Old Friends New Committments and an 8 Year Survival

We made the most out of our leave (vacation) time. It all started with a camping trip to Arkansas with good friends of the present. Then we sent our boys off to Texas with my in-laws who joined us on our camping trip. From Arkansas we drove to Chicago. Wait let me back up. We were supposed to take the train, the day after we got home from AR, but there is NO parking beyond 24 hours at the damn Amtrak station. They wanted us to pay to park at the Sheraton. $17/freakin day! It only cost $99 for the damn tickets! We had to park for 4 days! So we drove.

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.

Mark, Marcie, Peyton, Me and Kirke in Texas. We always end up there in August! HOT!!

Here's Korbin with his first wife. They are still obviously in love even though he married that "other Megan"!

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!

These pictures are in random order, thanks blogger!


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.

And now he's 8 years old. Amazing!

~Till They All Come Home~

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!

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~

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!

~Till They All Come Home~

Gone Again

We're off for more of this:

~Till They All Come Home~

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?

~Till They All Come Home~

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!

~Till They All Come Home~

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!

~Till They All Come Home~

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.

Me and my very good friends were sitting waiting on the first half of the battalion to come home on the 28th of June. The newspaper guy came and started his spiel about how he's looking for people to photograph and have names to go with the pictures for the pictures and blah blah blah. I cut him off short and said "umm we're the group who won't be getting our soldiers back today so you might want to find someone else if you want happy pictures."

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"!

OH and the best part is that he got a promotion by the newspaper guy. I guess he misunderstood me because they printed Staff Sergeant instead of Sergeant. I'd appreciate seeing that in the paycheck please!

~Till They All Come Home~

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!

~Till They All Come Home~

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!

~Till They All Come Home~

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~

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!

~Till They All Come Home~

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!!!

~Till They All Come Home~

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.

~Till They All Come Home~

Sea Kittens? Really? Gimme a freakin break PETA!

A friend of mine sent me an email with a letter her husband wrote in response to a website he stumbled upon while he was online recently. She's going to post his letter on her blog for you all to read. But she doesn't know that yet, since I just made that part up but now she has to. You're welcome Amber!

The website is set up to lure people into signing some dumb petition to stop fishing. Oh pardon me, it's to save the "Sea Kittens"! WTF? Seriously? Sea Kittens?

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! )

~Till They All Come Home~

DoD Identifies Army Casualty SPC Charles D Parrish

~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~

Please take the time to reread this post and say a prayer or 40 for the family. The soldier who died has a wife and son left behind as well as many other family and friends grieving. His wife took the time to read this post and comment and I think it should be read by everyone. Please pass it along.





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.

~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~

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.

~Till They All Come Home~

Korbins Kidney Saga Continues

You know how when you're at the doctors they are all chatty as can be until they find something that's just not quite right? Today we got that again.

Korbin had his annual ultrasound on his kindey to see how he's doing. She was all peachy and talkative as she scanned his right (healthy) kidney and then when she got to the left she was like a clam. She didn't even hear Korbin asking her questions as she clicked away capturing the images. Some with color to show the blood flow and one that made it look like a freakin volcano!

I looked as she scanned each kidney and the differences were obvious. You could see the dark area that showed the level of urine retention in his left kidney. I'm afraid we'll be heading back to Columbia for him soon.

Prayers and happy thoughts of good results and me just being an over reacting-stressed out-spazzy-assed mom.

Here are the links to stories to fill ya in if you have no clue what I'm talking about with Korbin.

First this happened.

Second he had surgery.

Third and then

Fourth

~Till They All Come Home~

Can't Stop Watching It and LMAO!

Oh my! I just found this over on Lauren's Blog. She visited my blog as a friend of the family of CPL Parrish.

I was just looking around since she stopped by and left me a comment and I found this video and nearly wet myself laughing so hard! Thank god for my recent torture surgery!

Enjoy!

~Till They All Come Home~

The monkey tail has left the building! Thank God!!

I called the doctors office crying, complaining and begging to ask if there was any chance they could remove the monkey tail and see if things were working okay. I knew the risks and was willing to chance it. They agreed to let me see the Doctor here on post to do it for me instead of driving 2 hours to the doctor who did my surgery.

I showed up and my male doctor informed me that there was no female chaperon available at the time and if it was going to be removed it would have to be with him and his male SPC that was working.

I didn't care if they did it in the middle of the waiting room as long as they took the damn thing out! Only I really did care, a little, cause I have a shred of modesty. Men have no concept of modesty. When the female nurse is helping my doctor she keeps me all covered up and comfortable. With the guys I was lucky they shut the door! No really, they didn't shut the door until they said to hop up on the torture chambers table and I looked at them like they were nuts.

