Tony E.
Welcome Everyone!Pilgrim
For those of you I have not yet met, my name is Tony. I am the proud father of several wonderful kids, and the lucky husband of my beautiful, caring wife, Laura. Biologically we have two lovely daughters and one rowdy son, Jaeden (7), Selah (5) and Elijah (1). We are or have been the foster parents of four beautiful young ladies: Summer (17), Tiffany (17), Nikki (16), and Jenai (15). These girls have been such a wonderful blessing in our lives.
I am currently a computer programmer for Liberty University, but in the past I have work as a paratrooper in the Army in Iraq and as a high school science teacher. Laura spends most of her time running to or keeping track of court dates, visits, school events, and appointments in addition to keeping hot food in our bellies and clean clothes on our bodies. She's an amazing and selfless mother as well as a perfect wife, but she would be the first to tell you that we are so blessed to have all our children. I hope you enjoy the blogs and pictures. God bless you all.
Tony
Travel Blog Posts
April - Aug 2008 (I Fixed the Photos)
Published: September 4th 2008North America » United States » Alaska » Anchorage
September 3rd 2008
Lot's has happened since my last blog. Eli is doing great. He is almost 6 months old now and steadily catching up with all the other pudgy babies. He was he most troublesome baby in the womb, but I think he got all his mischievousness out while he was in, if you know what I mean. He is the sweetest most agreeable baby now. Of course, I know that as I write this I am probably jinxing myself,: but for know he is just the nicest little baby. He barely cries unless he really needs something. Jaeden and Selah were much more difficult. Boys ROCK! I am so excited to have a boy. Laura already wants to have another one. She's a glutton for punishment. :) Grandpa Don came up from Oklahoma for a visit in ... read more
March 2008 - Elijah Paul Erskine Born
Published: April 4th 2008North America » United States » Alaska » Anchorage
March 30th 2008
March: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb I first heard this expression in grade school used to describe the transition of weather from winter to spring that occurs in March, but more than anything else this year, this expression accurately describes our month of March. In Like a Lion The lion got a head start during the last few days of February. Laura had actually been feeling much better. This gave us some confidence that we would be able to make it through my knee surgery the following week. Laura was feel so well that she went to church on Feb 22. She realized partway through the service that she had bitten off more than she could chew, but she soldiered on and we only left a few minutes early. Overall, she was glad ... read more
Please Pray For Laura and Our Unborn Son
Published: February 9th 2008North America » United States » Alaska » AnchorageFebruary 9th 2008
Complications Laura has been having some complications with the pregnancy over the last few weeks. It started with a migraine that lasted more than two weeks. It was probably stress related, which makes sense. I was supposed to be going back to Iraq for a few weeks to testify in a murder trial. Thankfully, I was excused by the judge. While the migraine was in full swing, she got an infection that caused her to start having contractions - real contractions. The doctors were very concerned but could not stop the contractions or relieve the headache. We had to go back several times. finally, a combination of complete rest and pain medicine relieved both the migraine and contractions, but it took over a week. There were some pretty scary times during that week. Laura was 28 ... read more
January and February - Sorry So Late
Published: March 30th 2008North America » United States » Alaska » Anchorage
January 2nd 2008
Jan 2, 2008: The Girls Move in Together We moved the girls into the same room on New Year's Eve with no intention of staying up late ourselves. (We've been battling a cold for the last week.) As it turned out, we rang in the New Year trying to get the girls to stop waking each other up. Selah, the little one, would wake up and cry because she was in a new room. Then, Jaeden would wake up and cry because there was an interloper in her room crying and waking her up. That would make Selah cry more. We had a run away chain reaction - similar to the chain reaction that occurs in a nuclear explosion only stronger. Finally exhaustion overtook everyone and we were asleep around one am. Of course, they woke ... read more
Reunion - Home At Last
Published: December 28th 2007North America » United States » Alaska » Anchorage
December 28th 2007
Okay, I'm sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. I'm back in Alaska now with my family. I got back on November 30, but before I get into all that, let me catch you up briefly on October and November: October - Yawn Nothing happened in October. The new "Concerned Citizen Program," which was started a few months ago, seems to be working very well. We are paying Iraqis, including former insurgents, to work with Coalition Forces against extreme terror groups that are unwilling to negotiate, like Al Queda for example. Sun Tsu said that the best way to win was without fighting, and this certainly falls into that category. Of course, all the fighting that we have done over the last several years has set the stage and forced the more ... read more
October 31st 2007
This is a response I wrote to a middle school student who wrote me as part of a school project. Her project was to write a letter to a person whom she felt was an example of a good citizen. In her letter she asked me to give her my definition of citizenship. After I wrote this I realized that I should have just pointed her to Teddy Roosevelt's speech "Citizenship in a Republic," which is much more eloquent and thorough, but this is what came from the heart. Dear Miss S..., Thank you for your kind correspondence of September 17. I am honored that you chose to write me and am challenged to live of the the weight of your respect. Thank you for your kind words. You asked me to give you my definition ... read more
October 6th 2007
I know it's not time for a new blog entry yet, but I really felt led to write this one. I promise no bad news. In fact, there's no real "news" in this blog - just some thoughts that I wanted to share with you. Also bear with me for a moment. I am sure you’ve probably heard the following story from 1 Samuel 17 a million times, but I’ve added my own little twist to prove a point: 4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung ... read more
September 30th 2007
Down Time We’ve had a couple of long missions this month were we had to wait around at another FOB for several days. Those missions aren’t hard. I actually enjoy them because they give me plenty of time to read. I got some good pictures of us living out of the trucks like gypsies. Happy 30th Birthday to Me! September 10th (my birthday), came and went like any other day here. Nothing special happened. I quietly opened a few small presents by myself in my corner of our room because it was my birthday. Nobody knew. Nobody. Why? There is a special, time-honored tradition in the Army. It is called the “Pink Belly.” On a soldier's birthday (or any other special occasion), his closest friends (and some not-so close friends) will surprise him. Not the way ... read more
Mid September 2007 - Special Edition - GREAT NEWS!!!
Published: September 21st 2007Middle East » Iraq
September 21st 2007
One Saved, Three Baptized A couple of weeks ago, a good friend and Christian brother, Hugo, came up to tell me some good news. He had a twelve hour guard shift with another soldier named Justin. Justin was blatantly searching for the "faith" that he had "lost" several years earlier. Hugo has was with me in scouts and sat in on many of the bible studies that I led while there. He told me that he had pointed Justin in my direction and that Justin would probably be looking for me. A few days later, Shawn, another Christian friend and ex-scout who works for me, had guard with Justin. He answered some of Justin's questions and again pointed Justin in my direction. Finally, Justin and I were able to sit down for dinner at the chow ... read more
August 18th 2007
Back With a Bang Well, I made it back to FOB Iskan after cooling my heels for a few days at DFW and Camp Ali Al Salem, Kuwait. I sat out for a couple missions, and then got right back into it and helped capture some bad guys on my first mission back. We raided a bunch of houses, and the funnest part of that mission was that I got to breech several doors and a car window with my shotgun. (By breech, I mean that I shot the lock with the shotgun to weaken it. Then I kicked it open.) Believe or not it's even more fun than it looks like on TV. Guys just like to break and blow things up. Especially when those things belong to a bad person. Funny story: we needed ... read more
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