Jay's R & R

Jay will be coming home for his 2 week leave! Hopefully in July! I am asking for all of you to pray for NO DELAYS with his flight or leaving the Middle East in Jesus name. A few soldiers have been delayed for several days due to weather and other issues. We do have a vacation planned and reservations made. I am believing for God's Favor and that everything will work out great in Jesus name! We can hardly wait to see him!!!! :-)

The 4th of July

We have celebrated Easter, Mothers Day, Our 19th Anniversary, Fathers Day, Jay's Birthday, RFKC, Tyler's 17th Birthday without Jay, and now its the 4th of July! Holidays in general are just hard without being together. However the 4th just seemed a little harder than the rest. We had a great time out at the Lake with friends, food, boating, tubing, illegal fireworks! It was a blast and thanks to our church family... The Kranz' we had had a great time! We just missed a very important person... Our Dad, my Husband! On Sunday we went to the MN Twins game. It was military appreciation day... jeeze that was tough! I cried half way up there and during the ceremony! of course baseball is Jay's favorite sport, so I was thinking how much fun Jay would be having if he could be here with us. Caleb was honored during the pre-game stuff. He was able to go down to the field and play a MBL-2 game against one of his friends from Military Kids Camp, Matt Bedessem. Matt's Mom is deployed with Jay. Matt and his Dad ended up sitting next to us... So it was a great treat for Caleb! Andrew went down to the field with Caleb while Tyler helped me keep Reign busy. We had two very busy, fun filled, packed days! WE JUST MISSED OUR MAN!

June...

The picture posted above is of Caleb, staff at military kids camp "in the center" his name was tree! and Chris, Caleb's new army buddy!

I'm not sure where the month of June went!? Perhaps that is a good thing?! Caleb went from Kids Camp at Lake Geneva to Military Kids Camp and then to a friends house so Tyler and I could go to Royal Family Kids Camp. I think Caleb was home 2 days in the last 3 weeks... WOW!

Jay and I are back down to limited communication. I hear from him twice a week, and then one or both of us are exhausted, and there really is not much either of us care to discuss other than we love each other and say good-night. Jay will be home in a few weeks for his 15 day leave. Our time together is already filled up. I really hope time will slow down while he is home. I pray that we all get "Our Time" with him! It has been 5 months since the kids have seen there dad.

Jay will need to see a specialist while he is home to have a couple cysts removed on his hand. It is not a big deal just very painful. I had the same surgery a few years ago. Hopefully he will recover quickly before he heads back on tour. The post op will be in Iraq, however we both feel better with him having the procedure here in the U.S. There is just something about ARMY DOCTORS one is a little leery about! :-)

RFKC "Royal Family Kids Camp" is a camp that our family has been involved with for the past 6 years. It is a camp that offers a week of positive memories for children that are in Foster Care, abused, or neglected children. It is always so rewarding and this year was no different. My niece Christina flew in from Sweden and was able to be there for a couple of days. It was nice to spend some time with her. It has been almost a year since we have seen each other. She brought me some amazing chocolate... I'M NOT GOING TO SHARE WITH ANYONE! Tyler was a staff assistant and counselor assistant this year. He really worked hard and had a servants heart all week! I am so very proud of him! It was such a blessing to watch him interact with the campers. Andrew came out to camp in the evenings and helped give the counselors a break... The boys just loved him! Caleb and Reign stayed with the Langworthy's! PRAISE GOD for Tom and Kris, they have been key players in my sanity and being there for me when ever I need them! THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! thank you to Kit and Doree, and Tina Wagner for being there for my kids and Kris when all craziness broke loose! when I told Jay what was going on he simply said... "thank God, for our family" you all mean so very much to us!
Blessings to you all! and Good-night!

Army Doctor...

Pray for Jay he is seeing an ARMY DOC today, Praying for perfect health and that the Lord guides the Doctors in Jesus name!

The Sandstorm

Jay said that there was a sand storm. He said the winds picked up and then the rain and lighting came, overall it was pretty cool to watch. I'm sure he was glad that he was watching and not actually in it!

