&E watching a movie on the port settee

Rachel and the kids at the drop-down table after night fell

In case you aren't aware, we decided that one sailboat wasn't enough so we spent some savings on a craigslist post for a 28' sloop just a couple up the miles from our home.  The boat is overall in great condition considering the price and the age (1976) but there were some maintenance things that needed to be taken care of and the toilet holding tank was at the top of the list.

The Irwin smelled even after a good airing out, new dehumidifier, clean carpets, and washed seat cushions.  All that remained to clean out was the flexible holding tank which more than likely held sewage from when the boat was first commissioned 34 years ago.  The problem is that you can't just dump that stuff overboard - you have to either find a dumping station at a marina or go three nautical miles offshore to be legal - guess which one I chose. . . 

So, we left at around 2 PM and returned by 8 PM and although we didn't sail a whole lot, we returned with an empty holding tank and some valuable experience.  See, the marine head on this boat has several "Y" valves which allows me to dump my toilet into either the holding tank or straight into the ocean or dump my holding tank into the ocean or a deck cap for dockside emptying.  It is complicated and messy so we've decided that the six hour jaunts just to legally empty our holding tank are not worth it.  We will be replacing the entire marine head system with a Thetford 155 Porta-potty with removable holding tank.  Yes, we'll have to empty it every time we are gone for more than a few hours but we can empty it into any toilet rather than specific dumping stations.

I hope it all works out!  I'm sick of telling my two year old, "no, you can't go potty".

Pictures!

Civil Engineering squadron, a few of them, at the Ball. David is standing next to his boss, Lt. Col. Gilpin
Two of my very sweet neighbors, Kim and Jen, and me.

My handsome, amazing husband (and me)!

Precious Sisters!

We can't leave out David's 33rd birthday. We had strawberry shortcake with ice cream.

David and Hannah on Sundae's bow one lovely September evening.

Bidding a Fond Farewell to mediocrealaska.com

A very much alive scorpion David found on the back patio--our first an only one so far!
A Great Egret breakfasting in our alligator pond

The first of many deer to walk through our backyard area. This one has a small rack, but I chose the worst picture to display it.

Well, all good things must come to an end. Remember when David changed the page to http://www.hoffssoul.com/ a little more than 6 months ago? That was because the something was going to happen to whoever the site provider was. Whatever it was happened, so now you will always have to go to the above address to read our blog. Not that anyone would want to read it lately! It has been way too boring! I apologize for not updating it in the last two months! We used to do a lot better!

One thing that happened was that we now get our internet through our phones--Droids. This is great except that we have to tether them to the computer and click a couple things on the phone and the laptop to get up and running. I haven't quite gotten used to the change, but am just about there!

Well, there's lots going on! Home educating our children is going well (most days!) and God is opening my eyes to how to teach the kids, what to teach the kids, and how to be more organized and do it all better all the time. Bread-making is going well! We'd been in a slump with loaves not turning out well--they were not fully cooked in the middle and had a hole in them--but the last batch turned out perfect! It turns out, I needed new yeast! We have all been healthy, praise the Lord! No colds or illnesses in the time we've been here. I am working on a time-consuming sewing project. Curtains for the living/family room! I have one out of six panels done for the 3 wonderful windows in this room. We are making friends and enjoying the beach and the sailboat! Also, the base and the base marina have quite a few activities to keep us busy, so that is always nice to hang out with neighbors and other sailors/boaters.

The Air Force celebrated its 63rd birthday last weekend. We participated in the festivities by attending the Air Force Ball that Tyndall hosted over in Panama City Beach, which is nearly an hour away. It was at a lovely beach resort and they were offering a discounted rate for rooms for the weekend, so we decided to take them up on their offer and see the PCB beaches and the resort pools. The gulf was crystal clear and the pool was perfect. Andrew even caught a tiny hermit crab, which we all played with and then let go back in the gulf. The kids had a great time and we did too.

