...and now the moment you've all been waiting for.

ARMAND GENE FONDREN III 

"TREY"

I'll spare you the rhetoric for a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Welcome to the planet

Ah swaddling...the one thing daddy does well

Trey and Jelaine...beyond words

Look at the size of those things

Getting ready to come home

Fist time in his bed...sweet dreams

Styling' and profilin' in his first cargo pants

More to come...standby for more adventures of Trey...

Kilroy was here!

Finally here...

So there I was...

49 1/2 hrs after it all began. Tired, but not near as tired as my darling wife, but ecstatic about the arrival of our baby boy. Here's the stats. Pictures and more to come, but I am going to get some lunch.

Time: 0133, 1 Sep 2008 (Labor Day)
Length: 21 1/2 inches long
Weight: a WHOPPING 9 lbs 11 oz.
Name: Armand "TREY" Gene Fondren III

Mom and baby are awesome. We are stil in the hospital but should go home tomorrow. Call us and say hey when you get the chance:

Kilroy was here!

Is it time yet?

So there I was...

30 Aug 2008, sleeping peacefully in my bed when Jelaine awoke...this time not from her ever shrinking bladder, but from her intensifying contractions.  We began timing them at about 0315 this morning.  It's a bit inconclusive as of yet, but she tells me they are definitely working now and they are getting harder.  These are all great signs.

My parents came into town last night for

 the long weekend and hopefully they will go home with some great pictures of their newest grandbaby.  Jelaine called her parents at 0400 and they are supposed to be heading this way via car from Hot Springs, AR.  

Please pray for us as we begin what promises to be a long and fulfilling day.  Glory be to God for His perfect plan for our lives.  We look forward to sharing more with you all as often as possible.  Check back frequently.

Kilroy was here!

PS:  This picture is for Ethan.  He had us take pictures of Jelaine at 9 months prego in uniform.  :-)

I finally got the website to let me post a picture and here it is!  This is Jelaine on our 4th anniversary, just a few days ago.  She is 33 weeks pregnant.  Feel free to comment on her resemblance to a penguin or a pot bellied pig.  :-)  She's gonna get me for that last one, but I love her and think she is absolutely adorable!  

Kilroy was here!

Preparation for fatherhood...

So there I was...

Six weeks away from that special day...the day we bring a little boy into the world, and all I can think is that there are some people who haven't even heard that Jelaine is pregnant yet.  Ah well, those who don't know certainly have long since given up checking my blog anyway.  Well, I am trying to catch up once again.  But now I can't even read Trey's blog because I didn't check his and my invitation to view was revoked.  Serves me right. 

Anyway, I know these are a bit old but I did want to post at least one picture of my pregnant wife.  It is soooooo cool.  Our little guy inside her is growing rapidly and he doesn't stop kicking ever.  It is a wonder she can sleep, but ironically she sleeps harder now than ever before. 

Well I tried 8 times to post a picture of my bride to no avail so i give up for now.  I'll try again soon.

I'll check back, but I am going to have to send out an email to tell people I posted or no one will ever see the picture anyway.

A hole through the earth...

So there I was...bored out of my mind when I decided to dig a hole straight through the earth just see where I would end up.

Turns out if you dig a whole straight through you end up near Antarctica, but I must have taken a wrong turn at Albequeque, and I ended up in Okinawa...and for those of you like myself, who are not geographically inclined Okinawa is an island south of mainland Japan. Also the alleged home of Mr. Miagi. Come to find out Miagi is a pretty common Okinawan name.

Anyway, I have been here since mid January and have seen and done a lot. I have had some amazing food: of course sushi, japanese steakhouse, traditional japanese noodles (with the occasional surprize raw egg and dried seaweed) and japanese curry. I have had my fill of Turkish food from a real Turk, Indian, Hawaiian, Persian, French pastry, and most rescently some excellent TexMex believe it or not. I've also tried Ube (purple sweet potato) ice cream. It tastes a little bit like sweet cold buttered popcorn...delicious.

