New Babies!

Most of you already know, but Chad & Steve are both expecting new babies! Yes, both will be new dad's (Steve again). Abby and Chelsea are both due around the same time this summer. Chad will be due back from Iraq about a month before Abby is due. Steve will still be in Texas for a couple more months, but then will return to Az. Congrats to all of you!

Chad's webcam

Chad is able to talk to everyone via webcam. I haven't been able to yet, but I know my mom, Abby and Chelsea are excited about it. Thankfully his buddy got a new laptop and they have access most any time.






A little over a week ago, I mailed out a few boxes to Iraq. I mailed one to Chad and our adopted soldier. Hopefully they will arrive on time! It must be hard to be so far away from home on Christmas. I hope they all have a great holiday. I know it's going to be a memorable one!

Merry Christmas to all of our active duty men and women!

PS-
Steve is actually home to celebrate Christmas this year!

Here are some more pictures of Chad and his buddies in Iraq... I'll update more when I get more info!

Our Soldier Is Finally Home!

Steve made it back to Texas safe and sound... They got back on Thursday afternoon. I haven't heard much from Steve so I'm not sure what he is up to. I know they were traveling for 4 days so I'm sure he's catching up on sleep! Steve will be coming to Arizona soon to spend a month at home and then he is back to Texas for a couple of months. His time in the Army is almost up and everyone is excited to have him home for good!

The LAST holiday without Steve!

The Holgate family did Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday... It was a lot of fun to spend time up north with everyone. Everyone was sad that they had to spend another holiday without Steve. Logan misses his daddy so much and can't wait for him to be home for good... This should be the last holiday that Steve has to miss! He will be out of Iraq in a matter of days and back to the States for good!

Logan sat down in front of a shelf that had pictures of him and Steve displayed on it and he just stared at the pictures. It amazes me that he recognizes his daddy in every picture and points him out and gives him a kiss.

Only a few more weeks until Logan can kiss daddy for real!

Chad & Steve Meet Up!

How is it to have a brother and brother-in-law in Iraq at the same time? Eery, stressful, ironic and crazy! Chad and Steve met up with each other to hang out a couple of days ago. All-in-all, it seems like they had a good time! To be quite honest, I cried when I saw the pictures of them together over there. I can't help but stress (it's my nature) about having both of them in harm's way at the same time. I know Steve is leaving very soon and the excitement is rising. Chad however, still has quite a while before this ride is over.

I may not know Steve very well, but I can't help but feel like I somewhat know him. I look at Logan and see a younger replica of Steve. He is a spitting image of his dad. Logan knows who his daddy is too. When he sees pictures of him, he just smiles and says, "dad". I hope that Steve knows that my family truly cares about his safety and wants for him to return home to his son.

Please keep these two in mind, especially when you're having a hard day. Remember that life is great and with out men like these, we wouldn't have all the things we take for granted.

Early Christmas Present

Steve will be home in time for Christmas! Yes you heard right, Steve will be finished with Iraq soon. Logan is so excited! Although he will have to return to Texas for a short time thereafter, he will be home to Az quite soon.

You can tell he's excited too! Apparently he has already tried contacting Chad to see if he'd like to take his tv, power converter and xbox (playstation, nintendo, whatever!) off his hands.

Tonight, while Bradon, Jace and I were at Wal-Mart, we ran into a soldier dressed in uniform. Bradon said, "He's like my Uncle Chad and Uncle Steve". It's hilarious how he associates camo with his uncles. It suddenly made me sad though. I am still having a hard time with the thought of loved ones in the middle of chaos. I know they are smart and will return home safely.

