Happy Birthday National Park Services (Part 1)

A few years ago my sister started taking her girls to the National Parks to participate in the Junior Ranger program. At first I thought she was a major nerd, "Really? You're going to take your kids to all the National Parks?...Yay"
BUT
Like a lot of things, she was right! National Parks are really cool, and honestly, you've probably visited some of them or wanted to visit some without even knowing about it! This summer we've experienced the greatness of the NPS and with a little guy, its even better. We have visited a few places where he can run and explore without fear of losing him because most national parks have large areas of beautiful trails and land.
In early June we headed out to go on a bike ride, but because of a napper we kept driving and ended up at Jamestown, VA. Jamestown is part of the The Colonial National Historical Park a triangle that consist also of Yorktown and Williamsburg. When we went to pay for our park pass we found out that Military is 100% free for a whole year. We reluctantly took the pass from the lady (thinking we might use it at Jamestown again) and headed off with the other families there on family vacation. As we crossed the bridge, Henry running in front of us, we fell in love!
Jame town is all about John Smith, Pocahontas and is currently in the middle of a huge archeological dig! We walked around a saw the cemetery where houses where built on top because there was no recording of the cemetery, the church that has glass on the floor from previous archeological digs and ate lunch along the James River. We sat under beautiful trees and listened to an actor talk about his experiences coming over on the ship and the struggle they had building Jamestown, as the deer ran by.
As we left, with full hearts, we stopped by the gift shop to get our Ornament and also picked up a NPS Passport book (nerd status with the "collectors edition" with stickers). The passport book will hold our stamps (or cancelations) as we travel the country forcing Henry to explore the National Parks... some day he'll start working on his Jr. Ranger Badges.
As nerdy as we feel, its been so much fun. It is a great way to get out of the house with purpose, learn new things about the area we are living for a short time and be able to live history not just read about it in a book. I pray that Henry loves history and these goofy trips we take him on, I hope that as he grows up he gets to say "I've been there" when they talk about things in school and even "well did you know...." as they discuss different areas of the country, we sure do live in a beautiful place!

 

What can I say other than the fact that I have the best wife EVER! What justification do I need other than the fact that she is my wife. I love when people ask me randomly, "don't you think that girl is hot!?" and I have the vast privilege of telling them, "eh, she's not my wife." Sarah is such a beautiful person and her beauty goes way beyond her physical beauty. She has such a passion for people, but more than that, a passion to serve Christ. It even goes a step beyond that though, she has a passion for my heart for Christ. Last night I received a package from her, It was the computer I left behind so I could fit all the goodies she got me into my backpack before I deployed. On the computer she replaced my wallpaper to have a picture of us laughing at each other. Within my Itunes was an updated playlist that included some of her favorite songs that she wanted me to listen to and in a way enjoy with her. And then there were sermons that she spent a good amount of time uploading to my computer so I could spend time each day in worship and hearing God's word. I have the best wife ever.

When days are hard and I am losing my mind, she motivates. When I'm mad, she understands, when I sin, she corrects, when I'm down she encourages, when my mind is racing like a mad man, and I can't stop rambling she listens. I have the best wife ever.

We may be half way around the world from each other, but our love is still very real and we are very close to each other. I absolutely cannot wait for the day I come home and we look each other in the eye and finally embrace again. One fear I have is that the time we will have spent apart will have been more time than we've actually been together.The fear though, is that we will have changed and become different people away from each other. I guess this is all fine though because it'll be like we're dating again, and my plan from the start was to continue dating this young lady for the rest of our lives.


I can't wait to have dinner over candlelit dinners with Sarah when we get back followed by eating desserts and playing board games that she kicks my butt at.... I can't wait to be with my wife again!

