Less than a week to go!

Well, I won't be alone for long! Once I get to my parents house it will be mass chaos the whole time I'm there... but I'll love it! :-) I will admit I have been kinda lonely since Sam has been gone. He's my best friend and he understands me and tolerates all my weird moments. The very FEW I have. :-) I am looking forward to seeing my family (Sam's parents are coming over for Christmas too) and seeing Sam. But at the same time I have so much work that needs to be done before I leave! Who's idea was it to rearrange the bedroom right after Sam left... oh yea that was me. :-( Now I have all my clutter in the spare bedroom and some people want to use my house while I'm gone, but I don't think I'll have everything done by then.... OH WELL! Let's see what else is up with me... I am almost 100% better, and off of most of my meds. I'm not sure if I mentioned this but after the surgery I got pneumonia, so my recovery was a little slow. Thank you all for your prayers and wonderful comments. They were such a huge encouragement to me! I'll still keep updating the blog even in Alabama... hopefully I'll have time to write something before I leave. :-) K folks, that's about it. My life is boring, what can I say. :-)

A quick update...

Sorry all, I don't feel up to a long posting, but I do want to let you know how I am. As you can probably tell I am at home, which is so nice! I went in for the surgery around 10 am, and the last thing I remember was the nurse asking me if I was allergic to any medication... I was out cold! I woke up very groggy, and had a difficult time breathing. They had to keep me on oxygen for a while cuz I would fall asleep and stop breathing... not a good thing! :-) Well, I finally made my way up to the recovery room, still not knowing how my surgery went. I was so blessed to have two of my friends there with me the whole time. Well one of my friends informed me that I had some complications during the surgery. First my urethra was to narrow and they had to dilate it, then they realized the stone had moved from it's original position, and they couldn't reach it. So it had to be blasted with a laser instead of caught and removed. No big deal, right? NOT! This means I have to pass all of the little fragments which is painful, plus I have a stent in to make sure everything flows properly and my kidney doesn't shut down... I'm still in pain, but I guess it could be worse! Anyway, besides the pain, I am doing fine and I am thankful for all your prayers. I was trying to be a good witness to my nurse, but I was so drugged up I think I just mentioned our Church. It really is just all a blur :-) I'll write more later, but I'm kinda on bed rest so I should go lay down. If you called yesterday and I didn't answer, I'm sorry I was probably still in the hospital. I love you all!

I'm still alive :-)

Ok all, it's been such a long time since I've written an update so here it goes... Sam has been gone for 2 weeks and has started his training in Texas. He is keeping very busy, but we still get to talk for at least 5 minutes every day. Everything with me was pretty normal until this past weekend. It started off with some lower back pain which I though was just sciatica problems... so I went in to the Chiropractor on Monday then had a doctor's appointment afterward. Nothing (the medicine they prescribed) seemed to help. By Tuesday I couldn't walk, sit, use the bathroom, or lay without pain. Sam called later that afternoon and insisted on calling a friend and an ambulance. I said no, and proceeded to have a break down... To make a long story short, He won and I rode up to the ER in an ambulance and spend the next 6 hours up there trying to stop the pain and figure out what was wrong with me. I had a U.T.I, sciatica problems, and a kidney stone. :-) So they sent me home all drugged up, and I spent the night by the toilet... my body did not like the drugs! Anyway the kidney stone is way too large for me to pass, so I am having surgery this Monday to remove it. I've never had surgery before and I'm kinda nervous. Sam can not leave his training, and my mom can't come, so it's definitely going to be a lesson on sole dependence on God. I jokingly told Sam I expected the car to break down once he left, but not me! :-) I would appreciate your prayers, my surgery will be Monday morning and hopefully it will be an out-patient surgery. I hope I didn't forget anything... these med's are making me really loopy! ;-) If anyone wants to come visit, and be my nurse just let me know!

Well Mr. Osborne it may not be kidney stones after all.

A letter from a Soldier to Senetor Kerry

I am a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. I am currently on my second tour in Iraq, a tour in which I volunteered for. I speak Arabic and Spanish and I plan to tackle Persian Farsi soon. I have a Bachelors and an Associates Degree and between deployments I am pursuing an M.B.A. In college I was a member of several academic honor societies, including the Golden Key Honor Society. I am not unique among the enlisted troops. Many of my enlisted colleagues include lawyers, teachers, mechanics, engineers, musicians and artists just to name a few. You say that your comments were directed towards the President and not us. If we were stupid Senator Kerry, we might have believed you.

I am not a victim of President Bush. I proudly serve him because he is my Commander and Chief. If it was you who was President, I would serve you just as faithfully. I serve America Senator Kerry, and I am also providing a service to the good people of Iraq. I have not terrorized them in the middle of the night, raped them or murdered them as you have accused me of before. I am doing my part to help them rebuild. My role is a simple one, but important. You see Senator Kerry, like it or not, we came here and removed a tyrant (who terrorized Iraqis in the middle of the night, and raped them and murdered them). And we have a responsibility to see to it that another one doesn’t take his place. The people of Iraq are recovering from an abusive relationship with a terrible government and it’s going to take some time to help them recover from that. We can’t treat this conflict like a microwave dinner and throw a temper tantrum because we feel like it’s taking too long.

Senator Kerry, you don’t have to agree with this war. You don’t have to say nice things about those of us who choose to make sacrifices for the rights of every American rather than sit back and simply feel entitled to it. But please Senator Kerry, if you’re going to call me a stupid murdering rapist, stick by what you say. Don’t tell me that I misunderstood or that you would never insult a veteran because you’re one too. Having been there and done that does not give you a free pass to insult me.

My suggestion for you, Senator Kerry, is to remember that your speeches are recorded, and broadcast to us simpletons over here. You may want to write down what you want to say before you say it, maybe have somebody look at it before you say it and tell you what others might hear. Remember that we can’t read your mind, if there are any misinterpretations in what you say, it’s because you didn’t communicate clearly.

Good luck to you Senator Kerry, if nothing else it’s always entertaining to watch you try and climb out of the holes that you constantly dig for yourself.

Sincerely,
Somebody who is watching his daughter grow up in photographs so that you can have the right to say whatever you want about him.