Ben & Britt

Here is a picture of my two "babies", both in college! Where has the time gone????

Ben is 20 and attending University at Albany and Britt will be 19 and is attending Buffalo State.

A Picture of Bucky!

Here is one of the latest pictures I have of Bucky.

He will be back in the states on February 22!!

His birthday is the next day.........

We can't wait to see you, Bucky!!

Send an Email valentine to our wounded heroes in Germany!

Please take a minute to send a Valentines Day Greeting to our Wounded Heroes at Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany. Send this email to everyone you know who would take a few minutes to send an email to Willie (Wilhelmine Aufmkolk) at josephinefs2654@gmail.com thanking our wounded men and women for their sacrifices and wishing them a Happy Valentines Day and a speedy recovery. Willie says pictures are welcome (but not to send ecards since she cannot copy and paste them into the book she is making).

This is a fast, easy and free way to help make a difference to a wounded hero waiting to be sent back home to the US. She needs all the responses by Jan 31st to make up the book so take a minute right now to send her an email and then forward this message to others who might send a message of their own. We ought to be able to get her hundreds of messages of thanks and good wishes (right now she has only 6....)


Let's help Willie let these heroes know that they have not been forgotten.


To read more about Willie's work with Soldiers Angels at Landstuhl Medical Center got to the SA Germany blog:

http://www.sablogs.com/index.php?blog=40&cat=232

To see some wonderful photos of Soldiers Angels work in helping provide our wounded heroes with a bit of holiday spirit check out these photos:

http://www.sablogs.com/index.php?blog=40&cat=234

Send our troops a Valentine Ecard!!

Soldiers Angels, in collaboration with Library of Life, is mounting a Guinness Book of Records attempt called Operation: Love Our Troops, to create the largest digital Valentine's Day card ever and send the messages to our deployed military.
Library of Life is an organization that offers the public a way to celebrate life and share memories on line, through a digital library that will last forever. They are sponsoring the campaign, hosting the Valentines messages for free and created a way to raise funds for Soldiers Angels.
Before the site is promoted and Operation Love Our Troops is announced to the public, we want to populate the site with genuine, heartfelt messages. We are reaching out to Angels for support with this. We're asking that you visit www.operationloveourtroops.com and send a message of support to the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces.
"Who would better deserve the largest Valentine's Day card than our troops abroad," says Patti Patton-Bader (founder of soldiers' angels). Library of Life has retained The Bohle Company, a top public relations company based in Los Angeles, to promote the campaign. They will be seeking major media coverage for this effort that will greatly enhance Soldiers Angels visibility. We are really excited about this partnership and trust you will be too.
Let's show the troops how much they are appreciated. You're welcome to forward this email address on to others. We want Operation Love Our Troops to be an overwhelming success. Thank you for helping us attain this goal!

Christopher is back from Iraq!

Christopher arrived back at Ft. Bragg NC around 4:15 am on Thursday, Dec. 29th. His plane came in over 2 hours early, so Julie, Calli and I were still enroute. Oh, well!! As long as they all made it back, that is all that counts.

He will be home from Jan. 26 - Feb. 12 to spend time with his family. We continue to pray for all those troops and their families that are still in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I understand how stressful it can be to have a loved one deployed. I was amazed at the feeling of relief and thankfulness that I have experienced since I have seen Chris and know that he is safely back in the U.S.

WELCOME HOME!!

WNY lives up to generous reputation!!

(This letter to the Editor was published in the Clarence Bee).

Once again the people of Western New York have lived up to their reputation as being some of the most generous people in America.
As New York State Manager of Soldiers' Angels (www.soldiersangels.com) I initiated a donation drive to send stockings to our soldiers overseas for Christmas. Thank you so much to the Clarence Public Library. They offered to be a drop-off site for the donations. In a time of fiscal uncertainty and many library closings this shows how much a part of the community our libraries are!
It was amazing and touching to see the support given for the soldiers. There were letters and cards from cub scout troops, churches, classrooms, individuals, brownie groups, and many others! The generosity of everyone was OVERWHELMING!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I was able to fill 50 stockings AND send another 50 boxes to our heroes overseas!

God bless each of you and have a Merry Christmas! I know our soldiers will!

Cheryl Bayer
Clarence NY

Merry Christmas to All!!

Wishing everyone a very blessed and Merry Christmas!

Ben will be home from U of Albany on the 23rd, Britt is done for this semester, and Bethany and Nick just returned from a funfilled weekend in NYC!! Baby Bella will celebrate her 1st Christmas with Natie, Mommy and Daddy and all the rest of the family!!

I have been working 2 jobs and am a little crazy!

James (Bucky) will be coming home for a visit on February 22. His birthday is the next day so we will be having a huge birthday/Thanksgiving/Christmas party for him!!

....AND the best news of all.......Chris arrives back in the US from Iraq!! I am so grateful that he is coming home! Julie, Calli, Beth and I will be driving down to welcome his whole platoon of heroes home!! He will be at Ft. Bragg NC for a short time and then will be able to come home to NY for a couple of weeks!!!!!

What a great way to end this crazy year!!!!!

Hoo-yah!!!