I got a little side tracked and thought for a moment or twenty that the reason we were homeschooling was solely based on the whole sexual assault thing. I had forgotten it was something we had always considered and even actually figured we'd end up having to do one day. The reason being that my children have a problem fitting into the cookie cutter student mold. Most types of children can find their fit in public schools but with Tayton's Sensory Integration Disorder it makes things hard. One day he might be fantastic at one thing but need major improvements in other and the next week it could be completely opposite. This makes it tough on the teachers, other students and especially on Tayton.
After the rough start we had with homeschooling last week I needed a little time to regroup. I realized that what I did wrong was pushing the kids too hard too fast and forcing them to conform to how I expect them to learn. I put work books in front of them and said work. Well DUH of course that doesn't work.
We took Thursday and Friday and slowed things down and did some new plans. Today was the first day of the new plan and it was perfect!
We spent the morning at the eye doctor (health). We came home the kids played outside for a bit while we made lunch. After lunch we colored maps (geography) and talked about all of the states the four of us have been. All of our maps are colored differently. It was fun. We also checked out the new states the boys (Kirke and I already have them colored) will get to color when we drive out to NY in March.
OH did I forget to mention that? We're on orders. We'll be leaving the great state of Missouri and heading back to where Kirke and I met 11 years ago. Ft Drum, New York! But that's another story. We can't wait to get back up there and show the boys that part of our past! Our first home as a married couple, where we met, where we spent time together and so much more!
Ok so back to school. We played a math game instead of focusing on work sheets. We did language arts workbooks and they were okay with it. Then we went to the playground and the kids wandered down to the skate park where they had a blast running up and down the obstacles.
I think I can remember what works for us. Again the 4 month break was a bit much it's going to take some time to get back on track!
My Real Life Army Brats
Those are not Taytons legs, look closely! And if you can't figure it out click on the picture!
31 August 2009
Now I Remember but Did I Forget to Mention That?
27 August 2009
A Four Month Summer Break is a Bad Bad Plan
I honestly had no idea how much information kids lose over the summer. We finished our required hours and grade level work at the beginning of May. We had it all set so I figured "no big deal we'll just start our summer break 3 weeks earlier than the local public school".
I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!
I'm pretty sure we should have to pass a common sense test to home school our kids. What I mean is "ignore my college education for a minute please" because obviously I didn't use it when making these choices! I figured we'd stay up on our skills over the summer but who was I kidding? If I'm not held accountable for what we're doing then not much is gonna get done!
During the school year we document EVERYTHING! We keep good records so when the rat bastards who screwed my kids over in the public schools here decide to be pricks and come knocking on my door for educational neglect I'll make a fool of them! But my plan for summer was just to wing it. We did some educational stuff. Some. Obviously not enough. The only thing that didn't seem to lose out was Tayton's reading abilities. He's still a good little reader and his comprehension is impressive. But his math is screaming for some serious review and brushing up on skills he'd once mastered!!
Korbin has decided he doesn't know how to do anything. He's taking forever just to fill in a simple 100's chart. Today I decided we'd try a little addition and see if maybe he's just bored with the 100's boring review crap. THANK GOD that was the case! I thought we'd be starting back over at the beginning of kindergarten instead of first grade! He's good and in time will be right on track and realize that taking all day to do one assignment is a bad plan.....for all of us! He's still reading, well learning to read, pretty good. He's lost some of his sight words but he'll get back on track. Right?
As for me i almost lost my mind by day 3 but after taking a chill day to relax, review and reevaluate our plans I think we're gonna be alright.....I think.
Lesson learned: More than two weeks break is probably too much!
26 August 2009
Old Friends New Committments and an 8 Year Survival
Ok so we drove to Chicago for one of my best childhood friends wedding. I was a bridesmaid. It was beautiful, fancy and amazing! My friend, Diane and I met when I was 7. That was 22 years ago. Her sister is another of my best friends and was also a bridesmaid. Two of the other bridesmaids were long time friends of mine as well. I met Jody and Amanda both when I was 12. I probably met Jody before that but I don't remember. I had seen all of them in within the past 2 years but it had been a while. We had a great time and celebrated a fabulous union of two wonderful people. I danced, and I shouldn't cause I have no rhythm and my dress was about 8 sizes too small on my hips and I looked like a pregnant mermaid. We laughed, we hugged, we had a fantastic time!
