Daniel called yesterday as I was "in town" shopping. If you know anything about where my parents live, you know they are out in the middle of almost nowhere. It's wonderfully beautiful and quiet, a great place to get peace and rest. But it's far removed from what my sisters and I jokingly refer to sometimes as "civilization". In reality, it's a 25 minute drive - to Wal-Mart. What more do you need?
 
     Anyway, I was in the Christian bookstore doing some research and my cell phone rang. When I looked down and saw Daniel's name there, my heart did this little flip-flop. Evie was holding Skyler and apparently Skyler had just passed off the mother lode in her diaper and Evie was trying disparately to get my attention. She got the hand. I answered the phone and nothing else mattered for those few minutes. Was this the way is would always be, I instantly wondered? Nothing else would matter at that moment that Daniel calls? So many questions I still have about living the military life.

     Daniel sounded extremely positive. In fact, I could tell he's lovin' it up there. I asked him how tough it was, and he was almost embarrassed to tell me that is wasn't nearly as challenging as he thought it would be. There were certain things they had to do, but it wasn't very challenging. He was somewhat disappointed. But excitement started seeping into his voice as he was telling me that he was wearing his officer's uniform for the first time that day, and that he had "watch" for the first time for a few hours later that evening. I guess they take turns sitting at some security desk at his part of the camp. He said there was supposed to be a meeting about the watch that night, but he found out about it inadvertently. So he was rushing around to find this meeting that was supposed to be happening and it wasn't until the meeting ended, that he found it. He walked in just as they were wrapping up - everyone there in their officer uniforms and he in his flip-flops and PT uniform. Whoops.

     He expected much more, physically, than he was getting. He thought there would be hours and hours and miles upon miles of running, lots of push-ups and pull-ups and other physically tortuous activities. He had been preparing as much as he could while he was at my parents house this summer. And although this is only the first week at school, he doesn't think it will get much harder. Then he started excitedly recounting seeing a group of officers, the ones that will actually be commanding troops, in training. They were taken to a huge sand pit full of pigeon poop, and were told to - well, screamed to do sit-ups while they were in their full gear and being sprayed down with a hose by their drill sergeant. THAT'S what he wants.

      There is also a lot of class time spent learning officer "do's" and "don't's" with plenty of memorization. So he's very busy! Continue to pray for him!