From Erin

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry I haven't put anything on here recently. Things have kind of been crazy and they will continue to be until school gets out.

Paul was home for R&R from March 17th until April 5th. I am sorry if he did not call you while he was home. I kept telling him to call his family, but you know how men are. He made it back safely to Iraq and is getting back into the swing of things there. From what I understand he is busy now that they are getting closer to returning. Awards and other things have to be written which is now what his job consists of.

We had a good time while he was home. We just relaxed the first couple days. Hung out with some friends here, then went to Vegas for a week. We enjoyed ourselves there, but don't think we will ever go back. The shows were a lot of fun, but the gambling part was just not for us. We would either get bored or not want to loose all of our money. When we got back from Vegas again we just took it easy. I had surgery on my wrist on the 1st. They had to remove a Ganglion Cyst. Everything went good, but I was very happy to have Paul home to help me out. The first three days my arm was wrapped from my nuckles of my fingers up to my elbow. There wasn't much I could do!

I have gone back to work after having those 3 weeks off. It has been an adjustment for the students and myself. My second week back we had the state mandated tests, which made for a very long week. We have a lot of things coming up before school gets out. May 1st we have a field trip, May 2nd we have field day, May 6th we have a reading picnic all day. School gets out on the 22nd of May. All of the teachers have to have their room packed up. We will all be moving rooms. Our school is becoming too small for the number of students. They are building a new high school, but only one wing will be finished when school starts. 3rd and 4th grade will be moving into the complete wing of the new high school for one school year. With them out of our building the elementary school will be just K-2 Even with only 3 grades, if we get many new students we will be right back to being full again! They really need to build a new elementary.

As for our plans for when Paul comes home, we have to stick around Fort Sill until October 16th. There is a ball that day. If anyone would like to come to Fort Sill for Paul's homecoming I will let you know as soon as I know when the ceremony will be. All I know right now is it should be sometime the last week of September. They are really pushing for them to be home before October 1st. After the ball, Paul and I would like to take a trip to Greece. Then we will most likely be moving to Virginia for him to go to the Captain's Career Course which will last for about 9 months. As with the Army, this could always change. If Paul happens to get a command here at Fort Sill then we will be staying here, but right now it looks like we will go to school when he gets back.

I know Grandma Brown was asking about Paul's address. It is still the same as before. If you need it again, just send him or me and e-mail and we will put it in there. He doesn't have the government cell phone anymore since switching jobs, so it is harder for him to call now. If you get a call that is restricted, or from area code 703 it might be him.

Ok, I have rambled enough for now! Hope everyone is doing well. I am hanging in there. It has been much harder since R&R. Love to all!

Erin