Deployment 2007; Day 1

We pray you all had a very merry Christmas, we did here. Kennedy woke up sick on Christmas morning, but she perked up long enough to open presents before she crashed again. She continued to spike high fevers up to 104 so I took her to the doctor and she has adno-virus. It's just something she has to ride out herself, and she seems a little better today so hopefully she's getting over it.

Keeghan's ears are STILL not clear even after the 3 shots of rocephin. He's now on Augmentin. His ped said that there are 2 more meds we can try if this doesn't work but if those fail he'll have to go see ENT. He had a great first Christmas and really enjoyed opening the presents (and trying to eat the wrapping paper) LOL.

Kass and Kam both had a great day and got lots of cool stuff. I think the hit gift for both of them were their ipods (from Grandma) and idogs from us. Spoiled kids! I have lots of pictures I will post soon.

This afternoon the kids had to say goodbye to daddy and at 11:45 tonight his plane took off for Afghanistan. This is deployment number 3 for him, but it doesn't seem to get any easier with time, that's for sure!

We remind ourselves that the only reason he is deploying right now is because Kennedy is done with treatment and doing well... and we'd much rather have him over there and her well than him home because she's still sick.

Kassidy was sad tonight, she is so emotional anyway and wears her heart on her sleeve. I don't worry too much about her though because she is a talker and I always know how she's feeling.

Kameron got irritated with Kassidy for saying she missed daddy. He kept telling her, "STOP saying that!" He worries me a little more, he acts out when he's upset and refuses to talk about why he's sad or angry or whatever until he finally just falls apart in tears. I hate to see him like that.

Kennedy had NO clue that when she hugged daddy goodbye today that it was for a long time. She worries me the most. While she was going through chemo she became a huge daddy's girl. She wakes up and asks for him and every time there is a knock at the door she assumes it's daddy bringing french fries.

Keeghan doesn't worry me for now, but I am sad that when he sees Frank again he will have no idea who he is. Something tells me Keeghan is going to be an even bigger mama's boy than he is now... if that's possible LOL!

Frank will be meeting us in Orlando in May for his 2 week R&R and Kennedy's Make-A-Wish trip and then he will return to Afghanistan until March 2009. Please keep him in your prayers that he stays out of harms way, he has a wife and 4 beautiful kids here who miss him already!!

Please pray for Frank's safety over the next 15 months. Pray for his friends over there with him. Pray that they can do some good while there. Pray for all the families here holding down the homefront and all the kids who are adjusting to life without their moms and dads for awhile. I'll keep you posted on how he is doing, of course! Thank you for praying, as always!

Here are some pictures of the kids saying goodbye to daddy.