About Me
- Jeff and Karen Doherty
- We were married in September 2005. We're best friends, and we love traveling and exploring new places. We like sci-fi movies and watching the history channel. Our little boy was born February 1, 2010. He is named Jeff Jr. or JJ. Our daughter Moira was born July 28, 2011. We have a cat named Munchkin. Jeff is a career military officer, and Karen works for a family services program for the Army. We live in Monterey, California. We are making this blog for our family and friends who we miss and want to share our life with.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
The yard is finished!
YAY! We got the backyard done this weekend, and it looks so pretty. We've been looking out the window every once in a while to admire it!! I have to say, we do have the nicest yard in our little neighborhood. I think part of the reason is that we don't have every toy our non-existent kids own thrown around the yard... ooops, I guess I shouldn't have said that. We are also going to buy some goldfish to put into the pond.
Karen is taking the Army Family Team Building II classes this week, and she also teaching a class on Adapting to Change. Last week she went to the Master Trainer class for Army Family Team Building. Army Family Team Building is a program that was initiated after the first Gulf War as a way of empowering the spouses that were left behind. Our husbands do and learn a lot of things they don't tell us, or have forgotten in all the time they have been in. These classes are designed to fill in the blanks and to give us things to ask our husbands about.
The first of these classes teaches about rank structure, paycheck, basic benefits and entitlements and other general information. The second classes talks more about change, family readiness groups, time management and financial planning. After the first class, one of the employees of the Army Community Service team asked Karen if she would like to volunteer by teaching classes. Karen took one of the training classes last week, and in April, the Department of Defense is going to send her for a week of training in St. Louis to become an Army Family Team Building Master Trainer. I am looking forward to this!
Last week, Karen also applied for a Spanish Professor position at the Defense Language Institute. It will take about a month to find out if she has an interview. They are going to hire several language teachers because they are going to build up the Spanish school again. If selected, they will pay for her to get a Master's Degree in Spanish!!!
Jeff's Arabic test did not go so well last week. Apparently, even though the class is in Chapter 3 in their books, they have been given the quantity of vocabulary and grammar that is the same as Chapter 5, in half the time that was allotted for chapter 3. (I hope that explanation made sense.) And, instead of being tested at the end of each chapter, the teachers tested them on Chapters 1 - 3 all at once. Jeff's class is a new test group to get the soldiers through Arabic faster. Well, this didn't work so well, all but few failed, and the ones who passed, barely passed. So, they are taking an extra 3 weeks to review the information and are being tested again on Chapters 1 - 3 after that. We are both greatly relieved!!!
We miss all of you and hope everything is going well!
Love,
Karen and Jeff
Karen is taking the Army Family Team Building II classes this week, and she also teaching a class on Adapting to Change. Last week she went to the Master Trainer class for Army Family Team Building. Army Family Team Building is a program that was initiated after the first Gulf War as a way of empowering the spouses that were left behind. Our husbands do and learn a lot of things they don't tell us, or have forgotten in all the time they have been in. These classes are designed to fill in the blanks and to give us things to ask our husbands about.
The first of these classes teaches about rank structure, paycheck, basic benefits and entitlements and other general information. The second classes talks more about change, family readiness groups, time management and financial planning. After the first class, one of the employees of the Army Community Service team asked Karen if she would like to volunteer by teaching classes. Karen took one of the training classes last week, and in April, the Department of Defense is going to send her for a week of training in St. Louis to become an Army Family Team Building Master Trainer. I am looking forward to this!
Last week, Karen also applied for a Spanish Professor position at the Defense Language Institute. It will take about a month to find out if she has an interview. They are going to hire several language teachers because they are going to build up the Spanish school again. If selected, they will pay for her to get a Master's Degree in Spanish!!!
Jeff's Arabic test did not go so well last week. Apparently, even though the class is in Chapter 3 in their books, they have been given the quantity of vocabulary and grammar that is the same as Chapter 5, in half the time that was allotted for chapter 3. (I hope that explanation made sense.) And, instead of being tested at the end of each chapter, the teachers tested them on Chapters 1 - 3 all at once. Jeff's class is a new test group to get the soldiers through Arabic faster. Well, this didn't work so well, all but few failed, and the ones who passed, barely passed. So, they are taking an extra 3 weeks to review the information and are being tested again on Chapters 1 - 3 after that. We are both greatly relieved!!!
We miss all of you and hope everything is going well!
Love,
Karen and Jeff
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Its been awhile....
Hi everyone, we know its been awhile since we've posted anything, but we are plugging along here.
Jeff has a big test coming tomorrow and Friday - yes, two days long - and we have been studying like fiends for the last two weeks. This test will cover three chapters of Arabic. Jeff is in a pilot program, and before they tested the classes at the end of each chapter. They are now trying a new teaching style, so they are testing three at once. It is truly a lot to learn, and our old brains are hurting.
We have been working on landscaping our backyard. Its approximately 15' x 30', and you can see in the picture that half is "grass." We use the term grass lightly here because in reality it was weeds and other green stuff that happened to grow. It took us two weekends to clear most of it out, filling our large yard recycle bin twice. There is still more to clear, but it is mainly soil now.
The theme of our yard is tranquility. We making one side of the yard an herb garden, shaped as a labyrinth and the other side will have a small pond with a waterfall and plants. Many gothic cathedrals had labyrinths built into the floor tile design.
The idea behind a labyrinth is that when you start, you can see your goal in the center surrounded by twists and turns. As you walk the design and meditate and pray on your goal, you will come closer and then away from the goal, as things tend to happen in life, and then you finally reach the center. In such a tiny yard (haha) we do not have the space of a cathedral, but have tried to capture the essence. I think we'll put something in Arabic in the center. Hopefully, the plants will grow around our goal as does our knowledge.
This weekend, we are going to put the little pond and waterfall in, if the weather holds for us. Most of the herbs have been planted. Then we will select some more flowers. We are hoping the make our little yard a great place to study and to have bbq's as the weather gets warmer.
Jeff has a big test coming tomorrow and Friday - yes, two days long - and we have been studying like fiends for the last two weeks. This test will cover three chapters of Arabic. Jeff is in a pilot program, and before they tested the classes at the end of each chapter. They are now trying a new teaching style, so they are testing three at once. It is truly a lot to learn, and our old brains are hurting.
We have been working on landscaping our backyard. Its approximately 15' x 30', and you can see in the picture that half is "grass." We use the term grass lightly here because in reality it was weeds and other green stuff that happened to grow. It took us two weekends to clear most of it out, filling our large yard recycle bin twice. There is still more to clear, but it is mainly soil now.
The theme of our yard is tranquility. We making one side of the yard an herb garden, shaped as a labyrinth and the other side will have a small pond with a waterfall and plants. Many gothic cathedrals had labyrinths built into the floor tile design.
The idea behind a labyrinth is that when you start, you can see your goal in the center surrounded by twists and turns. As you walk the design and meditate and pray on your goal, you will come closer and then away from the goal, as things tend to happen in life, and then you finally reach the center. In such a tiny yard (haha) we do not have the space of a cathedral, but have tried to capture the essence. I think we'll put something in Arabic in the center. Hopefully, the plants will grow around our goal as does our knowledge.
This weekend, we are going to put the little pond and waterfall in, if the weather holds for us. Most of the herbs have been planted. Then we will select some more flowers. We are hoping the make our little yard a great place to study and to have bbq's as the weather gets warmer.
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