Please Sign Petition for Our Service Men & Women

www.chooseorlose.com

I was talking to Steve this morning and he asked me to go to www.chooseorlose.com. I got on the computer and went to that website and saw a petition. The petition is as follows:

Bill of Rights for American Veterans (BRAVE)


By signing this petition I agree that we need to:

1. Properly treat mental health issues
2. Prevent homelessness among veterans
3. Give disabled vets the benefits they've earned
4. Fully fund our veterans' hospitals
5. Compensate troops made to serve longer

Veterans' groups across the country have worked together with MTV to identify top issues impacting young veterans. To mobilize support, MTV is working with these organizations to consolidate these top issues and create BRAVE, The Bill of Rights for America's Veterans. MTV and these Veterans organizations are asking Americans to sign this petition supporting BRAVE to demand our elected officials make BRAVE a reality. Our troops have fought for us, now it's our turn to fight for them!

We need our Elected Officials to:

1. Properly treat mental health issues

Every troop gets face-to-face screening from a mental health professional prior to deployment and within the first six (6) months of returning home from war.

REASON: Right now a tremendous number of soldiers are returning from the war with mental health issues and brain injuries. The current methods for evaluating and treating such injuries are ineffective and have left countless veterans undiagnosed or without proper treatment. While screening methods have improved since the war began, mandating evaluations, having enough mental health professionals to provide in-person evaluations, and working to eliminate the stigma associated with receiving mental health assistance while in the military is needed and still hasn't happened.

2. Prevent homelessness among veterans

Prevent young veterans and their families from falling into homelessness by creating 20,000 more permanent supportive housing units for very low-income veterans by December 31, 2009.

REASON: Right now on any given night there are 150,000-200,000 American veterans who are homeless. Men and women who have served our country are coming home and being forced to sleep on the streets in many cases due to mental and financial problems that often times are a result of their service to our country. Permanent supportive housing units offer young veterans and their families not only a home, but a support structure to help them get the help they need finding food, clothing, job training, jobs, legal aid, and health services.

3. Give disabled vets the benefits they've earned

The number of troops with physical, psychological, and neurological wounds waiting for their benefits should be cut in half by December 31, 2009.

REASON: Right now soldiers are coming home from the war with injuries that leave them disabled and in many cases unable to function as they did before the war. They are entitled to disability compensation to help them get on and stay on their feet. Currently the wait for such compensation is 6-8 months and puts an unnecessary burden on our injured veterans which often leads to additional problems like debt, mental health issues, homelessness, marital crisis, and suicide. To date, it is estimated that there 600,000 to 800,000 claims from our veterans that are still waiting to be processed by Veterans Affairs

4. Fully fund our veterans' hospitals

Veterans' hospitals should be fully funded for the 2010 fiscal year by September 20, 2009.

REASON: Right now Veterans hospitals, whose job it is to take care of our wounded warriors, are underfunded or not funded in time so they are unable to provide the proper personnel or services needed to treat our veterans. Taking care of our injured veterans is a cost of war and the facilities to do so need to be funded. Veterans' organizations all agree that funding for veterans hospitals needs to be sufficient, timely and predictable in order for the hospitals to be able to provide our veterans with the services they need and deserve.

5. Compensate troops made to serve longer

Troops on Stop Loss orders should receive an additional $1,500 / month in pay.

REASON: Right now soldiers who should be veterans and have fulfilled their term of service to our country are being made to serve extended tours. Despite the fact they are being told to serve longer than they agreed to, they are not given any compensation for this extended service which takes its toll on soldiers and their family's mental, physical, and financial stability. $1,500 is a number that was determined by veterans' organizations as a fair increase given the service being asked of these soldiers and similar compensation that is given to emergency responders at home during their time of extended service during a crisis.


Please go to www.chooseorlose.com to sign the petition. It only takes a second and it could make a huge impact on thousands of veterans.

Chad's Deployment

Bradon, Logan & Josh

Chad & Bradon

Chad

The Family

The Tanks



You know how you begin to think the grass is always greener on the other side? Well, I'm sure that is how the boys (Marines) felt about living in Twentynine Palms. If you haven't been there, you aren't missing much. Ironically, he sent an e-mail to his girlfriend last night stating he feels as if he never left 29, because it's very similar there, on the other side of the world in Kuwait.

