TSA and other events

Our son was home for his 10 day leave and left this morning for further training.

He has had some awesome experiences.

On our flight home from graduation the pilot announced that there was a special guest on board - a newly minted Marine - and asked the passengers to give him a hand. He said "Welcome to the family -Semper Fi". There was a lot of applause and several passengers thanked him for his service. Our son was was very embarrassed and said I haven't done anything yet.

Today at the airport he and several other young Marines were upgraded to first class -they did not ask for an upgrade. There was an airport official who was watching for these Marines and moving them to the front of the queue. Another official asked us if we knew we could get gate passes to go with him to his gate. We did not know this and with her telling us we were able to be with him for another hour before his flight. He called us during his layover to tell us that the pilot had acknowledged the Marines on his flight thanking them for their service. And in the airport waiting for their connecting flight an unknown benefactor bought lunch for about 30 Marines.

We hear so many negative things I want to remember these positives

A newly minted Marine

This was our Marine on family day He had On Base Liberty to be with us for about 5 hours. Chris is front and center.


This is Private Warren and Private Lodin both from Minnesota immediately after Graduation and leaving the Parade Deck!!

R & R

This is the first day I have had in months that did not have a schedule.

I put a bunch of Christmas cards in the mail this morning. I had about 3/4 of my letters done before my life went out of control but today I finished the majority of them. I have Christmas presents for co-workers that are still sitting in my closet waiting to be wrapped. I am so far behind with those!!

I am supposed to be working on weight loss I made it to the club twice since January 1st. I figure the way things have been going twice is doing good.

We received our 5th and 6th letters from our recruit this week. It is so good to hear from him. He sounds so up beat in his letters. And he is trying hard to keep us informed as much as he can. In one of his first letters he talked about applying and being accepted to being a Catholic Prayer Leader. He goes to classes weekly with a Chaplain and has been learning how to lead prayer for the Catholics in his platoon.

Then in one of his last letters he shared about a gift passed on to him from a recruit in another company that was in the 3rd phase of Boot Camp.
He wrote "Last Tuesday a ___ Co. recruit passed onto me something a 3rd phase recruit had given him before him...... and so on and so forth. It is a crucifix, a St. Christopher medal, 2 shields of strength with Romans 8:37 and 8:38 on them and a dog tag with Joshua 1:9 on it. It was pretty cool. On marine week I will pass it to a phase 1 recruit."

I find it amazing how his faith walk is being strengthened in this time. His love of Mass and Eucharist has always been strong. But I find at a time that things could be more difficult God is working to keep his faith alive and strong for himself and for others. God is so awesome. God is so Good.

We laugh as we read his letters lately food seems to occupy a lot of his time. In this same letter he wrote I still haven't gotten dessert but I've been tempted. Thus, I decree! Mother when you come hither to San Diego I beseech thee to make any and all bars you will bring (especially chocolate chip cookie bars) I can't wait for the sweets.

I had to read it twice to see if he had somehow been zapped to a different era. Who uses words like decree, beseech and hither today? My son in Boot Camp

He makes us laugh even as we miss him <3

We Got Mail !!!

Chris has been at MCRD in San Diego since 12/13
He left on the 12th so it has been 18 days.
We received a Form letter with his address on Monday. We had 6 letters in the mail to him by Tuesday morning. And there have been 3 more since.
Today we received our first REAL mail from him. 2 letters.
They were everything we hoped for - long letters that told us things were going well.
They made us laugh out loud.

Oh how I LOVE my son!!

He even wrote us a poem


Hello mudda, Hello fadda
Here I am in
San Diego
It ain't nice though
It's pretty rainy
Sometimes all this training
gets a little draining

His sense of humor shines through.
Oh do I MISS my son!!
But I believe he is right where God wants him right now.



Oh how PROUD I am of my son!!

Mail days are HAPPY DAYS - here's to many more Happy Days!!

