More Letters!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. Not much has been going on. We've just been enjoying the nice weather that we've had. It rained last night so we won't be playing outside today since it's so muddy. The sun is out and the high is 70 today so maybe it'll dry up some.
I got two more letters from Justin on Monday. They're were pretty funny. I'm glad he's kept his sense of humor. They had their combat medic training classes. Most of you know how freaked out he gets about blood and needles. They had to watch some pretty gruesome slide shows of actual combat injuries. He was issued a medic kit and had to start an iv on a fellow recruit. It didn't go well. He said there was blood squirting everywhere! He assured me that if he had to do what he did in class in an actual combat scenario, someone was losing an arm or leg for sure. Lol. He and the guy he was working on were pretty freaked out. I'm sure he's not the first to miss the vein and he won't be the last either. That pretty much sums the letters. He says to tell everyone hello and that he's doing good. He's lost some weight and is building up muscle... they still stay in trouble. Lol.
The girls are doing good. Mikayla is getting so grown up. She misses her daddy though. Yesterday she was running through the back yard yelling, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" When she got up to where I was, she told me that she was pretending her daddy was chasing her. It was really sad but sweet. I told her we would be going to live with him again soon. She can't wait.
Allie is getting so big! She's really gotten tall and she is using alot more words now. She is putting three words together at a time now. She loves walking through the living room and giving Justin's pictures kisses. She says, "Daddy, kisses!" I let her kiss them every night before bed, too. Mikayla and Allie say a special prayer for him each night. If I say the prayer one word at a time, Allie will repeat me.
I received a letter from Justin's Commanding Officer on Saturday. His graduation will be Friday, June 12th at 10:00 am. We will go up on Wednesday, the 10th. Thursday, the 11th is the family briefing where we will get to meet up with Justin and his instructors in a "relaxed atmosphere." He'll get to go with us for the evening and we will take him back for his graduation. I'm not sure what the steps are after that... I hope he'll get to leave with us but we'll know before long, I'm sure. I was a little upset that he has to go through his AIT (Advanced Individual Training) before he graduates. I was under the impression that he would be gone for ten weeks for the basic training, and then graduate, and the finish his schooling. Turns out, he has to complete his basic and schooling before we get to see him. He'll be gone for the whole fifteen weeks before we see him again. That's eleven weeks from tomorrow!
Please remember that if you write him, address it to Pvt. Gonzalez, Justin and write 1st Platoon on the back of the envelope. That will keep him from having to do more push-ups. Also, please limit what you send to cards, letters, etc. He cannot receive food, magazines, books... all of those items are considered contraband and his platoon get's in big trouble. If you want to send him something, he can receive photos, stamps, paper, and envelopes. I know some of you have already written him and he wanted me to tell you that he will write back as soon as he can. They only have a couple of hours every Sunday where they can write.
I hope everyone is doing well. We miss all of you very much!
Love,
Jess, Mikayla, and Allie