The new Mr. & Mrs. Clancy!
The wedding party getting ready to party.
Kirke was a good sport and spent the weekend piddling around while I did bridesmaid stuff. By the time this picture was taken the makeup had worn off and the hair had gone flat but I sure was happy!
We left the morning after the wedding and drove to our home in Missouri to pick up our two dogs. We were home about 15 minutes and back on the road to Texas to retrieve the naughty little blond boys. While we were in Texas (3 whole days) we decided to have a birthday for our oldest son Tayton. I wanted to keep it small and simple.
Well for all of you who live close to relatives know that you can't invite without inviting them all. I intended to invite my long lost buddy Mark. I haven't seen him since my brothers wedding 8 years ago and he lives just an hour south of Kirke's family. I hadn't met his wife and he now has a 10 month old son. Any of you who know Mark know this is definitely something you have to see to believe! Love ya Mark! I also wanted to invite Korbins first wife, big Megan and her daughter Jada. Kirke's nephews and parents (their mom is another of my best friends) as well as Kirke's cousin and her family who we try hard to stay in touch with and looked forward to seeing. But we ended up with around 25 adults and a mess of kids. It was fantastic!
We loved getting to see everyone. Especially Mark, Marcie, Peyton, Megan and Jada who we miss dearly. I hope that our families understand that our family grows with each new duty station. So these friends aren't just friends but also important parts of our families.
We drove back home on the 21st and on the 23rd our little Tayton turned 8 years old. He's such an awesome kid and I've loved watching him grow. Over the past year he has progressed (according to his testing at OT) over 4 years in most areas and over 6 years in one area. Sorry I can't remember which were which because that news was so incredible to hear! I find it hard to believe that we've had a kid survive 8 years with our parenting! He's an amazing little boy and despite my wanting to string him up by his toes I love being his mommy!
There's nothing like a good book for a 2 year old!
He still dresses kind of funny!
Pot holders made by Grandma Vettel can double as hats!
As Eskimo as my little Alaskan born boy gets!
He was so freakin cute! He had to have been close to 2 in this picture cause I wasn't pregnant with Korbin anymore.
He's always been inventive.
Long and skinny! He was maybe 2 in this picture. That's one of Korbins blankets in it so he had have been at least 19 months old.
Korbin was 3 months old so Tayton was 21 or 22 months old here.
17 August 2009
Traveling with dogs is a pain in the tail! We lost Maggie, our navigation system, so we've been winging it since Friday. I will be back to blog details soon!
07 August 2009
Why Have Two Kids When You Can Have Six?
We often do crazy things here! We like to mix things up and test our endurance. This past week has been spent with four extra kids. Two girls 5 and 9 and two boys 11 and 15. It's been an interesting time.
Korbin and his wife Megan were thrilled to get to spend the week together. The first night Korbin informed me that he wanted Megan to sleep in his room. I told him that boys and girls can't sleep together till they are grown ups. His response "well I already married her!" My response was sleeping bags under the loft bed. They were happy as clams with that decision.
Yesterday Korbin came to my room crying and climbed up into my bed where I was reading a book.
He said "I stepped on a staple" between fake sobs. I said "oh no! What should we do?" He replied in a very serious tone: "we're either going to have to cut it off and get me a new one or get me some kid crutches!" Very seriously I said to him "okay then let's cut it off and we'll get you a new foot!" He said "maybe we should try kids crutches first." I asked him where we'd find those. He said "let's head to the hospital and get them there!" He was no longer in pain and I told him to make his own.
He was spotted later in the day with two sticks....
Silly kid!
The kids have enjoyed having their friends here. We went out in the canoe. We went swimming and Korbin decided he didn't need his life jacket anymore and was even jumping off the diving board and swimming back to the side of the pool all on his own.
We went fishing a few times and caught next to nothing. That was sad.
The kids will be going home soon. Their parents just got back into town after their trip to Vegas. And we leave in the morning (our family, their family and this one too) to go to Buffalo Point Arkansas to camp for six days.
Kirke's parents are meeting us there and camping with us for 3 days then taking the boys back to Texas while we go to my best friends wedding in Chicago. I have like 13 best friends so the rest of ya don't get offended. Then we're driving to Texas to get the boys and then back home and we're starting school on the 24th!