This past weekend, family and friends gathered to spend time with Chad as he readied to leave for Iraq. It was difficult for everyone to see Chad and his friends go. I know for most of us, the past few days have been spent with tears and Kleenex!

Abby (Chad's girlfriend) received an e-mail from Chad about 11:30 last night. He said that he is currently in Kuwait awaiting a flight out to Al Asad. In the meantime, they are doing "lots of loading and unloading of planes". We'll wait to see what we hear from him next.

On the other hand, we are still missing Steve, but he is almost done with his 2nd tour of duty. He will be coming home to see his little boy, family and friends soon! Please keep the both of them in your thoughts.

Steve's Ticker

Wow! I just looked at the ticker at the bottom of the blog and realized how long Steve's been away for. It has been over a year now! Time has really gone by quickly-at least for me. The end of Iraq is in sight for him and he can't wait. I am so excited to see what he thinks of his little Logan when he returns. When he left, Logan was a little guy and now he is nearing his second birthday. We are all getting excited as Steve will return home safely very soon!

The Boys & Their Happening's

I think it's high time for an update. Chad is currently home for his last big hurrah, before he will be deployed. I believe he will be in town until September 7, if you're interested in catching up with him.

Chad has promised to take his nephew, Bradon to the mall for some quality time. I might add that he wanted to "put him on one of those leashes. You know, like the kind you see mom's attached to on the other end.". I had to shut him down. There is NO WAY my child will be on a leash, because his Uncle Chad wants to act silly. I told him in place of playing 'puppy' with my child, he could take him to look at them instead. He then went on to say that he would be buying a puppy for Bradon. I am going to call the idea of Chad spending time with Bradon a very bad idea. I think the key is to limit his access to my kids!

I don't have much of an update on Steve. Teresa or Chelsea...You have any new news you'd like to throw my way? What I do know is that he has been gone for nearly a year. An entire 11 months has passed already! As usual, please keep him in your thoughts. We know he will return home safely!

Happy 4th of July!

Steve & Logan

Chad and nephews, Jace & Bradon


I know how appreciative we all are of our service men and women. This is an extra special thanks to Chad and Steve! Thank you both so much for all that you do as brothers, sons, friends, and military men. We appreciate the sacrifices you have made to give us another Independence Day! We love you!

Happy Birthday Steve!

I guess the sign says it all... Happy birthday Steve!

I was talking to Steve yesterday and I had him send me a new picture for Logan to see. As soon as I opened this picture Logan was saying "Daddy" and crawled up the computer cabinet to kiss the screen. I am glad that Logan recognizes who his dad is despite not being albe to see him very often. He loves giving Steve's pictures kisses!

Home from Korea!

Chad made it back to 29 Palms safely a little over a week ago. He liked Korea- despite the cold weather!

He and a couple of friends came to Arizona to visit this weekend and Chad brought a ton of pictures from his trip.

We are glad that the guys had a good trip and that they made it back safely!

Wake up call...

Yesterday I woke up irritated that my phone was ringing before 7 am... I found myself thinking "who is calling me this early and what do they want?" I answered my phone and was pleasantly surprised to hear Steve on the other end! Steve has not called me since September, so you can imagine how unexpected this was. Suddenly, I was not irritated about this wake up call. I was happy to hear from him and the time was no longer on my mind. We talked for 15 minutes before the call was dropped. I was irritated/worried when the phone just hung up without any warning. I later found out that they had a bad storm last night and the phone lines suck during storms.

Well, this morning my phone rang at 6:44 and I again had thoughts about which one of my friends was going to be in trouble for waking me up today. I answered and once again heard Steve's voice. Once again- I was in shock. I got 2 phone calls in 24 hours! I was able to talk to him for nearly 40 minutes this time and the phone didn't hang up before we were able to say goodbye.

I was happy to finally hear from him and it doesn't matter what time the phone rings when the person on the other end is a deployed soldier. Hopefully he knows that it's okay to call anytime- even if I am getting much needed beauty sleep!