I got to see the Cherry Blossom Festival (Sakura Festival). I have been shopping in Naha and Nago (cities on island). I've been to church every weekend including one church off base that sung both Japanese and English praise songs, that was neat. I even got "stuck" in Tokyo for a few days and got to go up in the Tokyo tower to see the city from above. I have taken a ton of pictures, 5 gigs to be exact, and hope to share them all with you sometime. And for those of you who didn't get this post in the email version I'll add a few details. I got to go climbing in climbing gym and see a high school play (american). I wanted to go diving but doesn't look like that is going to happen. I have gotten to hang out with some friends who are stationed here too and that was really awesome.

And when I wasn't doing all that great stuff I was doing what you sent me here to do and that is work. And believe me we have been doing a lot of that too. That being said my time here is coming to a close and I am thankful for that. Please pray that we get home on time. Also pray for Jelaine and my two month old nephew who is now recovering well from open heart surgery. Jelaine has gotten to spend this long weekend with her family in Arkansas and was the first to hold him after his surgery. He is amazing. I am praying for you all while I am gone and I look forward to seeing you all soon. God bless you all.

Kilroy was here!

Technical Difficulties

So there I was...trying to share some really great photos of my trip with my friends, from my awesome new camera when I realized my camera is too good for the computer I am on.

Turns out if you take pictures in RAW (I don't really know what that means but it is the best quality) you have to have an advanced photoshop type program just to view those photos much less edit them.

So anyway, I am trying to find a friend with a computer that I can view them on and then I will upload them.

The trip is going well. We are working a bunch, but I have a few days off this weekend and I am going to go spend the night with my friends here Ryan and Brandis. They have a new baby, Caleb, who shares my birthday and he is very cute. They are taking me to church with them tomorrow and tonight we are going to dinner at a restaurant called the Asian Gate. Sounds good to me.

Nothing to exciting lately, except that the two fish I caught at the fair (Goldfish) died over the last two days. Kinda sad, but reminded me that Goldfish suck. When I get home, I am taking the inspiration from my father and Trey and making one of my tanks livebearers and live plants. I can't wait...just gotta convince Jelaine now. :-)

Kilroy was here!

Geocaching and rollerslides...

So there I was...

...GPS in hand, wandering the streets and parks of (oh I almost told you where I am), lets just say wandering the streets and parks of a strange place looking for treasure the size of coke can or a card deck or a film canister or maybe even a postage stamp.

So some of you might know what geocaching is but some may not. Jelaine and I have been wanting to do it for a while and I finally got the chance. A friend that lives here goes a lot and took a few of us. It is basically modern day treasure hunting...except you don't take the treasure, you just sign the log book and leave it for someone else to find. You get a set of coordinates (lat and long) and track it with a handheld GPS. That only gets you within 5-20 feet though. Then you have to search feverishly under pine needless and behind signs and rocks to find the object. Sometimes it is pretty big, but sometimes, like I said above, it is magnetic and the size of a stamp and stuck on the back of a sign in the park that says "please remove all excrement" (in the local language) and has a picture of a dog with a pile of poo behind him. Don't worry pictures to follow soon.

Long story short it is a great time! And I think the boyz should get together and do it sometime. It does take patience though...a lot harder than I originally thought.

Well, while we were geocaching we discovered another form of local entertainment. This one is actually for children but it that never stopped me before. Imagine this: The stairs ascend to a blistering height...hernia hill height to be exact. At the top is a slide, but this is no boring american made metal slide...this is a genuine DFW airport lugage conveyor on an incline. It is really hard to imagine but there are row after row after row of giant bead-like wheels that form the surface of the slide. And the slide doesn't just go straight down, it winds in a spiral. That of course doesn't stop you from reaching terminal velocity by the time you get to the bottom. It was AWESOME!! You ride down on your feet, squating...well you try, until to you get going to fast cause it is raining and the whole thing is wet...then you fall on your rear end and get soaked but keep traveling at mach snot toward the bottom. Then you get to the bottom and since you are already wet and dirty you make the ascent up hernia hill and do it all over again. I have pictures of this to so I'll get them posted as soon as I can. Til then you will have to let your imagination run wild.