Phew that's a lot of stuff in one month!
Here's a few pictures:
~Till They All Come Home~
30 July 2009
Everything is making me mad today. Perhaps today should be over and I should try again tomorrow. Before I eat someone alive that is......
Sexual Assault is Ok in Our Schools
I wasn't going to post this but now I'm just mad and I've done everything I can do and I don't know what I wanted out of stirring the pot but damn it we're still suffering and the school got off easy. It's bullshit!
Ok back in October my son, 5 years old, was in the restroom at school with a friend we'll call D. Korbin and D were washing their hands and getting ready to head back to class......probably having a water fight or standing under the air dryer too. Another student we'll call M. came into the restroom,, walked up to Korbin and D and pulled down his pants M tried to get the boys to touch him. Korbin and D did the typical "eww gross get away" thing and that's when M grabbed my Korbin and tried to pull down his pants. Korbin's pants did not come down because he had on adjustable waist jeans. D was not so lucky. He had on sweats and his pants were yanked down by this other boy. Korbin took advantage of this time to run away and get help. This is sexual assault!
This is the story we were told when we picked up Korbin and D from school that day. October 10th to be exact. We weren't notified during the day that anything out of the ordinary had taken place that day. D's mom and I talked for a few minutes and thus began a friendship strongly centered around our children's experience.
Over the weekend Korbin's behavior changed. He became very defensive and angry and mean. In fact he picked up an end table over his head and was ready to throw it at his brother! Not typical Korbin behavior. I spoke with the counselor on Monday and asked her to talk with Korbin because I noticed his behavior had changed. She assured me she would. She never did.
A fews day later after speaking with D's mom we decided we needed to meet with the principal and find out what, if anything was being done. M was still in class with our kids. Still roaming the halls and still alone with other children. I approached the principal on Wednesday that week and asked if we could meet with her Thursday or Friday. She informed me she was quite busy and couldn't schedule an appointment with us and if we wanted to talk to her it had to be right then. Since D's mom and I wanted to be together as to not be bullied that didn't work for us.
Friday morning we decided to just drop in and meet with the principal right then. She didn't even offer us a seat. She basically just said what she needed to say to shut us up and get us out of the office. At this time the counselor still had not met with my son even though it was specifically requested by me that she do so 5 days earlier. A week had passed at this point.
The following week nothing happened and my son continued to become angrier and more defensive. On one occasion Korbin came home with a note saying he got in trouble for "growling" at other kids. I told the teacher I'd growl at other kids too if no one was going to make sure I felt safe at school.
That Friday D's mom and I both emailed the superintendent of the district to alert him of the situation. The boys had both stated M had tried to get them to touch him and possibly had tried to touch them as well. They were reluctant to talk about the incident.
Monday morning the superintendent assistant called and said he'd look into why the counselor hadn't met with the kids and basically just saying what he had to say to pacify me. Remarkable the counselor met with both boys the next day and did a class (at my request) on good touch/bad touch with the students and appropriate behavior. Then that was the end of it.
Well unfortunately my son continued to become more and more aggressive and get into trouble and be disruptive in the classroom. I took Korbin to the behavioral health child psychologist on post who said Korbin has ADHD and has put him on medication. He stated that he felt that the onset of the ADHD symptoms came on so strong because of the incident but that they would have shown up in time. I went ahead with the medication because of the anger and violence not because he's a wild little boy. We love that about him!
D's mom and I were fed up with the schools administration and in November we both removed our kids from school and opted to home school them.
Well here I am 10 months later stewing over the issue again. I raised attention to the incident with our rear detachment commander at a meeting last month because I felt that the incident was not handled right and that my son was still suffering from the incident and I wanted to know what was supposed to happen in a situation like that.
Today we had a meeting with the family advocacy representative, the rear detachment commander and Kirke's 1SG. They had met with the schools administration and basically felt they did their share to handle the situation. They claimed to be unaware that there was an attempt to force our kid to touch M and that M tried to touch them. They freakin lied through their teeth about when they met with the students.
Today is the day I drop it. The school did not take care of my son and keep him safe and upon realizing he was in the situation played it off as boys being boys. That is not okay!! I'm pissed off but I don't know what I want that would make me not be so pissed off. I want my sweet loving happy little boy back.
