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!