Lots to Tell

Well, after just 3 weeks, I'm finally starting to feel normal from wisdom tooth extraction. Yes, it's a big long word that sounds really painful, and believe me...it is! Anyway, I am glad to say that it's over. And I am back in the mode of house work. Isaac is doing great. I have lots to tell about him. First of all, he is VERY excited about his daddy coming home and he seems to think that I can no longer do anything for myself or him because every time something needs to be done, he says, "Daddy will fix it when he gets home." For example, there is a straw that is caught in the track of our van door. Isaac saw it the other day and pointed it out to me. I said, "Yep, we need to take care of that." And he said, "No, Daddy will get it when he gets home." That is just one example of the long to-do list that he is making for Tim. He also seems to be exploring his prayer life. Yesterday while getting ready, I heard him playing in his room. Suddenly he stopped and began in prayer, "Dear God, thank you for Nana and Papa and Nanny and April and Spencer and Clem and Grammy and Papa and Bella and for everyone who drives a tractor. Amen." Now, that's a prayer. Anyway, he had his first real experience with finger painting the other day, which I'm posting pictures of, and he is really progressing with his artistic ability. He is drawing stick figures that are extremely recognizable. He always draws his daddy with an army hat and he always draws his mommy with long frizzy hair...haha. I'm realizing that we are at the age of being interested in everything. We watched some of the Olympics and he was absolutely smitten by the divers. So, he decided that he wanted to dive...off of EVERYTHING. Once my mother was bathing him and she turned around to find him standing on the ledge of the bathtub with his arms in perfect diver form. Thankfully, she caught him just in the nick of time. This week, it's skateboarding. We are getting ready for new carpet so I have all of my pictures down. He took one of the pictures and decided that it would make an excellent skateboard. Ahhh....the joys of raising a boy. Thankfully he hasn't figured out yet that the couch would make a great ramp. Anyway, he is really growing up...it seems like he gets taller every day. It's wild how fast he grows. I'm loving every minute of it though. Each new day brings a new discovery. It's so fun to watch him learn. Today was a HUGE push forward on getting the house done. Becky and Danny came down and really helped me out. We cleared out the "storage room" and it is prepped to become a fantastic USABLE room. I'm so excited. Hopefully the carpet is coming this week and then next week I can just focus on getting things ready for Tim to come home. I am so amazed when I realize that it's already September. I just thank God for making the time fly by so fast. Even with me being home, things have gone by faster than ever. It won't be long before this year is behind us. I am so thankful. Anyway, so that's what's happening right now in the Wood household. As for Tim, he is also preparing for his leave time. He is very excited about it, and I am thrilled that I now have a 1st LT for a husband. I am very proud of him and what he's accomplished. I am so thankful that God gave me such a talented, strong, and wonderful husband to share my life with (even if it is long distance!). Anyway, hopefully we will get to see all of you very soon....all of us!

PROMOTED

I am now officially a 1st Lietenant in the United States Army.  (applause)  It takes 24 months for a 2nd Lieutenant to become eligible for 1st and then there is usually a long wait for federal recognition from National Guard Bureau in Washington.  I was promoted 2 days after I became eligible, thank you Lord.  Its gonna be a nice pay raise.  The rank is silver with my dress uniform and black with my ACUs.  I also got a cool new combat shirt that I wanted to show off but I will show a pic of myself in mine later.  It is supposed to fit tight and be cooler under our body armor.  Mine is a medium and still looks huge on me.  Speaking of which, my commander is now making me to eat at least 2 meals a day and my executive officer makes me eat a 300 calorie muffin a day.  ha ha. So hopefully I wont look so much like a skeleton when I get home, which oh by the way is coming soon.

In memory

I wanted to say something about the young soldier that our battery lost.  This story says it better than I could.  Please keep his family and friends in your prayers.

Soldier dies during IED attack in Iraq, memorial set

Story by Sgt. Aaron Leblanc,
165th Combat Service Sustainment Battalion

The Soldiers from the 28th Transportation Battalion are dealing with the loss of one of their fallen comrades who gave his life in the service to his country while stationed in Baghdad, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

A memorial service in honor of Sgt. José Enrique Ulloa, is scheduled at the Post Chapel on Benjamin Franklin Village in Mannheim, Germany, Aug. 14.

Ulloa, a native of the Dominican Republic who immigrated to the U.S. at an early age, was assigned to the 515th Transportation Company as a motor transport operator.  He died instantly Aug. 8 when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device during a routine convoy security operation.

To those who knew him, he will be remembered as a music lover, a fitness guru and an American patriot.

Ulloa graduated from Washington Irving High School in New York City, and soon thereafter joined the Army.

“He was someone who was really serious about the Army, and being here in Iraq,” said Sgt. Sharron Finley, 515th Transportation Company, who has been serving alongside Ulloa since his first duty station.

“During our time here in Iraq he stated many times that we were making history,” said Finley. “He was always focused on the mission and never placed personal needs above it.”

“I remember back when he was a [private], he’d always want to shout facing movements with people, and I always listened, you know, to humor him,” said Finley. “He used to shout ‘Attention! Left Face!’ He always acted like a sergeant major, even as a private,” she said smiling.

