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.

Branson First Annual Air Show

We were supposed to be going to the USO Military Appreciation Day at the St Louis Zoo on Saturday. The thing about that is that it has been planned for about a month now. We don't do planning so well. It always gets jacked up and things blow up in our faces and we get crazy acting! Well I do anyhow.

So as expected plans changed. I saw a TV commercial on Thursday for the Branson First Annual Air Show to be held all weekend for the grand opening of the newly built Branson Airport. It looked like fun so I immediately went to the website and set up a group chat with the girls on MSN messenger to run it by them. I expected resistance because one friend likes to plan things. likes to know what to expect. She isn't always a fan of my impulsiveness. The other one is a go with the flow as long as I'm having fun count me in!

They agreed to skip the boring old zoo crap that we can do anytime and go to the airshow. They however did not like the idea of leaving here at 7am Saturday morning to drive two hours. So we decided to stay the night. I saw an opportunity to take the boys camping. They did not see it my way.

I did some googling and found a KOA Campground in Branson that had a "second night free" deal going. They also had Cabins for my unadventurous friends who chose not to tent camp. One of our other, non-blogging friends was going to brave the tent camping with me. They booked their cabins, I booked my tent site and we waited excitedly for the next day to come.

Friday morning I woke to Amber calling me to say "get in your tornado shelter, OK bye". So I woke the boys and we hung out in our downstairs bathroom for a bit. It was during this time that I decided maybe a cabin would be a good idea. I changed our reservation.

Our friend and I left in the afternoon to head down and make the most of our weekend away. The others caught up later. We grilled, there were no injuries, illness or lost children. We only almost got into one fight with a Mennonite group who yelled at our kids. Yeah yeah we're probably going to hell for that but I don't care what religion you are, don't yell at the kids of moms who've been without their husbands and are exploding with bitchiness due to a lack of physical activity if you know what I mean!

We set her ass straight and I'm pretty sure I didn't even use the eff word. I don't think. But I'm pretty sure I would not have wanted to be the person who make the three of us mad enough to simultaneously fly up out of our chairs and cover 20ft of ground in three steps. She apologized later after learning by our cheering that we are families of deployed soldiers. Bet she prayed for forgiveness and thanked God for her freedom that night!

Anyhow, all was well and here are the pictures to prove it!

Korbin Says We Need a ForDealer

Korbin became extremely excited after watching a commercial tonight. I grabbed the camera. The first video shows the initial excitement but the second is a more in depth chat about the topic! Enjoy! He's a nut!

Tayton and Sawyer

We Scavenged, We Hunted, We Lost

One of the companies in our husband's battalion hosted a scavenger hunt for all of the companies. This works well for the three of us since each of our husbands are in different companies.

We didn't know what to expect. We got there and had to wait a gazillion minutes to get to started. We refused to be separated because we all rode in one car, brought one camera and well we didn't know anyone else. Everyone else was all buddy buddy with everyone so we were alright.

We misunderstood the rules. There were 35 clues/points of interest to find. We had an hour and a half to find as many as possible. The problem was that we thought we had to take a picture at each place to prove we were there and not just using the phone book or calling to get answers to the clues. We were wrong. The winning team did just that. They used their maps and phone book and just answered the questions. They got all 35 done. We got 21. But we got out and took pictures of the whole team (less the camera person) at every clue.

They may have won but we laughed and had so much fun and now we have pictures to remember it all! It wouldn't have been as much fun to not jump out of a still moving vehicle to run and pose for pictures. Now would it have been as much fun to not run uphill in mud boots laughing so hard just to find an answer to a clue. We got back and were wearing our trash bags poncho's and were soaking wet. Everyone else looked dry and thought we were nuts. It was only a few minutes later that we found out they knew we didn't need to get out at every stop.

OH well! Here are the pictures!


We hit the door running!

We laughed and laughed and laughed and the two bigger kids that got to come along had a good time too once they started jumping out at every stop with us!

Go ahead, point, laugh make jokes......we did!

The worst part was that I did not wear a sports bra and the girls kept jumping outta my bra when I'd run. Brandy couldn't keep her pants up so we were quite a pair!

We look good in trash bags don't we? I almost suffocated putting it on though, very scary!

I really hope to get to do this again when the guys come home. I also hope they make everyone take pictures the whole way too because I really think it made it more fun!

We had to run inside a couple places and shove unsuspecting Privates out of the way. We got crazy looks when we were shouting go go go as we ran out of the store and jumped into the van. Amber will make a great get-away driver when she grows up!

One Year Ago Our Hearts Were Broken

This was my post from one year ago today. Today we celebrated two of my favorite little girls (show below broken hearted) birthdays. This year we celebrate knowing that there is an end in sight! On our one year anniversary of our battalions deployment and our families being seperated we know that a few short months from now it's all going to be over with and we will have our soldiers back!

Remember to be grateful for every moment you have with your families!

