Yes, that is a tattoo dedicated to my sweetie! You won’t believe what happened. A bunch of Navy guys ambushed me, hit me in the head, and when I woke up, I had this tattoo. Such is how it is on the open seas. It’s a rough life. However, Jo Ann did find it extremely handsome and appealing. I have uploaded a bunch of pictures of the the ship leaving JAXPORT, going by several ships, under a bridge, and finally entering the Atlantic after first going by a Navy base. Just click on the flickr image set on the right side of the screen.

Can you tell I’m going nuts yet?! We’re in the hotel room getting everything ready to leave. Jo Ann is getting her bible study finished from church. Me, I’m surfing the net and checking email. It’s a cool 60 degrees here but clear and sunny. We leave in about an hour and a half and go to the airport and pick up David and Lori Polston. Then head for the JAXPORT for embarkation. Anyway, keep us in your prayers for safe travel and for a wonderful time as Jo Ann and I celebrate 25 years of marriage.

WE’RE HERE!! Well, it’s 9:30 Jacksonville time (Eastern) and we are happily in our hotel room taking a much needed rest. We drove from Fairview, TN to Jacksonville, FL today. We left at 7:30am and got here 10 hours later (3 stops). We wake up tomorrow and go turn in our luggage at the JAXPORT where we leave on the Celebration cruise ship. We then head to the airport and pick up the Polstons who are flying in tomorrow on Southwestern and land around 10:20am. We then head to JAXPORT and check-in at embarkation for our 5 day cruise to Key West and Nassau. I’ve a picture: [1] Radisson Riverwalk Hotel, [2] JAXPORT where we leave on the Celebration, and [3] where the river leads eventually to the Atlantic Ocean (blue arrow).

We finally heard from Ben after a few days went by. His convoy in Iraq was attacked but everyone is okay. Here it is in his own words:

“well here we go, what happens when you turn down a road, your in the last humvee and you’re guarding and facing the rear, and you hear a loud explosion, an ied has been fired at the lead vehicle, obviously i dont want to look cuz i dont want my head out the turret, but the first humvee drives forward and we look around to assess the situation, out of the humvee no one was hurt and the truck didnt suffer major damage, well, for that, the entire convoy will receive a CAB, Combat Action Badge, the infantry has something similar so the CAB was for everyone besides infanty, well i am happy to receive it but i dont necassarily feel i earned it, the first humvee was the one in serious danger and im glad to say everyone is good”

As always, keep him in your prayers.

Midnight in the Emergency Room! Well, here we sit as I look at my son sitting in a stretcher complaining of persistent side pain that won’t go away. Personally, I thought he just stretched something at his soccer game but Mom wants to make sure. Dads — we’re just mean ogres who won’t spend money. Oh, well. This is what happens when Mom talks to a nurse from church who says to have it checked real soon. She’s a Mom, too. It’s a conspiracy. Anyway, the nurse said it will be quite a while before the doctor gets here so I’ll do another update in a few hours.

Ben is back in Iraq. Ben was home for a few weeks leave and we loved seeing him again. He’s now back in Iraq and busier than ever. They have him doing “missions” now. The picture is him in front of one of Sadam Hussein’s palaces. Please keep him in your prayers as serves his country in Iraq.

25 years with a wonderful lady! I wouldn’t trade a single day of the 25 years with Jo Ann. We will be celebrating in a very neat way — our first cruise. It’s a 5-day cruise to Key West and Nassau. We are just going nuts with excitement and can’t wait to go. The cruise ship is the Celebration, one of Carnival’s smaller ships. We’ll be keeping the blog up to date on what we’re doing and especially for the boys. Anyway, this week has been a nice relief from last week’s call. I mentioned before in a previous post how much I hate call. I WILL NOT HAVE A BEEPER ON MY BELT ON THE CRUISE SHIP !!!! That will be so cool.