To Chase, Or Not To Chase The Wind...

Today I decided to revisit one of my favorite books of the Bible ~ Ecclesiastes. I was craving something particularly deep and hard hitting, and knew that Solomon's thoughts on the meaning of life wouldn't let me down. Sure enough, There were several verses in chapters 5 and 6 which really kind of spoke to where I am right now. Let's see if you can guess the theme by the end of the sequence, shall we?

"Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it." (5:12)

"People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich are always worrying and seldom get a good night's sleep." (5:12)

"People who live only for wealth come to the end of their lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day they were born." (5:15)

"And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life - that is indeed a gift from God." (5:19)

"Enjoy what you have instead of desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless; it's like chasing the wind." (6:9)

Yup - hopefully you were able to guess that I've been pondering the difference between earning money and feeling like you are spending your time doing something worthwhile. I realize it is quite possible to do both. However, I rarely enjoy myself when I'm working for money alone.

Now that my photography business is starting to take off, I've been told by several close friends that I'm severely under-charging for my work. "If you charge a lot of money, people will believe that you are worth it! It's all about confidence!" I realize that I am charging a lot less than most other photographers do, and will probably need to raise my prices in the coming months in order to make any kind of profit. However, I really, truly don't care about the money. I'm just happy to have people who want me to take their pictures! I also know myself, and fear that if the money really started to roll it I'd easily get sidetracked and focus more on that than I should. Money is so addicting, but it rarely makes me happy. James makes enough for both of us to live comfortably, and that's all we really need. I think it is more important for me to devote my time to serving and making others happy. That is one of the few things on this earth that is not "utterly meaningless like chasing the wind..."

Our First Visitor

This week has been exciting because our good friend Ren came down to visit for a couple of days. She drove down to Phoenix on Monday with a friend from nursing school, but spent the day with James and myself yesterday.

I met up with her at a cute cafe up north for lunch, where we enjoyed catching up over sandwiches and freshly made potato chips. Then I took her on a brief tour of the base. She enjoyed seeing all of the jets zooming over head. We couldn't take any pictures in front of the operational F-16s on the flight line (they kind of frown upon random people standing behind the barriers and aiming cameras at them.) But we did get a few in front of the Viper on display in the park at the center of the base.

After that, we went back to the house and had some fun watching our wedding video while waiting for James to get home from work. Then we all got dressed up and went out to dinner at In-N-Out. It was a ceremonial rite for James and Ren because they both grew up in California and would call and tease each other whenever one of them got a chance to eat there. But now, after years of this playful competition, they got to eat In-N-Out together! It was quite tasty.

After dinner, we went over to our friend Greg's house and hung out with Caleb, Jordan, and all of our other Del Rio AF friends. She got to know a lot of them during our wedding week and so it was a big reunion for all. The best part of the night was when Greg took us out on the lake behind his house in the pontoon boat his landlord lets him use. It was 9:30 at night, but all of the lights from the surrounding houses were enough to see by. Ren even got to drive for a while, which was fun. Greg lent her his black captain's hat just for the occasion.

It was a short visit, but definitely fun. Now we get to look forward to both of our families coming to visit in the next month! Hopefully we can come up with some more creative ways to use our time than just sitting around and talking. Sadly, the heat makes it hard to do much more than that... Here's hoping the temperature drops a bit in the next few weeks! (Unlikely, but we can dream.)

In His Hands...

Lately I've been telling you all about our exciting preparations for the start of our small group next week. For a long while, everything was working out perfectly and we were looking forward to having a large group of freshmen and sophomores to mentor in the coming months. We invited our co-leader Bill over for dinner a week ago and we spent a few hours making plans and putting together a vision for our study. As we said good night to Bill and started cleaning up, I was on cloud nine and couldn't wait to go out and conquer the world one young mind at a time!

It was right around this time that we hit a big snag in our exciting plans. You see, the next step in the process was to start calling all of the kids on the list we were given and invite them to our first meeting. I knew that it was unlikely that all of them would want to get involved. But I figured we could get 40-50% of them excited about it. To my great surprise and frustration, we didn't even manage to get one solid "yes" during the 40 phone calls we made. If anyone actually picked up, they always said that they were either going to another group with a leader they knew from last year, or were unsure of their plans for the school year and so they couldn't commit to anything. Of course, these are legitimate reasons, and we were glad to hear that a lot of people are at least going to go to a group. It just stung a bit to realize that no one was super excited about joining ours.