In 2005, while Ulloa was assigned to the 71st Ordnance Company in Hanau, Germany, another unit heading for Iraq was short-handed, and they asked for volunteers from the 71st. Ulloa, who was a private at the time, was the only one who raised his hand to go.

One of Ulloa’s Soldiers, Spc. Ryan Martin, said he remembers Ulloa with deep admiration and appreciation.

“He was an outstanding individual that always did what he thought was right. I’ll always remember how he fought to let me go to Qatar,” said Martin. “There’s no way I would have gotten to go on pass if he hadn’t stuck up for me. He always fought for me; he was a good leader.”

 “We aren’t going to let this fine young Soldier die for nothing by backing down, or messing up what we’ve helped to achieve since we’ve been here. We’re going to continue doing our jobs,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Jerry Harvey, the command sergeant major of the 165th Combat Service Sustainment Battalion.

“I know that there will be people beating themselves up over what happened, but now is the time for us to come together as a family and comfort them. The bottom line is that everyone involved did one hell of a job,” Harvey added.

Ulloa is survived by his wife and his seven-month-old son.

Winding Down Summer with a Trip to the Zoo

Well, it was Isaac made his second trip to the zoo Friday morning.  Actually, it probably should count as his first considering that he slept through most of the first trip.  Anyway, he was very excited about it, although I think he might have been a little overwhelmed.  I was shamed as soon as I walked into the zoo.  Here I was with my entourage including Isaac's Nana and Papa and passing us was a woman by herself with 4 boys.  Three of them triplets looking around the age of three and one in a stroller.  Oh my gosh...she was my hero.  Times like that I think, "Man I'm a wimp!"  But you know, every time I passed her, her kids were very well behaved.  They all stayed right with her and were calm as could be.  I really wanted to talk to her for an hour or two and just ask her how she did that.  Isaac I think is well behaved overall, but I he's just lively.  I would have been absolutely passing out had I taken him by myself.  Between all the picking up and holding, I'd have totally been tuckered. 

Anyway, Isaac's first activity was a ride on the carousel.  I thought he might be a little scared of this, but as it turns out, he absolutely loved it....I mean, if that were the whole trip, he would have thought it was the best trip he'd ever been on.  He rode a horse named Suzy Q and he named the warthog I got him after this horse.  Yes, a warthog....it's what he picked out!  So we now have a new stuffed warthog named Suzy Q.  We all got a little tickled when Isaac got off the carousel walking all tough like he had just tamed a wild horse.  It was really funny. 

We went from there to see the chimpanzees which is where the day started unraveling for me!  Right when we walked up, this one chimp took a bead on us.  Suddenly, without warning, he grabbed a stick, ran over to us at full speed and threw it right at my head, barely missing me.  Now, one thing you should know is that when my sister and I were kids, my grandfather went with us to the zoo and teased the chimps (maybe they were apes??) anyway, this primate proceeded to throw stones at him and wouldn't stop.  Of course, this just encouraged my grandfather to keep teasing, so needless to say, that animal was really mad by the time we left.  So, I'm wondering if it's possible that they remembered us after all those years.  Hmmm.....surely not!

We then went into the Lorakeet cages.  Now, let me just say here that I was leery about this whole thing in the first place.  I'm not a big bird fan, and that cage was full of them!  So my plan was to go in, act like I was perfectly fine with all those birds flying around, blend in to the surroundings, and take a couple of pictures.  Well, here I am just minding my business when this bird just swoops down and lands on my shoulder and begins to pick lice out of my hair (and let's just get it on record that I do not have lice to pick out!).  I was a little frightened...mostly because of the fact that I was way too close to having bird poop on me for the rest of the day, and second because the bird was chewing my head.  Did I mention the sign outside the cage that said, "LORAKEETS MAY BITE"???  Okay, so that probably had something to do with the fear that began welling up in me!  Anyway, I survived (barely) that incident and went the rest of the trip fairly under the radar. 

Isaac got to ride the train and loved it.  We didn't get to see the elephants and big cats, but Isaac was sweating from head to toe (even though it was a beautiful day for a trip to the zoo) and we were all really really tired.  So we decided to call it a day after one more trip around the carousel on Suzy Q.  We had a lot of fun.  I have to admit that nothing is the same without Tim, and we really missed him being there.  Tim has the ability to make anything funny and exciting, but Nana and Papa did a fantastic job and were troopers.  And you can see that Papa has a pretty good knack of making things fun too.  In one of the pictures you will see them pretending to be ducks going across the duck crossing.  Well, I think that going to the zoo is a major part of every kid's life.  Or should be at least.  What great exposure to animals that they wouldn't otherwise get to see.  It has opened Isaac's eyes to a whole new genre of books-non-fiction.  Since being back he has taken an interest in books that give factual information about animals.  It's so fun to see him really excited like that. 

For a quick update on Tim, he is doing well.  It's still blazing hot over there with temps around 130 degrees.  Thankfully, he sleeps during the hot part of the day and works at night.  That's been a real blessing.  It also means that we have pretty much the same schedule.  I can tell you that our family has never been more ready for something than we are ready for him to get home.  We still don't know when that will be, but we are trusting in God's perfect timing.  He has never failed us with timing yet, and we certainly don't expect Him to fail this time either.  He now has internet in his room, and he checks his e-mail often, so if you get time, drop him an e-mail.  I know that he would love to hear from you.