Adrienne's Visit, Softball, and Pre-Deployment Preparations

Two weekends ago, Jordan went on a TDY back to Meridian, MS to pick up a jet that had maintenance done. He flew back on a commercial jet, and then flew the plane back to Mildenhall with his crew. They spent three days enjoying the conveniences of Wal-Mart, a shopping mall, and chain restaurants. He bought himself some Croc's to wear in the desert, and he came back with three new pairs of shoes for me! :) (One pair of Rainbow sandals to replace the ones Cooper ate) He also brought back multiple packs of Big League Chew, so that we were well-stocked for our softball tournament!

While Jordan was gone, our good friend Adrienne stopped through Mildenhall on her way home from her deployment. Adrienne went through pilot training with Jordan, and I was so happy to see her-even if it was only for an hour or two.

Brian, Adrienne, and me at the Galaxy Club on base.

Last weekend, we played in the regional softball tournament at RAF Fairford, an American base near Oxford. Surprisingly, our team played really well! We showed up to each game with mis-matched uniforms, most of us wearing shorts, appearing unprepared for the competition we faced. The other teams were pretty intimidating, all wearing long pants and fancy matching uniforms, carrying bats worth more than all of ours combined. Oh, and did I mention that we were the only team with women on the roster??

On Friday, our team did terrible in the preliminary games, which made us the number six (last place) seed in the tournament. Saturday morning, we lost our first game, and then battled back and won the second and third games. On Sunday, we won our first three games, which put us in the championships! Unfortunately, we lost the last game, but I am so proud that we were able to make it that far! We got second place medals and a trophy for our accomplishments.

Jordan was on fire at the plate the entire weekend. He was so great that I over heard a coach from another team tell the photographer, "keep your camera on this guy, he's a stud!" I couldn't agree more. :) I struggled through a couple of games, but then started trying to place the ball on different sides of the field. I got several RBI's, and was on base more times over the weekend than I had been on all season! I even had a close play at the plate, and slid home to score the winning run on our last game before the championships!! I couldn't have been more happy. We both came home from the weekend battered, bruised, scraped, and incredibly sore, but it was totally worth it.

Before our first game Sunday morning.

Watching the closing ceremony.

2nd Place!
Classic team picture.

This weekend Jordan and I are just enjoying each other's company. He leaves for his deployment next week, so we're trying to soak up as much "us" time as possible. Yesterday was a goal day for him, and I took the day off. We spent the day being productive by doing yard work, cleaning out our cars, doing laundry, sewing patches on his uniforms, etc. We had lunch at the Bell, and then went to dinner at our friends Daniel and Kirstie's house and played games until late last night.

Today, we had french toast and coffee out in the back garden. It looks like it is going to be another beautiful day. Cooper even got his own plate of scrambled eggs, which he gobbled up right away! We are getting ready to go to the BX to buy a new computer and a camera for Jordan to take to the desert with him. Somehow, we just don't think that his tattered old computer from the Academy is going to make it. We plan to chat via Skype, and I am hoping that he will take lots of pictures to show me what things are like over there. Tonight, we are planning on going out to dinner in Bury St. Edmunds, and then maybe watching a movie at home.

I'm not looking forward to Jordan being gone at all. I know I will do just fine on my own, but it can get kind of lonely here sometimes. My plan is to just keep busy as much as I can. Thankfully, my mom will be coming to visit a couple weeks after he leaves! She will be here for about a month, so I am really excited to have so much time to spend one-on-one with her.