PATRIOT Phase

This week was the first week in PATRIOT phase (the second phase) of our course. The PATRIOT weapon system is the main weapon in Air Defense and it is extremely complex and technical. This week alone we were introduced to over 100 new acronyms and terms...all of which we have to know. :)

It is a little hard for me to be too interested in this phase because I am not going to a PATRIOT unit; I am going to a unit that really does some Air Defense, but mostly other combat arms type of missions. The weapon at my unit is one that is new and defends forward bases from rockets, artillery and mortars. Unfortunately, I will get zero training on that weapon system before I get to my unit...oh well. :)

This week has been very busy as my brother Zebb and his fiance, Celia, were here for a few days...and adjusting to everyone being back in school and getting back into our routine. Kierra and Brookelynn are doing great and learning more and more every day. Brookie will turn two next week, and my younger brother Sage and his fiance, Kristen, are coming to visit us this Thursday. We are very thankful and blessed to have had my brothers come visit us so much while I am here. We all miss family, and are all looking forward to coming home in March. :)

I pray that all is well with you and I would ask that you all remember to pray for America as several people have lost jobs and are struggling financially. God is our provider and He will see us through. We just need to remain faithful and remember Who provides for our needs.

love and miss you guys.

Will

Learning

I hope you all enjoy these videos. Kids are never too young to learn about the Lord!!!

Love Will

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone.

We had a great time last night as we had a couple from our apartment complex (who have two girls the same age as ours) over and a friend from my class. We played games and ate food while the girls watched movies, played with princesses and terrorized each other. It was a lot of fun.

I have basically had these last two weeks off as we have been on a "Holiday Schedule" and have been able to spend a ton of time with my girls.

Tomorrow I get to take Danae out for her B-day (she was sick on Sunday) and our friends are watching the girls for us. It will be fun to go on a date...as we don't get do that very often now that we don't have a ton of Grandparents and friends around to watch the girls. :)

Today we went on a hike on the nearby mountain range and Kierra is becoming quite the climber. Brookie obviously didn't get enough sleep last night as she was out before 11:00 and didn't wake up til after 2:00 p.m.

We all seem to be getting healthy...just in time to start back up with school again. Next week I will begin the PATRIOT phase of my training where we will familiarize ourselves with the primary weapon in Air Defense. This school will be over on the 10th of March...which will be a welcomed date as we are going to head back to Idaho on the 16th of March for my brother Sage's wedding. Kierra and Brookie are the flower girls for the wedding and we were able to get them some really cute dresses for a great deal last weekend.

Anyways, we are all doing great and looking forward to eventually getting settled somewhere for more than a few months! :)

Love and miss you guys.

Will

A few videos

These are a few videos from Christmas and the Sand Dunes last week. Hope you all had a great week!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Truett and I buried the kids in the sand. They loved it.



I hope this time of year brings you all to remember the real reason for Christmas...Jesus' birth. The girls and I were at Walmart this last week and this older woman stopped me to tell me how cute my girls were and then asked them if they were all ready for Santa to bring them a gift. I politely said, "We do not believe in Santa". And this poor old woman looked at me with such disgust before I could even explain. Right about then Kierra piped in and said, "Christmas is about baby Jesus being born in Bethleham, not about Santa and presents." I was so proud of her. This woman just said, "Well, that's nice isn't it" and walked away. I was so proud of Kierra for standing up for Jesus. I know she probably didn't understand, but I would hope that we can teach our children that it is for Jesus our Lord and Savior that we celebrate Christams!

Truett, Will's brother was here this last week and we had such a great time. We all went back to the sand dunes in White Sands, NM. It was nice and warm and we played there a good part of the day. Then the next day we went hiking and we decided that we have a great rock climber - Kierra. She is nuts on the rocks and it makes Notice Kierra in the bag. me so nervous. But she loves it forsure.

We will be going to one of Will's classmate's house for a Christmas Eve party. It will be nice to be able to spend that time with someone else's family. Then Christmas Day we will just chill here in the apartment. I am just cooking a low key dinner as we are all sick now. Hopefully the girls will be feeling better by Christmas. Will and I should be on the mending edge soon. Now we can only hope we don't get the girls' pink eye. LOL.

These pictures kind of loaded funny, but they are all from White Sands and hiking the hill right behind our apartments.

We hope this finds you all well and enjoying family. We love and miss you all!
Merry Christmas!!
Danae

An Exciting Few Weeks.....

Well, I guess its been a few weeks since I have posted something and I have no pictures to offer, but I will work on that for the next post. Sorry Mom and Dad :-). Where to begin......

Last week we got back Brookelynn's final testing on celiac disease. Praise God her DNA tests came back all negative for the disease. After almost a year of talking about and several procedures, we can finally rule that out and say she will just grow out of her issues. As to which most have cleared up already. We have no one to thank but the Lord that she is doing so well.

Sage, Will's little brother got engaged to Kristen this last week so we will be headed back to Idaho for a wedding in late March. The girls and I will then stay in Idaho with my parents until 14 May where we will catch up with Will in Ft Benning GA to drive to our duty station...Ft Campbell. I am getting anxious to get settled somewhere. We are very excited for Sage and Kristen, and we are excited to welcome Kristen into our family.

We also took on the endeavor to get Brookelynn potty trained this weekend. I can see light at the end of the tunnel, but I am looking forward to being done with it and able to leave the house again. She is catching on, but since I am not very patient in these matters I want it done yesterday. Needless to say, we acted out Bible stories at home with the kids today instead of going to church since we are confined to the house till Brookelynn can safely leave. :-)

Will is super busy with school. Last week he started at 5:30 in the morning and wasn't home before 7:00 in the evening one night. This weekend was spent with his group from school finishing up a project and when he was home he was busy with another project due this week. It's a battle anaylasis and it is very detailed and time consumming. He will be glad when he has breifed it and it is over I am sure.

This week Truett, Will's other little brother will be flying in for a few days to spend with us. We are glad to see some family forsure.

We hope you all have a wonderful week and if I don't get another blog posted a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

In Him
Danae

Thanksgiving is over...looking forward to Christmas :)

Hey everyone,

We had a great time during the Thanksgiving holiday. I had 4 days off and spent all of it with my girls so we had much to be thankful for. Danae and I made the best turkey we have ever had before and the kids ended up eating cereal...our meal was good!

On Friday, the 29th, I took all 3 of my girls on a date to go see Madagascar 2. The girls were thrilled to get to eat popcorn and licorice during the movie...it was pretty fun and the kids were great in the movie theater.

I got to take Kierra on her first little hike and she had a great time. She is very agile for her age and hopefully some day will be climbing with her daddy and Papa Carl. Brookie got too cold, although to her credit she wanted to come with us...she will be able to next year. :)

I am still in the core phase of my schooling...we will finish the core phase just before Christmas and have 2 weeks of no classes during the holidays. We will start Patriot phase next year. Can you believe we are almost into 2009??? Wow this year has flown by!

Keep praying for us to find a church where we can connect. There is a different church culture here than we are used to, but God is still good. Danae and I are going to go through Love & Respect (on DVD) with two of our friends Jason and Shirley. They have two girls the same age as ours so we hang out frequently.

I just wanted to give you all an update...please keep in touch. We love and miss you guys.

Will