Flashback II

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Christian I - …It’s a very hot night. We’ve just been singled out by SFC Glenn for this mission. Typically, for these type of operations, we go (full battle rattle). PV2 Mabry and I had our K-POT (Helmet), 80 pound rucksack, and heavy weapons with us (We both had machine guns-S.A.W). So, as I mentioned before, we had 300 yards in front of us in order to get to our objective and breach the wire so that the next morning my platoon could rush their perimeter and just rip the wire aside (Triple strand, about six feet high).  THAT’S ALL I KNEW AT THE TIME.I could barely see where these POGS where, or even where the wire was. It was very dark, and despite the fact that there was a full moon, there was also cloud cover overhead. We could feel the bugs and hear stuff around us, but that was about it. Being the motivated soldier that I was, I was ready to “Get me some POG”. J Mabry and I donned soft caps and offloaded our rucksacks and heavy weapons and left them with the rest of the squad. We started crawling-sweaty, tired, motivated, hungry, and basically blind. Good training!

Now when you low crawl, it’s basically like slithering on the ground like a snake, keeping your head literally against the ground, so as to provide as little presence as possible

We started underway, making the best of it. Honestly you couldn’t hear anything, except the cicadas and crickets. It seemed like a half hour had passed and the terrain had gotten… easier! Very cool. J Suddenly there was a roar of an engine and the brightest light in all creation barreled toward us and increased in size. I went from G. I. Joe … to a bunny rabbit P.E.Z candy dispenser. J Mabry, of course, was behind me… somewhere, but at this point he was the last thing on my mind. I broke from low crawling and hurled my body backwards not knowing how far but I soon discovered that I was on top of Mabry! Yes, ladies and gentleman, we had come to a small road.

Thanks to my cat-like skills, the pain tolerance of Mabry and the careless unsoldierly demeanor of the POG driver, we were undetected. We quickly scurried across the road only to be welcomed by the same wonderful terrain that we were eager to say good-bye to only moments before. Good training!

I can assure you it was a good hour of straight low-crawling with only the sound of my wormlike buddy slightly behind me but in hot pursuit. I need to pause to give you a bit more description. When we are on OPFOR missions, we were made to turn the top half of our uniform inside out so as to make it easier for the POGS to see us. Apparently during that last week they were complaining that they could not defend against us because our camouflage was “working too well”. This was a directive that came down from my commander, and so regardless if we thought it was a good idea or not … we followed orders. So now the “inside out “uniform (which is light-gray) is also soaked with salt water and now you can be confident that it is almost white.

After all that crawling the clouds momentarily broke and the full moon shone through. It must have been a beautiful sight but, Mabry and I wouldn’t know because our faces were buried in the mud (which is common practice for an infantryman that is exposed to light during an operation). Do you remember those 50 caliber machine guns? Well, we didn’t know about them at the time! :)   I smelt cigarette smoke and heard a guy scream, “Hey man, look over there!”.

We now had visibility, and just realized that we had stopped five feet in front of the Constantino wire! And two 50 caliber machine guns were fifteen feet on the other side of the wire. We were goners. Normal practice was for the POGS to shoot us (with lasers setting of buzzers we had on our bodies) and take us captive by force. Mabry and I must have looked like two white elephants out in the middle of the tall grass in the moonlight. They opened up those machine guns on us and the vibration was so incredibly strong that I could feel the hair on my face moving and tickling my cheeks. I very slowly turned my head to the side and the light was so bright that I was beholding something unnatural for that time of night, that’s for sure! J

Just when I thought the Lord was going to show up or something, they stopped firing. I could tell because the hair on my body stopped moving. I was having a lot of trouble at this point (Although Mabry didn’t know it and I never told him later). You see, the noise was so loud that all I could hear was a high pitched tone. So I did what I was trained to do in that situation. I LAID DOWN AND FROZE.

The POG must have thought that he was seeing things or whatever because he and the other machine gunner left the machine gun nest. I laid there like a deaf man for about twenty minutes. I’ve got to take my hat off to PV2 Mabry, because he lay there also. Something very interesting happened just then. I wasn’t sure what to do! I didn’t even know if I could hear properly. Just then there were enormous explosions and lights and gunplay coming from the other side of the POG camp. SFC Glenn didn’t tell me, but the rest of my platoon and squad created a diversion on the other side of the enemy’s camp so I could cut the wires! Not knowing this at the time, I thought it was a good chance to use this opportunity to snip the wires!