Everything is going fine with him. Nothing major to report- at least nothing that he mentioned to me! He signed his papers the other day and had his leave dates approved. He is going to be home at the end of next month and he is very excited.

I can't wait to see what he thinks of his little twin! By the time Steve makes it to AZ, 8 months will have passed since he last saw Logan.

Logan still says "dada" each time we walk by a picture of Steve and he has to stop to give his daddy a kiss. I am sure those two boys will be causing trouble in no time!

Support

Today, Chelsea and I joined my mom out at the Marine's booth. On the weekends, my mom and her friend collect donations for the Marine's. Originally, we set out to indulge ourselves in their delicious, inexpensive breakfast menu! It ended up, we brought in about 1/3 of the day's donations!

As I sat there with my two sons and mom, an irritated lady approached the table. She instantly began to voice her feelings about the military and the ones who are no longer with us. She felt that a foundation for fallen soldier's (which we were displaying) was offensive. She continued on to tell my mom that we should remember those who are still fighting this war and so on. If you know what my mom is involved in, you will know that she is raising funds to send well-wishes to troops overseas and their family members.

I instantly found myself irritated that this woman had such a strong opinion of something which she knew nothing about. My mom actually calmed the lady down and explained what Operation Stocking Stuffer was really about. She left teary eyed, after she said she already lost one son and had family still fighting this war.

My question though, what exactly is wrong with "memorializing" the fallen soldiers? This lady was very upset at the thought that we might be doing this. I think (now it's only MY opinion) that we should do something to commemorate those who are no longer with us. They gave their lives for our country, you and me!

Chad just called to let us know that he made it to Korea safely... He didn't waste much time before complaining about the cold weather! Anyway, I think he was tired and cold, but he seemed to be enjoying the experience. Abby was excited that she got to talk to Chad for a while!

Farewell Chad and Hello Steve!

In honor of Chad departing, I thought you might be interested in a little Korean culture...



Hanbok, as everyday attire, is worn chiefly by elderly people and by the general population during special occasions such as traditional holidays, weddings and 60th birthday celebrations. Western civilization type clothing has taken over this once everyday attire.

Chad is off to Korea. He will be up and on his way as of 1 am. He will embark on a 15 hr flight, stopping in Tokyo first. He is very excited and I feel he thinks of this trip as more of a vacation than "work".

The weather this time of yr is pretty cold apparently. Chad doesn't do cold weather well...

I coerced him into bringing us back prizes from his month long stint there. He has promised he will bring some small gifts for his nephews. I find myself SO jealous that he is getting to travel like this. The military has definitely provided him some awesome opportunities.

I hope he has a very memorable time and he also promises to behave. He says his buddies are looking forward to meeting some Korean ladies (Chels claims they are mostly Russian women there, not Korean), but he's excited to go shopping; I think this is due to his current girlfriend, Abby. We're all grateful she puts up with him!

On to Steve news. He is returning home in April for two weeks. We are all getting excited to see him. I'm most excited to see how Logan's little face lights up when he sees his daddy! It's been too long!

I often check this blog. I'm always curious to see if Chelsea's posted something new, if someone actually commented, or see what the weather's like where the boys are at. Today, I noticed that Steve has been away for 4 months time. It's hard to believe that he's been in Iraq that long already. I know for Chelsea, Logan and his parents it's seemed longer, I'm sure. I wonder sometimes what Steve has been doing. How things are for him. If he's warm, happy. I sure hope so.

My mom finished up the stockings to be sent to the Marines. I am proud to report that over 10,000 pounds of stockings were sent to the troops. That made a total of 1,500 soldiers that received them. This included Steve and his troop. I'm so proud of my mom for making a difference. I'm sure it put a smile on all of their faces, at least for a moment. She worked so hard on this project and it's an ongoing job for her. Good job mom and all of those who donated time, money and effort!