Important for RJ

If anyone talks to RJ or writes him tell me to contact me (DAD) as soon as he can please. No emergency just very important.

RJ's posting

RJ called me today and he has a change of orders. As of now he is being shiped out on Sept. 19 to Iraq.

He said he is doing good and now knows about Gail. He is very excited about seeing us at graduation.

Right now the plan is to be at Fort Benning on June 30th. We may get to see RJ before his graduation, and on the 2nd he can spend the full day with us.

Emily recieved RJ's called!!

Tonight (Sunday the 18th) I received a brief phone call from RJ. We talked about many things in our short 8 minutes!

We talked about:
My Family
His Family
The Blooms
Trip to Georgia
Getting Married
Rings
His week planned (he’s going on a 4 day ruck)
We talked about a few other things misc. things
Then we talked about Justin.. RJ told me that Justin will stay on base for a year while he completes physical therapy and if he recovers he will restart basic and if he doesn’t he will receive medical discharge. He also said that Justin will most likely get his cell phone and laptop back and will be able to do mostly normal things.

IF YOU GET A CALL FROM A 706 AREA CODE PICK IT UP!!!!!

RJ's two letters to Emily...

5-9-08 11:47pm Friday

I’m Alive!! Sorry this is the 1st letter I have written in a while. We have been so busy it’s crazy. I can’t wait to get to use the phone again, I know I can use it in 3 weeks and in 3 weeks I’ll send you my graduation present and you can’t say no to it. We are suppose to get a pass tomorrow (Saturday) but after what happened today I doubt we will. It sucks that you won’t be coming for family day. I have pictures tomorrow. I feel bad that I haven’t had time to write anybody. I got my marksmanship badge for rifle and I got a grenade pin, you will get to see them at graduation. I see you have been hanging out with Rod, Jill, & the kids. I miss them so much. I know they miss me too even though they replaced me with you (just kidding). My brother and my mom cant wait til we have kids.

5-11-08 11:57am Sunday

It sucks that I missed your prom and I’m going to miss your graduation. What else will I miss? I hope not much. 7 more weeks til I can come home. Anyway, are you excited to go to Ferris? We have 7 weeks to figure out what we’re going to do. We can talk a lot on my family pass. The dog tags will be mailed Monday. When is your next play date with Rod & Jill? What did the Army Spouse Handbook teach you? Are you still working on your sign language?

Emily: Yes I got dog tags in the mail on Wednesday. They have his name, SSN, religion and one other thing that I’m not sure what it is.

Recieved RJ's Letter: 5-15-08

Sorry, It's been so long since I was able to write a letter and I have to clean my rifle now. So yeah, I have been crazy busy. I haven't written letters in 4-5 days. I'm so far behind in letters. Happy Mother Day even though you getting this letter late. Seven more weeks till I graduate. I'm excited. I should be fining out were my duty stations is soon hopefully. Two or Three weeks, I have my mid training break, I am going to a friends house. He lives 2 hours from here and he is LDS which is awesome. Thank you for the envelops and stamps that will last me.
That's sucks what happened to Justin but I hope he can go to my graduation so what is the plan with that how are you getting here? You will get a phone call when I get my mid training break.

Seven more weeks, till I can see you..feels like so long away for me. Probably not to long for you. I hate this place more and more shoot 3 weeks seems a long time away and that's right around the corner. But this week, we do urban warfare and combative.

Eight/Nine/Tenth weeks: I don't know and not sure!

Week 11....FTX from what I hear one week straight rucking and war games and not much sleep that will be hardest for me.
Week 12 and 13... are cool down and we don't do much.
Week 14...is Drills and Ceremonies for graduation Day, we did 1000 crunches needless to say my ABS HURT!!!

But it felt good, too! I weighed 206 when I came in. I weight 183 now and I'm quite a big stronger in the ABS, arm and chest still a lots of work. I think, I tore my gad leg muscle it hurts so much. I hope It's not serious but I won't go to sick call till I barely can walk. I need to clean the bay. I'll finish later. Love you mom!

Ok, I cleaned and I need shower. The humidity here is like 140% 80*-100* with 140% humidity only going to get worse. This sucks! I hate the heat. I miss SNOW!!! I hope, I get st ached in ALASKA or for blog New York. I have to go to final formation. I love you! Happy Mother DAY! Sorry, no gift..I can't get anything and I can't write a check..no check book! MY ABS HURT!! I love you!

No Post and Comment?

Since, I am the only one so far did the post and have not seen any new post update or comment. Don't forget we still have RJ out there and still counting on Justin, too for the update news for him.

So far I heard from Joshua that Justin is out of hospital and he is back to base. He cannot go home till his stitches is out and I think the doctor will be taking it out by this friday. So far I know off that we may know what would happen by then. Unless if anyone in family know what going on...Please continue to post and don't let this stop you!

Since of thinking of RJ

I saw this in email from a freind and thought of RJ and plan to send this out to him with letter and I would like to share this with rest of you..

Deck of Cards

It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard.
The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week. As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.
Just then an army sergeant came in and said, "Why aren't you with the rest of the platoon?"
The soldier replied, "I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord."The sergeant said, "Looks to me like you're going to play cards." The soldier said, "No, sir. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards."
The sergeant asked in disbelief, "How will you do that?" "You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God.

The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments.
The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The Five is for the five virgins there were ten but only five of them were glorified.
The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.
The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.
The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives -- the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth.
The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy. He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him.
The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.
The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.
The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary.
The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings.

When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year.
There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year.
The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Each suit has

thirteen cards -- there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter. So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for." The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, "Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?" Please let this be a reminder and take time to pray for all of our soldiers who are being sent away, putting their lives on the line fighting.

Prayer for the Military.
Please keep the wheel rolling. It will only take a few seconds of your time, but it'll be worth it to read on.... Lord , hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them. Bless them and their families. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
Amen.