Its been awhile...

Jay has a 7am-9pm job; give or take a few hours, and he gets Sundays off! for the most part. So that is pretty good. He was able to travel to the biblical city of Ur. If he would have had time he could have went on a tour with the chaplains to see Abraham's house, or at least where it is believed to have been. He flew over the Euphrates River. He thought the flight was pretty awesome in a helicopter! Jay is able to call home everyday! I want to thank you to those that have sent phone cards. Keep sending the cards... it is nice to hear each others voices. He still does not have any personal Internet. I am the one that puts stuff on his facebook... not Jay. He is unable to access that stuff or this Blog for that matter.

Reign was looking at pictures of Daddy with me the other day and she referred to the pictures as Andrew... yes, Andrew looks like his dad, but it was kind of sad because she is forgetting who her daddy is. :-( We are praying that the Internet gets hooked up very soon so we can skype. She needs to see and talk to her Daddy. Jay might be coming home for 2 weeks sometime this summer. We cannot wait to see him!

Reign is growing up and talking so much it is absolutely incredible. Andrew is working construction, Tyler and Caleb will be busy going from camp to camp this summer. June will be over before we know it. My brother is staying with us for a few weeks while he recovers from a car accident, continue to pray for healing for him.

Blessings to all of you!

Elmo leaving Ft. Lewis...

This is what you need to go to the desert. The essentials... your back pack, Elmo, gun, and your coffee cup

deep sigh..

My computer got a nasty virus and I lost everything.. need I say more. I get to start all over yippee, NOT!

Things are busy... My brother is now staying at our home. It has been good. He is able to care for himself for the most part and he can be left alone so that is good. Continue to pray for him. His name is Tom.

Jay has been busy and a few things have happened over there, however I cannot say anything other than GOD IS PROTECTING HIM. I am waiting for some pictures to come in the mail from him. He downloaded them onto a thumb drive.. I should be getting them soon.

Once again I am completely amazed by how God uses our church family. My peeps saved our family a lot of money these past few days.

#1 our computer - Best Buy was going to charge me over $300.00 to repair it. A person from church offered to have it fixed for us not costing us a dime!

#2 Jay's truck - We just spent over $500.00 to fix it and now it needed another $250.00 worth of repair, once again someone from our church stepped up to the plates and fixed it for us.

#3 Nancy's sanity - I was going to put Reign into Daycare once a week so I could get some kind of a break. I was willing to pay the extra money even though we don't have it. A lady from church offered to take Reign one day a week for me, for free!

I praise God for him giving each of these people the gifts to serve! I'm in tears as I type this. I am forever grateful to JESUS CHRIST for all he has done and continues to do for our family!

A word from Jay...

Here is a combination of several e-mails from Jay, that I put together.

I am doing well; my new chu is a lot nicer than the old one and cleaner. We will have to add some blocks to raise the beds up. My new roommate is Jacob Raleigh. I am very happy to finally have my permanent residence, and I can unpack most of my stuff and bag the rest and throw it in the corner. A Brit is giving me a small frig. That will be great for our living space.

I love to receive the text from you in the morning. They make my day start out great. Andrew sent me a text and said they are 4 and 0 to start the season. I wish I could play some softball, I don't know if it will happen here, not much room. I can play catch; a lot of people brought their gloves. I am glad that Reign is having fun with the new slide, and that Tyler got to go to prom. I am always thinking about you and the kids.

It was awesome to hear your voice yesterday. It is amazing how you can long to hear the voice of someone you love and miss so much. Like you have said in the past that is how Jesus longs to hear from us. I have tried on numerous times to use the phones here and cannot get through; I cannot wait until I get the AT&T cards. I am still real busy so the days are going by fast.

I put in for leave in fall. I will wait and see what happens. I am looking for our date spot. I have not found a spot I like yet.

