Decade in Review: 2004-2007

2004 might possibly be my least favorite year of the last ten, even over the 15 months Marc was in Iraq. We moved to California in the beginning of the year. I quickly found out I was pregnant again. Marc was in school ALL DAY. He woke up at 4AM and went to work out with the Army. He would sometimes come home for a quick shower and breakfast. He was at school/work until about 6PM. He would eat a quick dinner with us or would take his dinner into his office to do homework. We had to be in bed by 8PM because of his schedule. It was probably good to go to bed so early because Giovanni NEVER slept past 6AM the whole time I was pregnant. In fact the last three months he woke me up at 5AM because daylight savings time never works on his body. We BARELY survived that year...but at least we got our happy Sergio at the end.

2005



We moved to El Paso and I soon started to call it HELL Paso. Although I did not like it at first, I grew to LOVE it and would even consider retirement there, (don't tell Marc, he still HATES it.) It was dry and barren, but there is something to be said for a climate where you can send your children out to play any time of day at any time of the year. The only thing I don't miss is the WIND.....

2006



We knew deployment was inevitable. Marc spent most of the beginning of the year gone to training to prepare to deploy. He deployed just after Halloween. It was hard to say goodbye, but I think that ignorance was bliss. We had no idea what to expect and we just tried to keep moving forward.

2007



Marc was gone the whole year. It was difficult. He ended up doing something much more dangerous than the desk job we were expecting. He did learn how to wash his clothes in a box lined with a garbage bag. (Which is what he is doing in this photo.) I prayed, payed our tithing and just kept busy. Our church family became our family. I took many trips to visit family to break up the time, but we made El Paso our home. We came to love the small zoo, and most of the drive-thru workers in our area knew me personally from our many meals eaten out. I hated to cook for one adult, so we often, and by often I mean, OFTEN ate at restaurants. Marc survived both emotionally and physically. His worst injury was from running into the latrine door in the dark. He still has a scar. We are permanently changed from these 15 months but I don't think we would take them away if we could. We are better for our service.