How the Weeks Fly

Wow! I can't believe it has been another week since I posted anything to the blog. I have finally finished having birthday parties -- the last one was last night with dear friends from church. Thanks, Claire, Nanci and Cyndi.

Last Friday, the San Juan Elementary winners of the PTA Reflections Art Competition were announced at the school assembly. One of Joshua's photographs won and his video as well, although he was the only student to enter a video. He was quite proud of the medals he received.

We had a busy week at school and are ready for a little break this coming week. We will have plenty of activities at the beginning of the week but it is Parent/Teacher Conference week, so Joshua has short days on Tuesday and Wednesday and no school at all on Thursday and Friday.

Today we continued a new Sunday tradition that Joshua and I started last week. We went geocaching. If you are new to my blog and haven't heard of this wonderful activity, check out www.geocaching.com or visit my sister and brother-in-law's podcast (see links to the left). Sandy and Sonny gave me a GPS for my birthday and Joshua and I are having such a good time exploring our neighborhood as we search for caches hidden in places that we pass each day. Today we were three for four in our searches. If you like walking, hiking and exploring, let me know and you can join us on one of our Sunday explorations of South Orange County.

Jon continues to be very busy, but is hopeful that things will slow down in the near future. Thanks for keeping him in your prayers. I am hopeful that he will have a update that I can share with you soon.

Sheryl

Good News from the Front

I received this e-mail from Jon today. "This article gives you a little more "public" word on what my command is doing, I'm at the heart of the move to Al Asad Air Base (AAAB) for my section." You can find the article at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,439612,00.html

If you cannot open the link for some reason, I have copied the article from the Fox News website:

Last One Turn Out the Lights: Marines Quietly Begin Leaving Bases in Iraqi Cities
Friday, October 17, 2008
By Jennifer Griffin

WASHINGTON — When Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly deployed to Iraq in February, the violence had fallen so low in Anbar province that he began figuring out how to start closing bases and prepare to go home.

In the last 10 months the Marines in Fallujah have done what was unthinkable before the surge began — they have quietly transferred out of one of Anbar province's largest cities. FOX News has learned in an exclusive interview with Kelly from Fallujah that 80 percent of the move is complete. In February there were 8,000 Marines living at Fallujah base. Now there are about 3,000 left. By Nov. 14 there will be none.

"We will shut down the command function here and I will move; my staff has already started to move," Kelly, the commander of Multinational Force-West, told FOX News in an exclusive interview via satellite. "We will turn the lights off here."

They will hand the Fallujah base over to their Iraqi counterparts on Nov. 14, having relocated themselves and thousands of combat vehicles to the desert base of Al Asad to the west. Marines will no longer be seen in city centers such as Fallujah — a major step toward leaving Iraq, and one step closer to Iraq's goal of having U.S. troops out of its population centers by mid-2009 — one of the key points enshrined in the Status of Forces Agreement being reviewed on Capitol Hill today.

On Wednesday, to little fanfare, the Marines quietly closed down Al Qaim base near the Syrian border. Now it is run by Iraqis.

In Fallujah, where the U.S. Marines once had three large mess halls to feed troops, they are now down to one. The Marines have quietly disassembled the entire infrastructure of the base.

"We probably had several thousand of those large metal containers — tractor-trailer containers," Kelly said. "I bet we don't have 200 of them here now."

Of the thousands of vehicles once parked at the base, now there are only 300 left. Their transfer occurred at night, between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., over the past 10 months so as not to disturb Iraqi drivers and clog the roads.

They dubbed it "Operation Rudy Giuliani" because they were cleaning the streets up and returning Fallujah to normalcy — taking down barbed wire and tearing down checkpoints and Jersey walls that made Anbar look like a war zone.

"There is almost no barbed wire left anywhere in Fallujah," Kelly said. An Iraqi no longer sees barbed wire when traveling in and around the city.

Between 300 and 400 concrete barriers that divided the city were removed by Navy Seabees.

One of the big changes Kelly made when he took command in Anbar was to remove fixed checkpoints, and Iraqi vehicles no longer had to pull off to the side when a military convoy was on the road. His troops risked car bombs, but the gamble paid off in what had once been Iraq's most dangerous province. The new road rules instantly lowered the tension between military and locals. Soon he transitioned to moving military convoys only at night, so they would not encounter locals. This also stymied many of the insurgents laying IEDs or roadside bombs, which they often had done at night.