Everything went well. It's amazing how great it is to be able to pee all by myself like a big girl! That is going on my list of things to never take for granted!

~Till They All Come Home~

They Took It But They Gave It Back

I had to ride two hours to Columbia to get my monkey tail out yesterday. They took it out and everything seemed to be working fine. They sent me on my merry way. As the day progressed I felt things weren't quite right but I was hoping for the best.

At 2am I woke up horrible pain and some other not so pretty details. I texted my warden good friend Amber and she rushed over and whisked me away to the ER. Amazingly enough they saw how shitty I looked much pain I was in and they took me straight back. A few hours later after they installed a new monkey tail they sent me home.

Things aren't healing right and now I'm stuck with my monkey tail until Monday at the earliest. I made a very rash decision during this time. My husbands family has an annual family reunion and it's this weekend. They go away to a place in Oklahoma and stay in cabins for 4 days. Kirke's mom is one of the organizers each year so she had to be there.

For the first time in 7 1/2 years I am alone. No children, no husband, just me. To be honest I don't like it one bit. But considering the circumstances the kids need to go and have fun and I need to rest and get better. So my first time not in the hospital spending the night away from my kids and they will be hours and hours away! I'm a little lot freaked out!

Now I'm off to rest and be sad and lonely but damn it I'm gonna get better!!!

He Told His Mom On Me

MEN! I tell ya, sometimes you tell them one little thing and they get all crazy acting. He just happened to call me while I was at the hospital after my surgery during a bad few hours. Yes I had surgery, no I didn't talk about it on my blog. So he calls me, from Iraq and hears how miserable and sore and pitiful I am. He then calls after I'm discharged and realized my family (they came to help me after my surgery) had to leave today and I'd be on my own after only being home for one full day. So what does he do?

HE CALLED HIS MOM!!

I'm almost 30 man! you can't call your mommy and tell on me! Just because you're not here to know for yourself that I'm okay doesn't mean you get to tell on me!

If everything had gone as it should have gone I'd be just freakin fine. Why the heck did it have to get complicated? The surgery was the most violating thing I'd ever had to go through. It involved lots of torturous devices and 3 slings and a catheter and some other mean mean things. Well when they took the catheter and I wasn't able to urinate on my own they decided I got a parting gift!

Not like your typical parting gift from game shows either. No no no let me tell you about mine! It's a Foley catheter! Yay me! Complete with night bag and two legs bags. Its horribly uncomfortable, horribly embarrassing and is slowing my recovery dang it all!

So my parents left today and Kirke called his mom yesterday and she's driving here from Texas right now. I love that she can come and help but I hate feeling so helpless. I want my husband home to take care of me and hold me when I'm crying in pain and frustration.

I damn well better be healed by the time he gets home because I deserve to get a little action after all this torture!!

Are You Freakin Kidding Me? What's Next?

I just saw this commercial on HGTV (yeah yeah go ahead laugh). It's advertising these limited time offer commemorative pieces of history! They actually said "they're running off the shelf". I've seen the coins and I'm okay with that I understand the whole wanting a piece of history thing.

However this is going way too far:

Tennis shoes with the presidents picture on them?

They come in three colors! What a deal....weird deal.

Don't worry girls! There's some for you too!

And for you bargain shoppers there's an added bonus! You get to choose one of these free gifts! A backpack with our presidents face on it OR a basketball.....what a deal!

I make up a lot of stories to make my friends laugh, and well, just for my own enjoyment. But even I can't make up something like that!

Oh and you better hurry they are only making 20,000 pairs of the shoes!

I'm Going To Be Filthy Rich!

Okay so seriously though do people really respond to these crazy ass emails saying they have money for you and all you have to do is send money to secure it. Blah blah blah!

This one really made me laugh and I wanted to share it with all of you. And please by all means go ahead and claim my fortune. I'm not in the mood to be rich today.


Good day,

I have been waiting for you to come down here and pick your $4..5 Million Dollars USD but I did not heard from you. Then I went and deposited the $4.5 Million Dollars USD, as a consignment boxes to FEDEX COURIER COMAPNY BENIN BRANCH. in Benin Republic, because I travelled to SAUDI ARABIA and i will not come back till next month end. I want you to contact the FEDEX COURIER COMAPNY BENIN BRANCH. to know when they will deliver your consignment boxes to you. Please i want to let you know that only the director knows the content and no body else knows about this only Dr Aminu Yayi the director So please waist no time in contacting them with the below information. I have paid for the delivery fee so the only money you have to send to them now is the security keeping fee of your consignment. Please i will advice you to be friendly with Dr Aminu Yayi the director because he alone has the idea of the content of your consignment. But i want to let you know that i did not give him the key of the boxes so please take note so as soon as they deliver the consignment use this(Code numbers to open the tow boxes to know if the complete amount of $4.5 Million Dollars USD is in it.. The first box code (0036589) the second box code (0014759) and i want you to keep this code numbers confidential in your home to avoid another person getting in touch with your money. may God bless you and your family.

