(Ash writes:)  Well, Christmas is quickly approaching.  Quicker than I expected.  This season means a lot of different things for a lot of people.  For some, it's about tradition and history.  For others, it's about family and memories.  For many, it's about the gift of a Savior.  All these things are important to me and Joshua this Christmas, and we are just happy to have each other.

 

Also . . . we have a new addition to the family.  Joshua and I thought it was time to welcome another member, so this past Saturday, we adopted Charlie from the Arizona Humane Society.  Charlie is a one-year-old Jack Russell Terrier whose previous owners did not have enough time to train him and give him the attention he requires.  When we picked him up, he had just arrived, and his info card said his name was TUTU.  Needless to say, we had to rename him.  Charlie is the perfect size for the apartment, quiet, cuddly, and friendly with people and cats.  Yes, dogs seem to be out of the "friendship" category for Charlie.  We have not seen him associate with may dogs, though, so we are hoping it is something that goes away soon.  He has made friends with one beautiful cat that roams around the new apartment complex with a collar on.  She's pretty friendly and, I've heard, likes dogs more than cats.  She seems to want to wrestle with Charlie everytime we go for a walk.  He has many nicknames already:  we call him Charlie Brown, Charlie Buckett (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Josh often calls him Charles when he's being very stern.  We've taken several pictures of our precious Charlie, and will be posting them as soon as possible.

 

Also, we have some excellent news regarding Josh's job!  Josh made Airman of the Year for his flight a couple of weeks ago, and just last week he was named Airman of the Year for the squadron!  Please keep him in your thoughts as this Wednesday, he will be standing before a board to compete for Airman of the Year, group.  If he wins again, Josh will move up to a board for the wing, and if he wins over that board, he will receive an "Outstanding Airman of the Year" ribbon.  Wish us luck!

 

I'm finished with school for about a month, which is a relief because work has really picked up and started to make my head spin with the Holiday shopping season upon us.  I acheived my goal of straight As, and although I haven't seen my official GPA yet, I'm still checking the mail every day, hoping my "report card" comes in.  Next semester, I'll be taking one less credit hour than this past semester, but I think the load will be a little heavier.  English, Math, Communications, Psychology . . . and one more, which I can't remember at the moment.  I'll be looking forward to the new classes as soon as the Christmas rush is over at work.  I haven't been handling the stress very well.

 

Speaking of which, it's about time for me to head off to work, so I've got to sign off here.  I want to thank everyone for giving me feedback on the discussion topic I posted.  It gave me a lot of "food for thought" to bring up in class the next day.  I'm sorry I didn't post anything further, but I figured we had had enough of the controversial topics for a while.  If anyone else has anything further to note, feel free to reply here.

 

So, until next time, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!