Hannah & Hunter keeping busy with football

Hannah is number 72 & Hunter is number 73. Hannah actually got her bubby Kris' old high school football number. Kris loved that one. He's actually sad that he never got to see either of them play football this year.

First Day of school

Every year I take pictures of the kids on the first day of school and much to their disliking momma always wins, lol. This year seemed weird without Kris being here--its like a missing link. Why is it so hard to let them go??? I was OK putting my last baby on the bus--OK a little sad but I made it without any tears. Then on the way to work I heard the Zac Brown song It won't be like this for long and I nearly lost it then and had to call BJ and he told me babe it will be alright, lol. Oh by the way I asked Kris if he missed getting his pictures taken for the first day of school and he um Mom NO. Thanks Kris!

Long Road Trip in a nutshell

At basic graduation & family day we meet a lot of nice young soldiers and their families. After graduation a couple of our families met for lunch at Hooters (the boys' choice) before we all hit the road. We all had a great time and of course Hooters made it fun for the newly graduated soldiers. They brought them all up from (we weren't the only group there) and gave them applause and recognized them for their accomplishments which I thought was great and they so deserved it. Kris & a fellow soldier went and got a tattoo afterwards. It was Kris' first one and he wanted it so badly, lol. For family day it rained really bad so they didn't have the big ceremony with smoke and all on the field like we hoped and have been waiting to see. We adopted a soldier whose family couldn't make it and we had a great time with him with us. I still talk to him and his girlfriend on facebook and he's truely a great young man who will go far.

We got to bring him home for the day before heading to AIT since it was on the way so he got to see a couple of his friends, do some laundry and sleep a little bit before heading onto MO. We went to Anheiser Busch brewery and took the tour there (we have been many times before but his girlfriends hadn't been).

Josh didn't want to make the trip to graduation or AIT because he gets severely car sick so we didn't make him go especially with having to travel through the mountains. I just wish that he could have went with us for a family trip. He enjoyed his freedom here at home though so I can't blame him any.

Dropping Kris off at AIT was hard on the younger two siblings as Hannah thought Kris was staying with us and Hunter says he missed him.
I kinda felt like a bad mom not really missing him while he was at Basic or AIT. As a fellow soldier I knew what he was going to be going through and I knew that he would be alright and can get through it. The hardest part as a mom was not getting a lot of mail or phone calls but I also know what its like to be that soldier having to say see you later over and over again just makes you more homesick even though you want to hear them.

Pictures at AIT

More pictures to come

More pictures to come from AIT blogger won't let me post any for some reason!!!

On to AIT

Kris graduated on Fri from basic training in SC and had to report to Ft Leonard wood, Mo on Sun. We were lucky that they let us transport him to his AIT so we were able to spend some extra time with him even tho it was on the road. Dropping him off was once again hard on Hannah as she thought he was staying home with her. Hunter even shed a few tears when we left him in Mo.

Beach in SC

While we were down in SC we went to Myrtle Beach and watched the sunrise since we arrived too earlier to go on base just to drive around.

Update.....Basic Graduation

So many emotions have been seen by the entire family since the day we put Kris on the plane to start his new adventure with the military. Hannah was the most heartbroken of us all when he left as she just adores him SO much.

He had a rough go with basic training at first with leaving his family and friends behind this summer & the intense heat of the South didn't set well with my Northern boy well so while he made his first steps into the real world and doing what he has always set his heart & life into---with serving his country. He made it through basic training at Fort Jackson, SC and graduated Aug 14th.

Seeing him standing there in the middle of the parade field on graduation day---I can't describe the sense of pride I had for him and his fellow soldiers. I remember being that soldier but that's nothing compared to the pride of a mother watching her son become a fine soldier.

HEROS

Kris leaving on a Jet Plane

My Graduates!

Kristofer graduated last Sunday from High School and Hannah graduated last night from Pre-school.

Shaking my head and wondering what Illinois was thinking!!!

Found this on another board and wanted to post this out there so others can see what Illinois is doing to our soldiers and families. I live in Illinois and never heard this on the news or in the newspapers. Come on Illinois this soldier kept his end of the deal and fought for our country!


As many of you know Schuyler Patch who was KIA on 02/24/09 was from my family. When Sky's mom called the VA to inquire about his death benefits from the state (he was National Guard, Illinois) she was told the State of Illinois does not have the money to pay right now, maybe next fiscal year!! This is totally unacceptable and I am asking everyone to write the Governor to see that this is taken care of. Following is the link to the Governors page where you can email him or send a letter. There is also a link to the White House and Our President.
I have also attached the letter I wrote, so feel free to copy and paste, or write your own. I know Sky's family is not the only family going through this horrible loss, then compounded by Government disrespect and errors. I am asking anyone who reads this to send a letter and pass it on to family and friends. We need to make sure that no Soldiers family be put through this after their Child gave their life!!

Thanks

Letters like the one below had been flooded to the Governor's office and the President. Illinois has finally agreed that the check will be issued on 23 May 2009.


Dear Governor Quinn.