You have to contact FedEx Express Courier Company now for the delivery of your Consignment with this information bellow;

Directors Name: Dr.Aminu Yayi
Companys Name: FEDEX EXPRESS COURIER COMAPNY BENIN BRANCH.
E-mail: ( fedex-express-servies@msn.com )
Website: www.fedex.com
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER/ +229-93017559 OR +229-97530816

Try to contact them as soon as possible to avoid increasing the security keeping fee I gave them your delivering address but you have to reconfirm it to them again to avoid them making mistake in delivering your consignment to your home, reconfirm below information to the company immediately and tell them to send to you the airway bill receipt as soon as you send them the security fee. I would have paid the security fee for you but they said no way because they don't know when you will contact them so please they are waiting for you to contact them with your information to avoid mistake in delivery. and let them know also that they should waist no time in sending to you the tracking number of your consignment so that you can be able to track it and know when it will arrive your country.
Full Name:
Address:
City and Country:
Home telephone:
Cell Telephone:
Copy Of International Pas-Port Or Driving License:
Your Age and Occupation:

Let me know as soon as you receive your consignment, and check the contents weather the complete of the total $4.5 Million Dollars USD is in it. Please always call them to know the condition of this Tow boxes because you know the content so please let it be very important to you So try and do everything possible to make sure that this two boxes gets to your home with out any delay.

Regards
Mr. Robert Daniel

Seriously? Who does that? Idiots!

PS WOW spell check just went nuts on that email! LMAO! GO figure!

Today They Were Wed

Today was the day! We allowed our 6 year old son to marry his soon to be 5 year old sweetheart! Korbin and Megan (kormen and magen) had their long awaited (3 days now) wedding.



Megan put on her beautiful wedding dress and veil and placed her tiara upon her head.



Korbin had his mohog spiked up high with blue hair gel. His Army Combat Uniform (ACU's) was worn with pride.



The bridesmaids were beautiful and the groomsmen were acting silly. The officiant held her imaginary book as they waited for the bride to make her way to the gazebo.





Here's the video to prove we really did all of this. Who else do you know who can throw a wedding for less than 40bucks that includes engraved tokens of their love?






Here they are exchanging forced loving glances after the ceremony.

Megan is a kissing girl and Korbin is okay with that on occassion on the cheek.

These are the dogtags we got in place of wedding bands.




You didn't really think we'd have a wedding without a wedding cake did you? Our personal cake decorator designed this just for the mini bride and groom!


Who doesn't love the blue mohogs and pink feather boa tiara's?

Who's next? Could it be the three year olds who fight like cats and dogs?

Or maybe the 7 year olds? They get along so well most of the time. But, well their 7, so having fake weddings is probably too immature for them!



We had a great time. We laughed. The kids will remember our craziness forever and that was the reason behind this whole wedding day. I hope that my kids will be able to look back and remember that we were willing to do something crazy just to make them smile.

I Hear Wedding Bells!

It all started almost 3 years ago. In fact tomorrow will be 2 year and 8 months since they met. A wedding was inevitable from the start. You could watch them from across the room and see the mutual love between them. The way he said her name and the way his eyes lit up when he would talk about her was just amazing. They have never had many problems unless other people interfere and draw their attention away from each other. But even with the distraction they seem to find themselves drawn back to one another as if no time had passed and no one missed a beat.

There's a slight age difference but age isn't everything. Age is just a number right?

Well tonight he professed her love for her again and spent two of his very loved quarters on a ring just for her. He asked her to marry him and she said yes! He then put a quarter in another machine to get himself something. He was hoping for the tiny handcuffs but got a necklace instead! Imagine the disappointment. He got engaged and hoped for handcuffs next. Weird. Where'd he get that from? NOT IT! But he said that the necklace could be for little Magen (Megan to the rest of us but Magen to him).

Later at Amber's house Megan ran up to Korbin (Kormin as she calls him) and said "will you marry me?" He said yes! So Me, being me, asked Magen if she would like to have a wedding. She said yes and then Brandy and I got all crazy acting and ordered the cake and started making the plans. Due to short notice you'll all have to accept this as your invitation.

Brandy and Michelle

request your presence at

the union of their youngest children

Magen (Megan) Avery

and

Kormin (Korbin) Daniel

This seventeen day of May, Two Thousand Nine

3 o'clock at the park.

Please note this is a formal affair and proper attire is required.

There will be a dinner to celebrate the occasion immediately following the ceremony.

Hope to see you there. Instead of gifts please feel free to donate to our Relay For Life Team, The All Nighter's.