Rain, Rain, and more Rain

It rains and rains and then it rains some more... and sometimes it snows. David is missing the variety of weather we have here in Minnesota. His job is going well and everyone seems to be settling in. He is doing research, networking, creating orders and power points and sometimes even gets to do a presentation. Leaving within a month.

Day Off

Had a day off on Monday: slept in, went for a run, worked out at the gym, went shopping for a few supplies, and caught up on emails. Tuesday scheduled to go in to work an hour later than usual so actually got to have a regular breakfast. Looks like it will rain today, hmmm. We must be in Washington... they say it is actually dry in the summer!

On The Day

On David's birthday, it snowed, it rained, and then the sun came out. Typical. He worked from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. with a 20 minute bus ride each way. Typical. He got home from work, had supper & worked out, went to bed. Typical.

Not typical: two birthday cakes from his co-workers - a surprise in the middle of the work day. Fun. Also not typical: his boss said, "take tomorrow off." Yahoo!

Happy Birthday David

In Roman times, the Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held. In more modern times, Shakespeare dramatized the date with the demise of Julius Ceasar. But in these more recent times, the past 22 years to be exact, we have come to know and love the date as the advent of the one and only, David Kasperson, whom we have all come to know and love more than the date itself!

David Kasperson was born March 15, 1987 at 10:57 p.m. (The time on the clock on the wall in the delivery room read 11:57 but it had not yet been changed to daylight savings time, thus the previously held assumption that he barely made it before midnight… a time constraint he continued to struggled against well into his teen years.)

But I digress, back to the amazing marvel that is David Kasperson. He weighed in at 10 lbs. 2 oz. – 21.25 in. long. He took his first step at 11 months/1 week, walked confidently within 2 weeks, and has marched to the beat of his own drummer ever since.

Here’s to you David, one of the best. The world is a better place because you are in it. Our lives have been blessed with your love, your friendship, and your presence. May you bless others with your love, your compassion, your faithfulness, and your honor. May the Lord bless the world through you as you continue to surrender to your Savior Jesus Christ – as He lives in and through you to touch a lost and broken world.

Happy Birthday… IWLYF

Activities at Ft Lewis

We talked to David last weekend and he is feeling much better. Still lingering cough and he sounded a little "nasally" yet. We received this email on March 10.

Hi All

I thought I would fill you in on some of what I am doing here. I have been working on maintaining spreadsheets tracking who and what goes on what flight. The Plans Section is also responsible for writing Operations Orders (OPORDERS). We had an OPORDER for getting out here, we have one for the exercise we are currently doing, one for shutting down the exercise, etc. I have been working on the RSOI OPORDER, which is the one that controls the movement into Kuwait.

When we first got here, we were getting on vans every morning at 6:40 to go to work and back on at 4:45 to return. Then we went to 24 hour ops for a few days and we rode buses in at 6:15 a.m. and back at 7:30 p.m. Now we are pausing to evaluate and improve – we get on at 7:30 a.m. (Have to check the schedule daily to see what time the busses are running the next day. )

I have been going to the gym and lifting for about a week now. The importance of physical fitness is stressed; unfortunately, some days there is little time to get to the gym before it closes.

I'm going to be getting a half day off in the next few days so that should give me a chance to catch up on laundry.

Have a good day! David

David's Birthday is March 15!

David called me this past weekend. He was pretty sick last week, so he hadn't been up to talking on the phone for a while. He had a fever and had to take a least one day off of training. But sleeping all day in an army bunk isn't the best on your back! So I think he was happy to get back to work. Other than that, things have been going well and he's learning a lot.

He is turning 22 on March 15th! If you'd like to send him a card or something for his birthday let me know and I'll send you his address. Please do not send anything that will not be consumed before he heads to Iraq (in April), he will only have to figure out how to move more stuff then. I know he's an 'adult' now and doesn't need lots of birthday presents, but I'm sure he would love to hear from you and know that you are thinking of him.

Yesterday he enjoyed his first day off since arriving at Fort Lewis. The weather was pretty nice, sunny but a bit muggy, so hopefully he was able to find something fun to do! That's all for now, I'll update you if I find out what he did on his day off! :)

-Christine