As usual, God decided to step in and remind me that it's not my plan, but His plan that is important. We may not have a mob of kids when we start out like we had hoped, but He will make sure the ones who need us will be there...and hopefully it will grow over the course of the year.

Already, He has started to demonstrate His provision. On Sunday morning we got to go up on stage during the youth service and introduce ourselves and announce where and when our small group will be taking place. While we were waiting for our turn to speak, I noticed a knot of freshman girls in the second row pointing up at us and whispering amongst themselves. One of them actually approached me that morning and said that she had received my voice mail but just hadn't gotten around to calling me back yet. Clearly, our message was received better than we thought. Just goes to show that even though we may not see the results when we reach out to someone, that doesn't mean that God's not working.

Another big blessing came in the form of an unexpected fourth leader being assigned to our group. Her name is Bethany and she's a bit older than I am, but very nice and personable. Apparently she had originally been on the team for a different group, but it was really far away from where she lives so Darius moved her at the last minute. At first we were all a bit taken back to have another leader thrust upon us without warning. But after talking to her, I realized that this would not be an inconvenience, but rather an answered prayer for us. You see, she is going to be around for the whole year, which means that James and I don't need to worry about what would happen if we had to move away half way through the spring semester. The kids will still have a male and a female leader that they know and trust to carry on after we're gone.

So now all of our bitter feelings and apprehension about next week are gone because we have been reassured that the success of our group is not dependent on our efforts or popularity. He's essentially saying: "If you build it, they will come." The framework is in place, and we know that each person who attends will be touched in some way. All we need to do is show up and do our best to love and support them in the process. The rest is in His hands.

Battling Boredom

For most people, Saturday is one of the best days of the week. However, James and I have found that Saturday is one of the hardest days for us, not because we are busy or stressed out, but because we cannot figure out how to use that time in a way that makes us both happy.

Since James works so hard during the week, Saturday is his one chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy doing nothing. He would be completely happy to spend the entire day on the couch, in his pj's, watching Sports Center. I, however, do nothing all week and so I view Saturday as a big opportunity to spend time together, get out of the house, and go do something fun.

Now, while James may not feel that same desire to go out and have adventures every weekend, he is almost always willing to humor me. (I have such a wonderful husband!) This would be the perfect recipe for an exciting young married life, except that we can never figure out what to do! You would think that two creative people living in one of the biggest cities in the country should never run out of things to do. But sadly, our boredom has gotten so bad recently that we actually spent a few hours last Saturday reading the phone book in search of affordable entertainment. (Oddly enough, we discovered that the act of reading the phone book is kind of amusing. There are some crazy listings in there!)

I don't know exactly what it is that has caused this massive mind-block, but here are a few of the contributing factors:

• Phoenix is a city that comes to life in the winter months. Most of its attractions have to do with being outdoors in the fabulous winter climate - which is very problematic for those who want to enjoy the city when it's 115* outside. The heat makes us feel a bit like caged animals who long to be outside but are constantly stuck in the house.
• Sure, there are a few indoor things that can be done out in the city, but they are so expensive! Sporting events and concerts cost a lot of money, going to see one movie at the local theater sets us back about $20 without snacks, and even the museums and cultural centers which used to serve as a good, cheap date option are prohibitively expensive. We live pretty comfortably on one budget, but we really can't afford to pay for entertainment on a regular basis.
• In general, James and I are not very good at spontaneously coming up with ideas for how to have fun. Somehow we both missed out on the "party planning" gene. I think we usually have the most fun when we are spending time with friends, but I have a hard time calling people up and inviting them to hang out with us unless I have something to offer in the way of a fun agenda. Call me crazy, but I can't bring myself to call someone up and say, "Let's hang out!" and have them reply saying, "Great! What do you want to do?" and answer them with, "I have no idea." I was taught that it's impolite to call your friends and invite yourself over to their house, and therein lies another problem...
• While I very much like our house, the truth is that it is not a party house. We just don't have most of those things that make it a great place to entertain, so I often hesitate to invite people over because I feel like they would know that's an invitation to do nothing more than sit on our couch. You see, we don't have a pool. We don't have a grill or any outdoor furniture so BBQs are out. Our TV is smaller than all of our friends' TV's so our place is not a logical viewing spot for sports events or movies. We do not have any video game systems or other cool party attractions to give our house an edge. All we've got is a few board games, which could be fun if we could ever actually convince people to come over for a game night. We talk about it a lot, but after a year of being married we have yet to even open most of our games. I know it sounds like I'm complaining but this is what we struggle with every week.
• Finally, James and I have hobbies that are only suited for one person. We love to read and write and James likes to draw while I enjoy craft projects. But we have yet to find something besides watching movies that we can do together...and right now I'm so beyond bored of sitting in front of the TV that that doesn't even appeal to me right now.