So here it is. From May 2, 2008:


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Have you ever stopped long enough in your life to look around. To really really look at other people? Have you wondered how much families really care about each other and how much love they have to give? I often see people and think to myself (or maybe to my friends) how unlikely a couple looks together and wonder how their life really is behind closed doors. Or have you seen that group of teenage kids walking down the street all in black with crazy hair and every possible visible pierced part of their body shining with metal studs and wondered where on earth their parents were when they did that? Maybe Dad had spent four years of their teenage years deployed and Mom was wise enough to choose battles that protected their safety and let them make harmless stupid mistakes that they might regret later.



Today we did this at a time when families were at their most vulnerable. Having to watch your soldier form up for that last formation before being whisked away on crowded buses to an airport to board a plane with an M16 strapped to their back. Their weapon now sleeps beside them where their wives and children should be. How often do you turn your child away and send them back to their beds at night so you can sleep comfortably in yours without them kicking you all night long or waking up with their feet in your nose. And without thinking about that child who just said goodbye to their daddy (or mommy) for what seems a lifetime to them and could very well be a lifetime. How many times does a soldier have to go to war and come back alive before the statistics grab him too?




This is our life. This is what we do. And some of you may say "well you signed up for this is your choice, you knew what you were getting yourself into." For those of you who say that please click the little x at the top right corner now. For those of you who understand that we didn't sign up for this because we love being broke, alone and worried. We love our country. We love our freedom and we need to know that when we leave this Earth we did our part in making sure that someone else lived a better, safer life because of our sacrifice. Our soldiers fight for people who don't care who they are and don't want to hear the horror stories or pay their medical cost for a lifetime of pain. For people more worried about money then ensuring that their great great grandchildren will also be able to be free. Our guys don't want to go to war. They don't want to leave us behind but it's their duty. They feel it's what they should do for all of us left behind. They hate being away, they hate the life they lead while they are gone. They hate seeing their battle buddy wounded. And yet they do all of this to be hated by so many people who just don't get it.



We get it. We really do. We'd love for the war to end tomorrow and our guys to come home. But we know there is a reason. They believe in what they are fighting for. They are protecting us from more attacks on US soil by taking out the bad guy on his own sand (not much soil from the pictures I've seen).

Some of the younger kids have no idea what's happening. They are the lucky ones.


We'll send them letters, care packages filled with all of their favorite non-perishable items. Pictures, video's, phone calls and emails is what we have and we're so grateful for every bit of it! Civilians get contracted out to go to Iraq and Afghanistan and make at least twice as much money without all of the dangers. The military is like the legal way to have cheap labor. Instead of sweatshops they hang out in the desert dodging bullets. They do it anyway. It's okay because they have a support system. They have families at home who love them and miss them.



Deployments make us stronger. We learn how to be single parents. And while many civilians are too it's different. You see we have husbands, we just can see them or touch them. We still have to take care of them from afar. We send them the things they need, listen when they need to vent, take the brunt of their frustration backed by professions of undying love for us and their children. We have to try day after day to explain to little ones that Daddy is helping the good guys (not fighting the bad guys unless you want to battle with nightmares). We live far from family and can't call for a babysitter whenever we want because the people we'd want to see are in our boat. We can't afford to travel to see our parents and have help from family very often and when we do we have to plan it around school and R&R and God knows what.



Ok I'm done complaining. I love my life. I love my soldier. I hate that he's been gone for almost two months and will come home only to have to leave for a gazillion more but I love my freedom. My kids love their Daddy and miss him but it's all worth it in the end because it has to be. This is what we do.


I took this picture of my soldier and little guys a few weeks ago before he left for Maryland because I knew that like my close friends in the pictures above that my turn is next in a few short weeks.

Watching Him Walk Away


And here I go for all my girls.........HOOAH!

It's 2:30 in the morning but tomorrow brings another busy day and I just have to get these pictures I took edited. I'm not posting this blog till tomorrow though so I'll come back and add some pictures for you!

It's 2am on Sunday and I got the pictures added and now I can click publish. Girls thanks for letting me into your lives to invade your space and take pictures of the worst moments we can imagine but need to hold onto so badly. I love you guys and I know you'll be clicking away when I'm red faced and miserable. Thanks for being you!

Some Happiness for my 300th Post

We've had too much sadness lately. We knew that with losing our little Allie we had two choices. We could sulk and have a major void in our lives for a while or we can say we did our best for her. We loved her and we will miss her a ton but we've got to get on with it or the sadness will overcome us. We've had way too much of that and we're still a few months away from the end of the deployment.

We talked it over with Kirke. We looked at pictures together online and we talked about what we wanted and together as a family we chose our newest member of the family. If you think we should have waited longer and blah blah blah please keep that to yourself okay? We're not looking for advice on the situation just sharing our story.

We drove two hours south of here to get our new fuzzy family member and were not disappointed!

Meet Sawyer!! He's a 9 week old Australian Shepard/Sheltie Mix. He's mild mannered, friendly, playful and smart. He's perfect for our family! It's kind of scary how good he's been so far. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Ok ok ok here he is!!!

Scrappy is a grumpy old man (11 yrs old now) but he can't hide his love of a new puppy!

He wanted in that water table so badly! He's so good!

Make sure you watch the video of Sawyer low crawling! He does it ALL the time it's so funny! We love him! We needed him and he needed us!