Another change for the better since Kelly arrived in February: He pushed the central government to provide more fuel to the people of Anbar, so the mostly Sunni population is now happier. In February, Anbaris were receiving only 8 percent of their allocation of fuel from the central government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Now it's 90 percent — eliminating one of their main gripes.

But perhaps the biggest sign that the situation has changed for the better for Sunnis living in Anbar: With the help of the Marines and the Iraqi police, nearly 100 percent of the eligible voting population were registered a month ago to vote in upcoming provincial elections.

"They seem to add another political party every day," Kelly said. "We didn't have a single security violation of any kind. They're at least going to give the electoral process a shot … at least going to give democracy a chance."

The Sunnis, who fueled a large part of Iraq's insurgency, boycotted the last election for Parliament with only 3 percent of Sunnis participating. Now they feel they have a stake in the government.

"This is an amazing indicator as to where this province is," Kelly said.

He and the Marines no longer use violence as an indicator of how much progress they have made. Two years ago they had 400 attacks — roadside bombs or shootings — at U.S. forces every week. In February it was down to 30 attacks per week. Now it is down to under 12 attacks per week. There hasn't been a Marine death in a few months.

Troop numbers have dropped, as well — down by 40 percent since February. About 26,000 Marines still serve in Anbar.

"In Anbar there is no longer an insurgency," Kelly said. "Unless someone does something stupid (for instance, if the Coalition were to accidentally kill a large number of civilians), this place will not go back to the way it was."

In football terms, Kelly says, the Marines are "in the last 10 yards of this fight."

"Could it go back? I don't think so," he said firmly. "We are winning this thing."

Thanks, Mom

Forty-seven years ago my mother had a long, hard labor after being told she should expect me to arrive 3 weeks earlier. Yikes! I arrived at 1:26 am on a Tuesday morning in Chicago, Illinois, a 7 lb. 5 oz little bundle. This picture is of me at 2 months old -- my first Christmas -- close enough.

After I had my son Joshua, almost 9 years ago, I started thinking that birthdays should really be a celebration for the mom. I mean really, what did we do the day we were born? We don't even remember the trauma. But Moms, now they are the ones who work hard the day they give birth and that is just the beginning of the work they will do the rest of their lives.

So, Mom, thank you for all you did that day 47 years ago and all of the days since. Happy Birthday from your first born!

Sheryl

Getting caught up again

I just noticed that I have used this title for previous posts. Hmmmm I think that says something, but ah, well.

Since I last wrote, we have had plumbing and various other problems with our house in Orange. Fortunately our tenants are patient and I was able to get a trusted plumber up to the house quickly. It cost us a small fortune, but such is life with a 40+ year old house. Everything is settling down now.

Joshua has continued to have a great soccer season with many wins and a couple loses, which are always good for the parents. :) He is also busy with school and doing quite well with his Spanish and English. Last night our school had our annual Fall Art Festival. Students are encouraged to create art -- visual, photographic, video, literature and music -- and Joshua created entries in four of the categories. As you know, I posted his poems last time. Here is a picture of him posing in front of his three photos. The theme for this year's art contest was "Wow!" Joshua even entered a short video of a polar bear that he took at the San Diego Zoo. He was taping the bear while he rested and then suddenly it sat up and stretched. You can hear Joshua say, with awe in his voice, "Wow!" It was very cool and perfect for this year's competition. Winners will be announced at the school in the next week or two, but just having Joshua express himself is the prize for me.

Last weekend Joshua was invited to have an overnight with his friend Alex (Thanks, Mr. Ken) and so I had the evening to myself. Some dear girlfriends came over for dinner and I had my first birthday party. I am one who enjoys celebrating my birthday Month! Tomorrow is the big day. Looking forward to being with family, including my Aunt Judy who will be down this Saturday for a birthday gathering.

Jon continues to be very busy with work. He works so late some nights that he sleeps in his office. Please pray that he will get enough sleep and will not get sick. The weather is getting cooler over there, which is funny because Southern California is experiencing Santa Ana Winds so we have had highs in the 90s the past couple weeks.