The meeting we had today basically showed me that no one but me thinks this is a big deal. They made me feel as if I'm just being an over protective pain in the ass parent. I don't know what I expected but I didn't expect to have the situation minimized once again.
I'm not impressed. I feel like they are saying it's acceptable behavior. If this had happened to a little girl it would have been handled differently. If the other students parent wasn't an officer it would have been handled differently. If Korbin and D's daddy's had been here instead of in Iraq it would have been handled differently.
I miss my lovable sweet little guy. We love homeschooling but it's expensive. It's really been to our benefit that we've pulled them out of public school but damn it's just not right that THIS is the reason why! It's bullshit and I'm mad as hell but I've done all that I can do. I'm just grateful that my children aren't in school with kids who are allowed to bully them and hurt them anymore.
I'm not proof-reading this because it'll just make me mad all over again so forgive my typo's. If you made it this far, thanks for reading.
I just figured out what I want out of this. I want people to stop saying things like this happen and it's gonna be okay. I want people to say "You are right, this is not acceptable behavior and I'm sorry that this happened to your son. We will do everything we can to keep it from happening again!" I'm sick of people in authority positions just blowing it off like it's no big effin deal. It's a big damn deal and it's NOT okay!
23 July 2009
22 July 2009
I need 9 more
I need 9 more followers to get to 50 and that would be so exciting for me so if anyone is lurking around please click the little follow button. You can follow anonymously but what fun is that?
Help me get to 50. Or even better 100. Maybe if I ever get to 100 I'll do a ginormous give away? That'd be fun right?
21 July 2009
He Said What?
I have a tendency to start saying some little phrase and then I wear it out. Apparently that has happened again. At the grocery store Tayton picked up a cornish hen and was cracking up laughing and said "Hey Mom, this is just enough meat to make ya mad!"
I say that when restaurants give my tiny cups of diet Pepsi or I get stuck with 12 ounce cans instead of bottles.
This weekend we went camping and canoeing (spell check says it's not a word but it is for me!) with friends. Korbin was riding in their canoe. They had my friend and her hubby, Korbin and their 3 year old daughter on board and they tipped over. They took a few minutes to regroup and continued down the river.
Later that day Korbin said to me "When that canoe tipped over I was going to jump right in and save Cassidy! But then I forgot!"
Hope he never forgets to save anyone else! Silly kid!
Here's a few pictures from our weekend!
This was our campsite. You can see our tent and our friends tent and the river right there! It was beautiful. We'll be on the same site next weekend and hopefully this girl's family and maybe this girl too, will join us!
We weren't cool enough to have a canoe yet when these pictures were taken but we did have a look out scout!
And towing capabilities!
Here's Korbin and the Suds after he deserted us and our cheap inflatable for a real canoe!
These four made for quite a load on the first day of the trip! Good times for all! I can't wait to post more with us in OUR canoe now that we've moved up from the rubber raft!
17 July 2009
We're Off
We're off to practice camping this weekend. We've camped before but this is the first time in Missouri so we want to make sure we know all of what we need before heading to Arkansas for a week long camping trip in August. We found the nicest little campground and it's 15 miles from home. Our tent site will be right on the river and we can fish right from there! I'm so excited. Now I'm off to finish the packing and get away from it all for the weekend!
09 July 2009
Front Page News: She's Not Bitchy Anymore
Our soldier's home and now that we're on the front page of the paper we can't deny we missed each other!
Here's the picture without all the other chaos around it!
Kirke came home and said "how did we manage to get on the front page of the newspaper?"
My response was "well I was mean to the guy last week when the first group of soldiers came home so he remembered me this week!"
So here's the true story.
I wasn't really that bitchy was I?
So this week he came up to us and I just laughed and he said "Are you ready for pictures this week?" So we couldn't very well say "no"!
08 July 2009
And Then There Were Four
Our little family is complete again. It's been a long gazillion months apart! We got the call that our soldiers would be home Monday night. Our welcome home ceremony was to take place upon the arrival of the buses between 2300 and 2400 Monday night.
My soldier called to say their plane had landed in St Louis at 7:30. We all went into action like little ants getting things around. Us wives had dresses to put on and hair and make-up to do. The kids continued playing until we were through and got them dressed up and ready to go. We arrived at the location of the ceremony and were too excited to even make fun of other peoples choice of attire. Well kinda.....
