Welcome to the site where I will talk about my family, the good and the bad. Finally, a forum where I cannot be interrupted, and their opinions cannot be heard! What a relief!

First off I HAVE to talk about my cousin Joshua, who is in the middle east somewhere fighting for the War On Terror. Over the past summer, my cousin Josh had told me about a girl he met while with a friend of his in a small town in SE Kansas. He had told me he really liked this girl, and he told me about her. I could tell he was really taken by her, I had not heard him talk about someone like this for a long time. He told me she was divorced, and she had 3 young boys, and he absolutely adored them as well. Of course we started to tease him about having a ready-made family, but it did not seem to bother him. I finally met her, her name is Brandi, and I decided she was nice enough for my little cousin to date and marry. He had already started talking about marriage, and eventually asked her to marry him. They were planning to get married in the spring I think.

Then, I think it was July, I got a call from my mom. Joshua had been activated, and he was getting called up to go overseas....IRAQ. He has been in the national guard for some time, and he had actually talked before about wanting to go over there. That was before he met the girl of his dreams, got a great job, and was just plain enjoying life. Now he was being added to a unit that was being deployed to assist just before the Iraqi elections. Josh was disappointed, he wanted to get married, but he wanted to do his duty, and reconciled himself to the fact that he was going...he just wanted some time with Brandi before he left. They decided to move up the wedding date, to the end of August, so he could marry her before he left. It was a small wedding, him and his brother (he is in ROTC in K-State) were in uniform. The ceromony was 15 minutes, seriously (thats a guy wedding), then we had a small party.

Soon after, Josh reported to Ft. Riley for duty. We thought we would not be able to see him, but we found out there would be several opportunities to see him. We went a couple of times, then right before Thanksgiving, they announced they were having a deployment ceremony on base. Then we knew it would be soon. Luckily, his new bride was able to spend several weekends on base with him. We went to the deployment ceremony, then we were able to spend the evening with him, having dinner and visiting. I also found out that certain family would be able to be on base with him to have Thanksgiving dinner, but he could not leave. His new wife, mom, and his little brother went on base to have dinner. Then, at about 8 PM, they came in and said that the families needed to say goodbye. Jason, his little brother, told me later he knew he was leaving the next day, he was sure of it. Well, Jason and I had a Kansas City Chiefs game, so we went to K.C. on Saturday night to spend the night before the game the next day. As we were leaving to go to the nearby bar, he got a call from his mom. Joshua called, he was not in the country anymore, and couldn't say where he was. All he could say is there was a lot of sand....everywhere. We believe he is actually stationed in Kuwait, but the tough times happen when they run missions into Iraq, but he has a pretty nice set up where he is staitioned. We are lucky, we have an email address so we can talk occasionally, and he has access to a phone bank, and he can call once in a while.

I can't wait until he comes home, he had told me before he left that he gets a long time off after he returns. Then they can have a real honeymoon. It is going to be tough to wait this long, but we are going to have a huge party when he gets back!!! As long as his new wife will let us see him too! Just kidding Brandi. We did find out that he is coming home for about 2 weeks in August, then he has to go back for at least 4 months. It will be great to see him again, but it will suck saying goodbye. Again. We are going to have a big party for him when he gets here, then he is going home to his new wife and disappear for the rest of the time. Can't say I blame him, I would want to spend every second I can at home. I sure he has had enough excitement.

I recently got an email from him, he has been running some missions into "Saddam Land" as he calls it. He also sent some pictures and I told him I would share them with everyone. He stated he is also sending some pictures on a disc, and I will add those to the web site when they get here.

Joshua's new favorite pets!

Next time don't complain about having to do 20 in a school zone!

For some other family news, joshua's little brother, Jason, will be graduating in December of this year with a degree in Civil Engineering! He will also have a commissioning ceremony in December, where he will get the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He has a small amount of credits to finish in his last semester, so it is a good thing we will have some Football games to attend!

Please keep my cousin Joshua and ALL our troops away from home, in whatever country they are in, in your prayers. I know they appreciate it. God Bless you guys, and please come home safe.

For those of you who know, Bob and Pat's Jennifer has been undergoing treatment for Luekemia. She has undergone a bone marrow transplant, and the news is she is doing very well. I was told just the other day that she may even be released from the Hospital soon! Thank all of you for your prayers, and please keep Bob, Pat, Jennifer and Adam in your prayers, I know they appreciate you. I will keep forwarding whatever emails I get on her progrees to you, and hopefully she will continue to improve. I will add her email address to my web site in the near future so that you may send her well wishes.