Okay, I think that gets you caught up on our lives.

Sheryl

A New Poet in the Family

This week Joshua participated in an after-school creative writing class designed to help students write something that they can submit to the PTA Reflections Competition. Joshua did not initially want to participate but since I had a meeting to attend at the same time and one of his friends was in the class, he agreed to try it out. Here are the two poems he wrote during the class and he has submitted for the competition.

Oh, My, the Trainer has Died

This dolphin looks like it is going to jump.
And it will land on the ground and go thump.
Then the trainer died.
Then the dolphin cried.
And then a bird said, “coo.”


The Two Rattle Snakes

Once I saw two rattle snakes in the middle of the road
And we could only cross if we got the right code.
When we got 2/4 of the code, then my mom got bitten.
And that’s the part when I started hittin’.
And that was the end of us both.

Text for the Dust Storm pictures

This just in from our lovable Jarhed.

As you can see by these graphic snapshots, I was in a bad dust storm recently. However, this was some weeks ago, and the temperatures have actually moderated a good bit since then, as has the wind and dust--though I expect there to be a relapse into hot and windy weather before it turns fallish for good. My days are hectic here, I'm organizing and supervising projects, doing physical labor (I was out shoveling, sledge-hammering, and otherwise trying to remove some concrete aberrations that are scarring the landscape around the building where I work, call it garrison beautification), and coordinating the activities of a small team that is working to accomplish a specific mission for our staff section. Obviously, my days are much less chair and desk bound nowadays, and though that is good, I must say that it is more frustrating. My days went from being fairly clearly defined and scheduled (generally predictable) to having to deal with people--who of course are not clearly defined, have their own schedule, and are not predictable in the least. I am very busy, actually have less time to myself than I did before (I didn't really think that was possible, but I guess it was), but as always, absence of boredom means time is flying. There's a flu bug going around, but so far I have escaped infection (I can often sense God's hand of protection on me, thanks for your continued prayers for me).

An indicator of the success of the military aspects of our mission in GWOT in this theatre is the apparent and almost dramatic diminishment of this topic in the lead-up to the election. Of course, this is also an indication, perhaps, of the extent of the domestic economic crisis. GWOT, of course, can be blamed for this as well, depending on your view: the international community and some of the domestic crowd do not view the US investment in GWOT to be an investment at all, which has contributed to the decline of the dollar against almost all other currencies, which in turn has contributed to an economic down turn in the US, which has impacted the real estate market, etc. I for one firmly believe our commitment actively counter terrorists wherever they operate, deny them safe-haven and the means to attack us, and to provide war-torn and oppressed people groups with hope, freedom, and choice to be a very positive investment wherever such efforts have been expended. Oorah.

Semper Fi, JarHedJon

A Dust Storm

I was hoping Jon would have time today to send an update, but something must have come up. He did send me these pictures of a recent dust storm. The pictures were taken "between 1500 and 1600, normally the hottest and brightest time of the day. The picture of me was taken from about 8 feet away."

A full Saturday

Saturday turned out to be one of those full, fun days. It started with the annual San Juan Creek Cleanup which is the creek within walking distance of our home. Joshua really wanted to help but we had soccer pictures and a game and would need to leave the clean up at 9:00. So he woke up early and was ready to go by 7:45, so we got to creek cleanup at 8:00. We signed in only to find out we weren't supposed to go into the creek to start picking up trash until 9:00, after the mayor came and spoke, etc. I explained our situation to the organizer and he said Joshua and I could clean up along the edge of the creek. So we picked up trash for about 20 minutes along the path above the creek. Then we went into the creek when we heard the mayor start speaking. We found a car tire half full of water, and managed to drag it to the top of the creek wall just as everyone was heading into the creek at 8:45. Then we tackled the great treasure that Joshua has been begging to remove for weeks -- the Vons shopping cart. A man who was picking up trash gave us a hand and we got it up the steep wall of the creek and rolled it, on two wheels, to the park where we deposited our two bags of trash as well. A good job for one hour of work.

Then we were off to the sports park with hundreds of other little munchkins all dressed in matching soccer uniforms for the annual photos. Joshua's game was 45 minutes later, so I prepared to sit in the shade and enjoy my magazine until I noticed my friend Rosa whose son Jamie is a good friend of Joshua's from school. So I enjoyed a nice long chat with Rosa while her son's game finished up.