Brian Frausto Ver. 2.0

A few days ago I decided I would take a stand against my natural reaction to things. I am generally timid and hate speaking in front of people and don't typically like to take the lead...which as some may or may not know, is not good for an officer. To break this pattern I made a commitment to be excited when new opportunities come up and try my best to be excited about talking in front of people. I will now take the opportunities and own them as mine to make the best out of. these are my products and it's what people perceive of me. I will be the best Brian Frausto that I can. Just a couple days ago I had the chance to take our BN Co (a really important guy) around our base and talk to him about the operation that I'll run soon. This terrified me at first, but after thinking about the mission and everything I'll be doing I knew that I could handle this. The walk around went very well and I got a couple emails saying to keep up the good work and that I did a good job.
I honestly feel it will be rough at first for our guys, just with not having much time to adjust, but soon enough we will rock this. The challenge will be to get our guys working together and them understanding their jobs will overlap so in turn they'll have to actually do some things that aren't exactly their job. I know they're going to have a rough time doing this because who actually likes doing things when they feel it's someone else's job? The fact is though, if these guys don't work together to accomplish each mission, we're going to have a very long 9 months. My Personal challenge will be to convey this to our guys and taking them to the next level. I say next level because that's exactly what this task calls them to be. Instead of turning the wrench they need to oversee the wrench turning, instead of fueling the truck, they need to oversee all the fuel distributing. Our guys leaders in our team have to become managers and oversee their individual teams. They've got this and We've got this. Now to go make it happen!

This might be a reoccurring theme, but not much again today. I've made the joke a couple times that this is just a really bad vacation, and honestly that's what it feel like. Good news is that it's all expense paid and it's not nearly as uncomfortable as I imagined it would be. I was able to talk to Sarah this morning which was wonderful. Somehow when we talk, it always makes my days just that much better.

Day 3: When I get home I'm going to go to a really nice restaurant with Sarah that overlooks the water, and have an amazing dessert.

so nothing exciting today except seeing the Afghanistan version of carpool. First, 6 guys loaded into the back of a pickup truck, then 3 guys on top of a van, then a tow truck with a regular truck and a car on it's back, all loaded onto another tow truck. This place makes me laugh sometimes, yet others it makes me very sad. These people live very different lives then we do. Found out the other day that the river that runs through the city is actually a sewer canal, which people bath, wash their cars in, wash clothes in, play in, I'm at a loss for words.

Day 2: When I get back I want to Use our new washer and dryer extensively for the clothes I will have worn for the past 9 months. I'm so grateful to have these luxuries.

Concerning my recent dilemma to change, I'm discovering that it's not necessarily me, or how I talk to these people, but rather them and how they take it. I really don't care if some people like me, and I would rather them not like me, because if they in fact do like me it is because I fit the personality that they find entertaining/fun to be around, and I don't want to be that person. Instead I will be me, and work hard at doing me job, that's why I'm here. To do my job, serving this country in a time of war. I will do it to the best of my ability and do it happily and faithfully because that's what my creator expects.

Now, people that we are replacing keep talking about what they are going to do when they get back to the states, and I keep coming up with new ideas. I'm going to make a list for when I get back of something new each day I want to do when I get back.

Day 1: Extreme affection and PDA with my beautiful wife Sarah! I want to love on her so much and make her feel like a queen. I'm talking flowers, awesome date, tons of kisses, and hours of nonsensical chatter about anything and everything we can possibly think of, just like before I left, and how we've always been :)

Now here we are, 14 days into deployment and I feel like I have yet to earn my paycheck. It isn't any fault of my own or anyone else's for that matter, rather it is because we are in a transition phase and there is little I can actually do. I was told today something that I already knew, and had little problem with. It came up as I was walking here to go online and talk with Sarah. My commander stopped me midway and told me we needed to chat. He had talked with some of the personnel I work with, and their consensus was that I am "too soft." I'd be the last person to argue against this, I am a "soft" individual, but mainly out of a caution to serve Christ through everything I do think and say. I am also a thinker and analyze everything before I actually want to give feedback. I was challenged though, to be more assertive and throw out some profanity here and there. My question to myself is how in the world would Christ handle this circumstance. Looking at the life Christ lead, I imagine he wasn't a very soft individual, he was very assertive in his speech, and spoke with authority. So how do I do that having lived my whole life with the personality that I have. Can I just up and change this? This indeed will be a challenge that I will rise up to and face. No longer am I going to hold back, but with prayer and devotion I will speak my heart and mind. My Thinking is that if I continue to grow closer to God, I won't have to worry about holding back my thoughts because I will continually become more like minded with Christ.