I know a few months ago I said I would keep everyone posted about any bear sitings. Well, I've been terribly guilt-ridden over not reporting my most exciting encounter right away! The bad part is that I caught the bear on video, not photos, so, of course, it's too long of a video to put on the blog. I think I can put it on Facebook, though. I will try and you can see the big, black bear for yourself! The day after Labor Day I went on the back patio with some particularly potent blueberry pomegranate tea and I hadn't been there long when I heard crashing in the forest. I strained my eyes to see through the trees and bushes, but never could see the thing, though I listened to it for close to ten minutes. Then, it finally cautiously came out of its perfect camouflage, nose in the air, sniffing my tea, I assume. Did you know that bears can smell food from a mile away? Well, as he approached, I slowly placed my Bible over my tea cup, just in case he should get any ideas about climbing over my fence! He rooted around in the grass at the edge of the woods and then walked back towards the corner of my fence. I had decided I would get up and get the camera while he was at that corner which blocked us from one another's view due to the playset and a supporting column of the patio. He was moving too quick, though, because as soon as I had taken a step he was in view and looked right at me. He immediately turned around and walked away, but did not immediately go back into the woods. He walked around the fence to the alligator pond behind our house for awhile before going back in. I don't think it was afraid. It just very clearly did not want any kind of confrontation with a human. As prevalent as black bears have become in this area, there have been no reports, that I know of, of any bear attacks.

We welcome any comments or questions! We will do better keeping you updated on us and our life! God bless!

The Last Few Weeks...

David's family to support him being awarded the Bronze Star

Cole and Nathan Bergren back from DC to visit us

Rachel cleaning her dirty kitchen floors--what a difference!

All three sleeping as we drive from one family's home to another.

Elizabeth riding a dirt bike with her cousin Caleb

How have we spent our time? Packing, cleaning, painting, swimming, traveling and visiting friends and family. We've had a really blessed time. Thank you, Everyone, for making time to work us in to your busy lives! We enjoyed our time with all of you! Here are just a few pictures. I really regret not having a picture with every single one of you!

Tyndall AFB, Florida

Our three foot snake skin
The view from the back porch

Our new Home

Hello to one almost empty kitchen...

...good-bye to another.

Where do I begin? After three weeks of living out of suitcases, the day before we arrived we realized we'd be living out of them for two more. It has been a good experience to be sleeping on mattresses on the floor, having limited toys, and enjoying the wilderness of Tyndall AFB, FL. And by wilderness, I really do mean WILD! This morning, as I went out to our lovely screened-in back porch to enjoy the gorgeous, wild forest and pond that are behind our home, I looked down into the grass immediately outside the screen and there was a freshly sloughed snake skin wound through the grass blades. I carefully went out to get it (after putting tennis shoes and socks on!) before the ants devoured it. The ants around here are crazy! The other day, they devoured a wasp I killed in an hour. We saw deer out the front upstairs window this morning, along with a Great Egret. We have seen deer all of our six days here so far.
And the noise! All the bugs loudly buzz all day and into the night. And, not just bugs. At night, behind our house, we hear along with the bugs frogs and toads, a large group of some kind of wood duck or ground bird quacking madly, and then over it all, another unidentified (thus far) bird in the trees bugling/honking. Others around it answer for a little while and then all gets quiet except for a few bugs. Soon the whole symphony begins again, starting with more bugs, then frogs and toads, then the quacking then the bugling/honking.
I have failed to mention the enormous black widow spider that somehow got her body under our screen porch door sometime today and made a web in a corner behind a patio chair that we bought. That shook us a little, especially because I was making dinner and the kids were playing on the patio (in my sight) and Hannah is potty training and had just peed, and I hadn't bothered dressing her again quite yet. David found her hiding behind the chair, not more than a foot away from this 1.5 inch monster. The patio has virtually nothing on it and is very clean, so we're very puzzled why she chose that spot to make her nest. David squished her, we ate dinner, then he borrowed a lawn mower to mow the grass. We think the long grass is the root of the snake and the spider--along with the fact that we live 20 feet from the woods.
I also have not mentioned the gators or the bears, but we're still waiting to lay eyes on those! We'll let you know!

