Jesse's latest Update

Jesse has been very busy lately. The 2 pictures he is referring to will be on here as soon as he resends them. I could not get them earlier so look for those soon. He is homesick and we are homesick for him so please be praying for him. Of course when you ask him what he would like for you to pray for his response is "pray for the innocent people caught in the middle of all this." He is a better man than me cause I would probably be much more selfish!

Hello friends and family,
I just wanted to send out a quick hello from sunny and warm Iraq. We have been very busy these days, but I guess this is good since time seems to pass more quickly. I want to thank everyone who has been praying for us. We really appreciate it. I guess ya’ll have heard on the news that we had a good day rounding up the bad guys. I thank God that everyone on that mission returned safely. I am doing well, and I am ready to get back to see everyone. I miss Sundays the most because of my Church family and it is the day I spend time with Mir, Sandy, and Emma. I miss all the girls along with my family and friends. I am glad we are on the downhill slide and pass may be in the future. This is a picture of some of the stuff we have rounded up and making sure it will not be used again. The second picture is us blowing up the first picture of stuff.
God Bless,
Jesse

Now I returned home on Sunday the 17th at 10 PM only to rush home and wash clothes. Thankfully, Erin came home with me to help me get repacked and to take me to the church. At 3:30 AM Monday morning I had to be at FBC Houston in order to attend Centrifuge with our youth group. I was asked to go on this trip at the last minute, but God knew I needed it. As well as the girls and I have been doing it has been hard without Jesse and I needed a week to focus back on God and His will for my life. NOTHING happens by chance and boy and I thankful for that. We left for Panama City, FL for a week of great worship and Christian fellowship. Our worship leader was Jonathan Crosby, who is one of Bennett's best friends. He and his wife Melissa truly have a heart for missions. They leave soon for Indonesia for 2 years, so keep them in your prayers. This was a great week for our youth. For the last several years they have struggled, and this week I think they have realized that they must come together and work in God's will not their own. This is a great group of young people who can truly make a difference if they try. Please keep us all in your prayers and encourage those you run into today.

Seems like forever since I have posted anything, but I have a good excuse. On July 12, 2005 I went to St. Louis with 10 Anchors and Pilots. In order to finish my job as Pilot International Anchor Coordinator, I had to assist with the Anchor convention. As much fun as it was, it was also a lot of work. The highlight of the trip was getting to go to the Cardinals game on Friday night. It started out as an ordinary game, nothing really special about it, in fact, many left in the 8th inning thinking the Cards had won and they would get ahead of the crowd. Not us...the Astros tied it up and we went into extra innings, 13 to be exact. The Astros earned a run and pushed ahead in the top of the 13th. The Astros had walked one so the tieing run was on 1st, we had 2 outs, and Puljois came up to bat. He had not really done that well that all night so I was expecting to go home sad, but then he did it. He hit a homerun and won the game. I was so thankful I did not bail earlier and I got to see the whole game. This is the night I started losing my voice also, but I had to cheer enough for Jesse and me! St. Louis was great and I took some really great students with me. I am so proud to be their Anchor Sponsor. This was a hard week too cause the communication with Jesse was very limited, but God takes care of us all.

It has been several days since I have posted, so I thought I would do one quickly this morning. I am in St. Louis at Pilot Convention. This is probably my last lazy morning until I get home. There are 11 of us from Houston here: Mary Davis, Houston President; Dorajean Sanderson, my mom and page for PI President MaryAnn Frazier; Sandy Garner and Jordan Sisk, just to have fun; me and 6 Anchors - Jessica Vaughan, MS District President and HHS Anchor President, Tabitha Chandler, Michelle Dao, Rebekah Laughlin, Stephanie Staggs, & Amanda Brand. This year I will help with the Anchor Convention part of Pilot convention which in my opinion is way more fun!!! Tonight is opening ceremony where I have been honored with the task of escorting the US flag. This is a huge honor not only for me, my club, but also for my husband. Through out his deployment I have experienced many things that otherwise would have never done and this is one of them. Hopefully when I ever get home again there will be plenty of pictures to look at and see what we did this week. Hopefully more than anything I will be able to inspire an Anchor, esp. my Anchors, to want to go home and serve others. Before I sign off, I will be arriving in Houston, MS Sunday afternoon, wash my clothes, and then leave at 4 AM Monday morning for Centrifuge with our youth group. I don't say yes to all these things cause I can't say no, I just like to do all these things, so just say a little prayer for me and be glad that there is someone who likes to do all these things so you don't have to.

Picture of Jesse in Iraq with his M4. Talked to him tonight and he sounded homesick but good.

This is a picture of the great fireworks that Sandy and I watched while we talked to Jesse on the phone. I guess that is the next best thing to him actually sharing the moment with us. Tonight was the Houston Homecoming, and as always it is good small town fun. This day is filled with groups selling stuff, local groups singing, and lots of great fellowship. The committee that puts all this together does a wonderful job and should be commended. I love this activity. I guess I love it so much cause it is one time when the town of Houston is not squabbling over all the stupid things that seem to over-shadow what is really important. I wish everyone could feel the way I feel about our small town. For the majority of my life I have lived here in Houston and it has been great. I just worry about where Houston is headed, I worry that not enough people care about what happens to this great small town, and I worry that those of us who do care don't have the strength to fight those that are ruining this great place to call home. Tonight as I watched the wonderful display of fireworks and talked to Jesse on the phone, I kept drifting off into thoughts of how to make a difference. I guess living in a house for 20 years with a mom and a dad that care so much about giving back to other has rubbed off on me too. So when you pray for Jesse, Sandy, Emma Lee, and I please include a prayer for God to show me some direction. I just don't know what to do next and I need some help!

Sandy and Emma Lee celebrating the 4th of July at Houston Homecoming!

Well today is July 1 and that means we have one more month down, and hopefully only 6 to go. He has called a couple of times. Found out there is only one kind of phone card to use over there and it is only 4 cents a minute so that is not too bad. He called yesterday and we were able to laugh. He is so silly sometimes. I guess that is where Emma Lee gets it.

We have been busy around here. Erin helped me take the old carpet out of the living room and paint the walls. We discovered beautiful hard wood under the carpet. It has been fun working on different projects around the house.Of course I had to get a new couch to go along with all the changes but it won't be here for a few weeks so we are sitting on the beautiful floor.

Sandy, mom, Jordan, Mary, 6 Anchors, and I are leaving the 12th for St. Louis to attend Pilot International Convention. I am so excited about this trip I can hardly wait. Sweet Emma Lee will be spending the week with Momma Dell and Jesse's family so you might want to keep them in your prayers. Then I will come home on the 17th, wash clothes and head out to Panama City at 4:00 AM with our church youth group for Centrifuge. As if St. Louis was not enough to excite me, now I get to go to Centrifuge too. Funny how God always seems to take care of you. I really need a week of pure spiritual fun and renewal. Of course I won't be online so if you see Jes on please talk to him. The coolest part of all this besides being able to go to a Cardinals game on the 15th is that Bennett's friends are the leaders at Panama City. So now everyone is excited!!

Hope everyone enjoys their 4th!!!! I will probably hurt myself over at Aunt Betty's and Uncle Dave's eating all the good stuff there!