Acupuncture

I guess you know I am desperate for a solution to my knee problems when I resort to needles. My walking partner is from Taiwan and she recommended that I give acupuncture a try. She said that it helped with problems she was having with her ankle. If you would have asked me 15 years ago if I would try acupuncture, I would have laughed. But now after giving birth to four kids, how bad could it be? I have an appointment tomorrow so I will update you on how it went.

Immobile Again

I re-injured my knee (same knee-third time) last night. I am not sure how since I haven't done anything strenuous recently. But today I am able to move around the house with about the same amount of ease as when I was 9 months pregnant with my twins. Ugh! Last year when I injured my knee for the second time, I had Mario around to bring me breakfast in bed and take care of all the household chores and kids. Now that he is gone, I have Zachary to take his place. Nathan doesn't believe a knee injury should keep me from making him cinnamon toast for breakfast. Zachary gladly said he would do it for me. Zach has been my little assistant this morning and I am very grateful for such a compassionate son. I just wish he could drive and take care of all my errands today. Mario thinks I should just cancel everything including take the boys to school today. I have to make dinner for someone that just had twins last week. Thank goodness Erin will be able to cook for me.

I called the doctor and because several doctors are deployed, I can't be seen on base. They wanted to send me to urgent care which is pointless because urgent care will tell me to take Motrin, rest, and see my regular doctor as soon as possible. I told the apt line that it was a waste of my time to go to urgent care. So they said they would send me a referral in about 4 days so I can call a doctor off-base when I receive my referral. So maybe sometime in May I will get to see a doctor. If this is any indication of what life is going to be like under Obama, than I can only pray for a change in government soon. I am going to push hard for the surgery this time so I can have this torn meniscus taken care of once and for all. I am just not sure how to have knee surgery while Mario is deployed. Recovery would be impossible.

I did get some good news today. An NCO in Mario's office told him today that Air Force can't keep them in Afghanistan for longer than 193 days. So Mario should be leaving a few days earlier than I thought. I think he has to depart by August 26. So if flights are quick, he may make it home by last day of August. I won't hold my breath. At any time these regulations could change.

Mario's New Employment

Terri,

At the same time the US has been telling me my service might not be needed and the AF is threatening to cut me from the service, I've been feeling like I can do much more here for Afghanistan. I keep looking for a way to get more involved in the fight against the insurgency. I
finally found a way to stay employed. I joined the Afghan National Security Forces. The first picture is me in the ranks. I'm now ready to kill Taliban!

Well, as you know, fate dictates my path. After the Afghan generals noticed my commitment and eagerness, they immediately promoted me to Brigade Commander. The second picture is me giving the troops a motivational speech before we deployed to the front line. I'm not sure
how much they understood since I only know a few Dari words and they only speak a few English words.

Salam Malekum,
MARIO "Mohammed" PEREZ, Colonel, ANSF
Commander, 4th Mountain Brigade

Graffiti in Afghanistan

I had the opportunity to teach my boys about graffiti as we watched the maintenance man clean the skate park yesterday. I told them that it was wrong to write all over something like that. Then today, these are the pictures Mario sends me.

Here's the message with the pictures.

"Isn't that romantisy (Erin's made-up word) of me to write a love note to you for the world to see?"

Care Package

Terri,

I got your cards; one from Nathan, one from Zachary, and one from you. None from Eric or Erin (zero). Zach's is cute. He said "hav a nise deploment." It's weird that I still haven't gotten your care package. I was starting to think the mail stopped coming, but then I noticed everyone else is getting packages. They look so happy.

Thanks for writing.

Love,
Mario

1 Year Anniversary and Google

Today marks our one year anniversary of being in Tucson. I remember this day well last year. We started off the day at Sea World in San Diego. We left about lunch time and grabbed some fast food on the way out of town. Then we drove 7 or 8 hours to Tucson and arrived at the Davis Monthan AFB inn around 8 pm that night. The next day we started looking for rental houses and just when I had given up on finding a house for the day, I came across a little sign written on a Subway box at a busy intersection. That is how we came to find our great house. We signed another year contract on it so we should be here for at least one more year but hopefully longer if we are still in Tucson.

On a separate note, my boys discovered Google today (I wonder if one of the big kids taught them.) So now they are having fun googling all their interests. I am not sure I like their new hobby. No telling what they will find. I better keep a close watch.

Silly Game

Here's a video of my kids playing a silly game where you spray someone in the face if they give you a wrong answer. I declined the invitation to play (for obvious reasons!) They were teaching Eric's friend Matt the game. You can see in the background how my family room looks like a tornado went through. Also, you get to hear my twins and their potty humor. I don't know what

to do with those two.