Cards for Heros!

I just joined a group "Cards for Heros" and am joining a mini-blog hop. I'm late in joining, so I don't have any profound advise...

I will post a card tomorrow.

I do want to say thank you. Being married to a military man, I know the hardships they endure for our freedom. I know how lonely deployments can be.

Thanks to everyone who does the cards for heros!! Don't forget the deadline for Christmas cards is 1 November!!!!

Susan

Life on the Homefront

Well, I fell down on the job again...I haven't updated my blog in almost a month!

It has been a busy month!

The girls and I went to Pinetop to escape the heat, and spend some time together and with my parents.

While we were there, the girls went and drove the go-carts at the Family Fun Center

They also went horseback riding at the Porter Mountain Stables. Bethany swears the horse she rode is related to her dog "tinder-belle"...not the brightest of horses apparently!

Patrick is continuing to do awesome! His crew has almost completed the school and clinic, and they have completed the renovations on the second school. The first Med-ready saw over 6000 people in 8 days! That's pretty impressive! Patrick has taken every chance to go to the sites and do some hands on work. This week he learned to weld.

Cheer started for the girls and I. Bethany is in her last year as a Cowboy. I only have 2 sophomores on the team, so we named them Captains, and gave them a little more power. I have 17 girls on the team right now...unfortunately that make us a large team by 1 girl. I also have a completely new coaching staff this year. I have Amy and Bri back as trainers (and Alina is a trainer this year too), and Patrick will be my stunt coach again as soon as he gets home! But for now, I am the only experienced coach on the field....it does make things interesting at times.

We are all missing Patrick, and are starting to look toward his homecoming! I'm always afraid to start counting days, because we all know the Air Force makes no promises about an actual date!!

We are also looking forward to Patrick 20th Class Reunion for the Air Force Academy!! It will also be the 50th Reunion for the first graduating class!! How cool is that? That will be the week after Patrick gets home from Guyana.

We lost a good friend this week when Bill Estes Jr. passed away. We are sad for his family, and will miss him greatly. The girls call him Grandpa Bill, and have very fond memories of Christmas caroling and other times at the Estes house. I can remember all the way back to high school, and CYF parties at the Estes house! He will be missed by many in the Tucson Community, and he touched so many people through his kindness and generosity.

So, that's it for now. Thanks for reading!! Until next time!!!

Air Force Saves the Day!!

So, talked to Patrick the other day, and he tells me about 30 of the Army National Guard guys being stranded in Trinadad. They missed their flight because of an American Airlines screwup. They were afraid that they were going to have to turn them around and send them back to Geogia because it was going to take 2 weeks of stand-by to get them all to Guyana. Well, many phone calls to Arizona later, an Airforce C-130 from Puerto Rico flew to Trinadad and got the folks and flew them to Guyana. So the Air Force saved the day!!!!

Welcome to Guyana!!!! Patrick welcomes some of the new folks in.

I believe this is an in-briefing....what a gorgeous setting....I think Patrick will be spoiled and not want to have meetings in the building ever again!!!

Pretty bird!!! C-130 Hercules came in with 30 Army folks from Georgia. I'm sure they were glad to arrive, and I know Patrick was glad to get them there!

She really is a pretty plane!! Patrick has flown the C-130 for most of his career, so I've seen lots of these types of pictures...and it never ceases to amaze me how long these planes have been flying, and doing their missions. She is a hard working dame, but I think she is beautiful.

So, there is another update on Patrick. Hopefully sometime this week I will do an update on the homefront.

We are all doing fine. Missing Patrick...hating the heat and humidity...and gearing up for Bri's senior year, Bethany's sophomore year, and my last year of coaching Competitive Cheerleading.

Until next time....

Incredibly proud!!

If I haven't mentioned lately how proud I am of what Patrick is doing....I want to mention it now! The group of folks that are with him in Guyana are doing an incredible mission to better the lives of the people of Guyana. They are building a school, refurbishing an older school and building a health clinic. He also has Doctors and Nurses with him who will be hosting free clinics for the people of Guyana. The first group of engineers just left after putting up the walls for both the school and the clinic. The next group rotated in at the end of last week (and I think over the weekend). As every group leaves, they get an award Ceremony. And as every new person comes in, there is an in-briefing. Patrick has an awesome Master Gunnery Sgt. (Marine) as his Senior Enlisted Man. He is taking awesome care of Patrick, and all the folks on the ground in Guyana.

One of the very cool things the folks on the ground in Guyana have done is to adopt an orphanage. Joshua's Place. There are both boys and girls there. This little guy swiped Master Guns hat, to me this is a picture that really tells the story of the job they are doing there.

This is a picture of the entire group that went to an all-girls orphanage. Every life has been touched, both American and Guyanan.

Patrick and Master Guns after a full day of laying block at the school site. Patrick said he learned how to fix our wall where the dogs are bound and determined to break through to our neighbors house!

So, as much as I miss him, and wish he was here, I am incredibly proud of him, and all the people working for him. I look forward every day, to seeing pictures, and hearing about what they got done.

Love you babe!