Hope everyone is well. Blue skies and God's speed.

Kilroy was here!

Work Hard, Play Hard...

So there I was...

...Fly at least every other day, sleeping when I can, and being drug around by my crew to eat some wonderful food.

This trip has been good so far. We have been flying a ton, which is great for my hours and upgrade. The flights are relatively short though so they haven't been to painful. We will have some long ones but for the most part we are flying 6 hours at a time. I know you might be thinking, "A SIX HOUR FLIGHT!!! YOU CALL THAT SHORT?!!" Well for me that is a pretty short flight. The funny part is that it seems even longer when you realize we are really going anywhere. :-)

Well when we aren't flying I work out and sleep mostly. But a guy has got to eat too so my coworkers drag me out to places I would not normally go. We do have the occasional undercook delicacy here, but we are expanding our horizons. We have been to this great Turkish restaurant twice now. The first time we went it was only four of us and we ended up stay a while. After soup, Mesas (an appetizer plate), and a Doner Pita, one of the guys inquired about the hooka (sp) in the window. Turns out smoking was not allowed in the restaurant but he sold the hooka and the tobacco. Well after talking to him and while and since we were sitting outside, he brought is the hooka after all. We sat and talked with him while smoking and then he brought us turkish tea (flavored with Clove and several types of tea leaves). It was a great ending to the meal. We liked it so much we went back yesterday. Tonight I think is Indian or Persian. We'll see where they take me next.

Till then...Kilroy was here!

Settling in for a long one...

So there I was...

Posting my blog when I get an error telling me basically that my entire post had just been deleted. I haven't had that happen in a long time. So frustrating. Blah! What are you gonna do right?

We in case it happens again I will make this one a short one. I am settling in here. I just got my last suitcase off of airlift last night and there are some really nice rooms on base...but we aren't staying in them. Ours are nothing to complain about but the nice ones have kitchens. Instead I bought one of those microwave egg poachers so I could cook eggs in my room. Works ok, but I have to remember to get dish soap next time I go to the store.

There are a bunch of restaurants here and plenty of stuff within walking distance from the base too. I just have to remember to look right first when crossing the road.

I end here for now so I can go read up on your lives before my time runs out. Blue skies and God's speed.

Kilroy was here!

On the road again...

So there I was...half way across the world after a 16 and a half hour flight, checking my email and my blog when I noticed Trey was quite irate about my not posting. So here it is...for now at least. More to come very soon. I'll try to catch on months of your blogs too. So be patient and check all your old comment blocks cause I will try to post on them. God bless you guys! I'll talk to you soon!

Kilroy was here!

On the road again - or - the final frontier

So there I was...

...in the great outdoors, the snow falling, sub zero temperatures, waiting once again to fly.

Well I am in Alaska. This is my first time here on the job anyway. You might remember Jelaine and I actually went to Anchorage in March to see our friend Kalli, but this time I am in Fairbanks. Haven't gotten to see a lot, but I have only been here since Wednesday. I am excited about trying my hand at cross country skiing. I didn't really think there was anything to it but after talking to an avid skier yesterday and hearing his story of crashing and burning yesterday on a 5K course here I have changed my mind. I plan on going tomorrow or Monday. Check back with me to see how it went. I am sure it will be an adventure.
So, I am here to fly and I have actually gotten to fly once already. It was a short flight, 5.1 hrs (I know you might not think that is short but for us it is) but you should have seen the view. Yesterday's flight was one of those that really reminded my why I love flying. I have told some of you this but much of my desire to fly and eventually travel to space comes from this feeling I have of being closer to God, the higher in altitude I am. I know that seems trivial but it is true. The splendor of God's magnificent creation is more evident when you are able to take more of it in at once. Creation declares to glory of the Creator! I hope to have a few pictures at least to show of the mass expanses of mountain range and glacier. I also hope to come up close and personal with a few of His living creatures out here in the final frontier.
Well, on another tangent, I ran into a fellow astronaut hopeful up here. No, I literally ran into him...ok, I walked past him in the hotel not noticing who it was till he said hello after he past me. It's OBIE!!! Obadiah Ritchey! He was my perpetual Astro partner at the Academy. So we won't mention how we were the dumbest two astro students there, and how due to his love of coffee and our shared fault of procrastination we were always staying up all night until the last minute finishing our next project. But we made some killer cover pages, you gotta give us that. Here's a picture of us! If you wanna learn more about him, here's a link. http://www.obadiahritchey.com/ He often refers to himself as my Id. I can't completely agree, but it is sometimes hard to deny.

