I AM SO BLAH

I don't know what my problem is.....

I really do feel like even though Dan has been gone that I, FOR THE MOST PART, have been able to handle it really well. This week though (and GOODNESS it is only Tuesday) has felt like a massive depression. We have 83 days, or you could say 12 weeks, or you could say 3 months left and any way you say it IT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Dan really is so amazing and still just takes tremendous care of me, and our little family, while he has been gone, I could not ask for more. I just see that light at the end of the tunnel and I want it closer than it is.

I know that my mood will change and that soon I will get on a kick where I am ready to handle this last leg of his deployment, but I guess I want to wallow in my self pity of my hubby being away. I think sometimes it does me good to wallow.

Of course then I feel selfish because LOOK AT WHAT HE IS DOING! He is an amazing Man, an unselfish Marine, who loves his job and is so dedicated. I support him in everything he does and he truly is my Hero. I feel so lucky and blessed to have him as my husband and the father to our children.

I JUST MISS HIM!

LITTLE CHURCH SINGERS

Not this past Sunday, but the Sunday before Benson and Britton sang in front of the whole church for the very first time with the rest of the Primary children. It was so cute! When the Bishop stood up and said it was time for all of the Primary children to come and sing Benson took Britton by the hand and lead him right up front. They somehow got very lucky and were able to be right by the pulpit! HA HA! Even though all of these kids hear the songs a million times during primary, none of them really know them. So all you can hear out of the microphone where the boys are is humming and every once in a while a LOUD word that they know was coming up in the song. The whole time they were smiling from ear to ear, LOVING every second that they were the stars of church with the rest of the children.

When the song was over Benson grabbed Britton's hand again and walked him so reverently down the stairs, and then they broke into a run back to the row I was sitting on. They ran up to me and asked if I heard them and if they were SO good. OF COURSE! And to me they were perfect.

Now I just have to find a way of letting them know this is not an every Sunday occurrence. They keep asking if when we are at church if they can sing up front again. I love the enthusiasm though! YEAH, maybe they will be the star LDS kids that make all the other parents at church sick because my children love to sing in sacrament and their voices are sweet and pure. I AM REALLY HOPING!

FINALLY HEARD FROM DAN!

Tomorrow, July 21st, will be three months left of this deployment for Dan! We are thrilled!!! Time keeps flying by, and even though you don't wish your life away, I could do with out the months he has been gone.

He just got back from a mission today, I had not heard from him for almost five days, needless to say I was a bit worried. It was a long time to go with out hearing from him. He can never say too much about his missions, but he gave me the following excerpt from a New York Times article written about this last mission of his:

Strike Kills 2 Afghan Tribal Leaders, NATO Says

By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: July 18, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — American Special Forces troops and Afghan commandos killed two influential tribal leaders and a number of their followers in western Afghanistan in a joint airborne operation on Wednesday night, military officials said Thursday. But as with some previous operations, there were differing accounts over whether the strike also killed Afghan civilians. NATO said there was no evidence of civilian casualties.

NATO and the Afghan Ministry of Defense declared that the tribal leaders were high-priority Taliban targets and that the operation against them was successful. In a statement from its press office in Kabul, NATO said there was no evidence of civilian casualties.

Villagers, however, gave a different account, saying houses had been bombed and civilians had been killed and wounded as they fled. Local officials confirmed the bombardment and damage to houses but did not say whether civilians had been killed or wounded.

The operation took place in the Zerkoh Valley near Shindand in Herat, a western province where United States Special Forces clashed with the same tribe in April 2007. When they came under fire from villagers, the Special Forces called in airstrikes on the village, resulting in 57 deaths, including women and children.

Those strikes, occurring the month after marines killed 19 civilians in eastern Afghanistan, caused an outcry from Afghan politicians and aid organizations and led the NATO commander at the time, Gen. Dan K. McNeill, to issue orders to his forces to take extra care to avoid civilian casualties.

