Freedom

Freedom has been on my mind today. No doubt because today we get to exercise our right to vote. I've been thinking about our freedom and the freedom of other countries.

Many people speak out against our involvement with Iraq and Afghanistan. They think that it is none of our business or that we should ignore what occurs in other countries. I believe these people are misinformed or worse without compassion for their fellow man.

We did not win our freedom from England without the help of other countries. The Jews did not gain freedom from Germany without help, in fact very few of them were able to fight at all. Throughout history the freedom of one people is often gained only with the help of another.

Why should we be the ones to help? Because we can. That should be all the reason that is needed. Freedom has no price. It is worth every sacrifice to achieve. It is hypocritical to claim to believe in freedom, yet do nothing when others do not have it.

Those soldiers that have died in these countries have not died in vain. We dishonor them by suggesting that this is the case. They died heroes, fighting for freedom. They died selfless, because it was not their own freedom they fought for. They died honorably, serving their country.

It is only because Americans were willing to die for freedom that we have the right to voice our opinions about government. That we had the right to vote today. That if we are unhappy with government we can change it.

I hope that one day all people will be able to say that they are free. We should be proud and honored to help bring that freedom to them.

A Suicide Bomber Hit into the Convoy Frank Was In

First I will say that the only person that got hurt was the suicide bomber. He got blown up, but the vehicle he hit only suffered a flat tire.
I am so thankful that all of the soldiers came out of that situation unscathed. Especially my Frankie.

4 months to go

Just four more months till Frank is home. It will be nice to have him home with out a chance of leaving for a while. In the past 2 years we have not seen alot of each other.
Frank left for boot camp in Feb of 2007 and he was in training till the end of June. When he got home we were told there was a fairly good chance of him going on this deployment to Afghanistan, which eventually turned into a sure thing that he was going. They began training for the deployment in January of this year. The training was at Camp Williams, which is not far from where we live, but there were nights that they would not let him come home. Then at the end of Febuary he left to go to Washington and from there to Afghanistan. So by the time he gets home, I will have only seen him for 7 months of the last 2 years.
We are lucky, we get to talk to each other alot and there are other families that are not able to, but it is still hard. It is a comfort to hear from him almost every day.
I miss his presence and his help around the house. I'm also not really looking forward to the Holidays without him. Although, he will be home for my Birthday and he has missed that the last two years.
I have included some of the most recent pictures I have recieved from him.

Yard Work

Here is the latest addition to my plant collection. Its much bigger than it looks in the picture. The biggest leaf is about 10 inches across.

Afghanistan

Here are some pictures from Frank

Whole wheat enchiladas?

I tried making enchiladas with whole wheat tortillas. I don't recommend it. Just incase any of you were trying to healthy up a recipe, skip the enchiladas. They are good just the way they are.

Frank's living quarters (rabbit hutch)

Here are some pictures of the little hut that Frank gets to live in while he is in Afghanistan. It looks kind of like a rabit hutch to me. I'm sure he's enjoying it, haha.

Home and gone again

Frank came home from training on Wednesday night and caught a plane back to Washington today. It was wonderful having him home for these few days. We didn't do anything spectacular, just enjoyed each others company. Though we did plant a tree together this morning. It is a Kadota fig, I am excited to see if it will produce any fruit this year. It was nice to do something like this together since we have not and will not get to do much together for a year. Now I will have a lovely reminder in my front yard of our time together.

Frank's Farewell

This post is a few months late, as this farwell for the soldiers going to Afghanistan was in February, but here it is anyway.
It was really nice, there were some great speeches by some of his leaders and by the Governor. Frank's unit here at Camp Williams gave him an award for the work he did for them. It was really nice, but it was heartbreaking to watch him walk away to catch his flight.

Pictures

Frank and I suck at remembering to take pictures. We have a camera, two in fact, but we forget to use them. Ususally we just forget to take them with us anywhere, but even if we do, it's likely we will for get to use them. The result of this is that we have very few pictures of ourselves. And as an example here is the only picture from our honeymoon.

Army Schedules

This month has been kinda busy for us, mostly for Frank.
I was in San Diego for work a few weekends ago, but I got alot of free time to spend with my family so that was nice.
Frank was enrolled in a Warrior Leadership course for the Army. It is a 2 week course on base learing how to lead troops. Most of the others in the course were already sargents and had been in the military for a few years. Frank didn't have as much experience and years in the Army as most of the people in the course but he did well and passed. They usually don't send soldiers with lower ranks like Frank's to these classes but Frank's leaders really think he has great potential. It's good to know that others see what I see, and it is great to have him back home.
Frank is getting deployed to Afghanistan this year. He is flying to Washington on the 22nd day of next month for a few months of training and then off to the other side of the world for a year. Untill then he will be in training here at Camp Williams 7 days a week.
We know our time is short together so we are going to spend as much together as possible and we are looking foward to a visit next week from Frank's Mom and sister.