Anyway, enough babbling, I'll check in with you all soon I hope.

Blue skies and God's speed!
Kilroy was here!

Traveling post..

So there I was...

Standing in an airport in Germany, reading Justin's tale of wedding travels when i was inspired to write my own quick blog about military travel. So here it is.

I arrived at Offutt at 0800 Sunday morning on what was supposed to be a 4 day weekend to sit and wait for 4 hours. Got on a C-17 and traveled to Gandar, Nuefundland (sp). Basically this is the Eastern edge of the western world. Sat there for two hours. Got back on the plane, flew 6 hours to Ramstein, Germany (where I am now blogging from). Will be here for 4 hours as long as they get the plane fixed and our new crew gets here on time. Then we will board and travel another six hours or so to our next destination. It will be Monday evening before we get to our somewhat final destination.

The good part about military travel is that they let you sleep on the floor so you better believe I bring my Therma-rest, and sleeping bag and crash. I also got to read this great book (Future Grace by John Piper) and spent some great time reading 1 Corinthians.

Anyway, not much of a post but since I haven't blogged in ages something is better than nothing right. You guys are awesome. Hope to see most of you around New Years if not before.

Kilroy was here!

Once in a lifetime opportunity...almost.

So there I was...

...on my way to work, but running about ten minutes late. I'm listening to the morning news and weather and stuff on the radio when I hear them say something special is about to leave Offutt. They are giving the play by play every few minutes. "It should be departing within ten minute," "it's now moving into takeoff position..." All I can think is, I hope it takes off this direction as I hurry my pace to work.

Well, ten minutes from work they tell me that it has departed to the East...meaning I don't have a chance of seeing it. "Well," I think to myself, "I am sure it comes through here every once in a while, I'll catch it next time I hope."

WRONG!!! The next thing the radio tells me is that this is only the second time it has had to stop here on its way back home. Where is home you might ask? WEll, its Florida...more specifically Kennedy Space Center. And if you haven't guessed it by now, it was the shuttle piggie-back atop a specailly fitted Boeing 747. I missed it, because I slept in 10 minutes too long.

So next time you better think twice about hitting that snooze button, you never know what you might miss. Until the next time I will look longingly at the pics someone else managed to take first hand. Hope you enjoy it too.

King of the Road...almost

So there I was...


...riding down the highway at 70 mph, wind on my face, smell of summer in my nostrils, and nothing by my motorcycle between me and certain death (ie. the pavement). "What's this?" you say. That's right, you heard me. Jelaine and I now own a motorcycle. It is going to need a little bit of work to get it all cleaned up and riding like a gem, but it commands the road already!

She's a 1999 Honda Shadow Spirit 1100cc. The best part is it only has 3900 miles on. Can you beleive that? Of course that did cause a problem today when I was in an intersection and killed and then the battery didn't have enough juice to start it again.

I mean, I have ridden it three time since I bought it and that make my riding experience a grand total of 5 times. Does that make me crazy? I mean buying a 600lb bike after only having ridden twice before? Oh well, it sure is fun. And I have to practice a lot so I feel comfortable enough to take Jelaine for a ride the next time she is home.

Next step: Biker Boyz. It has quite a ring to it don't you think? Fat chace though huh? Well at least "E" will join me, and I bet Scotty will too someday.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think. Jelaine and I are super excited!

Kilroy was here!

Random Weekend Fun...

