Another pic of Sammy

Here is a pic of Sammy coming home from his first day of school. And I had to add another pic of my little princess!! She has daddy's heart!

1st day of school!

Sammy was so excited to start going to school. He has been homeschooled for the first part of the year while Vanessa was in Cali. We decided to try out the kindergarten on base, which we heard was actually pretty good. It is great to see children have a genuine excitement.

More Iraq pics

Here are some more random pics. Man, we did so much concrete!! We poured over 3,000 cubic meters in about a month and a half. I was leading a crew of about 25 augmentees to help us get this task completed. Man, those were some long days!! The cloud of smoke is a controlled detonation that I helped set up for.

Pics from the Ziggurat of UR

Here are some pics that I took during the beginning of my deployment from the ziggurat of UR.

I am leaning against Abraham's house in one of the pics. The house was touched up in the late 90's for a planned visit by the Pope; Saddam couldn't guarantee

the safety or security of the pope, so he never came. The ziggurat used to be a temple of pagan worship back in the day. The Euphrates River used to come right up to the base of this place, but the guy giving the tour said it just diverted over time. I really think it was the Lord in his displeasure with the peolple. Supposedly there were huge parties and sacrifices to pagans that took place here.

Home from Iraq!!

Here are some pics from around the house and at the Discover playground. The deployment was very challenging in many ways, but most of all made me realize how amazing my wife is and how sweet spirited my children are. We are planning on seperating in Aug 09 so that I can be home every day for my family. Anyways, it feels great to be back, and I will keep this site updated.