The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. I flew into San Antonio on the 26th and stayed with my parents for a couple of days, then my mom and I embarked on a road trip across Texas together. First we headed north to spend the weekend with Tris and Miss Liss. By Monday, mom and I were on our way over to Fort Worth to visit my maternal grandmother in the nursing home. We had a little pre-Valentine's day celebration with her, a special lunch and we made some heart picture frames together. My cousin Michelle and her two little boys were there and later we were able to see my Aunt Sharon. From there we stopped for lunch with my paternal grandparents in New Braunfels at the Clear Springs restauraunt where Grandpa Tom always get the "little buddy" plate :) Next I drove down to Corpus Christi for Lisa and Joseph's wedding. I was able to see Ryan and Dorothy and my niece Grace Isabella for the first time since she was born...I'm in love! She's the most beautiful baby in the world!
Paul was able to call from Iraq and talk to Lisa on her wedding day to wish his sister a happy wedding. The wedding was a fairytale and lots of friends and family were present. While in Corpus Christi, I drove out to the beach one morning where Paul proposed to me and recorded a sunrise on video to send to Paul so we could enjoy a sunrise together in our favorite spot on the beach.
I ended up back in San Antonio after the wedding and one day my momma and I drove up to Ikea where we ran into Jade and Wesely! Another day we went to the Rodeo and of course made a point to stop by the Army tent with Paul in mind :). 
Paul's update: he is staying busy and time is flying. He works about 16 hours a day and has recently had a family from in the states adopt him and his platoon. The kids in this family draw pictures and send them to the platoon along with small gifts for the soldiers. The internet continues to be unreliable and poses as a little bit of a barrier to our communication, but for the most part, we are able to at least email each other every couple of days if we can't talk. It's been almost three months since Paul left already, and it's taken about this long for the brigade to get set up on the FOB. As they are getting settled in, relationship problems are starting to become more prominent with spouses back home, please keep the soldiers and their marriages/families in your prayers. May this time apart from their families be a time that they are drawn to the Lord.
Paul's update: he is staying busy and time is flying. He works about 16 hours a day and has recently had a family from in the states adopt him and his platoon. The kids in this family draw pictures and send them to the platoon along with small gifts for the soldiers. The internet continues to be unreliable and poses as a little bit of a barrier to our communication, but for the most part, we are able to at least email each other every couple of days if we can't talk. It's been almost three months since Paul left already, and it's taken about this long for the brigade to get set up on the FOB. As they are getting settled in, relationship problems are starting to become more prominent with spouses back home, please keep the soldiers and their marriages/families in your prayers. May this time apart from their families be a time that they are drawn to the Lord.