So there I was…It was Friday evening, I had jut gotten back from Crossroads (college and career small group at church) thinking I wasn’t going to have anything fun to do this weekend.

Boy was I wrong! It started with mowing. I know this doesn’t sound fun but after mowing and doing a little thatching raking of the grass, I got to play with the sprinkler system. Justin can tell you how much fun it is to play with a new sprinkler system. We put ours in, in October right before the first freeze so I haven’t gotten to use it till this weekend. I tested it and checked everything out and it is soooo cool. Only problem is that it runs at 0400 every other day so when I sleep with the windows open. (I bet you guys in Texas didn’t know you could do that without dieing in your sleep from heat exhaustion) anyway, it wakes me up cause it is loud when it is getting started and pushing the air out of the lines.

Wow, that was a lot of talking about a sprinkler system. Oh well. The weekend just got better though. I went with my friend, Ben, to go trap shooting! It was awesome! I have never been before. He has a semi-auto pump action 12 gauge shotgun. You can only load 1 round at a time on the range but it is cool. The best part was that I beat him. His gun, he’s gone several times before and I still beat him. We shot two rounds of 25 clays and I got 13 the first time and 15 the second. I think better than 50% is pretty good.

Well, Sunday was great too! We had a great message at church as always! Have I told you how awesome my church is? One of the assistant pastors has a blog. If you wanna check it out right now he has this great blog about how he explained justification by faith alone at a home school graduation ceremony. Its pretty amazing how he can turn such an important truth into a simple and effective illustration. http://www.irishcalvinist.com/

After church I got to go test ride a motorcycle. It was a 2000 Honda Shadow Spirit 1100cc. That is a big bike for me considering the only other one I have ridden was a 250cc in a parking lot for two days. I’m not going to lie, it was scary. And to top it off, those of you who ride, know that carry someone on the back makes riding harder. I carried the 220lb owner behind me as he taught me how to ride. I know that is not a picture you don’t want to try to imagine…so don’t! J Anyway, I think I need some more practice before I go buying my own, but for some reason no one wants to let a guy who’s only ridden two bikes, borrow theirs to practice on. Anyway, here's what it looks like...but it is gray on the side and has saddle bags...vote on whether I should get it or not.

Well, this is a long blog, but I wanted to tell you that I am flying 6 of the next 10 days so I am going to be busy for the next few weeks. Catch you soon though.

Kilroy was here!

PS: If you've made it this far, go check out Jelaine's blog. That's right, she back from the land of the dead and has a story to tell about her recent amazing accomplishment.

Warning: Graphic Material Below!

First of all, I want to warn you all, this is not my usual lighthearted blog. Instead it is an atempt to share my recently aquired knowledge of a horifying reality. You may choose not to read below if you would prefer to remain ignorant on the process commonly know as partial birth abortion.

To begin, I will tell you that the actual term for the proceedure is "Dilation and Extraction for Late Second Trimester Abortion" As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so I will give you a few, but before I do that I would like to note that these pictures were requesitioned by a
Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and have been approved as accurate by no less than two professionals.

http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Levatino_on_illustrations.pdf

http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Bowes_letter_PBA_illustration.pdf

These men support the facts that prove the unborn babies experience extreme pain throughout the proceedure. (Prior misconceptions say that the anethstesia given to the mother prior to the proceedure kills the baby....this is simply untrue).

In short, the baby is pulled feet first from the womb, then stabbed in the back of the neck and the brains are removed through by suctioning them out. The depiction below shows this clearly. A complete procedure is available here: http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Levatino_on_illustrations.pdf (but once again I want to warn you of the graphic proceedure ahead of time.

I know this may seem a bit extreme, but until yesterday I had no idea what it involved. If more people, including mothers who were thinking about this proceedure, understood the pain they are putting their baby through, they would be less concerned about their own ability to choose and more concerned about, at the very least, providing a humane alternative. I mean we give dogs and cats more respect and concern than we do the unborn. There is even a Congressional Statement supporting the need to inform the mother of the pain they are causing their children before the process can be completed. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/Fetal_Pain/SAP.html.