My hearing returned, the POGS were gone, a cloud came over our heads again, we were in the clear, and there was a great distraction going on elsewhere. It was go time! Good training…I grabbed those wire cutters, stood straight up and rushed the wire (Not hearing anyone around) and I snipped all the wires in about fifteen seconds. It was amazing. I flopped back down in the grass next to Mabry only to hear him whisper “Yes”!

I hate to leave Mabry and I in the grass, but this blog is getting too long. I wonder if we got back ok. Was the mission successful the following morning? I’d love to tell you about it. Some of my favorites gave me a nudge yesterday to finish the story. Please let me know if you want me to go on, and as a side note, this hero feels miserable today. L

I didn’t make it to my office, but I am having a great time telling this story to Ethan and he’s typing for me. By the way, Ethan also made it the National Bible Bee Competition that will happen in November- 73 place out of 1,193 gives him a ticket to go to Tennessee to compete some more. Good job Ethan!

Christian II - Yesterday Christian was over 600. Today our boy is doing just fine. Last night we stayed up late to celebrate Ethan’s accomplishment, and this gave us a great opportunity to watch Christian closely and to administer insulin accordingly. The boy is just the apple of my eye, and the sooner we could get him squared away with a service dog the better.

 God bless your friend…

OH MY GOSH...THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN (SELF PORTRAIT)  AFTER MABRY AND I OFFLOADED OUR MACHINE GUNS AND HIT THE TERRAIN FOR THE LONG CRAWL.....

 

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Over 600!!!

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Christian II- today my son's blood sugar is not in very good standing. Christian is currently over 600, and we didn't see it coming. He's such a good boy that sometimes there are no indicators or shifts in his personality. As anyone knows that deals with type I diabetes, it can be very frustrating.

Since I have the chance to explain a few things here, I should take it. Therefore, it is important to understand that there are very few things to go off of when it comes to managing blood sugar. Many people think that if you deliver enough insulin when the child eats, they will be just fine. Honestly, we wish that were true.

The bottom line is that if Christian’s blood sugar is too high, for too long he can die. If this blood sugar gets too low he could pass out, go into a coma and die or never wake up. A service dog would greatly help in sensing if his numbers are about to go higher, or lower. At present, the only thing that we can do is prick his finger, and check his blood sugar every few hours and administer the insulin he needs.

But there are too many other factors that affect his blood sugar (physical stress, mood, environmental conditions, sickness, and the list goes on). As a man, I absolutely hate the idea that my son's life depends on a "hit or miss" kind of situation. Simply said – if we catch them at the right time, and something is wrong, we can save his life. If for some reason (and there are many) we are not there at just the right time, then my boy is dead. I apologize for being so direct, but this is a truth that we all live with every day.  We need that dog…

When Christian wakes up, we will see where he is. Hopefully, tomorrow's entry will be a pleasant one.

Christian I- I really wanted to finish the story that I began yesterday! Honestly, that mission has so many other stories inside of it. It was fun reliving the past. But, I didn't get any feedback, at all. I'm not sure if this is something that people are interested in. Therefore, since these stories are so "near and dear to my heart" I will wait and see if anyone wants me to continue. :-)

I'm ecstatic! I made it to my office several days in a row! Although, yesterday, on the way home (around the block) I literally almost passed out. I think it was good training. :-) But I got a little concerned when I couldn't feel my arms, and there was a haze about me. I think it was because of the heat and the humidity, and also the ice vest that I was wearing – MELTED… L I hope my awesome neighbors are looking out the window next time – just in case. :-)

God bless your friend…

 

The below photo was taken only hours before my last entry took place!  :) Which one am I?  :)

 

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Flashback ??

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(BigCarlsonFamily@gmail.com)

Christian I - All right, so today I'm a part of something called OPFOR (or opposing force). My objective is to train up about 5000 POGS or (non-infantry soldiers). The training obstacle for today is for these soldiers to learn how to set up a perimeter around their base camp that cannot be easily breached. Sounds pretty simple right?

The time is about zero hundred hours (midnight). There are only about seven of us in the squad. The leader is Sgt. First Class (SFC) Glenn. We're still in Fort Hood Texas, actually in West Fort Hood out in the middle of nowhere! There is a completely full moon, and we have just arrived on-site to see if our trainees (5000 cooks and mechanics) have set up their perimeter properly for the night.

