Hi to our friends and family!! And a big thanks to all those who read our blogs. So let me catch you up on what we did in July before we jump to August.
We started July off with a BANG...literally...fireworks! We spent July 4th at RAF Feltwell (a base about 10 miles from our base) celebrating America's independence. Lets just say.. we never thought we would spend 4th of July in England, the country that we won our independence from long ago. A bit ironic eh? For many years now RAF Feltwell, joined with RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, has opened its gates to the local Brits to come and join in the celebration. I was surprised to see how many British people came to see what this whole celebration was like. It was a big carnival with rides, cotton candy, funnel cakes, and fireworks! I couldn't stop thinking how ironic the whole situation was, but it was very encouraging to be able to share some of our culture with them after living in their culture for a year now.
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| The Red Arrows (British version of our Thunderbirds) |
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| Carsten about to ride a carnival ride |
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| That's Carsten, hanging upside down |
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| Funnel cake....YES PLEASE! |
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| Proud Americans! |
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| Great fireworks |
After our big 4th of July celebration, we didn't do much until later in the month. Carsten focused on finishing up his 3rd masters class. I attempted to stay busy with random things.
Towards the end of July we were more than blessed to fly out to Los Angeles, California to be a part of the NAACP (National Association of the Advancement of Colored People) convention. If you are scratching your head at this point with a confused look on your face….so are we. Carsten had been chosen as the winner for the Meritorious Service award for the entire Department of Defense for this specific association. He felt very honored to be a part of this event, but he didn’t know how honored until we got there. We sat at the head table with General Schwartz, the Chief of Staff of the United Stated Air Force. Talk about intimidating…my second banquet for an Air Force-related event and I’m once again sitting at the head table with very important people. Do people not understand that I would rather sit at a normal table where I don’t have to be scared the entire banquet!?! Hehe…we find it comical anyhow! I’m getting good at smiling and answering simple questions without stuttering when important people (high ranking officers, who have served in our military longer than I have been alive) address me or that’s what Carsten tells me. I basically pray hard before and during the ceremonies, and then I breathe after. So I mentioned that Carsten didn’t know how honored he would feel until after…well that is because he was the co-winner of the award with a Brigadier General (1-star general). Not only that…Carsten is the lowest ranking officer to ever receive this award. No officer below the rank of Colonel has received this award. WOW!!! Carsten was completely humbled to the point of thinking they must have made a mistake. I simply tell him that God chose him for this very moment! I completely believe this after attending the banquet. After Carsten received the award, he gave an inspiring and convicting speech. Inside I was praying while thinking PREACH IT!! I am so proud of him! He used scripture throughout the speech and many approached him after thanking him for the words he shared (God shared through him!). Our prayer is that at least one person in that room heard about God or found Jesus that day. That would be a reward worth more than anything else!
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| Carsten and me with General Schwartz |
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| Carsten receiving his award |
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| The award! |
During our time in LA we were able to sneak in a few special moments with some friends and family in between the convention. We fought jetlag our first day back in the states by going to Disneyland with my life long friend Reba and her fiancé. We made a quick surprise trip down to Lancaster to surprise my friends and family at church. Then we were able to catch dinner and dessert with my favorite Baker family!!! My mom came down to LA to spend a day with me, which was very much needed after sitting in the hotel all week. It was definitely a quick trip because the next thing we knew we were back on a plane headed to…..
NEBRASKA!!!
For the sake of my sanity...and the monstrosity that our trip was...I will share about our Nebraska, Colorado, and 2nd California trip in our August blog. Stay tuned...I am going to go rest my eyes and my brain!
We love you all!! Thanks for reading about Part 1 of our summer adventures!
God Bless you all,
The Stahrs
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