Daddy's home!

All together again, making cupcakes for Daddy's birthday!

Our first meal out on the town at Red Robin (Jonathan wanted a big, juicy burger!).

It's so nice to snuggle on the couch again!

My wonderful girls meeting me at the airport!

Saying goodbye to Daddy. :-(

Pictures from the Airport.

Hanging out at Sea World one more time before I head to Afghanistan.

I hate this part...

Amy and Kristin in West Virginia

Kristin hanging out with Bradford and Carley.

Two beautiful princesses!

A big hug in Papa's office at church.

Opening presents at Uncle Chris and Aunt Margie's house.

Amy and Kristin while I was away

I love these pictures of Amy and Kristin having fun on the playground! I was amazed how much more brave Kristin is after I had been away for so long.




















































That ice cream looks MMMM gooooood!

I leave for a little while, and Kristin is already riding bikes with boys! This is our neighbor's son from next door. They are a very nice family, and Kristin loves playing with their kids. They have a daughter Kristin's age, too.

At church. What a cutie!

This is Kristin's teacher, Ms. Pat. She is super!

One last Kandahar pic...

One more picture that I HAD to share...

SSgt Davidson and I were challenged to a match of foosball by some British guys at the British coffee house. We whipped them...big time! I think the score was 10-4. All those hours in the youth center as a teenager finally paid off! I knew that skill would come in handy some day. I told them it wasn't a waste to purchase a foosball table for the church. :-)

Sights in Kandahar

I did over 10,000 push ups in the month of November as part of a wing-wide challenge. It helped pass the time and get me in shape for the new Air Force PT standards, but it hurt! Can you see how red my head is...

The Chuck Norris wall is a nice addition to one of the gym tents on base. WARNING! If you zoom in on this picture, you might see things you will wish you had never seen.

Yes, there are goats...even on base.

The picture below this one is a "Jingle Truck." The Afghans really like to spice up their heavy equipment. I thought this would go over great with the coal trucks in West Virginia. I'm sure it will catch on soon, especially with the Dolins. :-)

I'm a pirate! Arghhh. Actually, this is outside the Air Control Squadron, who were all there from Mountain Home AFB...our first assignment. They are the "Double Daggers."

My office...along with four other people. Space is pretty limited at KAF

The "international" airport.

Somewhat disconcerting name for a fuel truck, don't you think?

Saying a prayer for those who have the ominous task of delivering these.

Pizza Hut delivers EVERYWHERE!

Mosque just over the fence.

Jonathan in Afghanistan

I had to throw these two photos in for all to "enjoy." I couldn't help myself.

These guys are holding our Advent candles. We didn't let the fact that we didn't have a wreath stop us from celebrating the coming of Christ each week as we approached Christmas.Pretty cool backdrop for a worship service! Had to pause for the occasional helicopter flyover. I'm preaching a short sermon here for the men and women of the 55th Rescue Squadron out at Camp Bastion. This is me with some of the maintenance airmen at the A-10 squadron. We had worship in a loft where the guys hang out when they have down time. It is a maintenance hangar (clam shell) and got very noisy sometimes!

My guitar skills improved dramatically while I was deployed, probably because I played at five services every weekend. I had to get better or suffer through the torture of listening to bad worship music 5 times every week! This is from the C-130 squadron.

This is my awesome chaplain assistant, SSgt Christopher Davidson. He was with me every step of the way, setting up for services, keeping me safe, and serving as a great brother in the Lord. The Air Force Band from San Antonio came to visit for Christmas. This is a shot of them playing for some of the wounded warriors at the hospital. Note the cool hat Amy sent me. The highlight was when they played for a Afghan boy. They really cheered him up...so much so that he even smiled and laughed with them. He even learned how to say "Merry Christmas."Me praying at our Veteran's Day ceremony to honor those who have gone before us. I always think of my Papa on Veteran's Day. He served as a paratrooper in the Pacific Campaign during WWII. Just had to share this cool picture I took from the back of a Chinook (helicopter). It was a British helicopter that took us to Camp Bastion to visit some Airmen out there.

Here is our chapel team at Christmastime. That is the peace sign above my boss' head...or is he a bunny?

It got a little chilly in December. This was a COLD night spent waiting for a ride from Camp Bastion back to Kanahar. The helicopter ride was even colder!