A Day for the Record Books

The record books of our life anyway! Days where you have to call Poison Control and take someone to the Emergency Room and they're not the same person, are days to remember!
David was pretty sick during the night and early this morning with a yucky stomach virus. Hannah knew David was sick, and instead of watching Disney while I talked with a nurse on the phone about David's condition, she decided to get Daddy some medicine.
Well, it all went south from there. The nurse firmly told me that I must get David to the ER and right after that I found Hannah on the kitchen counter in the medicine cabinet there where she had very carefully put 20 Beano tablets into a cup for liquid medicine. She told me, "I get medicine for Daddy," very matter-of-factly. I asked her if she ate any, and she said, "Yes." I asked her how many she ate, and she said, "Four, five." I looked in her mouth (we had not had any breakfast as of yet) and there was clearly Beano residue in her teeth. I counted out the 20 remaining tablets (of a 30-count bottle), and as I only had taken 4 or 5 myself, I determined that she had eaten at least 5 of them. Thankfully, Beano is not a toxic substance! Poison control just told me to keep her hydrated with water, tea, or Kool-Aid. I don't know about the tea and Kool-Aid, but I gave her as much water as she would take!
Back to David, we got him to the ER at 10am finally and picked him up about 1:30. In the meantime, we made a picnic to take to a park and got ice cream cones at Chick-fil-A. David got an IV of saline to rehydrate him and he began to feel more like himself.
THEN, just when we'd somewhat recovered from the events of the day, it was time to get ready to go out to dinner with some good friends! And, WE GOT TO RIDE IN A LIMO!!! Of the eight of us, David was the only one who had ever ridden in a limo. It was so much fun. We had sparkling grape juice. stopped for coffee, took about a million pictures, and drove through some beautiful places in Montgomery, learning some interesting history as well.
Thank you, Ruth, for organizing it all; and thank you, Angie and April, for being two of my biggest sources of strength in my many times of weakness. God is good and He has shown His goodness to David and me so vividly through His people being so like Him in their behavior toward us. I pray we can reflect this love and kindness to others when they have a need we can meet.

Belated Birthday gifts for Elizabeth.

Holding our new niece, Summer Elizabeth, David's brother John and his wife Melissa's baby.

Whew! Traveling Family

My mom, Pam, me and my sister Julia at the Resilient Women's Conference

Our little model, Hannah Joy

A trip on the train at the Montgomery Zoo

A great symbol of our great nation

The last 5 weeks have been full of a lot of miles. We've had two conferences (one women's with my mom and sister; one Home School), two RV trips with David's parents (one of which we are on right now) and a trip to FL to look at housing on Tyndall AFB. Yes, for anyone who does not already know, the Air Force will be moving us there in June. We are excited! We've also made extensive improvements to the outside of our Montgomery home. The impetus for these improvements was, ironically, a root from our crepe myrtle growing into our sewer pipe and causing a sewer back up in our house. David's time home has gone so quickly and we've been so busy! For about six weeks we had a date night once a week. We'd eat together and talk and go shopping for various items. One week we went and saw "How to Train Your Dragon," which we enjoyed a lot. We are currently on our way to Lynchburg, VA for David to graduate from Liberty University with his Master's degree in Christian Leadership. He's been working toward it for quite a while and steadily persevered while in Afghanistan also. All in all, it was really a blessing for our family, being that David was required to read such a large number of books on marriage and family and God's Word. We are so blessed! But, we are thankful that this season is over, as well!