On March 7th of this year you attended the funeral of Sergeant Schuyler Patch, in Kewanee, Illinois. In your speech you spoke of him being a hero and his honorable service to The United States and the Illinois National Guard. Schuyler died in Afghanistan while serving in the National Guard from Kewanee, Illinois, and now his parents are being told by the VA that due to the budget crisis in Illinois that the death benefits for the parents of the Soldier Killed in Action are not being paid now, but they will be issued an IOU!
This a complete disregard to not only Schuylers’ memory, but to any soldier who has Volunteered to serve their country in a time of war. How dare the State of Illinois tell grieving parents, “Sorry your Soldier was killed in action, but we can’t pay you for the sacrifice of your Son/Daughter.”

On behalf of the family of Sgt. Schuyler Patch and any other soldier who has or will give their life for their country we insist that this insult and complete lack of respect to all soldiers be rectified immediately, In addition an apology to the families who have been denied death benefits should be issued without delay.

I certainly hope to hear that this is given a priority status and that the State of Illinois is remorseful for causing heartbroken parents more agony in addition to the loss of their Soldier.

He heard freedom’s call,” Army Chaplain (Capt.) Jon Prain told more than 1,000 mourners who filled a school gym for Patch’s funeral in Kewanee, Ill. “He paid freedom’s price. Sgt. Patch could have stayed home. Instead, once again, he volunteered to go.”

This having been said it is a small price for the State of Illinois to give parents death benefits when their child paid the ultimate price of their life. This is not about money which will never bring Schuyler home again, but about doing the right thing!!


Mom of an
IL National Guard Soldier

Prom 2009

Promotion Day

Kris was promoted to PFC today at RSP with the National Guard. The cool part and I wasn't expecting it was that I got to pin his rank on him today. He out processed today for boot camp in June as next months drill weekend falls on his graduation from high school. He's super excited. While we were there a new platoon was getting "smoked" and I was kinda chuckling to myself and thinking I so remember those days! We were going to take Kris out to eat afterwards and he didn't want to go and wanted to ride the military bus back to town so BJ, Hannah & I took Shay (Kris' girlfriend) out to eat to celebrate at Texas Roadhouse.

My Lunch Buddy from work

Since it was nice out I decided to go to the park on my lunch break......

Settling in well

Duce

P&PT for son's girlfriend

My son's girlfriend just lost her mom this morning. Can you please spare some thoughts and prayers for her. She's only 20 with a 14yr old brother and has helped take care of her mom because of her health. She about lost her dad a couple years ago in a bad semi accident. My heart is just breaking for this wonderful girl.

New Addition

BJ picked up his Rottie today. Here's a picture of him a couple of weeks ago. I will post more later when I get a cord to transfer them.

Kris

Kris made PFC this weekend. YAY! Next month is his last drill weekend before he leaves for bootcamp because in May his weekend for drills is when he graduates from High school and Hannah graduates from Pre-school. I can't believe he's old enough to start his own life now. Time has gone way to fast!

Broke Down

I just broke down and bought Hannah this new carseat...

Josh Update

We went to St Louis on Wed for a follow up appt. He had another MRI done and we seen the neurosurgeon's PA. The PA thinks there's a more perdominate area seen on his scan--hopefully its just the image. I also asked the PA if the area in his brain was really that big (as seen on the MRI) and she said yes its 6 in x 2 in. and hasn't grown any---so that good. We still don't know exactly what we are dealing with. We do know its not cancer, not an auto immune disease and the only thing is to keep an eye on it to see if it changes any or his symptoms worsen. Children's is rated in the top for the neuro dept so that gives me a little comfort as I know some things happen and you can't explain every medical issue that arises but it does get frustrating at times still not knowing. Josh is dealing with it OK now and he was with me the whole time I was asking questions so he know we aren't lying to him about anything. (He doesn't understand why they don't know what it is and he thought it was cancer and we weren't telling him) The neurosurgeon won't be back in the office until Mon and we will see what he thinks about the scan.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers that its nothing to worry about.


The roads down there was pretty wicked in the morning and we could only travel 20 mph. We were only about 25 miles from home when we hit a patch of ice and started a pretty good slide to the right with a huge ditch, then we were headed to the left and we ended up doing a 180 on I-74 facing oncoming traffic. It was pretty scary but I was proud of not putting us in either ditch. My 2 older boys who are driving age was pretty impressed with me. Hannah wanted to do it again! Yep my fearless girl! We get close to Effingham when we about rear ended some lady who decides she wants to stop in the middle of the road to back up and get on her exit. I looked in the rear view mirror and all I could see was a semi 3 cars back with his trailer fish tailing and it was even with his cab. I would have felt so bad if he went into the ditch. We seen many cars and semi's in the ditch. Thank God DH's load was cancelled at the last minute (not in time to go with us tho) so I didn't have to worry about him being out in this with that big of a truck. On the way back the roads were clear and you could actually go the speed limit.

Josh's 6 month follow up

We will be heading down to St Louis on 28th Jan for another MRI and to meet with the Neurosurgeon. This is a 6 month follow up from his brain biopsy. Hopefully we will continue to have good news and we see no new lesions on his brain.

Please keep him in your thoughts & prayers!

Hannah Update

Hannah had surgery to have her tonsils and adnoids removed on Jan 9th. She's doing much better and almost to her old self. She will be back in school on Friday barring no set backs. In the meantime she has enjoyed staying home with me and also riding in the semi with her daddy.