O Tannenbaum!

Matthew and I decorated the house for Christmas last night.  It was a date night, and I told Matthew to surprise me.  Well, after I got home from grocery shopping there was a seven and a half foot tree in our living room!  Matthew had decided that for our date night we would decorate the tree.  It was a lot of fun, and it made me remember how much I love the Christmas season.  We even listened to Frank, Bing and Nat while we decorated!

I also put out my nativity scene that Matthew bought me from his first deployment to Iraq.  It is hand carved from olive wood and was sold to him by an Iraqi who became a Christian after the fall of Saddam Hussein.  At the time Matthew bought the set from him in 06, this man was having to move his family every two weeks to a different home, not only because he was a Christian, but also because he was working with Americans.   Whenever I look at this nativity, I am reminded how blessed I am to live in a country where I can openly practice my faith without fear of reprisals.

This past week was a very busy week for both of us, as Matthew finished his obligations with his unit.   I was busy getting back in the habit of my old routine, as well as accompanying Matthew to a few events for his unit.  This week looks to be just as busy, but less stressful.  

The Puzzle

Matthew and I have begun a new hobby:  Puzzles.  This is a photo of the puzzle we are currently working on.  When finished it will be the movie poster for "Casablanca".  It is 1000 pieces, and when we bought it we didn't think it would be that bad, after all, it's not like we chose the 1000 piece puzzle of the polar bear standing on an ice berg.  However, "Casablanca" is proving to be a bit more challenge than we bargained for.  We are determined to finish it now though and see it more as a mission from God than a hobby.  Every night we take an hour or so before bed to work on the puzzle.  Pray for us.  

Post Turkey Day Report

A good Thanksgiving was had by all here at Casa de Frye.  Matthew's parents and his brothers Nathan and Adam joined us here in Colorado, and our friends Tom and Kim joined us for the main event.  Here is what is left of our bird after we all tore into it, and Tom's delicious desserts he made.  Much eating happened, and Matthew thinks his waist has grown a good ten inches since Thursday.

We had  great time with Matthew's parents and brother's.  We spent a lot of out time just hanging out.  We played some Taboo, Spite and Malice (it's a card game in case you didn't know, no actual spite or malice took place to my knowledge!), worked on a jigsaw puzzle and watched all of season's one and two of "The Office".  We are all big fans of Dwight.  

Yesterday Matthew and I went on a hike at Cheyenne Canyon park. It was a beautiful day and the weather was perfect. We ended up going on a four and a half mile hike that had some amazing views. The trail we hiked was a three mile trail that ended on the other side of the park from where our vehicle was parked, so we had to hike along the main park road a mile and a half back to our truck. This just reinforces for us the need to start getting maps everywhere we hike!

This afternoon we made a little trip to one of our local Volkswagen dealers and got a car to replace the Jetta we had that was totaled in Farrah's accident. This time however, we went the the new VW Rabbit. So far, we love it and have to say that the Germans sure know how to make a car!

He's Home!!!!!

Matthew is home! He arrived on Monday afternoon around 12:30 PM. Sorry it took so long to post an entry and photo, we had a hard time finding one, and here's the funny story behind this one:

The light in the gym that day was AWFUL, and so none of our photos really turned out, they were all quite blurry. So the morning after his arrival we went to get a morning Starbucks and I told Matthew, "You know, there were newspaper photographers there, lets just get a copy of the Gazette and maybe there is a photo with us in it somewhere." So we got the paper, and when they handed it to us through the Starbucks drive thru we were shocked. On the front page of the Colorado Springs newspaper was the above photo of Matthew and I, with a story about his units return.

I wanted to take a moment to thanks some people: Thanks Mom and Dad Kohn for coming out here and keeping me company those last few days, it meant more than you'll ever know. Thanks to Jen, Amy, April, Tom, Kim, Needra, Renee, David, Valerie and Chip, John and Heather for praying for me during some of the hard times of this deployment. Thanks to everyone, everywhere, some of whom I'll never know who prayed for God's protection over Matthew this past 15 months. Gosh, how can I thank everyone enough? Thanks everyone!

We have been having a great time together since Matthew returned. A lot of our time is just spent talking, telling stories and catching up on all the little details you don't get a chance to share with each other over the course of a deployment. This afternoon we are going on our first hike together since he came back, which is one of the things I really missed doing together with Matthew when he was gone.

Keep checking the blog for updates and more posts. Now that we have gotten "alone time" I plan to post more regularly.

Welcome to our blog

Welcome to our new blog, we are glad that you found us! This is a space we intend to use to keep our family and friends updated with what is happening in our lives. We plan to post regularly with pictures and news.

For obvious reasons I (Farrah) cannot put the date on the internet, but be checking the blog over the next few weeks for photos of Matthew's homecoming! I am counting down the days until he is home with me and am also excited that my parents will be driving out to Colorado to spend the final days before Matthew's return with me and join me at the welcome home ceremony.

Please feel free to pass this blog address onto other family or friends we may have missed sending it to.