I'm pretty sure that not letting myself get excited until that point was a little crazy. I was about to jump out of my skin waiting on the buses to arrive! Then we watched as the soldiers were unloaded from the buses and filed in, searching for the familiar faces of our own soldiers.
More to come including pictures but I just wanted to let everyone know our soldier is home safe and we're soaking in every little bit of it!
04 July 2009
Independence Sometimes Sucks
Today we went to the Fourth of July celebration on post as usual. It was not as much fun as last year. Last year was much better so I don't have any great pictures or videos to share. But I highly suggest reading THIS post cause it's funny and has great pictures and it's all pretty much the same except we're all a year older.
We talked about what Independence Day is and the boys understand why we celebrate the Fourth of July. This year I'm a little bit bitter though. I thought I'd have my soldier back and that this would be the best Fourth of July ever. Instead things got jacked up and someone effed up and they are stuck for the time being. The boys were sad when they realized Daddy wasn't home for the Fourth like I had previously told them. It sucks when you let yourself get excited so much that you also let the kids get excited and then have to crush them!
Independence is great when you're talking about our country. Independence rocks when you're talking about a teenager graduating and moving on to college and facing the real world. Independence is especially great when kids can pour their own drinks, fix themselves a snack and even buckle their own seat belt.
For the most part Independence is a positive thing.
For us right now it sucks. I'm so sick to death of doing everything independently. I'm sick of having so much Independence that I sometimes have to think twice about what it was like to have someone here to help carry the load. Independence especially sucks when I have to go to bed independently on a night when I sure would love some company. And it really sucks when you have to independently tell your 6 and 7 year old that you don't know when Daddy will be home even though we've spent two Fourth of July's without him now. And when I have to sit here and listen to the 7 year old sing about how much he misses his dad so much, independently.
So today Independence sucks for our family. We really want to be dependent on the Daddy again!
Hurry home love!
01 July 2009
How Many
How many more nights do I have to sleep alone? How much does our family have to suffer so that people in some other country can continue to live life as they did before the war? How many more years do my kids and I have to live without a man of the house? A daddy? A husband and best friend?
I'm tired of this life. I want to live the civilian life where we don't have to think twice about our spouse being shipped off to fight for freedom in some other country. Where we can walk outside and not see neighbors hugging goodbye for what may be the day or week or months and even years. I want to take life for granted just for a day, or two.
A few more days can literally turn into a lifetime to the soldier and families awaiting the end of their current tour. One more roadside bomb, suicide bomber or RPG could be the last for those of us still waiting for our soldiers return in just a few weeks or even days.
Half of our battalion is now home. I'd love to say home safe but the occurrence of abuse, assault, accidental and intentional deaths resulting from DUI's and domestic dispute sky rockets when soldiers return from any deployment let alone a 15 month deployment. Suicides become a sad but current trend as well. Even though they're returning home they bring a bit of the war home with them.
I want my soldier returned to me promptly in the same condition in which I surrendered him to this deployment so many months ago. Is that too much to ask? Probably so. Right now I'd settle for a hug and kiss and a smile to reassure me that he's still the soldier I love so much. The one who asked me to marry him 10 years ago tomorrow! (Our wedding anniversary is in December)
Come home soon baby we miss you!
~Till They All Come Home~
30 June 2009
Frustration in the House
Things here pretty much suck right now. We still don't have the daddy home. The kids are a mess, the house is a mess and everything seems to be just falling apart. We've held it together the best we can for the past gazillion months and now I'm tired of keeping it together and faking it. I can't say much more right now but it just sucks!
25 June 2009
This Really Pisses Me Off
I just got another of those emails telling me I'll be rich blah blah blah. Normally I laugh, delete them and get on with my real emails. But this one totally pisses me off and you'll see why when you read it. Also I encourage you all to email him and tell him to eff off for impersonating a soldier....grrrrr!
Hello
My name is Major Henry Sanders. I am an American soldier serving in the military with the Army Third Infantry division with a very desperate need for assistance. I found your contact in an address journal. I am seeking your kind assistance to move the sum of fifteen Million United States Dollars to you as far as I can be assured that my share will be safe in your care until I complete my service here, this is not a stolen money, and there is no danger involved.
