Memorial Day Weekend 2009

Jill and Markus have awesome news........

Hi,

Markus and I wanted to pass on the good news that we are expecting a baby. The due date is November 14. We are excited and are starting to prepare for our expanded family!

Love, Jill

Rebecca & Ian

E-mail and Pic's from Rebecca. Also Ian will be stationed @ Camp Pendelton in CA and will be in an Elite Gun Unit. He has been or will be trained to be in the mountains. He won't leave until Jan so he will be at Rebecca's wedding.

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Alright Friends and Fam, I’m starting another round of pictures. Just to put pressure on myself, I am letting you know that I have pictures, and I need to get an email about my Bahrain port visit out. The attached pictures are not ones I took, but I am just trying to get the ball rolling. The week and a half has been pretty intense so I haven’t been able to respond to many of the emails that I wanted to. I will get to them, I promise. Hope everyone is doing well!

Rebecca

Rebecca / Matt & Bethany new puppy

Below is some more info about Brandon and Rebecca from Aunt Meg! I have enclosed one of the pic's that Rebecca sent me. I think I have already posted Rebecca's e-mail address. If not and you want to e-mail her let me know and I'll send it to you. We also got to meet Matt & Bethany's new puppy! Have enclosed 2 pic's of her - Dream is her name!

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Here’s the latest newsletter from Rebecca! (Deb, I know you got this already, but other news below)

I got to talk to Rebecca Tuesday! She called me while I was at work and by some miracle I actually answered my phone and had enough battery to talk to her!! It was so wonderful to hear her voice.

She told me to tell everyone:

1) John (Junior) is the best correspondent – the rest of us ‘suck’
2) Please pray for Brandon in Iraq – he has a tough situation there – more ‘political’ than war related problems though he is living in very austere circumstances – in the middle of a remote desert – tents – which always get blown over by sand storms – his shower is hand made from a garbage bag.
3) Brandon is literally starved for mail – if anyone would send him a little note – he would be so appreciative! It would make him feel more welcome into our family too! He comes back in May – takes a few weeks to get there, so now’s the time!
a. His address is: Captain Brandon Stockwell
HMLA 369
Unit 42070
FPO AP96426-2070

You can email Rebecca – see the LTG address email attached.

Please pray for all our military. Due to cutbacks in military spending, all pilots have been ‘grounded’ from all their practices and drills. Rebecca is worried that when they do fly, they will not be as ‘sharp’ – it is rather dangerous landing a helicopter on a bobbing ship – that small landing pad - especially at night, and the drills and practices keep them honed. Brandon has confirmed that all military pilots have been grounded – it has affected him too.

Love, m

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Mom / Grandma Judy surgery

Well, I must say it's been an eventful day! Mom / Grandma has not been feeling well and went to the Dr this morning. He scheduled a CT scan this afternoon and was sent to the emergency room after her Dr read the results. She had surgery for her appendix at about 8:00 pm. It takes forever to get a semi-emergency surgery. The appendix was leaking which was what was causing her to not feel well and giving her the pain. The surgeon had to do more work than he had originally thought but she came through okay. Her appendix (what was left of it) is now gone and she is left with some very unhappy organs as the surgeon put it. The organs need to start working before she can go home. She will be sore for awhile and because of the extensive surgery, she will need to be in the hospital for a few days. Maybe Thur or Fri she will come home.Jim / Grandpa will be staying with us. We will all filter in and out of the hospital for the next few days.I left Mom / Grandma at about 1:00 am and I think she was going to try to sleep. Mom / Grandma is at Alexian Bros in Elk Grove Village. She is in room 646-2. The phone # is 847-437-5500 x6462. She has a window and a roommate!Please call me anytime and I will fill you in on how she is doing at that time.home - 630-289-9557cell - 630-632-4918 - best way to get in touch with mework - 630-250-4917 (I may work a few hours in the middle of the day)I will update this every night.I'm confidant that Mom / Grandma will be fine, she will just need time to heal.Love, Deb

Rebecca's new address

Aunt Meg e-mailed me a new address for Rebecca if anyone wants to write her:
LTJG Rebecca Faunt
USS LAKE CHAMPLAIN (CG 57)
FPO AP 96671-1177

I think she is going fine.

Love,

Aunt Deb, MOM, just plain Deb

new baby / Cubs convention

Talia & Chris finally had their new baby boy! Joseph Scott Cushman was born on Sat, 1/17/09 @ 2:43 pm. He weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz and is 20 3/4 in long. Congratulations to Talia, Chris, Lexi & Livi on their new addition!

The Cubs Convention was awesome! Not quite as crowded.... but we had a record 20 people in our group. Some of my new favorite players are Jeff Samaradzija, Reed Johnson and Aaron Miles. They were awesome in the panel discussions and were accessible for autographs. Of course I still like Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and of course my most favorite - Ryan Dempster. The coaches called Dempster a "10" in playing ability and team member. So hopefully, his 2009 will be another good year for Dempster and the rest of the team. I always leave the convention very excited!

Pic's coming soon of both Joseph and the convention.

Aunt Deb, MOM or just plain Deb