Sad News

For those of you that don't know. We lost my 21 year old niece Caitlin Marie Moore on Saturday. She was a beautiful young lady with a beautiful soul, and will be missed by everyone she touched. Her service was on Wednesday and was beautiful, but so sad.

I've already said this. But please tell everyone how you feel about them. Don't wait for tomorrow, because you never know when you will run out of tomorrows. I hope Catie knew that we loved her, and will miss her.

My heart is breaking for everyone that was touched by her death. And I want to thank all the people who came to her memorial service. The outpouring of love was incredible.

Newspaper Articles!

Just wanted to share some Guyana Newpaper articles. These are just the first ones, there will be more as the summer wears on. Patrick is quoted in both, and you can see his picture in the middle of the 2nd one.

just click on them to make them bigger!

We miss him, but are so proud of what he is doing! Can't wait to see more articles and pictures!

Happy Fourth! (a little late...)

We enjoyed spending our 4th of July with close friends (practically family) and celebrated the 82nd birthday of their dad/grandpa, Jim Cook. We had illegal fireworks (oops...) but it was too much fun lighting them and watching the amazing colors and sparkles to really worry.
We spent part of the night on Skype (web chat) with Patrick, and the whole group joined in!

Yesterday Bethany spent the day with her boyfriend celebrating his 16th birthday! They even let me take a picture (not happily :])

While Bethany was at camp, her degus (they're kind of like mini chinchillas, though I think they look more like Kangaroo Rats) got out, and when I went in there to try to find them, I almost had an asthma attack! So, as a "welcome home" project, Bethany is doing a miniature version of Clean Sweep. She's absolutely loving it! Or not...
Our friends are coming over today to help her move furniture so we can get to the dirty work. The end result will be worth it!

Well, it has been 2 1/2 weeks since Patrick left for Guyana. The girls have been at Church camp all week, so I have had the house to myself!

I wanted to share some pictures of Patrick (for those of you not on facebook).

This morning he was on "Good Morning Guyana" and then at a press conference. They are trying to get the word out about the medical free clinics, and also about the buildings they are constructing.

If you do have a facebook account, make sure you type in New Horizons Guyana in the search window. There are a ton more pictures of what they are doing.

Thanks for checking our blog out! Leave a comment if you get the chance!

Susan

OK, obviously I have a lot to learn about posting the pictures and such. Sorry about how confusing it is. Hopefully you can follow since I can't figure out how to fix it. I really, really need to work on this!

Susan

Pictures from Patrick

I decided today to share some of the pictures Patrick is taking (and having taken). I appreciate seeing what he is doing, and wanted to share it!

Here is Patrick on his first look at the sites...still in the clothes he left Tucson in...Behind him is the existing school on the site, they are adding another school on the same lot.

This is the site for the clinic

This is the Port of Guyana. All the supplies for the buildings, and the medical supplies had to be brought in on a ship in semi trailers, off loaded, then hooked to trucks and taken to the various sites. Apparently this was quite a process. First the ship docked backwards (cranes away from the dock), so he had to pull out and turn around. But they did finally get them off-loaded, and on their way to the various sites.

Bethany

Had to share 2 pictures...one of these things is not like the other!!

Susan

I have to share a picture taken at a recent wedding...

We are coming up on 19 years, and I still love dancing with Patrick!

Speaking of Patrick, he has made it to Guyana, but his luggage still hasn't...I bet he is tired of wearing the same clothes!!! (blech!) He went out and looked at the construction sites yesterday and hopefully will share some pictures later today.

His email address is: jtfguyana@hotmail.com

His actual address to mail things is a bit more difficult. It has to go through the hotel they are at, and will take at least 2 weeks. But here it is:

Patrick Keenan

C/O Pegasus Hotel

Seawall Road

Kingston, Guyana

I will share pictures as I get them, I will also share what the girls are doing here on the homefront to keep ourselves busy.

I hope you enjoy my try at "blogging!"

Susan

Well, life got much more interesting today. Patrick deployed to Guyana (that's in South America for those of you who wonder) for 3 months.

It is much different now, with older kids, not as stressful. But they also don't keep me as busy anymore!!

To catch you up. We totalled our 18 month old Chevy Trail Blazer about 3 weeks ago. We are very thankful that no one was hurt! 5 people walked away from a very serious accident. So, to add stress to my life, we had to quick find a new vehicle, that was friendly to my back, that fit in our VERY limited budget. So, on Tuesday, we bought a 2001 Mercedes Benz ML320. It is gorgeous, and in awesome shape (I'll add pictures later). The inside looks brand new. The outside has a few dings (it is 8 years old), but is in really good shape too. it drives like a dream, and it is awesome for my back!

Wednesday we ushered in a new year for Bethany....I can't believe my baby is 15 years old!! (again, I'll add pictures later). She is so grown up!! We decorated her door, took her out to dinner, and made her wear a crown!!

Thursday and Friday were spent getting Patrick ready to leave...

Saturday, we had brunch with our girls, then took Patrick to the airport....we are all sad, but 3 months will fly by!!

First edition!

Well, I have finally fallen prey to the blog epidemic!

You will have to be patient, I haven't done anything like this before. I'm going to try to upload pictures from our Christmas trip, and update my profile and such....

Thanks for being patient!

Susan