Gen. David D. McKiernan, who took over command of the NATO forces in Afghanistan in June, is facing a similar problem. As insurgent attacks have increased, so have civilian casualties caused by airstrikes. Calls in Parliament and around Afghanistan are again increasing for the foreign forces to stop their bombing raids. The Red Cross called for the Taliban and the foreign forces to show greater restraint in view of the civilian suffering.

President Hamid Karzai flew by helicopter on Thursday to commiserate with residents in a mountain village in eastern Nangarhar Province where 47 people, mostly women and children, accompanying a bride to a neighboring village were killed in an aerial bombardment on July 6. The United States military said it had killed militants, but a government delegation visited the area and confirmed that the dead had been women and children and included the bride.

Two days before that assault, 15 civilians, including medical workers, were killed in airstrikes in Nuristan Province, government officials said. The United States military, which contended at the time that it had killed militants, has said the matter is under investigation.

The United States-led coalition said Wednesday that it had called in airstrikes on a compound after coming under fire from militants in western Afghanistan and confirmed that eight civilians inside had been killed and two had been wounded.

“Coalition forces never intentionally target noncombatants, and deeply regret any occurrence such as this where civilians are killed and injured as a result of insurgent activity and actions,” the coalition said in a statement.

Government officials said 15 militants were killed in the operation on Wednesday night. Afghan commandos and American Special Forces attacked a militant camp in a mountainous area away from villages, said Gen. Zaher Azimi, the spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense.

The leader of the militant group, Nangialai, and two of his uncles, Hajji Daulat Khan and Hajji Nasrullah Khan, were killed, General Azimi said. He said the forces had intercepted them making a call to Waziristan in Pakistan’s tribal areas, asking for reinforcements from the Taliban. The commandos also freed 15 prisoners they found being held in grim conditions in a private lockup, he said. General Azimi denied that there were any civilian casualties.

But the Khans and members of their tribe had insisted in the past that they had no dealings with the Taliban and that local rivalries had caused government officials to brand them as Taliban.

Zalmai, 31, who brought his wounded uncle to the hospital in Shindand, said planes bombed their village, Parmakan, and two other places, causing many residents to panic and flee. Many were killed or wounded as they left on motorbikes and on foot, he said by telephone.

Zalmai, a shopkeeper who uses only one name, said eight other wounded people, including women and children, were taken to the hospital. He said that more wounded people were still lying under the rubble or in the open and that the soldiers were not letting villagers reach them.

Local officials confirmed that the bombing hit some houses. Abdul Shukur, the Shindand police chief, said three houses were destroyed, The Associated Press reported.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, and Alan Cowell from London.

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It is always scary hearing anything like this, but again I just thank my Heavenly Father for watching over him and protecting him. Thank you all for every prayer and thought you offer in Dan's behalf. He is an amazing man and loves what he does and I know he has been blessed through this deployment. It is his third deployment and in his own words, "the hardest."

They have had 1 Soldier and 1 Marine killed through this deployment - the one I already told everyone about in my last update email and then another one a few weeks after that. He always has a great attitude though and truly feels like he is doing what he was put on this earth to do.

I hope you enjoy the pics!

Thanks again to everyone, for everything!

HA HA HA, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!??!?!?!?!

I have a funny story! I went to get my name changed yesterday at the social security office and they put everything in to the system and printed out the sheet of paper I needed to sign so my name would officially be changed and they had changed my name to LACY BRECK JOHANNES KING. Ummmm….. So I told the guy that they had messed up and he says to me, “When you get married you take on your husbands full name.” They thought Dan's last name was Johannes King. So I had to explain to the guy that his last name was just King. He told me that when someone has four names that the last two names automatically become the person’s last name so the only thing they could do for me was give me the last name of Johannes King. I had to convince the Social Security Office that Dan's middle name was Edward Johannes and that his last name was just KING. It took 15 minuets just for that! I finally remembered that on my Military ID card it has Dan's name on there so I showed them that and FINALLY they just changed it to King. Oh goodness! After the whole thing happened I was laughing about it, but while it happened I could not believe this guy was being so set in having my last name as Johannes King. SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?! Now my sister, Buffy, is calling me Mrs. Lacy Breck Johannes King. NICE!