We've been training these people all week (of course sleeping in the woods all the time). In Texas, when you're in the field, wearing the old "Woodland" style camouflage – the pretty green, brown, and black quickly become colored white with sweat (salt water). Please keep this in mind!

Suddenly, while we are playing “the enemy” for these people, SFC Glenn calls for me, and also the lowest ranking private in the world (PV2 Mabry). I had no idea what SFC Glenn had on his mind.

Basically, we were to low crawl about 300 yards to their outer perimeter with wire cutters and cut their triple strand Constantino wire- in order to prepare for my platoon’s massive attack the following morning. Have you ever low crawled even a few feet? Well, I'm not taking my hat off to myself, but that young private that was with me, had his work cut out for him! Tallgrass, lots of rocks, snakes, bugs and mud – good training :-)

What we did not see (because of the night, and their cover and concealment from the wood-line) were a pair of 50 caliber machine guns covering their positions! Now I understand that this is only a training scenario. Some of you might be laughing, like “who cares?”. Others of you may be seasoned veterans and realize that even when a 50 caliber machine gun is firing blanks, if you are 20 feet in front of it, it is going to change your day. :-)

Obviously, this happened about 16 years ago! I'm in a wheelchair one hundred percent of the time, and I wouldn't be able to low crawl 300 yards or even 1 foot :-) BUT, I'm trying a different perspective on this blog - perhaps some of you enjoy these types of stories. Please let me know your feedback. I would love to finish this story or even write more like them. So please leave feedback!

I'm not in the habit of "leaving people hangin’", but I would really love to write this to satisfy the readers. So, I would like to know if you want stories from the past, and if so what kind stories. Or I can simply give you strictly updates from day to day. Regardless, I will always mention emergencies or anything imperative!

Christian II- Right now, he is sleeping on the couch in my office! It seems, that this heat has not only tuckered me out, but is very exhausting to everyone :-) The highlight of the day, was Christian playing with his 13-year-old brother! And his BIG brother was actually pretending and playing more than Christian was! It is absolutely hilarious to me. That's all I'm going to say about that, because I don't want Ethan to beat me up :-) just kidding :-)

God bless your friend…

 

 

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The Clock

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Christian I - this morning I was absolutely touched, and nearly brought to tears! A few people donated online to get a service dog for me and my son. I have to send a "shout out" to my dear friends Angela and Tammy.  It takes quite a bit of time and effort to put together these things (website, blog, other endeavors) and for me it's really cool to know that someone supported my family after only a couple of days. Man, what a way to start off the day! God bless you guys.

Well, I made it in my office again! Actually, Christian II and I are sitting together! These days, this is actually somewhat of a miracle. :-) Often times, I am not able to make it here. Sometimes because of the children, visitors, or mostly my health, my office is a vacant library. :-)

Yesterday (Sunday), was one of those days where I just could not make it over here because of my health. As I mentioned on Saturday, I over extended myself. Sometimes life with MS is like a rubber band: stretch it too far, and it will snap back and hurt every time.

When I was able-bodied, I never realized the smaller things in life (except for my hair – LOL). Allow me to give you an example. In my bedroom, there is a clock, and as the family was next door at church, I had the chance to lay paralyzed in my bed. Honestly, it sounds worse than it is.

As I was laying there, I stared at the clock, and watched the minutes go by. After laying there for a few hours of waiting I figured out that as the secondhand goes around, the "clicks" are much louder between the 6th second and the 25th second marker.

That sounds pretty boring doesn't it? If your answer is yes, I challenge you to do something as uneventful. Something lackluster or seemingly boring. It really teaches a person what is important in life. All I could do was thank God that I was not in that situation every… Single… Day! Try it. And you won't think I'm so crazy for putting it as my blog entry. :-)

Christian II - speaking of blessings, this child presented one in my life this morning! When Christian’s blood sugar is normal, he wakes up a very very happy three-year-old. :-) This morning he woke up at 80, which is pretty much spot on. The normal blood sugar range for him is 80 – 120.

He walked in my bedroom with a huge smile, he greeted everyone with hugs and kisses – even the cat! Believe me, it's a very welcome situation: rather than being woken up by the all-to-common blood curdling scream. After we get his service dog, I'm looking forward to many more happy mornings (and kisses)!