Joshua's team was playing a rematch against the team that beat them 3 to 1 last Friday night. The game last Friday night didn't count because it was the second game of the season and the first two games don't count. Yesterday's game was the first game that "counts" this season. The boys were geared up to to play a better game. Plus two of our stronger players who had missed Friday's game were back. Our boys turned out to be the better team on Saturday, winning 6 to 1.

We had about an hour and a half at home to do chores and homework before heading down to Escondido for my niece Emma's 11th birthday party. We had a fun gathering with about 20 family members in attendance. Emma received a brand new sewing machine, which many of us pitched in on and before the evening was over my mom had helped her get it started and Emma was practicing on it. In our family, the desire to sew has definitely skipped a generation. Joshua and Evan are good buddies and played well with Evan's other cousin Eli. In fact they spent hours building a fort out of palm fronds. We headed home at 7:30 pm and of course Joshua was asleep half way home.

It was just one of those great days where you feel like you've accomplished something and enjoyed yourself at the same time.

Jon's visit from the big wigs went well and he should be a little less busy for a few days. I'm hoping he'll be able to write an update that we can share.

Happy Fall,

Sheryl

On the mend

Thank you to those of you who prayed, sent e-mails, brought food and took over my PTA responsibilities.

I was able to get into the doctor on Tuesday. He told me I had "what's going around." My doctor was actually getting over it, and thus the mask he wore. No one is immune from germs. He prescribed some medicine that would help my symptoms and could cause drowsiness. I was hoping it would help me sleep, but last night it worked just the opposite and I was awake tossing and turning for hours. Oh, well, so much for drugs.

The good news came from Joshua's pediatrician who assured us the red in his eye was caused by allergies and not the awful pink eye. He gave us a bottle of sample eye drop that cleared the pink up immediately and helped with the itchiness. So Joshua was back at school yesterday.

I'm trying to take it a little slower. My amazing PTA Team (especially Melissa H. and Rhonda) took charge of the 1st PTA meeting of the year and led like champs. I owe them and all of my PTA Board a huge thanks!

Jon is staying healthy, although sometimes a little short on sleep. He is preparing for important visitors soon and so is busy with various projects as well as plans for the VIPs. Thanks for keeping all of us in your prayers.

Sheryl

First sickness of the season

I have been sick with a sore throat and runny nose since Sunday morning. I kept Joshua home from school today because he complained that his throat hurt bad when he woke up. But most of the day he seemed fine. This evening I notice one of his eyes is looking pink. No discharge, but we'll see in the morning. I have my first PTA General Meeting tomorrow night so I am hoping and praying I'll be able to lead it. Talking hurts so I have 24 hours for my throat to recover. I'd appreciate your prayers.

Sheryl

Update on Donna Moran

I just received this update from my father-in-law on my mother-in-law Donna.

"Again, thanks for your prayers. Although Donna is still very tired she continues to heal rapidly. The partial plate is working though she can't really put any bite pressure on it as yet. The Navy blue, purple, gold and pea green colors have faded significantly since yesterday. Still applying intermittent cold packs and topical salve to the bruises. Both seem to be helping. Oh, got word from Medicare yesterday afternoon. The definitely will not cover anything in any way that involves oral surgery and teeth...sigh."

Thank you all for keeping Donna in your prayers.

Sheryl

Assembly of a Table

While Jon was home, we tried to find a bar table that would go with the three bar stools we had. I finally found what we wanted online, but of course it came today, long after Jon had left. But with Joshua's help I am proud to report that I assembled it and it works great. I even got out Jon's power drill, found the correct attachment and got the screws in all the way. What a feeling of accomplishment. Of course Joshua had to take poor Bristles outside so he wouldn't have a panic attack.

You may notice in the picture another table in the kitchen. My work table has been in the kitchen almost the entire time Jon has been deployed because Joshua and I love puzzles and we usually have one that we are working on. The current one is too large to transfer to any other surface, so we'll just have two tables for a while.

Sheryl

Flat and Sandy

A little news about Jon's new post along with a picture of the flat, sandy landscape.

