Wednesday, September 9, 2009

To Our Fallen Soldiers

God works in mysterious ways, and we are not to understand them. We just have to trust that his plan is always much bigger and greater than we are. We are not to take for granted the time we have on this earth or the blessings he bestows upon each and every one of us every single day.


To Our Fallen Soldier:
Jessica Lynn Jopek
Copyright ©2006 Jessica Jopek
"He has a strong heart
and great amount of stubborn pride
He's a brave one
and he shows it with every stride
I know he won't let us down
as he serves our country over
in a dangerous land
For, even though he won't admit it,
he's holding God's hand
He'll fight for their freedom
while helping us hold on to ours
Even though he may come back
with some frightening scars
I love this man,
they call an American Soldier
I love him,
he is my brother."

Today we got the terrible news that a friend passed on to be with the Lord. He was running a convoy in Iraq when his team got hit with an IED. Joe, you will be greatly missed. You were a joy to know and to work with. Rest In Peace.





Family Days

On Lackland AFB, there is an awesome park right next to the church, so Sunday morning, before church, we decided to have some fun. Jr.’s first time on the swing, slide, and driving (in the little wooden car they had in the infant playground). He really enjoyed it. Mom even went climbing through the slides and tunnels! Finally, when we went into church, we realized it was the Southern Baptist service, and being that we are Lutheran/Catholic, it made for an interesting, yet fun time of worshipping the Lord.



On Monday, Labor Day, we decided it would be fun to take a trip to Corpus Christi. Road trip!! We had a great time on the way down. We spent the four hours (2 hours each way) talking and jamming out to some awesome tunes; Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Journey, just to name a few! This was little man’s first time swimming in the ocean. Mommy and Daddy were so concerned with the baby, making sure he was lathered with SPF50/covered/comfortable/safe and having fun, guess what we forgot? I’m sure you guessed it! Sunscreen! AH!! So, three bottles of aloe later, Mommy still has the funniest tan lines and Daddy’s shoulders are purple. We had such a great time though, it was worth it!



Today, Mike graduated from “Integrated Command and Control Defense Course.”Received a diploma and everything! He even received the honorary “Airmando” patch, which is apparently what Security Forces Officers were supposed to be called back in the day! Haha! We have had such a great time together in San Antonio, it’s sad to see it end. God works in great ways though. This training was able to break up the year away from the family a little bit more. Mike will leave for Korea Thursday and Heather and MJ are going back to Colorado. Mike will come home in December for his mid tour. Counting the days. 90 to go!!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Deep in the Heart Of Texas...

Currently Mike is serving a remote tour in Kunsan, South Korea. It's been real interesting being on my own with an infant and two dogs (Brody and Zinfindale). We've been doing well though. By the grace of God, Mike received a three week long training/educational opportunity in San Antonio, Texas. Yay! Of course MJ and I decided that we had to spend that time with Mike in Texas...so here we are.

Since we've been here, MJ got his first bites of "real" food from Daddy; sweet potatoes and rice cereal were first! He loved them. He also started saying "da-da" a lot more. It's been so nice to see the two of them bond. Mike even picked out a new haircut for MJ, making this his fourth one. It's a little military like, but like they say, “Like father, like son.”

We'll be heading home next week, which is really unfortunate, but thankfully, Mike will be home for his mid-tour leave in December; just in time for his birthday and for Baby's First Christmas!