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Summer is Over.... Here is What Happened

The girls are growing so big and enjoyed their time this summer.

It is hard to believe that the summer has ended for us. School Started on Monday and we now have two children in school. Faith had a very difficult first day(which broke my heart I was weeping all the way down the hall after I had the teachers assistant pry her off of me), but we seem to have made it past the initial fears. I am truly praising the Lord.

The recap of the summer goes something like this.

MAY 10

Jon left for Ranger School in hopes of finishing the first tiem through due to the 20 day field time (which is the training for Iraq) in Aug. and the deployment in November. We moved on with life here in Louisiana, and finished up school, celebrated Karis's 7th birthday, had a couple of very dear friends visit(thank you Shauna and Jana for the great visits) and then headed out west to friends and family.

June 13

We headed to Washington for a summer of fun. I immediately breathed a sigh of relief. After over a month with Jon gone and only hearing from him once I was tired. I had a chance to join a few dear friends on a prayer tryst, with a surprise that the speaker was a dear friend and mentor Margaret. I am grateful for the time, although it was cut short due to my Grandma being very ill. She got hit with an illness that sapped all of her energy and her physical abilities. She literally was sleeping all day and could only get around with the help of a walker or a person. So strange, because she is a rock. Even at 80 years old she gets around with the best of them. I love her dearly and quickly made my way to Prineville when I realized how bad off she was. I am grateful to the Lord for the precious time I had with her and am glad now to know that recovery is going very well.

I also had the chance to spend time with my mom. sister and brothers family while I was there. It is always good to hang out with them.

I had a great 35th birthday celebration on 07/07/07. My dearest friend Lori made sure I was loved and celebrated by friends, as did my Mom and Dad Knoedler and the girls. By this time I knew that Jon had made it through 2 phases of Ranger school and was off to the swamps of Florida for his last phase.

We also had a great time the following week at the Cabin in Lapine, more time with Grandma and a day with Cassie (my sister). The week ended with a great day at Kah-nee-tah with Dad, Brenda, my brother and his wife Amanda and some of my nieces and nephews.

July18

I left for Louisiana to hopefully go see Jon graduate from Ranger school in Georgia. I organized the home and prepared for the phone call. The girls stayed behind and had a great time with Jim and Nancy. Karis enjoyed horse camp and Faith outdid herself at sports camp.

July 24

Jon finished Ranger school. Praise the Lord!! I drove out to Ft. Benning Georgia to spend time with him before graduation, and then on July 27 he graduated after a long race of endurance and courage. Way to go Ranger Knoedler!! I had great time staying with a friend and her husband, Bev and Stan Arnold. They were very hospitable and very flexible with my very Jon focused schedule. It was sooo good to see my dear friend who had just left Fort Polk in May. She is another one of God's friend/mentor gifts to me.

August 16

Today I am enjoying a crazy thunderstorm, and sitting down to write. My girls are at home after a great day at school. Necia had a great nap and is in a great mood, and we are off to a meeting tonight. We miss Jon as he is out in the field, but we know it won't be the length of his last outing, nor will it be even close to the upcoming 15 month deployment. Our family is not complete without him, but we manage due entirely to the grace of God. He meets all our needs!

Life without Jon

Knoedlers Minus One.......

Well Jon has been gone for a month now and should be gone for one more. I am hoping that is the case, because that means he will have successfully finished Ranger school. I have received a few postcards and he seems to be doing well. He had one scare with the Land Navigation but passed it and will continue on. Being a Chaplain creates a little disadvantage because they do very little soldier training, so he counted on other soldiers to get him ready.
We are doing well here. We celebrated Karis's 7th birthday. Our good friend Jana came to visit from Austin with her daughter's so we had very good friends to celebrate with. We also have some retired friends that come to our Chapel and they helped celebrate as well. We call them the Grandma's and Grandpa's. We are thankful that God has created "family " for the girls to fill in since we are away from our family now.
We have had lots of fun playing in the pool on these very hot days. We just finished out a week of VBS. The girls had loads of fun and now know about 6 new precious songs. I love to hear them sing.
Wednesday we leave for Oregon. We are really looking forward to seeing friends and family. I am looking forward to having more adult conversation. All of my friends that live near me have all moved away. So unless my sweet friend Anna comes down to visit me, I get child conversation all day.

Ok friends, be ready to talk!!!

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All is well here with the Knoedlers. Jon is at Fort Benning for three more weeks. He is learning to jump out of planes. What a tough job. The girls and I are keeping busy with life (the girls playing and I clean?????) I also recently finished decorating the house. All my girlfriends would be so proud of me. I don't think I have ever completed a room. I wish you all could see it. Feel free to hop on over to Fort Polk !!!! :)

I hosted my first welcome gathering for our new commanders wife. That is so up my alley. We enjoyed ourselves and enjoyed welcoming the new commanders wife. Believe it or not, I didn't do any of the food. that was a very big step for me. With Jon gone, is was all I could do to get teh house clean, and to have drinks. Fortunately the ladies who did it know how to do it well, so it was easy to pass it off.

Ministry is full. I am eager for things to slow down in May, when we pass off the PWOC (Protestant Women of The Chapel) responsibilities to a new board of ladies. Until then I will continue to plug away and pray that I finish well.Please continue to pray as Jon and I both deal with broken marriages and wounded people. That is a constant in our lives here!

January 07 Jon and the girls were in a wedding together for a friend in Jon's unit. The girls were so pretty and Jon looked quite handsome in his military blues.

Christmas with the cousins, Faith's 5th birthday, and our hillbilly beauties.

A little R&R during our hectic but fun summer break (thanks Hurleys) and Our dreamy little Karis.

Faith, forever the goofball.

Necia, our little cowgirl.

Karis at horse riding lessons over the summer.

Necia lounging around.

Karis' 6th birthday.

Faith with her first trophy from soccer.

Jon and I at the Cavalry ball June 06 and Necia's 2nd birthday.

Well here we are. We have made it through 1 1/2 years here at Fort Polk. Though we miss our family and friends dearly, we know this is the place for us. Ministry is exciting and our girls our thriving. Thanks for all your prayers. Enjoy a little visual rundown of our year.