Hero Brother

Cpl. Brian Walton

Brian is a great father, husband, son, brother, uncle, friend, cousin and guardsman. This is his second tour of duty in Iraq. He is a good soldier and we are very proud of him. We pray that God will be with him, protect him, and bring him safely home to us again.

-- Submitted by Jean Walton, sister

Hello again! This is a thing I submitted on Indystar.com in their Spirit of the 76th section. It is a tribute space where you can submit greetings to soldiers overseas. For those of you who know my brother Brian, he should have arrived in Kuwait sometime today. He will be there for 2 - 3 weeks and then he will continue on to Iraq. He will be overseas for a year. Lots of prayers for his safe return please! This is his second tour of duty over there. Last time, he and my other brother, Tom, were over there at the same time for a while. They both (Thanks to God!) made it safely home that time. The picture above is actually from his wedding in 2005. I didn't have a picture of him in his uniform on my computer. (I have one from a while ago, I just didn't have it scanned into my computer.) Also prayers for his wife Bonnie; son Evan; stepsons Mathew, Michael and Joseph; and our Mom, RoseMary. All of the rest of us; Stephen and I; Cheryl and her kids, David, Chris, Michaela and Ryan; Tom and Nenita; and MaryAnn, Joey and Blake will miss him as well.

Let's Play Catch! (Up, that is)

Well, it sure has been a while since I have posted anything on here. I don't have a real good excuse I guess. Just life as a single working Mom keeping me busy. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

The cats are adjusted fairly well now and have developed nicknames. Tilly is "chicken" and T-Bone is "big boy". She is sociable mainly when Stephen is in bed for the night and then she is a pest. Most of the time T-Bone is somewhat sociable, when he is in the mood. I figure at his age he is entitled to some cranky days. The fish has survived nicely. The cats are more interested in my house plants than the fish. Most of my plants have been re-located to my bedroom. Stephen is really loving having them here. They crack him up and they don't even have to do anything.

Stephen continues to make progress in school, which is good. Tomorrow and Thursday morning the third graders are taking their first CSAP (for those of you who are fellow Hoosiers it is Colorado's version of the ISTEP test) tests. They do the reading portion now and then they will do the math portion next month sometime. Due to the fact that he has an IEP (Individualized Education Plan, I think that is what the initials mean, that is pretty close anyway) for his cerebral palsy he will get some help tomorrow and Thursday. He is still making good progress learning to read, but he is not proficient enough for this test yet. He retains everything he learns but sometimes getting it back out is interesting. He probably will get a little help with the math one also but probably not as much, which is fine. I don't want him to take advantage of anyone (and he is VERY smart about figuring those types of things out). All his teachers and helpers get the biggest kick out of him! He is looking forward to Easter already. I am not ready though. Didn't we just finish a couple of holidays?? Where does the time go?

He is on the downside of finishing his second year of AWANA's at Church. It will end the second week of May. I have just finished a five week parenting course at church. It was a very good course and well worth the time committment (we had homework to do every week also).

I am now the full-time 4-H secretary at the Extension Office where I have worked for the last 8 years. That is a very nice change from trying to do that and be the receptionist/horticulture secretary all at the same time for the last two and a half years. (And yes, for those of you who know me well, I realize I am not currently using my college degree but this has been and continues to be a good fit for Stephen and I.)

One of my brothers, Brian, has been in Georgia since January training for his second tour of duty in Iraq. He is supposed to go back over there mid-March. At least that is the latest date I have heard. He has had some back problems so I am not sure how he is doing with that now.

Well, I am tired and should go to bed and try to get some sleep before work tomorrow. Sleep has not been the best lately for various reasons. I don't have a real exciting life so I guess this is the update for now. Take care all of you who may read this! I miss all of you fellow Hoosiers!

Cats

Here are the latest additions to the household. Another county worker had to get rid of them due to his wife's new allergies. The gray one is a boy and his name is T-Bone. Yes, Stephen named them. He is 12 years old, the old man of the house. He is HUGE. Not fat, just big. He weighs in at about 20 - 22 pounds. The other one is a girl and her name is Tilly. She is 8 years old. She is a more "normal" size at about 9 pounds. Stephen was so excited to get them. He has been dying for a cat for quite some time now. I think I may be nuts, but I guess some of us (and you) already knew that! :) The guy we got them from has had them since they were kittens so the first weekend was not the most pleasant with them. They are starting to get used to us a little better now. I told Stephen we will have to be patient with them. It is hard for them to move to a new house with new owners when they are this old.

Halloween Costumes

Here are our Halloween costumes for this year. Stephen is a soldier and I am...wait for it..."Sheet" music!!! Ha Ha Ha Ha! Yes, that is a real song. Just to be a little more funny, it is "Silent Night".

First Snow

Here is our first snow of the season "down" here. Of course the mountains have already gotten a lot more than us. We usually get our first snow each year before Halloween. So far it is right on track. This one was 10/21/07. We got a good 3 or so inches out of this one.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

These are some awesome pictures of the Great Sand Dunes National Park near Alamosa, Colorado. This state really has it all! It was SO awesome to see this! We went this past Saturday and it was worth the drive. If anyone ever gets to come out here, I would highly recommend seeing it. If you ignore the mountains and trees to the back and side of the dunes and look toward the west, you would swear you were in the Sahara desert. All pictures on this site are the property of the author and may not be used or reproduced without written permission from the author.

4-H Achievement Program

Stephen won several awards at the 4-H Achievement Program this year. As his 1st year as a traditional (judged) 4-H member he had a great year! The awards he got were in addition to the ribbons and money he won at our fair this summer. Plus, I nominated him for two more awards. Enjoy!