God bless you friend…

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Bible Bee

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Christian I -This morning started off badly. Lately, I've been running myself ragged with the family, and when you have MS, it tends to catch up with you very quickly. However, by God's Grace, I was able to make it through a special event called “Bible Bee”.

I was telling my brother about this, and he thought it was some sort of spelling adventure! I'm sure most people would think this, so as usual, I would like to give a little detail before I deliver a very simple short story. The Bible bee is a national endeavor that encompasses several months of hard work regarding Biblical study and memorization.

Children from the ages of seven years old all the way to 18 years old are given a specific book of the Bible to study, with selected memory verses distributed from anyplace in the Holy Bible. Given this shallow description, this may seem somewhat dull! However, it is an absolutely riveting journey, especially with seven children that have made it a going concern. :-) The children compete at a local level, in a very serious manner. Then, when the results are tallied nationwide (among thousands), they have the opportunity to compete at a national level (potentially gaining prizes of worth up to $100,000). Please see the following link if you're interested: www.biblebee.org.

Today was a very special day for me to be with my family at the local level Bible Bee competition. Granted, the majority of the day was very exhausting, but I loved it. I got the chance to be with my children as they were tested (written test and oral recitation), and when the results were given, I was one proud papa :-)

The real payment, is having your children get excited about God's word - and love It, obviously! But, when they place well, that also gives me a nice affirmation that, "daddy is doing something right". :-) Today my oldest son Ethan (13) placed first out of 30 or so other teenagers. And my daughter Mary (9) placed fourth out of 20 or so of her peers. Once again, it was a very rough day for me physically, but this morning I asked God," why am I doing this when I'm soo sick?", And he showed me the answer when they took their places on the stage. They really needed their dad there to see them! And I'm so glad that I could :-)

Today's entry may not be very eventful, or funny. But, life isn't always that way anyway! I think I overextended myself today, and may not make it to church in the morning. But once again I'm reminded that we don't always get what we want But, our Father in Heaven gives us what we NEED! :-)

Christian II - Christian is fast asleep now. He had a very difficult day also, but not for the same reason. I think he played and ate entirely too much! But not to worry, we stayed on top of this insulin. He is sleeping soundly, with a nice grin on his exhausted little face. :-) By the way, if we ever get enough money for his dog-the dog's name will probably be SIMON!  Christian is starting to say, "Where Simon?". LOL

God bless you friend…

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Buzz Lightyear and Ministry

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Alright, so yesterday I spoke about myself (probably too much). :-) Therefore, today I will try to speak more about Christian II.

Christian II -Just like the Last Blog, I would like to paint the right kind of picture in your mind so that you could appreciate things a little bit more! For years, I tried the keep the movie “Toy Story" away from my children. I'm not going to waste your valuable time telling you "why"! I simply made that decision, firmly a long time ago.

You may like to know, that a few weeks ago Christian II was in the hospital, and was in very very bad shape (Diabetic Keto Acidosis – D.K.A.). If you don't know, it's a very deadly situation that diabetics can get into. The service dog that we're trying to get, could have kept my son out of the hospital!

That being said, this little three-year-old boy was just absolutely miserable (in the ICU). We tried to do whatever we could to ease the difficulty (between vomiting, screaming, and crying). If you’re parents, you will allow most things to go before your child, if they are in this situation- especially if those things put a smile on the child's face. :-) Enter Toy Story (hospital television).

It wasn't long before we realized that Christian had taken to a particular character in that movie. The character’s name is Buzz Lightyear.  Apparently, most people know who this is! This was to become Christian’s new Imaginary playmate. His signature saying is, "to infinity and beyond"!

Shortly after this, my wife brought Christian to the dollar store. Little did we know that our entire lives were going to change that day. They had little Buzz Light Year characters at the dollar store! When Christian saw them, his eyes popped out of their sockets, and he nearly fell over. Needless to say, mom  came home with Buzz Lightyear. :-)

Now when you come over, you have to watch out! When you hear something that sounds like, "to infinity and beyond!"- You better hit the dirt, because hard piece of plastic is flying through the air! But I can't let this blog entry go …just yet. Since his three-year-old English is a bit skewed, and his pronunciation is so cute, but unclear – Daddy was able to do a little CHANGING. 