We've tried reading through every advice column or list that Google has to offer on the subject of entertainment and we still have no answers. So if you all have any suggestions, we would love to hear them because we are clearly in an upsetting rut.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

I apologize for not writing in so long. Things have finally begun to get busy around here and I have found it surprisingly difficult to sit down and collect my thoughts.

I really cannot believe how quickly time has flown! I looked at the calendar this morning and received a shock when I saw that we're already more than half way through July! =^O It is definitely true that time flies when you're having fun, and I am glad to say that after months of waiting and sitting around without much to do, we are both having a lot of fun.

First of all, James' training is going very well. He has taken to the F-16 like a duck to water and is really enjoying everything that he is learning. He did great on all of his basic flights, and is now moving into BFM, which basically means that he is learning how to dog fight in the jet. His instructors and commanders are very complimentary and seem impressed not only by his flying skills, but how quickly he is absorbing the massive amount of information that the pilots have to digest. Needless to say, I'm very proud of my high-flying hubby. O=^)

We are fortunate to be a part of such a great squadron. The Wild Ducks (or, as they prefer to call themselves, "The Mad Mallards from Hell") are a very old squadron and have a lot of class pride. Initially we were a little skeptical and thought it was odd that they rallied around this emblem that was clearly a rip off of Donald Duck. However, James recently found out that Walt Disney himself designed this patch back in the day! How many people can say that, eh? But the people are all really warm and welcoming, and already I've attended more squadron parties here than I ever did in Del Rio.

Last Tuesday night I went to my first "Lady Duck Coffee," which is a monthly event where all of the ladies get together to talk, eat, and build up our spouse support network. I sat by a couple of the girls from the new class, as well as a couple of IP wives who apparently just came here from Misawa and knew James' older brother Jon and his wife Claire. So far I have not detected any rivalry between the IP wives and student pilot wives, which is a big change from Laughlin. I really appreciate how encouraging all of the older ladies have been. Our commander's wife, Tracy, is incredible. She is a full time attorney, has two kids and one more on the way, but still manages to coordinate all of our events and personally answers every phone call or email we send her way.

While the squadron has a lot of official events, I want to really make an effort to spend personal time with some of the other young wives while we're here. I think Jordan and I are going to start up a weekly ladies Bible Study for anyone who is interested. It's been a big encouragement having her out here because I now feel like I have a good friend I can call up at any time. Friends make all the difference when it comes to surviving a move!

Speaking of Bible Studies, James and I attended a big meeting last Sunday night where we learned more about how our small groups will be structured and were assigned a specific age group and location. We will be leading a freshmen/sophomore group with another new youth mentor named Bill. I'll admit I was a little surprised that we didn't get to pick which age we want to work with, but clearly God wanted to give us a challenge. Not only will we be working with younger, less mature kids than we initially wanted to, but we have the largest group of all. Most of the other leaders have a potential list of 8-20 students that they are supposed to call and invite, but our list has 41 names on it! I think it's safe to say that we will be learning and growing A LOT in the coming months.

One fun thing I got to do at that kick-off meeting was take pictures of each youth mentor that will be printed in the August newsletter so parents can see who their kids will be meeting with this year. The pictures all turned out really well and I'm hoping that people will be impressed and potentially come to me for their future photography needs. Here are James' and my head shots (James took mine):

I think that's about all the news I've got here. Our small groups start up the second week of August, so until then I imagine not much will change. More of our friends have arrived from Del Rio so our social calendar will probably stay about as full as it's been this past week - which is GREAT! I am so thankful for all of the people and opportunities that God has blessed us with here in Phoenix, and know that I will be very sad to leave in the spring. (Although, it will be nice to go somewhere that is a bit less hot. It's been up around 115* the past few weeks!!)

