With a great skip ahead-of a few months- we shall continue the journey of our life.  We now move onto April, when Lisa and I had the Great Road trip of 2012.  We traveled from the east coast of North Carolina-traversing it length-wise, crossing into Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana- to reach St. Louis, Missouri.  We picked up Lisa's household goods and visited with Val, Dennis, Olivia and Ethan for a short time. 

Upon leaving the great state of Misery.... sorry, Missouri, we traveled to Michigan, crossing the usual states of boredom and unexcitement, also known as Indiana and Ohio.  We split our time between the families and did our best to do the major Christian days with the family.  We spent Maunday Thursday and Good Friday with my mother in a Catholic Church.  It was interesting to say the least, from a Lutheran perspective that is.  We were able to spend Easter with the Irions and celebrate at Immanuel Lutheran.

We dropped some of Lisa's goods and picked up some of mine, and then proceeded to return the coast.  This time we crossed through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and South Carolina.  All in all, we traveled halfway across the US, being as how we crossed the great Mississippi River and everyone knows that there is nothing of interest on the western side anyway, and mad a giant triangle.

I cannot speak for Lisa, but I know that I had a wonderful time traveling with her.  It was also a great time spent with family and reminder of what it means to be in church and share those big days with family, something that has been a long time missed for me. I know that there are not to be many pictures of this trip, that is partially my fault, I have the camera, just keep forgetting to pull it out.  I guess I just enjoy spending the time with my wonderful wife that I don't think of trying to 'capture' the moment when I would rather just enjoy it.  I am working on it though, so as to put good use to this blog and am also working on getting more posts and more on time posts.  So, be patient with me as I work on these deficiencies.   

This is the hotel room we stayed in when we stopped on the way to Missouri.  It was a Best Western just inside Tennessee. 

This is self explanatory..

A view of the dam...with a really nice and well kept lawn.

The other side of the Dam...just water....no lawn.

The top of the Dam, that you can drive over....not the widest road, but it works.

Don't know if you can really see it, but this is a hanging four-way-stop, stop sign.

My wonderful wife rolling up her pants so she can splash around in the river in Kentucky.

That smile and spirit is one of the many reasons why I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her at my side.

She just feels the need to splash around.

Train crossing along the bridge.

If you look closely, you can see the watermarks from the when the river floods.

Tim and Sandy with Lisa and I on Easter morning. 

Father and Daughter, ever so happy.

Simple elegance and beauty.

Driving down the highway, enjoying the view.

One of the rest stops in North Carolina.  Very beautiful and well maintained.

Another rest stop in North Carolina, and yes those are grape vines.

There is still much to follow that I must post.  We have the Azalea Festival that we attended, pictures of the new apartment, and much much more.  Till then...

Vayos Con Dios.

Parting Pictures from Afghanistan

 At one point in time I had started a new post while still overseas.  It was never completed.  As I started to post a new post I came across some pics edited for that post.  So here they are....

Loading a shotgun for a fun shoot....

My daily view to the North...when it was clear...

A wider view and in color....

The haze is normal...its just dust in the air....

Post Turkey Genocide Day

We can't decorate our 'house' on the outside for 'tactical' reasons, so we started doing the inside.

Here is our tree, one of the tent mates mother sent it out to him with some gifts.  This is the pre-'family' decorating.

Here it is in some light.

Yes, the wonderful mother even sent out stockings for each of us.

He is trying to put string on the bulbs so we can hang them.  They came hookless and stringless.

The 'family' starts to decorate the tree. 

And like any 'family' we pose for the X-Mas card.  Mersereau, Burcaw, Johnson, Eaton, Boyle and myself.  If you notice our family also has a 'special child'.

Our current finished product, for now...till we get more stuff to put on it.

And in the dark....so pretty.

Updates from Afghanistan

 Shooters on the firing line.....

 Ensuring the safety of all those involved.....

 Now doing so in full gear....

 Giving instruction on preventive maintenance.

 Still giving a class...

 Smoke break...even if not a regular smoker, they can turn you into one.

 Interpretor translating for me.

Showing how to do it with the governments best weapons, so good that you cant see it... :P

This was taken just to ensure that the positioning was right.  It is how we take thier photos for thier graduation certificates.  Though I was told that I tend to blend in with the students...learn the language and change the uniform and no one would know any different.  Interesting thought.....

The Early Days...

What for some may be considered a fairy tale and for others a romantic trajedy, this is the story of us...from our beginnings.  Appoximately a year ago from this posting we were introduced, via my sister, Sarah Marie.  It started out for both of us as a desired friendship and not much more. 
Over time, with our only source of communication being email, we became enamored of sorts with eachother. Neither one of us was ready or willing to make the jump into phone conversations, it was best for us to keep it at the emails, though we both wanted more at the same time it restricted us to being more distant and keeping safe. 
That was until the holiday season rolled around.  Lisa was living in St. Louis, MO and I was stationed in Jacksonville, NC, hence all the long distance communication.  Once we both found out that we each would be returning to our home state of MI to visit family we started to conspire to meet. 
Lisa decided to be the brave one and meet my family, or most of it, first.  She came and spent the day with us shortly after Christmas and the family all loved her immediatly.  We both wanted to spend more time together and so I agreed to come to her and visit with her family for the New Year.  That night we had our first kiss...though not at midnight..before, since neither of us really wanted to wait that long. 
We said our goodbyes and stayed in contact, racking up a huge phone bill on her end but well worth it to the both of us.  The next time that we had to spend together was when I went on my predeployment leave, before heading to Afghanistan for a year.  We spent as much time together as we could, even walking the long way to a museum that was closed.  It was closed because for some reason St Louis shuts down when it snows.  Even though it was cold and nothing was open, Forest Park was beautiful and the time spent together was amazing and worth the memories that we have of it. 
It wasnt too long after that it was time for me to get on a bus to leave the country.  She came to NC to see me off.  One of the hardest things to do for anyone and even more so for one not accustomed to the life of a military man. 
About six months later it was time for me to take two weeks off and go home.  I chose to spend as much time as I could with the woman that I fallen in love with.  I had an egagement ring sent to my parents so I could pick it up without her knowing.  We then went to her parents to spend some time with them.  While there, I proposed to her on the rooftop of their home, under the stars.  It was a wonderful time with her family and then a wonderful time with my fiancee visiting my family for a couple days.  We went to see my sister, the one that brought us together, in ND.  It was just wonderful to be there with her and her family, to be with my godson and bride-to-be.  We then returned to St. Louis and on August 20 we were married, by Pastor Karg at Immanuel Lutheran Church of Olivette. 
For those that dont know us it may seem rushed, it was anything but.  We knew what we felt and had asked all the hard questions and knew that we are meant for one another.  At the writing of this I am a happily married man that cannot wait to be reunited with his beautiful wife.  And now you know the short version of how we came to be.