On the road again.....

Alrighty gang, it's that time again. In just a few short hours (ok, about 9) Percy and I will be on the road and headed to Fort Bragg!

I got a call from Aaryk today, he has begun his long journey homeward, and we would both be really grateful of your prayers that his trip be uneventful and uninterrupted. There is a good chance that they will be routing them through London and you know how...unsettled...things are there at the moment.

So prayers for safe journeys all around would be much appreciated, as we have car and trailer trips and flights from various parts of the world all converging on Columbia SC next week!

I'll post more as we go along, with pictures as soon as I'm able!

OH, I almost forgot! Brian told Sharalyn that they will NOT be forwarding his mail to his AIT, so please don't right to him after the 1st, because he may not get it. If you'd like to send him a message or congrats or anything, feel free to comment to this post and I'll make sure he gets the messages. When he has an address at Ft. Gordon I'll let you all know too. Thanks!

WHOO HOO!

I got a voicemail from Brian yesterday.

HE PASSED HIS PT TEST!

Brian asked me to say 'Hi!' to everyone and to thank you all for your prayers and support.

He left this morning for their final 7 day field exercise and then it's a couple of days of clean up, graduation practice, and then graduation!

I leave here on the 1st to drive down to NC to pick up Aaryk (hopefully on the 3rd or 4th) and then on to SC for Family Day and Graduation. My folks will be there and so will Brian's girlfriend (Hi Share!). After Graduation, on the 7th, we will be driving him to Ft. Gordon Georgia for his AIT. It's about a 90 minute drive and he'll have to be there by 5pm.

Then I'll have the rest of the two weeks of his R&R to spend with Aaryk!

(yeah, I'm just a little bit excited about all of this...can you tell?!)

Thanks again everyone for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for their safety and that Aaryk is able to get in on time.

Deployment bracelets

This is kind of short notice I know, but I thought some of you might be interested in this.

One of the FRGs (Family Readiness Group) is selling deployment bracelets for our soldiers. They are similar to the POW/MIA ones you may have seen.

They are $15 each, and the proceeds support the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division 1-73 CAV FST currently serving in Iraq and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

Orders have to be postmarked by June 20th and you can download the order form here. (It's a Word document)

Here's a sample of what they look like-


I'm getting one as a prayer reminder for me, so that even when I get busy I still remember to pray for his safety and that of all our soldiers.

News from Brian! (and a couple of prayer requests)

Sorry for the lack of updates, but there really hasn't been a lot going on here. I did hear from Brian over the weekend though! He called me on Saturday, and I got a letter from him yesterday.

He's doing reasonably well. He's getting over a cold that he says most of the guys have had recently, and is constantly tired and sore. Of the two major area that he has to pass in Basic, he is over one of the hurdles. He passed is Basic Rifle Marksmanship last week! Now he just has his PT test to get through. He's got the pushups and sit ups down alright, but he still needs to cut 3 minutes off of his two mile run. That's down from the 7 minutes he was originally over on this run. I told him I would pass this along as a specific prayer request, because if he doesn't pass the PT test, he gets to do the WHOLE NINE WEEKS of Basic over again.

He also asked me to thank everyone who has sent cards and letters. If you were waiting on sending them, it's okay now. He really appreciates hearing from everyone. He did have one other request. He would like to be able to get a laptop computer when he gets to his AIT next month. He is currently paying off old bills and won't be able to afford one any time soon. So he asked, that instead of care packages if anyone is interested in contributing to a 'computer fund' for him, he would really appreciate it. I'll probably still send packages too (because he may not realize it yet, but it will mean a lot to him), but told him I'd pass this along. I may do an early birthday present for him and set some money aside for his computer.

My second prayer request is for Aaryk. He's doing fine also, working nights at the moment (when it's a little cooler to be outside working on the trucks), and is due to come home on leave in a couple weeks. At the moment, he is scheduled to fly in on either the 4th or 6th of July to Fayetteville. Brian's graduation is on the 6th with family day on the 5th. It would be really nice if Aaryk could be there for it, and so I am requesting your prayers that he get in on the 4th so we have time to get him and bring him down to Ft. Jackson.

I'm doing okay too, trying to stay busy. I finally can update my weight loss tracker again (yea!), and I've been going to the gym for a little over a week now. That's about it for right now, as always, thanks for the prayers and support!