He's Done!

After 5 1/2 months at the Police Academy, Mark finally graduated!!

He will be sworn in on Tuesday and then he will officially be a Hometown Police Officer!

Happy Father's Day Honey!!

Happy Father's Day 2009

(click for video)

Happy Father's Day to the Greatest Dad around!

Mark,

I could never have imagined the joy it brings to me to see you with our girls. I see you in Jillian's quirky smile and humorous personality. I see you in Emma's eye's and the way that she makes a room light up.

You are that dad.

You like to dress the girls and are much better at packing the diaper bag than I will ever be. You curl Jillian's hair and pick out bows for Emma.

You clean up the "accidents" in the middle of the night without ever making a peep.

You can look at Jillian without saying a word and the world is at peace.

You always make sure to pick up a special treat for the girls and I, after you get your ice cream of course:)

When Jillian was born I insisted she could not sleep in our bed, so she didn't. When Emma came along I said the same thing, but you said different. One of my favorite memories is watching you and Emma sleep late in the mornings.

You have had to sacrifice time with our family to protect our country and we are so grateful.

And even during those times when you are away, you are still involved.

You have shown our girls, when no words were necessary, how to do what you have to do. Jillian knows what it means to pray for her daddy everyday that he may be safe and knows that phone calls and pictures are held close our heart. She knows that for the time being, Pa will eat poptarts with her at school, and Gamma will drive your car, because you are in "Izraq", working very hard. Even then, there is not a day, or hour rather, that a conversation that includes "Daddy" is not had. Your pictures surround our house and heart, not because of your job, but because of the husband and father you are.You show them (and me) how to work hard, how to deal with tough situations with a positive attitude, and just "do it!".
You make sure our girls know they are loved.

Although it seems the chances are slim that the girls may share your same passion;), you make sure to show them that its good to find an interest and pursue it.

You have always put our family first.

You are an absolutely wonderful husband. And because of that, our girls know what real love is. They can see the amazing husband you are and one day will know exactly what to look for in their own husbands.

Although I know how I feel about the father and husband you are, I could not ever express it properly. In the end it all comes down to the fact that you love our girls and they love you.Thank you for being the father and husband that you are. you ROCK!!!

Love, Paige

miss this face...

yep, i love him.

A little bit of rest and relaxation

Mark arrived home 2 weeks ago for his R&R. We were so excited to finally have him home, if only for a short while.
Jillian was ecstatic and Emma was unsure. After only a short while daddy was covered in hugs and kisses by all of his girls.

During his visit we all stayed pretty busy, but we had a ton of fun! Here are some pictures of his visit:


Our Trip to Vegas

Jillian ice skating

Mark got a Snuggie for his birthday while home...

Yes, that's right, you can even play Rock Bank while wearing the Snuggie :)

Jillan also enjoyed the Snuggie...and the book light. But really, that whole "one size fits all" thing..totally a gimmick.

Daddy and his girls

That's right, Emma started walking the DAY Mark got home. That's my girl!

Our Family

Customized Music Video...Check it Out!

Pictures from the desert

Mark sent these pictures today.




The tent they live in.

Be Thankful

Today I am thankful for my husband, my Marky Mark. I love him so much! I know without a doubt that he is the man God prepared for me. I prayed to meet a kind, loving, passionate, man of God, man, and that's exactly who Mark is. He is a wonderful husband who always knows how to make me smile. He loves to sing to me and dance with me in the kitchen while I burn dinner:) He watches chick flicks with me and puts the sprinkles on the cookies after I bake them. He passes out extra food to our neighbors when I try a new recipe and have way to much left over. He irons clothes. He loves to shop and dress the girls. He curls Jillian's hair. He eats whatever I cook, and lets me know if it is good enough to try again. He loves ice cream, flaming hot cheetos, and BMW's, especially his own. He loves to drive, fast. He enjoys soccer, video games, and diet wild cherry pepsi. He despises talking on the phone, mushrooms, and most chores.
Mark is the greatest father. Our two girls love him so much, I can't wait to see their faces when he comes home. He has always been the one to do the fun stuff with Jillian, like showing her how to ride her scooter, make sand necklaces and taking her to his BMW meets. He can't wait for both girls to be BMW enthusists like him;)
Mark is definetly the man I always hoped to meet and marry. He is my heart and I love him. Today I am thankful for my husband and all that he is to me.

Daddy!

Emma is 9 months old! I can't believe how fast she is growing. She seems to be expanding her vocabulary more every day. She is currently back to saying momma (yeah for me!), daddy, doggie, no, attempts "baby" and of course daddy...her favorite.

She woke up saturday (nov. 14) with her 3rd tooth, (her right front one). She can cruise along objects, push the push toy around the couch, bounces in the jumperoo like a crazy woman. She is doing well at attempting the sippy cup and insists on feeding herself. She is pretty much off of baby food, but we are trying to take it slow with table foods as she chokes pretty easy and has issues with digestion.

She LOVES: quesadillas, mum mums, babies, toast, "Kung Fu Panda" commercials..and LIFE!

She is a beautiful, happy, healthy growing girl!

