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!