4th of July Weekend

This was a special weekend indeed! First of all, James and I got to celebrate Independence Day together for the first time in our three and a half years together. Second, we were able to spend a lot of time with our friends Caleb and Jordan who just arrived in Phoenix late Thursday night. It's been great getting to help them out as they are starting the process of house hunting and figuring out how everything on base works. It's also just fun to have another great Christian couple to hang out with, now that they are married and all.

Friday night we took them out to dinner at In-N-Out Burger (a must considering Jordan had never been before. I'm glad to report that she loved it!!) Then we went back to our house and talked for several hours. We talked a lot about married life, church involvement and our hopes for the future. It was so refreshing to have a deep discussion like that after a long stint of minimal social interaction. Jordan said that she will definitely want to hang out a lot, and we may even start a small ladies Bible Study together which would be so much fun!

Saturday was very laid back. Caleb and Jordan had some more houses to see so James and I hung out at the house all afternoon, resting and lounging around. I think he enjoyed sleeping in and taking a well deserved break from studying. Then around 6:30 they came over and we all made a big American meal, complete with New York strip steaks, fresh corn on the cob, fruit, chips and salsa, and apple pie for dessert. It was quite tasty, if I do say so myself. =^)

Then, around 8:00 we took off for the big 4th of July celebration that was being held at the Goodyear Ballpark. Apparently they had free, live entertainment starting at 6:00 and going until the fireworks display at 9:35, but we figured we would just go for the best part. While we were there, we met up with one of the other couples from James' class. None of us had really gotten together since that first meet-and-greet bbq so I thought I would send out an email inviting people to meet us there if they didn't already have plans. It was very warm outside (still around 100*) by the time they turned out the stadium lights and started up the music, but I soon forgot my discomfort as the 25 minute display began. We all agreed that it was an impressive show and were glad we went.

The ballpark begins to fill up.

Us with Caleb and Jordan.

Look, the heat made my face match my shirt!

The grand finale begins!

This morning, Caleb and Jordan went to church with us. James and I were a bit nervous about their reaction since we had talked our church up all weekend, but they seemed to enjoy themselves. We're hoping that after visiting a few other local churches they will decide to come back and get involved at Palm Valley so we can all work together with the high schoolers. Jordan said on Friday night that she really wants to find somewhere to start volunteering with youth so I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it works out. But they need to be where they felt called so we'll just keep praying for now. ;^)

James's first F-16 solo flight!

It seems like James just started his training a couple of weeks ago, but today it was time for him to have his first solo flight in the F-16!! Just like it was for his T-6 and T-38 solos, I got to go out onto the flight line to take pictures of him getting ready to take off. It is kind of awkward working like this because I always feel like I am in the way, and the restrictions on where I can and cannot stand make it difficult to get the angles I want. But I think I got enough good shots to document everything that went on out there.

We had planned to have me arrive at the squadron just before 11:00 a.m. so I could "step" with him out to the jet. However, I got a phone call from him at 10:35 saying that they had moved everything up by 15 minutes and I needed to get there as soon as possible. I hadn't even finished getting dressed at that point, but luckily we live so close that I was able to make it there in time. One of the other guys in his class, Ryan Wilmes, met with me there, escorted me out, and kindly shouted over the jet noise every once in a while to explain what James was doing. It is always neat to get an idea of what my husband does for a living.

First James does a "walk around" where he thoroughly inspects the jet and makes sure that everything is in working order. Then he climbs up into the cockpit, and organizes all of his "pubs" (publications including the flight plan, maps, and check lists) before putting on his helmet. After that he talks on the radio to the crew chief and other ground control guys, and moves each part of the jet when they ask him to so they can see if all of the flaps are moving as they should. Finally, after he's completely fueled up and cleared for flight, they remove the blocks and guide him out from his spot under the sun shade. After that, he joins up with his flight lead (an instructor who is in a second jet and flies with him to watch his progress.) Then they taxi out to the runway for take off!

This whole process took at least 30 minutes, and although it hadn't yet reached 100* outside, it was blistering hot out on the pavement. After they turned on the engine, I definitely started to sweat and grow uncomfortable...and I was in a tank top and a thin, cotton skirt! I don't know how the pilots tolerate the heat in the layers and layers of fabric they have to wear every day. It will be nice to move somewhere a bit cooler after this.

For the sake of saving space, I've only posted a couple of photos of both James and myself on this blog. But to see all of the best pictures from the day, check out my official photography blog:

http://kzwentzelphotography.blogspot.com/