Operation Morale Boost

As you know my husband is currently serving in Iraq. During his first 2 deployments he stayed very busy with little free time. This time is different. He is on a smaller base with a set schedule of a few hours a day and any other time is free time. If you ask me I would be very excited for some free time and extra sleep:), but for my husband and the other soldiers he works with, this is down time with really not much to do but think about their families and what they are missing back home. This can be tough on their morale. Some of the guys, including my husband, have hand held game systems and computers to watch movies on, but would appreciate having other options too.
So here is my mission: I am trying to get together board games, books, movies, puzzles/puzzle books, devotional books, balls and gloves, and even maybe some yarn and knitting needles:), or anything else you can think to help keep them active, to send to my husbands unit.
If you are willing to donate and/or mail them yourself I know they would appreciate it.

Here is his mailing address:
SGT Mark Shepherd
Team Bushmaster (PB Doria)
FOB Warrior, APO, AE 09338
Let me know if you have any questions or need any help, I will be glad to assist you.

Veterans Day

On this we day remember all of our military men and women. Thank you all for your service and sacrifice.

US Army 2003-Present
Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003-2004
Operation Iraqi Freedom 2005-2006
Operation Iraqi Freedom 2008-2009

And for our family especially, we Thank You Mark. Thank you for your sacrifice, thank you for putting your life on the line for our country, and thank you for giving your girls someone to call their hero.
We love and miss you. Come Home Soon!

Pictures from Iraq

SINCE 2003....

So here it is. My first blog. Why is it only my first blog? Well, I'm a guy, and like most guys, I don't communicate my thoughts or feelings unless it is absolutely necessary to sustain life. I am, as they say, a man of few words. I never have been much of a writer either, so let me warn you now. My writing is consistantly choppy and non-linear. I switch between thoughts a lot and tend to end sentences abruptly, or run them on forever. Bear with me. So here we go, my Seinfeld blog. It's about nothing and everything all at once. It's about the thoughts that run through my head on a daily basis. It's about..... well, let me get on with it already. I am serving my third tour in Iraq and more importantly my last tour. I have been here for a little over a month and I can already tell that this is going to be the most difficult deployment of the three. It's not hard because of what is going on here in the giant sandbox. It is hard because of what I am missing out on at home. It all goes back to 2003. That's when I joined the Army and it's also when I married Paige, the woman of my dreams. Now I don't mean the supermodel running on the beach in a string bikini woman of my dreams. I mean the woman that all women should strive to be. Don't get me wrong, Paige is absolutely gorgeous. She is the most beautiful woman in my world, but that is not why I asked her to marry me. I married Paige because she is kind, tender, loving, and thoughtful. I married her because I can count on her, I can trust her, and I know that she will love me, support me, and stand by me when I need her the most. She is, like I said, the woman of my dreams. Unfortunately I deployed to Iraq shortly after we wed. It was a hard year in the desert, but it was a year spent looking foward to starting a new life with Paige. I really wasn't missing out on too much because we hadn't really started anything yet. I was home for a year before I deployed to Iraq again. Paige got pregnant about three months prior to that and I spent the next six months anxiously awaiting the day that I would be able to go home to welcome our baby girl into this world. Paige went into labor the day that I got home for leave and Jillian Grace Shepherd was born the next day. It was awesome, but I found myself unable to fully enjoy the moment knowing that I only had a couple of weeks before I would return to Iraq and complete my year long tour. Fortunately for me, most babies don't have any significant "firsts" until they are around six months old. Jillian was just starting to sit up on her own when I returned home from my second deployment, and I got to see her crawl. I got to see her first tooth, and I was there when she took her first steps. I am so thankful for all of this. Fast foward to 2008. Our second daughter, Emma Cate Shepherd was born on Valentines Day of this year. She is beautiful just like her sister and her mother. This is where it gets hard. It's hard because I have already missed out on so much. I wasn't there when Emma started crawling. I wasn't there to see her first tiny little tooth, and I will most likely not be there when she takes her first steps. Jillian is three now. She is learning so many new things and really starting to develop her very own unique personality. Paige says she's just like me. I take that as a compliment. What make me sad though, is that she's at that age where she knows I'm gone, but she doesn't really know why. I find myself wondering how she will react when I come home on leave. Will she jump into my arms when she sees me, or will she shy away, uncertain of what's going on? What makes this even worse is that I will only be home for a couple of weeks before I have to leave again. Will she feel abandoned? Will she think that I don't love her anymore? Hopefully she won't think any of these things, but I can't help but wonder. What about Paige? This is her third deployment too! She is at home without me, trying to manage the bills, raise the girls, and take care of me (with care-packages), all while going to school full time. I can't complain though. She is doing a great job! Thank you honey. I Love You! I wish I could be there to help her. After all, it is a man's responsibility to take care of his family. I am looking foward to the day when I can be home for good. Then I can take care of my family. Then the hardest times will be behind us.

Mark

Emma Cate

Emma loves looking at pictures of daddy. Her face just lights up when she sees him. We have tons of pictures around the house for the girls all the time. This morning after breakfast while she was staring at daddy's picture, she was talking up a storm, saying Dada:) So I tried to get it on tape. Not much success, oh well, she is still cute:)



a video just so daddy can see me crawl:)

*edit* Official address

We now have an offical address for Mark (different from the 1st one I gave).
Please do not send anything until after October 1:

SGT Mark Shepherd
Team Bushmaster (PB Doria)
FOB Warrior, APO, AE 09338

(I will keep up the address on my sidebar in case anyone would like to send him anything.)