Good Everything Everyone,Well we are all busy packing up our gear and getting ready for our movement back home. I am so excited. As I was going through my stuff, I notice an external hard drive that I had brought with me but had not really used much since I have been here. I spent some time looking at some photos that I had stored and my heart was filled with joy. As many of you know, Karen, Karis, and I travel frequently. As I browsed these images, I felt a great sense of gratitude to the Lord for giving us the opportunity to allow our family to travel so much. I have always wanted to ensure that Karis is exposed to a variety of cultures. I am so proud of her. She is truly colored blind when it comes to her view of people of differing cultures and customs. So, tonight I would like to show some photos of our daugther as she moved along her path of adventure.
1. Karis and her American Girl dolls
2. Skating
3. Trouble Makers
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1. Karis skating solo
2. Miriam and Karis at ballet class
3. Karis school. There are no walls in her school
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1. Getting ready for her dance recital
2. Karis playing her violin at the local fair
3. Last summer's softball season
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1. Christmas
2. Mt. Ranier, Washington State
3. Capitol Building, Washington D.C.
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1. Lincoln's Memorial: Karis, Karen, and our neice, Juliana
2. President Lyndon Johnson and President Kennedy's Air Force One, Seattle, Washington
3. Inside Air Force One
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1. The famous Pike's Market Place. Home of the thrown fish. The movie, Sleepless in Seattle was filmed here
2. Showing off her muscles on a harbor cruise on Puget Sound
3. Mt. St. Helens
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1. Karis at Cannon Beach, Oregon. This is where the Lewis and Clark westward expedition ended
2. Astoria, Washington. This school is where they filmed Kindergarten Cop. The movies Short Circuit, Free Willy, and the Goonies were also filmed in this small but quaint little town.
3. Totem Poll in Olympia, Washington
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1. Butchart Gardens Vancouver Island, Canada
2. Bronze horse and Karis at Butchart Gardens
3. The Cascade Mountains in the background
1. Karen and Karis at the stream that flows over Multnoma Falls, Oregon
2. Cabin that we stayed in while in Washington, State. Located on North Ft. Lewis
3. This lake was just out behind our cabin in Washington
1. Ehsan and Seddigah and Karis in Colorado at Rocky Mountain National Park. Ehsan is a physician that I used to work with. We were vacationing together.
2. Estes Park city limits, Colorado
3. Karis at Grand Canyon
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2. Ghost Town, Chloride, Arizona
3. Navy Peer, Chicago
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2. American Girl Doll Store
3. I believe this is at the Children's Museum in St. Louis
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1. Zion National Park, Utah
2. Red clay desert, Arizona
3. Karis at Medieval Times, Schaumburg, Illinois
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2. Karis on Moorea. This is the peir that was connected to our village where we stayed
3. Karis and I at Cook's Bay, Moorea. Both movies of the Muntiny on the Bounty were filmed in this bay.
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1. Karis in Tahiti with her little buddy, Lambie
2. In the background is the mountain that I described in the book, 'Hannah KaReese and the Island of Moorea'
3. This is a real chocolate moose at a chocolate store outside Portland, Maine
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1. Karen and Karis, Kennebunkport, Maine, home of George H.W. Bush
2. In the background is Portland's Two Lights, Lighthouse in Maine
3. We are in Portsmouth, New Hampshire getting ready for a harbour cruise
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2. Karis with her cousin Juliana and her husband Adam. This is at the Kentucky Derby
3. Karen and Karis feeding a tiger at an indian reservation in North Carolina
1. Cruising the Thames River in London, England. The Two Tower's Bridge is in the background
2. Karis in Amsterdam, Holland with a 'living' statue
3. Smoky Mountains National Park
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2. This is a windmill in Holland. It is still in use
3. This is the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzards. We got to meet the real Enos while we were there
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1. A Romanesque structue in Trier, Germany. This beautiful city was once the vacationing site of the Roman emporers. Many of the stuctures her have noticeable Roman influences
2. Covered bridge at Conner's Prarie, Indiana
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2. A real Native American thatched home. Also in Conner's Prarie, Indiana
3. Karis first time at Disney World. She loved it when she was 4, but when we returned when she was 9, she found MGM, Epcot Center, and Animal Kingdom to be more her age.
1, Spiderman at MGM, Florida
2-3. Disney World on a rainy day
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2. This is Karen, Karis, and our Nephew, Josua. He is a Captain in the Airforce in Montana. This is a photo of Montana's Plains. Prarie dogs were everywhere
3. Karen and Karis in the natural hot springs of Banff, Canada. The water is heated by underground Lava that is bubbling deep below a mountain that is in Banff
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2. Karis horseback riding near, Canmore, Canada
3. Karis at the Olympic Park, Calgary, Canada. Home of the 1998 Winter Olympics
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2. Karis on Lake, Louise, Canada
3. Karis on an Iceberg cruise in Alaska
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1. Standing outside a general store near Talkeetna, Alaska
2. This is 4 time Iditarod Winner, Martin Buser's sled
3. The town of Talkeetna, Alaska. This is the base camp for climbing Mt. McKinley
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1. This is Karis with Martin Buser. He had us over to his house and gave Karen, Karis, and myself an exclusive tour. He is a very nice man. We met his two sons and all of his mushing dogs. It was a major highlight of our trip.
2. Finally, this is in Seward, Alaska.
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Well, thank you for allowing me to share my photo's. I pray that you are all doing well. I will be seeing you all very soon.
God Bless,
Jeff
Good Evening Everyone,
I know that the reasons that we entered Iraq are varied and controversal. But for us the mission is clear. We truly desire for the people of Iraq to be free. Free of tyranny, free of oppression, and free of fear. We want children to receive a quality education. We want fathers and mothers to have assurances that their family will be safe. We want to create an environment where the Iraqi people can grow and mature as a society; to acheive their dreams and to reach their fullest potential.
In America we take many things for granted. We do not fear that our house will be visited by death squads or that our teenage children will be hauled away and pressed into military service. We are free to start our own business, move freely around our communities, and sleep in peace. For many years, the Iraqi people lived in fear. Terror reigned supreme. Fathers and mothers worried that their children might be killed or tortured simply because Saddam and his henchmen wanted to show their power. Women were oppressed and many were raped and would disappear without warning. Families dreaded hearing a late night knock on the door from men who were bent on causing pain and misery.
The price of freedom always carries with it a very heavy price tag. It is a sad truth that we have sacrificed our best and brightest so that peace may come to this country. We in the military, have lost our friends, our brothers and sisters in arms, and we ache for their companionship. But we all believe, that our friends have given their life for a cause greater than themselves. We are so blessed to have women and men who understand that the needs of the many are more important than the desires of the few.