"I'm trying to get on a schedule at my new location that will permit me to get up early enough in the morning to run (days are around 118 degrees now, so it is too hot to run after about 0630, peaks by 1500, and is usually above 90 degrees even an hour after the sun goes down). There is a Episcopal/Lutheran Eucharist Sunday at the chapel near me at 0900 tomorrow, I should be able to make that. I hope I'm not gaining weight, the food is good here at the MOACH (mother of all chow halls, this building is about the square footage of two football fields)."

Sheryl

Soccer Begins

Today was Joshua's first AYSO soccer game with this year's team, the Blue Smashing Warriors. There were a number of changes from last year's U8 (under 8 years old) to this year's U9 (under 9 years old), not the least of which is the much larger field. But our team has been prepared well by volunteer coaches and so they played quite well in their first game. They did win (2-1), but the first few games of the season don't "count." But that is another change -- this year the games will count and there will be play offs at the end of the season (if our team can find another volunteer referee). Jon is a trained AYSO referee but unfortunately his commanding officer doesn't seem to think Jon should be sent home early to fill our need for another volunteer ref. Go figure!

Soccer Mom, Sheryl

Prayer Request for my Mother-in-Law

I received news from my father-in-law on Thursday that my mother-in-law Donna had experienced a bad fall.

"Donna tripped on a curb around 12:00 noon today. She hit the ground face first. I got her up and off to the emergency room for 3 1/2 hrs. Then to the dentist's office. Upshot is that she will have oral surgery tomorrow. In addition, her lower lip and left hand where scraped and bruised quite badly. They are suspicious of a fracture in the facial bone as there is air in the sinuses. Won't know until the oral surgeon checks that out. Meantime, she is on pain pills and antibiotics and a liquid diet."

Then came the update today:

"We got home from the oral surgeon. At this point Donna is sleeping albeit with much soreness and pain as well as substantial swelling across her face. The oral surgeon found that in addition to four broken teeth that her upper jaw bone was also broken.
He was able to get the teeth out and the jaw bone together and positioned correctly. However it will be about 2 weeks before any chance of getting a temporary bridge. She is not able to talk at this point and her diet for 24 hours is restricted to ice cream & such. We would appreciate your continued prayers for her rapid recovery and healing as she is planning on meeting with her former high school student for their 50th class reunion -- in TWO WEEKS."

I echo my father-in-law's request for prayer. Thank you for joining us in praying for Donna's healing and recovery.

Sheryl

First Day of Third Grade

Joshua started 3rd grade on Tuesday, September 2. His teacher is Sra. Garcia-Serrato and we have heard wonderful things about her from the parents whose children had her last year. Joshua is the class helper this week and so spent a good portion of his day handing out papers that needed to go home and be read and signed by the parents (my homework). He even had homework, although not much. He needed to read 30 minutes in a Spanish chapter book and then do an activity with his family and write a paragraph about it in Spanish. I thought that was a pretty creative idea. We had a new puzzle, so Joshua insisted that I help him get it started since it was his homework. This year he will stay with Sra. Garcia-Serrato all day. In the past the 2-way immersion students went to a different teacher for 20 - 50 minutes a day for English class, but in third grade they will spend the morning studying in Spanish (reading, writing and math) and spend the afternoon studying in English (social studies and science). We continue to be thrilled with the 2-way immersion program and the way Joshua is excelling in all subjects as he has been learning them in Spanish. Now of course he is very excited that he will get to read in English.

My PTA work started weeks ago with planning for the new year, but my first official board meeting is Wednesday, so I am off and running. I appreciate that my busy schedule will help the next 6 months move by a little quicker.

Blessings to you all.

Sheryl

Jon's move

Just got this update from Jon regarding his move.

"Well, I'm here safely, it was quite a trip (more exhausting than I thought it would be), but things are going well. I had a long day (was at work before 0900), and then rode to the landing zone (LZ) for the chopper ride at 2330. We waited for a little less than the expected 2 hours, and were in the terminal at our destination by 0330 or so. The thing that made it exhausting (besides the late hour) was lugging my sea bag and carry on, wearing my full body armor, across about 100 yards of heavy gravel to get on the bird, and the same thing getting off the bird -- and it was still over 90 degrees. Needless to say, I was dripping sweat the whole way (as was everybody), and the sweat that gets trapped by your clothes under the body armor does not have a chance to evaporate, so it can get pretty miserable. I was in bed by 0430, the containerized housing units (CHU) are fairly decent (I'm in my own CHU for now, though it is a two man CHU, and I'm slated for a room mate when everyone else gets here. Also, I'm not in my "final" CHU, as there is some shuffling of personnel going on; I should be moved to my final CHU sometime in early October).