Birds, Beaches and Big Girls

This morning, as I greeted the plumber in the front yard to inspect our drain for any more roots from our crepe myrtle, I was blessed to see a bird I have been wanting to see for 7-8 years. There was a lovely juvenile Cedar Waxwing eating some of the flowers off of our blossoming Bradford Pear in the freezing cold wind. I was amazed how it stayed in the tree munching and crunching away while the plumber, various children and I walked around on the ground under the tree for 10 minutes or so.

I was also blessed to see my dear children again today, as I do everyday. Believe me, those are not my first thoughts as I wake up every day; however, they are usually my thoughts once they're asleep in their beds. Hannah is pictured here just about to put her pants on all by herself. Elizabeth took the picture.

We went to the beach for a few days week before last and had a lovely time with our friends the Golarts who were kind enough to share their family's lovely beach home with us. The kids enjoyed playing in the water and sand even though it was a little on the cool side! One morning, Justin kindly came back to the house with Krispy Kreme doughnuts for everyone--yummy!

One of Andrew's three birthday cookies/cupcakes.

The "holey" grin!

David's brother Mike and wife Staci made this sign, which is being proudly posted at his parent's home.

Here we are on one of our "downtown" dates, this one at The House restaraunt.

Reunion at the airport.

I know you're all just dying to hear how we're doing...

...now that David is HOME!!! Well, we're doing very well, thank you! Thank you for all the prayers and support over the last 16 months! We are so thrilled to have been through the refining fire, and to have been purified through the process. That refinement has been evident in the last 3 weeks in so many countless ways.
We've kept quite busy! I think we felt a little bit wild and invincible. We've had a wonderful little getaway to dear downtown Montgomery while David's mom watched the kids, including one with the flu! We've gone to a concert, we've gone to a wedding and a birthday party; we've gone to Atlanta and had a new neice be born into the family, while reconnecting with both sides of our families. Andrew has lost a tooth and turned 7! That's just scratching the surface, really, of all the errands, trips to get pizza, cookies, and ice cream, and all of the home repairs, not to mention going back to work that we have done of late. Well, that last part is actually stuff that David has mostly done! Unfortunately, I fear the scale is seeing the result of my eating the pizza, cookies and ice cream, too!
Here are a few pictures of the last few joyful weeks!

Hooded Sweatshirt

Every once in a while, an article of clothing comes along that is of very little consequence at the time but ultimately becomes a cherished item.  That is the case with regards to a gray hooded sweatshirt that we bought at a small local dive in Northern Canada.  We were driving through the Yukon Territory on our way to Alaska when we stopped to stretch our legs at a small diner/gas station at one of many continental divides throughout North America.  The sweatshirt was hanging and seemed like a fitting purchase to remember our trip as it not only bore the embroidered logo of the place we had stopped but would also keep me a little warmer considering the more northern latitudes we were entering.  So, I bought the shirt, put it on and we went on our way.  That was the summer of 2003 and seven years later the sweatshirt is still keeping me warm and casual.

You may have seen the above picture in the slideshow on the right but there is really a lot more to the story that meets the eye.  Yes, I'm in the photo with Rachel (my wife) and I am wearing what I now call my "concert shirt" - the aforementioned sweatshirt.  From the picture you can tell that we were probably at a concert and we left with a few souvenirs.  This is all true.  What is not shown is that it is a Third Day concert - the first one ever in Fairbanks, AK and the second one ever in the entire state (the Anchorage show was two days earlier).  We bought front row tickets the minute they went on sale without knowing we would be hosting the band themselves for a base tour on the eve of the concert.  The tour went well and it was a real blessing to give back to a group of men who have given us so much.  The pick, drumstick and program with guitar chords to "Cry Out to Jesus" were tokens of appreciation from the band that we'll always cherish.

The sweatshirt has accompanied me to several other concerts including Jeremy Camp, Bebo Norman and the Music Boat.  I wish I could hear the stories of those days and nights from the sweatshirt firsthand - I imagine it would have a slightly different perspective.

