Goodbye, sweet boy.

As you all know, our dear puppy, Hunter, was sick with cancer. We found out just over a month ago and have watched our puppy get progressively worse since then. Yesterday, we finally let our sweet baby boy go. He will be greatly missed by Abe, Teddy and me and I’m sure everyone else who knew him. He was a fantastic addition to our family… our first “baby”. But, it was his time to go. We may not always know why the ones we love are taken from us but we should always be thankful for the memories and love created by that life. Abe and I were sooo blessed to have such a wonderful first “pet” (he was sooo much more than that) and will forever miss him and remember him.

Here was Hunter just after we brought him home

Hunter and Abe on his first birthday

 

Hunter loved to ride in my old purple truck

We always joked and said he had an “anteater nose: because it was so long

Our handsome boy. About a month before we found out he had cancer.

Hunter Carman

aka: Hunter B’Gunter, pup, puppenstein, “Carman’s Jagermeister”

February 13th, 2005 – January 23rd, 2008

We’ll never forget you, buddy. We love you forever!

Baby Beau :)

I finally managed to capture a few pictures of Beau with my good camera. Mmmmm… he’s so doggone sweet. As you’ll see…

 

 The following picture is my personal favorite

 

Hayden is sooo sweet with his baby brother I just love it! They’re so cute!

Check out the digs…

Abe was able to email a group of pictures to me today Along with a (very!) short email:

“I sent some pics of my work area and the building from the outside and a pic of the satellites we use to communicate with our computers. I’ll try to get some of me and maybe some video. I love you and hope you like the pics!”

It’s always great to hear from him and the fact that we’re able to communicate as often as we do (everyday, if not more than once a day) is such a blessing! It’s such a change from the deployments of the past where families would spend years wandering over the welfare of their loved one. Hopefully the level of communication will not drop too much once he’s overseas I can always hope!

Here is a photo of Abe’s bunk. He’s on the bottom You can see how spoiled he is with the (communal) fridge, coffee maker, computer, etc… Just kidding, honey.

This is the building where he works. Glamorous, huh?

These are the satellites his computer links up with!

This is what the inside of a field tent looks like. The men often spend a week or more out in tents like these, training “in the field”. Abe has such a job that he has had to spend maybe five days, total, since he’s been in Georgia “in the field”. He’s definitely blessed!

 Now you all have a little bit of an idea of how Abe is living right now It’s interesting to see how different it is from civilian life. He’s one tough cookie!

Hopefully I’ll be updating often with pictures and video from Georgia and, eventually, from Iraq!

 

 

Happy Birthday, Dietch!

Today, January 15th, is Dietrich’s birthday To honor this grand occasion, we all gathered at the Smith’s country manor to celebrate with food, fellowship and (of course!!!) CAKE! Dietrich just turned 9-years-old. I can hardly believe it… he was still in diapers when Abe and I first started dating! Needless to say, he’s grown a LOT the past, oh SIX years! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIETCH!

Homemade cake for the birthday boy

One of his gifts was Guitar Hero on Playstation2 (I think?!). It’s such a FUN game! Here he is rockin’ out!

The younger cousins gathered for a photo op in the living room. They all look SO MUCH alike, it’s insane!

Thanks for the good time this evening, Smith clan It’s always great to gather at your house!!!

 

“Thank You”

Abe wanted me to let all of you know how very much he appreciates all the packages being sent to him down in Georgia I think he’s pretty overwhelmed by the volume! He says he’s been placed on “mail duty” because he’s had so many packages!!! Haha He also says he has “a small grocery store” at his bunk!

 I just want to tell you all how AMAZING all the support you’ve shown Abe is He really seems to be doing well down in Georgia. Of course, he misses home, but I really think your packages have made a big, positive impact on his outlook towards the deployment.

So, thank you all SOOOO MUCH from both of us! Please remember to keep your packages on the small-ish side I made the mistake of sending him an enormo 18×18x16 package… yeah… he got made fun of a little bit. I don’t think the toilet paper stashed inside helped much But, in all seriousness, they ask that packages are kept to small sizes and that the items inside can be used up/eaten/disposed of before the guys go to Iraq. They’re also asking that no packages be shipped to Georgia after the 20th of February. SO, keep ‘em coming till then!!!

Again, thanks sooo much to all of you! Hopefully I’ll be getting some pictures from Abe here in a few days/weeks that I can post up! I know you’re all curious about what he’s doing down there… I am too

 Love to you all!!!