I woke up around 1130 after I crashed (slept, no aerial mishap), and I had a BAD head ache, so I took some aspirin and went back to bed for an hour. I got up at 1230, and it was a little better, but didn't truly fade away until a couple hours later after some food, some more hydration, and some caffeine. I rearranged my room, I think my head might have been downhill (I don't think my CHU is exactly level), so hopefully I won't wake up with a head ache tomorrow. I fixed it so I can do my sit ups and exercises in my room, that's a good thing (the mechanism will be portable to my new room when I move). I feel fine now, but am taking extra care to stay hydrated."

Thank you for your continued prayers. Today was Joshua's first day of school, so I'll post something about that tomorrow.

Sheryl

An update from the front

Hope you had a relaxing Labor Day. I did! My extended family has been having a Labor Day BBQ together in Southern California for about 21 years with very few skipped years. Joshua and I enjoyed the pool, great company and delicious food at my cousin's home in North San Diego County. But Jon did not have the day off. He sent this information a couple days ago.

"Sheryl was forwarded a couple news article from one of my unit's Key Volunteers (Sheryl can tell you more about Key Volunteers than I can). Penned by Robert Burns and Jonathan Steele in two separate articles, the following paragraph is representative of the success that deployed service members and civilians have achieved in GWOT...

"Fewer Marines needed...
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marine commandant said Wednesday that forces can be reduced, as the military moves to hand over control of the region. Conway said Marines told him, "There aren't a whole heck of a lot of bad guys there left to fight." Driving through once-dangerous cities, he said, "Our vehicles seemed to go largely unnoticed as there was much construction and rebuilding taking place." Toward the end of 2006, the Arabs who were leading the insurgency decided to join hands with U.S. forces to jointly fight the extremists, and violence levels plunged. The father of a family who drove through said: "It is safe. I had no fear about bringing my wife and children."

To say things have changed dramatically since I first deployed here in early 2006 would be the epitome of understatement. It will doubtless take decades for the full nature of the changes that have been wrought, with impact across the globe, due to the vision and initial guidance of our politicians, the determined and adapting leadership of our military, and the steadfast and brilliant execution by all those "in the field"--some in uniform and some not, but all warriors, none the less--for the greater good.

Semper Fi,
Jon G."

Address change

When Jon returned to his base, his move was delayed a bit. However, it looks like plans are moving forward. As you may remember, he wasn't sure what would happen with his mail. Below is the result of his meeting with the postal service. We'll see if it works. This will be the address for letters and packages. For Motomail go ahead and use the same old address (you won't find 'AAAB' as an option in the address book) and we'll see if they forward it or not. As a side note, Cory, he did get your card, and had a good chuckle. Thanks!

"Following coordination with various authorities, I've been informed that my mail should be good to go -- the following address is supposed to work, albeit with possible delays:

I MEF G2 (AAAB)
Unit 42540
FPO AP 96426-2540

Just a reminder, now is NOT the season for chocolate or anything that melts. It is always the season for ground coffee (Freedom Press grind is preferred). Thanks for your continued prayers and support!!!

Semper Fi,
Jon G."

Moving In Day

Today my cousin Kimberly, her husband Nate and their 9 month old daughter Natalie arrived after a long week of traveling from Minnesota to La Jolla, California. We had about 2 dozen family members there preparing their home for them, unloading their truck and welcoming them to the neighborhood. Nate is in a Masters program at University of California in San Diego (UCSD) and they have married student housing. Their upstairs apartment is a reasonable size with a great view of grass and gardens from their porch. They are about 15 minutes from Kimberly's brother Ethan who lives in San Diego. Others in our "clan" are 30, 45, 60 minutes and more away, so it was wonderful to gather together to help them get settled into their new home. We'll all be seeing each other again on Monday for our traditional family BBQ at another cousin's home.

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

Sheryl