A goal accomplished

Our son Nick wanted to join the Air Guard. When he graduated from High School that was his plan. He didn't want to go to college - he wanted to go to boot camp. With some medical delays he was forced to wait until the October after his graduation to enlist. But on the Monday before Labor day I came home from work to find him at home, not at his much needed job. When hubs arrived home I explained that Nick was home and I wasn't certain why he wasn't at work. My DH noticed a hospital band on Nicks wrist and he told Nick if he was having medical tests it would be nice to keep us informed, as we would be paying the bills. Nick very angry (and afraid) snapped that he had been in the clinic and the hospital all day having tests, and that the clinic called wanting him back before they closed to go over his tests. As he slammed out of the house he yelled "And they haven't ruled out cancer"

Cancer -what an ugly word. Life Changing. The fact that the clinic called to see him before closing, that they wanted to go over the results of the tests in person scared me. I asked if he wanted us to with him he said no. An hour later he called home and asked if I could go to a surgeon's appointment with him the next day. At home he told us he had been having swelling and increased pain in his groin all weekend. It became so severe on Monday he went to our doctor.

His appointment with the urologist was for 10 AM on Tuesday. After an exam and discussion Nick was told he would have to have surgery to remove the testicle. Most definitely cancer, not certain of the stage. The surgeon said he had time at 1:30 today or Thursday. Nick chose Thursday but after the surgeon left the room I asked why he was waiting - the outcome wouldn't be different and his anxiety would increase over the next few days. Nick decided to have surgery that same day. By 9 PM we were back at home with our son. A life changing diagnosis and a life changing surgery in just a few short hours. On Friday of that same week, just 3 days later, he met with the oncologist. He was given 3 choices. First chemotherapy - several meds for short duration and follow up for a few years. 2nd was surgery from below his sternum to his groin to remove lymph nodes. The possibility of certain physical problems with this surgery put it on the no list, don't even want to consider it. 3rd he could have exams every month then every 2 months then 3 months then 4 months and so on for 5-6 years with the possibility that the cancer was not contained during the surgery to remove the testicle. Nick chose chemotherapy. He wanted the shortest possible treatment to get him back to living his life.

Treatment was completed with a just a few hitches. His hair was falling out at the end of week 1 by week 7 he was done with his treatment. Enlisting and Boot Camp were out of the question. The recruiters told him 3 years and he could try again. He had to go to college that January to stay on our insurance since he was turning 19. But he didn't do well -with continued fatigue and terrible classes, like the History of Rock and Roll. He slept a lot, lost a lot of weight and failed every class that spring. It was 18 months after surgery and treatment that he told us he felt normal again.

He continued with school and has an Associate degree in Advertising and Design with an emphasis in photography. He works full time and continues to attend college for an additional degree. After 3 years he went back to enlist. He was rejected again and again and again. I lost count of the number of times he met with recruiters. The number of times he was told no.

Then a few months ago he received his clearance now he needed to find a job -his MOS. He wanted to be a load master (whatever that is) actually he wanted to be a lot of things but many jobs were closed to him because he is color blind or in military language color deficient. But he persevered again and yesterday we received the call we had been waiting all day to hear - "Well it's official I have enlisted in the Air Guard. My first drill weekend will be in October."

At Nicks request the recruiter cut off the LIVESTRONG bracelet that Nick has worn for the 6 years since his cancer.

Goal Accomplished. Congratulations Nick.




Nick




Nick with his sisters last Christmas




All 4 at #4's graduation

He is off for boot camp

This past week we had supper at our house for Michael and his parents and the boys recruiter. The recruiter brought his wife and 1 year old daughter. It was a difficult night. Michael leaves today he will be 2 months ahead of Chris.

Chris and Michael went camping for 3 days. They have been talking about doing this all summer. It was a time for them to talk and spend time together. This weekend Michael said goodbye to his girlfriend. He told us they both cried. I know Chris and Megan will be going through the same good byes in a few short weeks.

These 2 young men have soft caring hearts but they are both totally committed to the decision they have made to serve our country.

How can we not be proud of the men and women who have chose to enlist and serve our country. The night of the supper I took pictures of the boys smoking cigars - these are the only pictures I have of that night.

Please pray for our soldiers.