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holdingdownthefort
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Interests: reading on a patch of lawn under a tree in front of my hotel (yes, I get funny looks), writing (creatively, when I am not lazy), fishing (when I can borrow a fishing pole), theology, learning to love the Army (even when I don't), learning to love people well (especially when I don't)
Expertise: none (yet) - as long as my rank is a gold bar I am happy to claim I am an expert at nothing.
Occupation: Military
Message: message me
Member Since:
10/17/2004
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| Happy wheaton reunion story... I'm home for 10 days on leave from Alaska, back in Buffalo, amazed that it actually gets dark in some places in the world in the Summer, and I go back to my church's College and Career group. We like to call it Remnant. I walked in a little late because I was exhausted and needed a 10 minute nap, so I experienced the awkward "they're all singing already, don't make eye contact, just find a place against the wall out of the way". I see this guy who looks really familiar but I can't place him, I figure he's one of the guys that I've seen at church but was a couple years behind me so I never really got to know him - it's been a while since I've been there, maybe he just started coming. Get to the end of Remnant and I'm looking at the new (to me) pictures on the wall and he says "Hey, are you Inga? Did you go to Wheaton?" Yeah "I went to Wheaton too" No way! So that's where I recognize you from!
Pretty crazy - Mark Coddington. Don't think we ever really met at Wheaton, but he was on my brother floor sophomore year. And I was that blond girl in ROTC. (I feel like the whole school knew me as "that blond girl in ROTC" - not that the whole school knew me...)
It's amazing how you can run into a wheaton person who you never actually talked to at school (and with whom probably woudn't have been able to carry on a 2 sentence conversation), and talk for a half hour like you were friends all four years. There's something crazy about Wheaties... I like it. We had a good talk about our mutual affection for Dr. Shaffer - known to him as Clint the Record Advisor, known to me as Herr Shaffer the German professor.
Peace. | | |
| So I'm finally catching up on everyone's postings pretty much since the snow melted. Sooner for some than others. I miss you, my fellow Wheaties, dearly. We have recently added one to the growing group of Wheaties here in Alaska. Caleb, the Curlin variety. He's been crashing at my house for... a couple weeks now, waiting on his furniture and closing on his house. Shortly after he moved in, I adopted one of the girls I work with, and then there was the wisdom teeth pulling day for her and another friend... so I have a full house. Some days a few more, some days a few less. Community is good, but. I'm learning (slowly) to set boundaries. I love sharing my house. I don't love being up late every night of the week because my dear housemates are watching a movie. We're working through it. And things will change in a couple weeks when we all take some leave and go home to the lower 48. The rest of the US. I'm excited. I hate to leave Alaska in the most beautiful season, but I need to be home for a little while. I need to be reminded of where I'm from, and maybe a little of who I am, and who I'm called to become.
Visited my sister in Talkeetna last weekend. Lord it was good to see her. And talk. And say things that I can't tell anyone else because she's my sister and will love me anyways. She'll also tell me I'm full of crap when I am. These are good (and offensive) qualities in a sister.
I'm ready for some solitude. Like Solo on Highroad. Give me a lake, some trees, some strong bug-juice, my Bible and a journal. And let me write. Let me finally process the drama that has been the past few months. But mostly, I think I would just sleep.
Peace.
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| Hi. Finding time to write. I almost jumped from an airplane yesterday. Winds were too strong, so we just flew around for 2 hours and landed. More of my unit is jumping tonight. Pretty much right this minute. Praying for safety and gentle breezes. And soft landings. Part of me wishes I was with them. The other part knows that throwing oneself from a moving aircraft is just not smart and I'm not going to volunteer when I don't have to. (Is that bad leadership?)
We are back to 12 hours of daylight! I left work to the beginning of a beautiful sunset... about 6:30pm. My dad is in town - sort of. Bouncing between my house (and, sadly, not seeing me very much), and my uncle's. Having him here has reminded me how much I missed him.
Two weeks in the field turned out to be a blessing. Fell in love with my unit all over again. It was nice to have an excuse to spend time and get to know people. Even if it meant sacrificing daily showers and a mattress. Discovered that I work with some amazing people, and some pretty dumb people. For now, the good outnumber the bad, but the bad make life suck for the good ones.
I think mostly it was good for me to be around people 24/7 for a while. If I wasn't so busy with work, I think I would be bored and incredibly lonely. I miss church... the downfall of being out in the field with a 7th Day Adventist chaplain. I didn't even try chapel. Maybe I should have. I'm a little sad that Ash Wednesday happened in the field... I feel like I've missed a significant season-marking day for the church.
Looking forward to next weekend... and a chance to breathe. 10 days to go.
Peace. | | |
| I feel like i live in 8 different worlds. I am blessed to have almost that many places to call home. But this also leaves me a little restless in each of them. Mostly I want to pause. I want to write. I want to pray. I want to live intentionally.
I want a sabbath. I want to be rested enough that I can wake up while it is still morning. I want my life to take up a rhythm that I can sustain. I want a habitual quiet time.
I want to be part of a church - even if their doctrine isn't theologically perfect. I want to believe that I have time to invest in a church - or at least that God will provide it if I commit.
I'm amazed that a song I haven't heard in years can come back... sara groves, painting pictures of egypt:
I don’t want to leave here \ I don’t want to stay \ It feels like pinching to me either way \ The places I long for the most \ Are the places where I’ve been \ They are calling after me like a long lost friend
It’s not about losing faith \ It’s not about trust \ It’s all about comfortable \ When you move so much \ The place I was wasn’t perfect \ But I had found a way to live \ It wasn’t milk or honey \But then neither is this
\\ I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt \ Leaving out what it lacked \ The future seems so hard \ And I want to go back \ But the places that used to fit me \ Cannot hold the things I've learned \ And those roads closed off to me \ While my back was turned \\
The past is so tangible \ I know it by heart \ Familiar things are never easy to discard \ I was dying for some freedom \ But now I hesitate to go \ Caught between the promise \ And the things I know
I'm ready to live in one place for a while.
In the meantime... I will try to remember that the season is rooted in the incarnation, and in that, the Gospel. Time to ponder anew, and somehow let it restore order to this messy life of mine...
merry christmas.
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| I'm here! In Alaska. It was dark when I got here, it is currently 9am and still dark. I'm sensing a trend.
Alaska, once again, has confirmed itself to be the most beautiful place in the world. Where else can you go to find every tree perfectly frosted with snow? Not to mention the original artwork that is everywhere.
Also, it is cold here. Teens and single digits. But somehow less miserable than Chicago's wind. Maybe I judge too soon.
The people are kind here. Like southern hospitality gone wild. I like it here.
Apparently "ring by spring" has also gone wild up here. I'm on post, getting the pass for my car, talking to a cop who has six kids about not getting any sleep, when he askes me if I came alone. Um, yes... but I have friends arriving Wednesday... also in my unit. "Are you married?" (Oh! I get it.) No, I'm single. "Well, you won't be for long."
It confirms what Don and Audrey (members of my small group in Glen Ellyn) were telling me before I left... Wheaton was only a warm up.
I get to meet my new house today! Very excited.
Peace. | | |
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