Personally, I found this phrase, "to infinity and beyond" a little challenging (some people would say stupid). A parent will understand that when your child takes to something that just doesn't make any sense, you have to do a little remodeling! So, since nothing is beyond infinity, I had to stop the madness, LOL! Christian now runs around the house trying to say, "to the Trinity and beyond"! I hope that makes you laugh. I thought it was more Godly that way. Also, Trinity International University is my alma mater – how can I possibly go wrong? :-)

So now we get to the real story for today. I will try to be quick here :-) Christian and Rebekah were in Walmart. Everything was going just fine, and they were having a lovely time. Suddenly, Christian hits the floor, gasping for air, and choking. Is it his blood sugar? Did he swallow something? Rebekah looks in his face. That little red, scrunchy face almost immediately, grows an enormous smile! The whole thing was a three-year-old act! LOL

Christian was reenacting a part of the movie where Buzz Lightyear meets face-to-face with a copy of himself, and the “copy” hits the floor and acts like he's gasping for air (watch the clip). This is exactly what Christian was doing! When his mother figured this out, she almost lost her cookies, and the both of them sat there on the Walmart floor and laughed themselves to pieces! LOL- they must have made quite a spectacle! I wonder what the dog would've done, right?

 

 

 

The video below shows what Christian was doing !! 

 

Christian I - today is a nice day! I rolled around the block, and made it into my office :-) I'm just overwhelmed because of the lot of love that I received today from my family and some friends. I guess tomorrow is my day! So, until then.

God bless you friend…

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SOAKED !!

Dear Friend,

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(BIGCARLSONFAMILY@GMAIL.COM)

At some point in my life I was told that I should begin at the beginning! Well, I'm not going to do that. :-) The purpose of this blog is to give daily updates regarding the status of Christian I and Christian II. Just so you know, I (Christian I) am also going to bring up any other family updates that pop up.

Christian  I - alright, I have a story to tell today already! As I've mentioned before, I'm in a wheelchair 100% of the time. That being said, it was raining today, pretty hard. I think before I continue, an adequate picture is required of the circumstances.

We live next door to the church where I serve, and it's awesome. However, being that the wheelchair follows me everywhere, some difficulties present themselves quickly. In order for me to get my body inside the church, I have to roll around the block to the entrance that has an accommodating ramp. No big deal! On Sunday mornings this predicament allows me to completely wake up prior to seeing the people that I love. Also, it allows me to wave at the neighbors quite frequently! This makes for a great sob story I suppose, but it is very easy for me! I only have to press a button in my wheelchair, and go for a nice ride. :-)

Now begins today's story… man. We have a really awesome gentlemen doing some work for us at the house. He is painting, and the prep work and sanding (etc.), have rendered my home difficult to live in-he also does not speak English. So, since I have so much work to do anyway, we thought it would be a great idea to go to church. Please remember that it is raining, hard. :-)

With my nine month old on my lap, I roll down the ramp of my garage, and when the garage door opens, I witness the downpour. We were trying to figure out what to do next. So I asked my wife to throw a poncho over me and Lydia. No problem.

As soon as I rolled down into the driveway the poncho got tangled up in my wheels. Suddenly my superspeed electric wheelchair became immovable. Baby in hand, things were getting wet! My oldest son, Ethan, ran to my aid like a well-trained soldier that he is. Honestly, he couldn't do anything! He grabbed a sharp knife and tried to cut away the poncho. Still, we couldn't do anything. My wife had already grabbed the baby, and she decided to trade with Ethan.

Now she is cutting away at the poncho, trying to rescue her husband (who is completely soaked already). :-) Still, after several minutes, we couldn't do anything. By this time, I was enjoying the shower. It brought me back to my infantry days in the Army. However, it was very embarrassing. At this time the neighbors were starting to watch.

Guess who comes out of the house? Daddy is powerless. Ethan, Lydia and mom are also powerless to do anything. Here comes (who I now refer to as) my Polish Superman! Notably, there was a language barrier, but clearly he could tell what was going on. He jumped into action.  He tugged, pulled, and cut that poncho away like it was trying to kill me or something! Dude, you had to be there! When he walked away, I said the only thing that I know how to say in Polish. Basically, it means "you are beautiful"!

I made it in my office to write this blog. And I am still soaking wet. But while I was out there, I asked God to show me "why". Guess what? This blog is the answer :-). I love it.

 

Christian II - Christian is doing well today. His numbers are very favorable and I think that we’re going to hear some more about him tomorrow. Especially since my story went so long.

God bless you friend…

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Here is a picture of Lydia who was on my lap while it was raining :-)