In Him,

Bye Bye Afghanistan

It is almost surreal.  I feel the gravity of the last year may never really hit.  So much has happened that there is a distinct possibility that getting home will seem strangely like just another return after a busy day at work.  I have met umpteen-million Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Civilians and Afghans and been to so many places I never dreamed to visit that it may pass as a blur.  I hope it isn't.

I hope that I can truly rejoice being back with my family and friends.  I hope that my emotions are not too much in check that I can't respond like I should to my three small children who are bouncing off the walls awaiting my arrival or my freakin' amazing wife who gives me a refreshed perspective of a true hero.  They deserve everything of me and I hope to provide.

I left Afghanistan two days early thanks to a surprise C-17 that was not being tracked except by a few folks at KAIA.  Originally I was going to spend the night at KAIA, fly to another base, spend the night there, fly to Manas, spend several nights there, fly to the States, spend the night at our stateside destination and then finally fly to beautiful Montgomery.  Instead, I'll be arriving home two days early!  Praise the Lord. 

Manas is OK but it's really cold.  The bays where we sleep are huge and this morning several hundred Soldiers left, waking us up at about 4 AM.  And yet, I am thankful.

Snowed In!

Granted, Alabama's version of "snowed in" is a rather far stretch compared to most of the country's definition of that phrase! Still, we've resolved to do our excercising in creative ways at home and just enjoy the snow, fires and staying home. Let me just say two things about today before I close:

This is by far the wettest snow I have ever seen! It really hurt when Andrew threw a snowball at me, just because of the density of the water in it!

Secondly, as yummy as roasted marshmallows are, I have discovered that roasted strawberry marshmallows are even better!

Our little Life

Whew! I apologize for being so neglectful of posting! I know we've been boring you all to tears! It's been a rather busy four weeks or so! Lots of colds and illness and trips to the doctor for all four of us, for starters, has consumed a lot of our time. I think we are all better now. We've also been trying to be much more active and eat a lot healthier. As a result, I have lost 6 pounds, and Andrew had too much fiber and not enough water which resulted in stomach pain and a trip to the Urgent Care doctor's office! Go figure.

I continue to be blessed by our babysitter Dorothy, giving me a break on Thursday afternoons to shop, keep doctor appointments for myself and generally just have a little break from the daily routine. She loves the kids, they love her and I always come home to a very clean house! I love it!

Here are a few pictures of the last few weeks. Dorothy dressed Hannah up in the cowgirl outfit...though it is 3 sizes too big, she was too cute for words! And the SNOW! We awoke to the snow, in what is being called one of the biggest storm systems since the blizzard of '93. However, I'm pretty doubtful we'll really see more than 3 inches here. I know everyone from central Mississippi to Georgia and down to the panhandle are getting the snow. Enjoy it! I know we plan to after we do a little spelling and math! My poor children! They don't know that everybody else is out of school today and I make them do work! We have to miss, though, for various other doctors appts and trip to the grocery store, so it all evens out!

Enjoy the snow and your extended weekend!

Random Afghanistan Pictures

There is no doubt that one thing I will never forget from my 360 days in Afghanistan is the constant helo activity. These UH-60's (Blackhawks) are landing at a FOB on the other side of town and I have seen helos like this and many others landing and taking off day after day at my base as well and it never gets old!



Some Afghan National Army soldiers were playing cricket at the HLZ (helicopter landing zone) just prior to the Blackhawks' arrival.

We had a pretty mild winter this year which allowed some really great pictures with contrast. Here you can see the mountains immediately adjacent to my base with the King's Palace (Darul Aman Palace) in the foreground. You can also see that even in the winter Afghanistan is a very dusty place!

Dusty and dreary it may be, but occasionally a spray of color interrupts the typical Afghanistan picture. I am pretty sure two more balloons would have this guy in the air! Speaking of, congrats to "UP" for garnering a "Best Picture" Academy Award nomination!