Love You! I try and imagine your smell; even if it just me spraying some of your perfume on my pillow. I just finished a couple of videos for your viewing pleasure. I have some more pictures that I took in the last couple of days. I will send the thumb drive back as soon as I get it. I did get a chance to go to church today; it was okay I just miss our praise and worship from church. I put my I-Pod on and imagine I am standing next to you at church.

I am very hot right now it is about 106 degrees today and just finished inventorying a bunch more of the containers on the base. . I love you more each day. I love to hear from you in the text messages and phone calls; like you say it sounds like we are just a few miles away not thousands. I hope you have a Blessed Day. I will call you later Love You!!

phone conversations...

Jay found a dsn phone line. What this means is that he can now call me and the charges are minute for minute, where as before a 120 minute phone card gave us 10 minutes. PRAISE GOD! He has been calling daily and e-mailing daily from his office computer. He still does not have personal internet. It will be awhile. He will be sending me pictures within the next few weeks and some information about what he wants to post on the blog. He sounds great! He works a 8-5 or 6 job and can relax for the most part in the evenings.

He told me he had today (Sunday) off of work. I am happy once again that he has some time for himself and God. he misses worship at church.. hopefully we can video it and send it to him very soon.

He gets to carry around a pistal instead of a machine gun... jeeze here I go again.. I do not know the names of this stuff! :) anyway he likes the new gun a lot better!
He wants to see color... everything is tan, tan and tan!
I gotta go for now.. I'll be back

God knows how much I can handle!

Most of you know that my brother Tom was in a car accident. Serious enough that he was air lifted to Mayo. He was released from the hospital yesterday and the plan was that he was going to stay at my house. I have been praying for the Lord to help me draw boundaries and I asked the Lord to make it clear where Tom was supposed to be. If there was an alternative I believed that the Lord would open that door. Tom has several health concerns that I feel need extra attention, I am not at liberty to share, however it would have been a lot of extra work for me. I could have done it however the question is would it have been good for me and my children at this time. In the last two days Lois, Kris and Julie… literally freaked out on me and got in my face… I’m not exaggerating a least bit. They all told me that Tom cannot come to my home. I realized that the Lord sent them to me; to help me draw those boundaries. I praise God for people that care enough to be honest with me and look out for my well being… BLESS YOU! My sisters are taking turns caring for Tom… pray for them, and pray for NO NEGATIVE SIDE AFFECTS WHILE TOM IS HEALING IN JESUS NAME!

While dad is away the boys will... BUILD

Josh and Tyler make building Reign a playset look so easy.. they have done a fantastic job on Reign's little playhouse, swingset, slide ... her weee!! THANK YOU! guys! Jay and I ... especially Reign appreciate this sooo much! I love how people from the church come together to help us. This has been a great opportunity for Josh and Tyler to develope a closer friendship and Josh to encourage Tyler! I cannot say it enough you two are AWESOME!

Tyler and Prom

Here is a picture of Tyler at Cleveland's Prom his date was Hannah Skinner. He had a great time!

Keep Those Letters Going!

(A portion) Of the latest e-mail Jay sent to me...

I would like to thank everybody for the birthday cards, birthday wishes & gifts that I received in Iraq. The cards were a blessing, there is not a whole lot to do here.(besides work and sleep) Some of the cards brought tears to my eyes; especially the pictures of us in Seattle area. Right now I am good on stuff I just need letters & words of encouragement! I miss the worship at church & our church family. I love you and miss you. I sent the boys and you a card in the mail the other day. Just tell the boys that I appreciate what they are doing helping you out around the house.

I am very happy that Josh is coming over to help put up the play yard stuff. Thanks Josh, keep Tyler and Caleb busy!!!

We are still living three to a chue one guy is on a cot not much room! I miss you and am in LOVE with you; I look at the pictures of us and just imagine I am holding you. You are so awesome and I cannot imagine life without you. I am so grateful to have such an awesome wife and woman of God. I pray every night for you and the kids. Love you
Jay!!

After reading stuff like this.. I (Nancy) sit at the computer and cry... "deep sigh"
KEEP THOSE LETTERS GOING TO IRAQ!

