newest pics

count down!

Steven will be coming home at the end of May! He won't have much time off but at least he'll be HOME. I can't tell you how excited I am. I feel like I will finally exhale when I see him. I thought having him away at boot camp was hard...and it was... but deployment has been really challenging! For me, the really cool thing is that about the time Steven comes home, school will be wrapping up and summer will be here! AAAHHHHHH!
Pictures of his homecoming will be posted here as well as on facebook.
Thanks for being so supportive during this very difficult time.
Julie

Heroes 2010

A call and a letter

Steven called Amber last night and said he was doing fine and NOT to watch the news. I know why. I also got a letter today dated 2-24. He sounded good and was happy to have received a package with paper and pens because he was running out! Can't have that!
He always sounds good. I'd talk about the details of all the funny things he puts in his letters but there are sickos out in the world who are contacting families with specific information pretending to be from the Red Cross. The thought is they get personal info from blogs and such so I keep it very non-specific for a reason. A friend I met on Facebook,(another marine mom), was the victim of one of those calls. They told her that her husband had been injured...luckily she knew enough to check it out. Now the FBI is on this. Unbelievable. Anyway. All that matters is that Steven is doing ok and we have heard from him. I know letters and packages from home mean a lot to him.
Julie

A letter a letter!

I got a letter from Steven. I can't give details for security reasons but I can tell you his sense of humor is in tact. He did mention the dust storms. His letters sound like...letters from camp and not...LETTERS FROM CAMP, ya know? If I had to pick a positive outcome in all of this, it's the wonderful connection you get when you correspond via letters with your child. It's a beautiful thing.
Julie

New pictures from Hell!

Update

Steven called Amber a few days ago. He is fine but the mail is not being delivered or is very slow. HE was worried something was wrong back home. That makes me so sad. Amber was able to explain the mail situation. I'm not sure why it wasn't explained to him! My poor baby thought we forgot about him! If he only knew, right? In addition, we have gotten some recent pictures of a huge, SCARY sand storm that blew through their camp recently. Yikes! On a very sad note, another 19 year old lost his life. Hurry home Steven!