A little peace…

Family,

We wanted to post some pictures to help you all feel a part of what is happening in our lives right now. When we lost Jake last week, I had asked my friend, Shane, to try and find a carpenter that could make a cedar box for us to put Jakes keepsakes and some other little items in. Shane took the task very seriously and immediately went out to find someone who could make something that would do justice for the situation. Turns out, the husband of one of our civilian employees at work is a carpenter, and he would not hear of ANYONE else making the box. In less than a week, he had the box below made out of cedar. When he dropped it off to us, he told us that he didn’t feel that he had the time to do the project perfectly, so he took it to a cabinet shop here in Alamogordo, explained the situation, and that they shut down their shop and worked on only this project for the next 2 days. The owner of the shop actually drove to El Paso (about an hour and  half away) to get the hardware for it. They refused to allow Frank to pay for the box or labor; they only allowed him to pay for the wood. Frank in turn refused to allow us to pay for anything, but wanted it to be a special gift to us from their family.

 

We were so touched by their thoughtfulness and generosity. Frank’s wife, JoAnne, made a beautiful blanket for Jake and allowed us to use it inside of the box as a sort of lining. We then put some different items in the box including a set of clothes, some stuffed animals the kids picked out (the Backyardigans), a football from Daddy, a keepsake box from the hospital and all of the cards and verses that people had given to us at the memorial service. We also put in the special 586 Flight Test Squadron diaper that the ladies from the Squadron made. His urn is the little blue heart close to the middle.

This is the program that the ladies made for the service. Those are actually Jake’s hand and footprints on the front page. We had the words to the hymn “Be Thou My Vision” put inside. His weight and length are on the front also.

Finally, while we were at the hospital, my Colonel’s wife, Jennifer, had made a “plaster-of-paris” imprint of Jacob’s feet and one of our Lieutenants (Bernadette)  painted it for" us. This is the result.

We feel so blessed to be part of such an amazing squadron, and to be surrounded by so many people that love us and have cared for us. We know it has been difficult for most of our family because they could not be here with us during this time, but we wanted to show and share these things with you to help you understand how  well we have been taken care of by those in our military and church family here. We love all of you and would have loved to have hugged each of your necks and cried with you, but we take great comfort in the fact that one day we will be together as a family, for all time. Love you.  

Update…

This is a very difficult blog to write. If you are reading this, then most likely you already know, but I thought I would at least give an update about what has happened in our lives over the past 3 days.

Rachel and I lost our son, Jacob, who was due to be born on April 3rd. He passed away sometime last week most likely, but due to the advanced nature of the pregnancy, Rachel still had to deliver him. I wish that it were possible to describe the agony that we felt during that time, but suffice it to say that it was the hardest moment of either of our lives.

The support, prayer, and well wishes that we have received from so many people has been so important and amazing to us. Our squadron folks here  in Alamogordo in particular have bent over backwards to help ease our situation as much as they can and have been so amazingly helpful, sincere and sympathetic. We are nearly speechless with the way that God has brought together so many Christians at this difficult time in our lives to help us get through this dark hour.

We will have a memorial service for Jacob on Monday evening for family and friends. We would especially appreciate your prayers during that time as I’m sure it will be very, very difficult. We are deeply grieving, but we also have hope…and for now that is enough.

For Sale…sigh

It seems bittersweet to sell our house. It is the first that Rachel and I have “owned” together…we have lived all over, but this was OUR house. Part of the fun of the military is moving to different countries and all, but the sad part of that is that you have to leave behind something in order to do so. Sure, our house has creaks, faults, hiccups, groans…just like every other house. But we love it.

We are really hoping that we are able to sell the house prior to Rachel heading to California and I to Korea. We would appreciate your prayers to that end. In the meantime, we continue to try and make it just a liiiiitttllleee bit nicer!

Re-Enlistment

In order to go overseas with the Air Force, you have to have enough time left in your enlistment to fulfill your full tour at your overseas base. As we are headed to Italy after my Korea tour, I had to re-enlist and add 3 more years to my contract so that I would have enough time for the Italy assignment. I have always considered enlistment, or re-enlistment for that matter, as a serious, honorable and memorable occasion.

For this new enlistment, I had my Captain, Josh Schneider, do the honors for me. Our entire squadron stood at attention as I raised my right hand, faced Captain Schneider and stated the following oath:

“I, Joshua Roberts, do solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

After the Oath is administered, I got to say a few words about what enlisting means to me, and then we had some cake and punch to celebrate.

It is an incredible honor for me to serve my country in the Armed  Forces, and in the Air Force in particular. I don’t always agree with everything our country does, nor do I always WANT to obey the orders of the President, or even the officers appointed over me, but when you take the Oath, it is of your own free will. No one forces you to do so. You willingly make that choice without coercion or threat, and to be a person of honor and integrity requires that you do as you have sworn.

Thanks to all of you who have and continue to support my family and I, and the families of my brother Micah (US Army National Guard) and brother-in-law Matt ( US Navy). A special thanks to my brother-in-law Zac, a fire fighter in Tennessee…you guys don’t get the credit nor appreciation you deserve.

Josh the Arab

I got to go out with Air Force Special Forces and pretend to be a terrorist to help give our guys the most realistic training possible. It was a really neat experience and not one that I’m sure I’ll ever have again. Being able to help out our guys was a privilege and honor for me, and it greatly increased my already sky high respect level for them.

The kids thought that my costume was great, so I decided to take a picture.

Packer Game

Rachel and I both got new computers with our tax return, so we have been a bit remiss posting pictures...sorry about that. I realized that I hadn't ever posted any pictures from our awesome Packer game that went to in Phoenix. It was awesome.

The University of Phoenix stadium is definitely worth going to. The Packers won the game as well, which made it that much sweeter.

The kids stayed back at the hotel with Grandma, but they had a great time also. Especially Grandma :)

Visit with Grampy and GranJan

We had the opportunity to take the kids to see Grampy and GranJan on their way in to Mexico. It was a great day. We went to the El Paso zoo, ate at Texas Roadhouse and got to play outside a lot. There were some invigorating games of soccer, Red Light/Green Light, and of course the standard "throw rocks at things" for CJ. We will definitely miss them, but hopefully we will get to see each other again here pretty soon.