Walking, walking!!!

...and he's off! Our little Hunter J is walking all over the place. It's amazing to see! He had been taking a few steps here and there, but on Saturday we were at my grandma's house (Hunter's great-grandma, his Gigi) and he just discovered that he could walk quite a bit. It was so fun to see him toddling around and giggling like crazy. He's just getting so big so quickly!
He was also asked to be a ring bearer in his Uncle Jonathan's wedding, so he's very excited about that. We will have to perfect this walking stuff in time for the wedding in October, especially since his Daddy will be there and we have to show off for daddy. Only two and a half months until Ben is home to visit and we can't wait! We have a great time planned, starting with going to his brother's wedding (yay for Julie joining the Feicht family!), then on to Biltmore in Ashville, North Carolina, and finally to Gatlinburg where we have a FABULOUS cabin for a week. We are sooooooooooo excited to be able to spend time as a family and just be normal for a while! After Gatlinburg we will head back to Chicago because Ben has to fly out of here, but it should only be for a couple of days. We are leaving that part of his trip open for right now, just in case we think of something fun to do.
Anyway, it's getting late and I should be sleeping but I just wanted to share the great news that Hunter is walking!!! Yay!
Love, em

Grad School Here I come

Hey everyone. I know it's been a long time and I haven't posted anything exciting. Work here is really boring actually. It keeps me busy, but it just involves researching different questions (you'd be amazed what some people will ask) and trying to keep people working together. Let me tell you, some people are really stubborn and very hard to work with. Other than that nothing exciting here. Emily just posted my big news. Yes, I am going to try to start grad school over here. The Army pays for most of it and I get a Masters in homeland security. I am very excited about the possibility of teaching at West Point though. If I get selected (I've been told only about 18 CPTs a year get selected) then the Army will pay me to go to grad school full time for two years and get a Masters in military history. After that we would move to West Point to teach. I don't like West Point cadets (cadidiots), or the communist NY gun laws, but it is a great opportunity to get some great schooling and teaching experience - while at the same time not having to deploy every other year.

The nly other exciting piece of news I have is that I have switched rooms yet again. Hopefully this is the last time. The pictures in this post are of my new pimp pad. The roommate I just moved away from snored so loud that one night some folks thought we were being attacked! Okay, not really, but he was the loudest snoring guy I've ever heard. The walls of our connex room literally shook from his snoring. The new room is great though and I'm rooming with Scott, the guy I also work all day with. One of the good things is I won't have to get a new roomie every couple of months (yes, some branches of the military send their people for 4-6 months...air farce) while the Army sends me for 15. But, at least for now things are looking up as far as housing.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I am doing fine over here. I miss everyone and I can't believe HJ is already taking steps, but time is flying and pretty soon I will be back home.

Ben

His First Step!

Hi all!

Well...I just wanted to share some exciting news. Hunter took his first step! He hasn't been able to get more than one step at a time yet, but he is sure working hard on it. He uses his little walker thing to get all over the house so I'm sure it will be no time at all before he starts cruising around on his own. Of course, he took a step toward me because I had one of my Grandma's homemade peanut butter oatmeal bars and he wanted that...but hey! It was a step!

The other good news today is that Donna, my mom's friend who is battling cancer, found out that her tumor is actually shrinking so the chemo is working this time. Yay for that! She is fighting hard so it's very encouraging to everyone to finally get some good news.

Ben is doing well, he has started his master's degree online at American Military University (AMU). He is studying homeland security in hopes of maybe getting a second master's later in History and a job teaching at West Point. We are really hoping for that but it would be a few years down the road (after this deployment, career course in Missouri and a company command somewhere...) But, we are hoping and praying that it will work out because that would be an amazing opportunity for Ben.

Well...that is all the news from IL. Hunter and I have been passing the time although I have no idea what it is that we do all day! Thanks for sharing all of our exciting news with us.

Love, Em and Hunter J