SOURCE OF MONEY:
Some money in various currencies was discovered in barrels at a farmhouse near one of Saddam old palaces in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue operation, and it was agreed by Staff Sgt Kenneth Buff and I that some part of this money be shared between us before informing anybody about it since we saw the money first. This was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell hole of which my brother-in-law was killed by a road side bomb last week.
The above figure was given to me as my share, and to conceal this kind of money became a problem for me. With the help of a British contact working here and his office enjoy some immunity I was able to get the package out to a safe location entirely out of trouble spot. He does not know the real contents of the package and believes that it belongs to a British /American medical doctor who died in a raid here in Iraq. And before giving up trusted me to hand over the package to his Family in United States.
I have now found a much secured way of getting the package out of Iraq. I will discuss this with you when I am sure that you are willing to assist me. I want you to tell me how much you will take from this money for the assistance you will give to me. One passionate appeal, please dont discuss this matter with anybody should you have any reason to reject this offer, please and please destroy this message as any leakage of this information will be too bad for us.
I do not know how long we will remain here. And I have been shot, wounded and survived two suicide bomb attacks by the special grace of God, this and other reasons I will mention later has prompted me to reach out for help, I honestly want this matter to be resolved immediately. You may want to go through this site to read what we have been going through here in Iraq . http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090129/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_suicides
Please contact me as soon as possible with the following details via my alternative email address henry_sanders@cantv.net
Full Name:
Full Address:
Tel/cell numbers:
Occupation:
God Bless you as I look forward to your positive response.
Truly yours,
Major Henry Sanders.
Now please....ATTACK!!!
19 June 2009
An American Hero Laid to Rest
I really want to be careful writing this post because I want to be sure and say the right things.
Today we went to SPC Parrish's memorial service held here on post. It was every bit as horrible as you could imagine it to be and more. They did a great job honoring this fallen soldier but there's nothing that can be said or done to change that fact that a 4 year old boy no longer has a daddy. A young, beautiful woman is now a widow. And a mother and father are now without a son. He also had four siblings left behind to carry on with life without their brother.
He made everyone proud. He did his job and he did it well. SPC Parrish left quite an impact on the soldiers he went to war with and worked beside for the past 14 months. He was 23. Only 23 years old.
As his family walked through the doors and took their seats in the front pew of the chapel my heart broke. I had a hard time not thinking about how this could have easily been any one our families sitting in that pew. Any one of us with soldiers in Iraq could be facing that same future this young wife and child are facing. Through their sadness you could still see the pride they have in being a military family.
When the role call began 1SG called off three names of soldiers throughout the chapel. All of whom responded "here first sergeant". And then 1SG called "SPC Parrish" which was followed by silence. Again he called "SPC Charles Parrish", nothing. "SPC Charles Dustin Parrish" and then the gun salute began followed by taps. There is NOTHING in this world that I have ever heard that was as terrible as the silence that followed his name being called in role call without a response.
I heard the muffled sounds of others crying and above them you could hear the cries of a child.
In the front of the chapel sat the boots, weapon and helmet of this young soldier who bravely served our country and won't be coming home. As we exited the chapel we stopped to pay our respects. Soldiers of all ranks saluted SPC Parrish. We then filed out shaking hands and paying respects to the family.
I'll never forget how brave his handsome 4 year old son, Caden was as he sat and shook hands with each and every person who attended the memorial. And I'll probably never forget the sadness and sorrow that I saw in the face of his beautiful wife. My heart aches for them and I don't know how they will ever manage to get through this time in their lives because I can't imagine being in her shoes. She was supposed to be getting ready for the homecoming of her husband not the funeral and final goodbye.
Please stop and say a prayer for this family who is paying the ultimate price for freedom. And next time you see a service member in uniform stop them, shake their hands and know that you are shaking hands with one of many of the bravest, strongest most loved Americans you will ever meet.
Ashley, Caden and the rest of the Parrish family, you're in our thoughts and prayers. I don't have the right words to say to you. As I shook hands with you today I had no words at all as I struggled to fight back the tears. Tears for a soldier I never had the pleasure of meeting. I want to thank you and your family for your service to our country. Each soldier has a family that also serves and sacrifices more than most people can ever imagine.