Small Towns Are The Best!

Not everyone may agree with me on the small town thing, however I love it! The people of Le Center are amazing!

It has been busy at the hospital with my brother, I will be going back and forth to Rochester for awhile. "CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR HIS TOTAL REOVERY" physical, emotional and spriritual health!

Whom the Son sets FREE is FREE indeed!

Jay's truck was in need of repair, Tyler has been wanting to drive it and when I took it out to test drive it, it ran horribly. PRAISE GOD for RoadRunner Repair, Tyler can now drive this truck safer now. whew!

We got a book and video in the mail from Jay today. I cried when I watched the video. "deep sigh"

Blessings to each of you and thank you for Praying!

Pray for my Brother ~ Jay's Birthday today!

My Brother Tom was in a car accident yesterday. He was air lifted to Mayo. It is serious however not critical. he is in ICU and will be here for several days. I ask that you be in agreeemnt with me in prayer. I am praying and believing for total healing. Tom is covered in the blood and will be completely restored in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!

On a lighter note Jay is 47 today! No ice cream cake for him this year, I was able to talk with him for about 45 minutes yesterday due to my brothers emergency. I really needed to hear his voice and talk to him. He said it was 110 yesterday, and it is not even summer "wow" He sounded so good, it does not compute that he is half way around the world. I am totally in love with that man!

Gotta Go... love you all and thank you for praying!

This is dedicated to cousin CHRISTINA....

There has been an emergency!
Call in the cleaning crew!

Reign pulled a cousin Christina today, she decided to take off her diaper in her crib after she pooped! We did not get any pics it was quite the sight! Poor Tyler found her, and he started gagging right away.. I could not help but laugh the entire time...

Poor lil baby her hands and little feet were caked with poop! PRAISE GOD she didn't have any around her mouth or on her face! thank God for clorox wipes.. perfect for that kinda thing! :)

I love you Jay.. guess we have to laugh at the little things.. you would have been right there with Tyler gagging...ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!

12 weeks gone and 40 to go...

We are so blessed! Josh C. is going to meet Tyler and I at Menards to pick out the supplies for a play gym for Reign. He is going to get a few ppl together from church and get to work. Our back yard is a little boring for a two year old.. cannot believe I just said, "two year old" out loud! they grow up way too fast! THANK YOU JOSH AND TIFF, if you are reading this! Jay and I really appriciate YOU! and our church family so much! :)

Jay's last e-mail (early this morning)
Hey Honey, I love you and miss you also. I am still very busy getting everything set up including my office computer. I have limited access to a computer right now also. I am missing talking to you and seeing you. I am glad that you are keeping me going with emails and the pictures. Reign is growing and it looks like Caleb is stretching also. Mail takes two weeks to get here from what they are telling me. I am missing you guys a lot, I will try too get a more detailed email at a later time. Love YOU!!XXXXOOOOXXX!!

I don't think we have heard each others voice in over a week, It is harder than we thought!

"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"Just as it is written, 'For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'
"In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:35-39

calling cards

As of today... Jay has been gone for 80 days!
only 274 days to go, give or take a few.

This no communication thing is harder than I thought, first not seeing him, then not hearing his voice, I do get a quick e-mail each morning. However his e-mails are like his first phone calls when he was at Ft. Lewis, GOTTA GO!!! He said he doesn't have time for anything except to eat and go to bed... hope he gets to shower, he didn't mention that!? lol! ;)

just a note: If you are going to send him anything to drink, remember to send small, individual bottles because he does not have a refrigerator in the desert to store large containers :)

Jay would love it for you all to send him some at&t phone cards.

Harmon, Jay
HSC STB 34th ID
S4, Unit #117
APO, AE 09374

Jay made it to Iraq

Part of Jay's last e-mail

Everything is coming along but it will be a while before we have good internet, I am in a three room man container right now, for about a month. Things are very busy, It is very hot here 100 plus the last two days. I love you and miss you and the kids. Gotta run love you! XXXXOOOXXXOOOX!!!!
Jay