If you still want more information, try starting here. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/ There are a lot of documents linked from this page. I pray this was as sobering for you as it was for me. Its not about choice or life folks....lets just start with humanity and then go from there.

New Official Sport...

So there I was...

Talk into another hairbrained scheme by one of The Boyz and loving it! That's right...this time it was "E". Although I think it all started with Scooter, but that's another story. Anyway, E started bowling in a PE class, and since he never blogs, you wouldn't know it but he now owns his own shoes, 3 balls rolley bag that holds 4 balls and two towels...oh and a wire brush for his shoes. He also bowled 3-over 200 games this week. His best has also out shot my fluke 248 from years ago. Anyway, I decided to take it up and now own my own shoes, bag and ball. I just got them this week actually and only bowled 2 games with my new ball but it is awesome. So, I figured I would share with you all my awesome ball and at the same time since three on the boys as well as Laura I believe already have thier own equipment, and I know the other two boys at least enjoy the sport I could unofficially name bowling the sport of The Boyz. I will wait until we have an opportunity for at least a majority vote on the subject before making it official.

Anyway, the real reason I blogged was to show off my bowling ball so here it is!

I plan to catch up with all your blogs this weekend so stand by to stand by.

Kilroy was here!

And now...Little know facts with Armand II - or - A three hour tour

So there I was...

Stranded on a tropical island paradise, beginning to understand the meaning of island fever. No really, you can get tired of a beautiful place like this.

I know I shouldn't be complaining, but when you are told you are going to be some place a max of 25 days and you are still there 2 weeks after that deadline, you start to wonder if you got on the S.S. Minnow by accident.

But this blog isn't for complaining it is intended to enlighten you on a few interesting facts. Fact Number 1: In the military there may actually be an allowance called Island Pay. I tried looking it up, but was unsuccessful. But how strange is that. I mean, I understand hazardous duty pay, and family seperation allowance and I love Military tax exclusion zones, but island pay? Here lets send you to a tropical island and since it is such a hardship, we'll give you extra money. I just want to say thank you to everyone who is paying a little extra in taxes this month for my island pay. :-)

Fact Number 2: The Brits really have this uniform thing down. They actaully have uniforms with shorts. This makes total since when you are in a place like this. The funny thing is, they just look like Scoutmasters in good shape. The shorts for the battle dress uniform are almost exactly like our old boy scout shorts with the exception of fewer pockets...they are just as short though. And the khakis have a khaki shirt and shorts. The only other thing they are missing is long socks. In fact, they don't wear socks at all. Just penny loafers. And to top it off they have berets. It is awesome! Most people here would laugh at me for saying that, but I would totally wear it.

Fact Number 3: The Cobra Ball's so called "stealth wing" is not actually stealthy, or maybe it is but since the rest of the plane isn't, it doesn't really matter does it?

Fact Number 4: Philipinos have an awesome way of popping backs. I found this out when getting my second 15 dollar hour long massage. What they do is lie you on your stomach and then a little philipino woman tells you to relax as she stands on one side of your body and grabs the oposite quadracept in one hand and holds the associated shoulder against the table. Then she pulls your leg up and back across your body toward her. I know this sounds quite uncomfortable but when you think your leg can't go any further back all of a sudden every vertibre in your back releases with a syncronized *CRACK*! It is amazing.

Well, I had a bunch more fun facts but they have slipped my mind so I will write again when I think of them.

Till then...

Kilroy was here!

Two in one week...what is going on?

So there I was...

Blogging for the second time in one week. I hope you guys aren't too overwhelmed. Make sure and read the last one if you haven't already. Things are still going well here. Today I was actually productive. I worked hard and put in a pretty long day. In the end it was a good day though. Not a whole lot to say other than that.

On another note though. I was trying to keep up on my current events and found an article I think you will all find quite interesting. Just take a few moments and check it out. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253918,00.html

Anyway, hope you are all doing great. I hope to catch up on everyone elses blogs tomorrow.

Blue Skies and God's Speed,
Armand II