16 June 2009
Sea Kittens? Really? Gimme a freakin break PETA!
Shake it off PETA! They're fish! Nothing kitten like about them! Well except the catfish that has whiskers right in front of the three HORNS!!!
Here's what we think about saving the Sea Kittens:
Above is Tayton enjoying some relaxing fishing!
Korbin and one of his sunfish!
Tayton is a proud little fisherman!
Catfish, or should we call them Sea Kittens?
That's one big Sea Kitten! Makes me wanna curl right up with it and pet him and love him. Oh and you should hear him purr when I am taking the hook out of his mouth. It's the sweetest sound......
Great big cuddley Sea Kittens!
These little bass aren't as cute and cuddly as Catfish but fall into the same category!
Korbin's not afraid to touch any of the fish! He's a good little fisherman! I'm so proud!Long live the Sea Kittens because we love catching them!
( Hurry home and help me bait hooks Hunny! )
14 June 2009
DoD Identifies Army Casualty SPC Charles D Parrish
I have included the DoD Report and a Report from this soldiers hometown. The sources are linked below each of the two articles. They are verbatim and that is why there are some discrepancies as far as rank between the two articles.
I didn't know him. I didn't know his family. My husband had nothing to do with this mission other than his soldiers were sent to recover the disabled vehicle after the incident.
My heart aches for this family and we're reminded that even this late into the deployment our soldiers still aren't safe.
I don't know what else to say.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Charles D. Parrish, 23, of Jasper, Ala., died June 4 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered earlier that day in Jalula, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by an anti-tank grenade. He was assigned to the 5th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
(SOURCE)
Jasper soldier dies in Iraq
Leaves behind wife and 4-year-old son
Saturday, June 06, 2009
TORAINE NORRIS
News staff writer
Cpl. Dusty Parrish of Jasper was looking forward to coming home from Iraq in July and teaching his 4-year-old son, Caden, the finer points of playing T-ball, said his mother, Tina Rigsby.
The 23-year-old soldier loved sports and played baseball and football at Walker County High School.
Cpl. Parrish died Thursday in northern Iraq in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, Rigsby said. While the Department of Defense has not released an official account of the circumstances of his death, Rigsby said her son was on a reconnaissance mission to clear land mines that night.
Rigsby said her son, an Army medic, died from wounds suffered in the attack.
Cpl. Parrish trained many of the medics who assisted in his surgery after the attack, his mother said. "They said he gave a good fight."
Family members, including his wife, Ashley, were eagerly anticipating Cpl. Parrish's homecoming on July 15.
"He just had another week there," Rigsby said.
She said Cpl. Parrish was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and recently had re-enlisted. He had been in Iraq 14 months, she said. Cpl. Parrish was going to be stationed in Columbus, Ga., after returning from Iraq.
A 2003 graduate of Walker County High, he had been in the Army three years.
He was into weightlifting, even winning some body-building competitions while in the Army, his mother said.
"He was very athletic," Rigsby said. "He couldn't wait to get home because this is his son's first year to play T-ball. "He was going to come home and tell him how to bat."
Rigsby said her son excelled at helping others.
"Dusty was the type of person who would make you laugh," she said. "He had an innate ability to make you happy when you were sad."
Rigsby said the family Friday afternoon was still trying to break the news to Caden.
"I hate that we have to tell his son," she said.
(SOURCE)
Please pray for this family and for all of the soldiers and families. It seems we've been forgotten now that this war has been ongoing for 6 years now but families are still being shattered by this damn war.
Today I opened my email to find a comment from SPC Parrish's wife. It's heart wrenching to think of what she and her son as well as the everyone who's lives have been touched by this hero.
Here's what she wrote:
Ashley Parrish has left a new comment on your post "DoD Identifies Army Casualty SPC Charles D Parrish...":
My son and i would like to thank everyone for all the love and support during this very difficult time. Dusty is gone but never forgotten, he would want everyone to remember that he died for our freedom and he loved his job. I love him very much and see his face every time I look at our beautiful son. Rest in peace my husband for your mission on earth is complete I love you.
Ashley we'll continue to pray for you and your son and the rest of the family/friends who are suffering this loss. If there is anything any of us back here at the Fort can do for you please let me know. You can email me privately at kmtkbest@gmail.com and whatever you need I will do my best to help make happen.
