Following God and a Marine

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

rěd'něk'

Redneck - a derogatory slang term to refer to poor white Southern farmers in the United States.^[1] It is similar in meaning to Cracker (especially in Georgia), Hillbilly (especially in Appalachia) and White trash(especially among blacks).

It might be just be me out here, but why would anyone want to be termed as a "Redneck". There are so many people out here that endear that term and hold it with pride. I will forever be baffled. If you want to get in on some of the redneck atmosphere, please visit us at your convenience. I would like to say that you would agree it is definitely a derogatory term that should not be revered.

Before I post pictures, let me just say that we passed a church that was called "Big Bottom Missionary Baptist Church" and did not stop in. Somehow the name said a lot...

Here are some pictures to wet your appetite for your future visit to Virginia

This picture should say it all...

Horseshoes, redneck style.

I give this family kudos for being creative. Notice the gut pile! :)

Way to incorporate that into your churches sign statement.

Can't believe this one...

Redneck special forces. No, Paul has not trained with these guys yet. :)

Redneck haircut

I am really not surprised with this one...

And the worst one...

This is sick and wrong on so many levels. Nascar...

Now you get a feel for our "neck" of the woods!!

Friday, February 12, 2010

My life in a Snowpocalypse, Snowmegaddon, Snownami, Flurricane...

Paul and I have officially survived the Blizzard of 2009 and now what many are calling Snowpocalypse here in Virginia. We live about thirty miles south of Washington DC and they were the eye of the storm these last couple of storms. To put into perspective the magnitude of the Flurricane, Virginia's annual average snowfall is 15". This season we have received...drumroll please....

54.9 Inches!

This is a new all time record for the DC area! Within just two weeks we have received 3 storms that dumped around three feet of snow between them. In ten days of school, they declared Snow Days for nine of them at Spotsylvania High School. Even Paul was given time off Monday through Thursday because the base was completely buried. You see, for a place that averages 15" a year, they really aren't prepared for snow in large quantities. Washington DC, Schools, Businesses, and Governmental agencies in the area were closed. People were told to stay indoors and not drive - so that is what we did!! At one point we lost power and ate PB&J sandwiches by candlelight all bundled up! Fortunately, we were not one of the people who lost power for days as it was only eight hours. What a snowstorm to remember!

Here are a few pictures from last Sunday after the first storm. I never got any Wednesday after our third and final bash.

Outside of our apartment complex.

This is the sidewalk - notice the guard rails barely sticking up on the left.

Our Honda Fit in the snow - hard to believe another foot flew after this!

From the back of the Honda Fit

Paul scooping out the Saturn - good thing we had our shovel from Utah, they sold out in VA!

Little Lucy enjoying the snow!

Retrieving her play toy in the snow - she was bounding like a deer! Love her ears in this pic!

Finally enjoying some sun and a break in the flurries!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Snow Days!

It snowed here from 3 AM Saturday morning to 3 AM Sunday morning and left about six to eight inches of snow here in Stafford. I awoke Monday at the usual time and was heading out the door at 6 am when I thought I better check the school website to make sure we didn't have a delayed opening with all the weekend flurries. Good thing I did! We had a snow day! So I had a day to get a much needed deep cleaning of the house and more work done on my Graduate School Admission letter (did I mention that is really hard to write?). After getting some things accomplished, Lucy and I headed over to Paul's Aunt and Uncle's house in Fredericksburg.

Here are a couple pictures of how we enjoyed our snow day...

Pretty nice snow bear if I do say so myself! :D

Oh! I forgot to say that today we have another snow day!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

One of those days...

I started student teaching last week and have found it rather exhausting! Every morning I am up before 5:30 just so I can get out the door in time to drive forty five minutes to Spotsylvania High School. I find myself thinking about my lessons, activities, and students constantly and all at the most random times. When I wake up, in the shower, when I am driving (which is a lot), before I go to bed, when I lie awake at night, etc.

So yesterday on my way to class, I was drinking my breakfast shake made from our Magic Bullet at home. I got all the way to the bottom of the glass when I realized the reason it was so hard to get through the straw was because the rubber gasket got sucked into the blade and chopped up into my drink. I know this because there was a half inch section that didn’t get fully mutilated right next to the strawberry at the bottom. Hope rubber gets out okay!

I taught my classes and then stayed for their eighth grade recruitment night until 8:00 pm. We had a table set up with some displays of class work and what we do within our classes trying to encourage them to enroll. Lucy even was on exhibit and, if I do say so myself, was the crowd pleaser. It made for a long day and those of you who know me understand that I get frequent migraines – yesterday was one of those days… I got home and gave Lucy a bath and have to admit I went to bed – yes, it was 9:30 but I went to bed! Paul made it home a little after 10 pm and he pretty much crashed as soon as he got home too.

This morning I awoke at my lovely 5:30 and still with a migraine. I drove to school thinking once again about my classes for today and how to connect certain students to the material. I was just thinking away, and came up with a good idea, when all of a sudden I look up and see that I JUST missed my exit. For those of you who know about VA, you know that to travel anywhere you have to take the Interstate and then take a highway to your destination. Not at all like the west coast! The next exit was 8 miles away and there was no way that I could take that exit and back track to the school – even my GPS in the car said so! So that cost me 16 miles of unwanted driving this morning and made me just a little late (not for my class, just for the teacher contract time).

Yes, I cried and then I realized that I needed to slow down. These last few weeks have been so hectic and I haven’t had the best relationship with my savior. I am not saying that God gave me one of those days just to make me stop and realize that I was forgetting about Him (I don’t know His plans), but it definitely made slow down and think about what other things I need to be thinking about.