2010 Year in Review

Where to begin... What a year 2010 has been for us. We've had our challenges, and we've had our joys, all bringing us closer together and closer to Christ. We sure have depended on him a lot this year!

Jay was deployed for most of the year. He spent twelve months in Logan Province, Afghanistan. He started the year by working as a troop XO. He was in charge of a lot of property during that time. Part way through the deployment, he switched to S9 and became the governance officer. He worked closely with the local government and the village people. Jay played an integral part of the local elections that were held in their province. It was a big project for him that he was glad to have completed.

While Jay was in Afghanistan, I stayed back in Germany. I finished off the school year teaching fourth grade. It was an absolute challenge, but it certainly made me grow as a teacher. I coached basketball in the winter, along with track and softball for the second year in the spring. I traveled down to Venice, Italy for Carnival and to Oberammergau, Germany for the passion play. To start the summer, I spent a week in Italy on a Club Beyond trip. Club Beyond is a Christian ministry for military kids. I led a small group of girls while I enjoyed myself in the hot sun on the Italian beaches. Shortly after that, I traveled back to Iowa for the rest of the summer. I enjoyed all the great things about Iowa, corn on the cob, picking vegetables, and playing outside with our new puppy.

Jay came back to Iowa at the beginning of August and spent two weeks with me. We started our time together in Cedar Falls, walking around UNI and remembering our time there. We went boating on the Mississippi with his family and spent the night in Guttenberg. We also spent some time at the Nechanicky farm, playing in the sand box and on the 4-wheeler with our nephew. The two of us also made our way down to Des Moines to spend a day at the Iowa State Fair. we enjoyed a wonderful two weeks and didn’t want it to end.

When the fall came around, I returned back to Schweinfurt and began subbing at the elementary school. I didn’t take a full time job because we were unsure of our future. Shortly after the school year started, we received orders to stay in Schweinfurt one more year, working for the Garrison (a different unit). Jay will change over in February, becoming company commander of the headquarters company. In the mean time, I will continue subbing at the elementary school. They have kept me quite busy so far this school year.
While waiting for Jay to return back home, I certainly made the most of my time. I trained for the Army 10 Miler in Washington D.C. I traveled with four other ladies from the 173rd to run this race in honor of our husbands! After the race, I flew to Illinois to visit my sister and her family. I hadn’t seen them for three years and really missed them. During the three years, Andrea had two kids that I couldn’t wait any longer to meet.

We are currently on block leave. Jay received 30 days of leave after the deployment. We just returned from a safari in eastern Africa. We spent a day touring Cairo, Egypt, seeing the pyramids. We then flew down to Nairobi and traveled around Kenya and Tanzania, seeing wild animals in their natural habitat. Later this week we take off for the Greek Isles. We will be staying on the island of Crete and will take day trips to several of the other islands. To end our vacation, we are flying up to England to visit a friend of mine. After that, it’s back to work for both of us!

We hope the year has treated you and your family well! We pray that God blesses you in the next year! Enjoy your family and be thankful for all those close to you!