"Sleep well America, my Marine has your back!"

My little brother - the adorable little boy who used to make the cutest faces, who used to follow me all over the place, who loved to play with me, who does his best to annoy me as often as possible :-), who leaves his dirty socks and dirty dishes sitting around in my apartment and eats all my food - left this weekend for basic training with the Marines. We had a going-away party for him Saturday night. Lots of friends and family gathered to wish him well and pray for God to be with him. My dad prayed a special prayer for him which brought quite a few tears to my eyes. I have a lot of mixed feelings. I'm worried for his safety and for the bad influences that he will be exposed to, but I'm also very proud of him! Please pray that God will help him to stand strong and use this experience to bring him closer to Him.

We dropped him off at the recruiting station Sunday night. Rusty with Sergeant Zehner, his recruiter and our main connection with him while he is in boot camp. On Monday morning, my mom was able to go see Rusty being sworn in. This is the oath that anyone entering the military must make.

In other news, I got a cat! Just in time, since I will be sad and lonely with my brother gone :-) I don't know what to call him. The friend that gave him to me called him Tigger, but I am thinking of changing it to something military related or somehow related to the fact that I got him at the same time that my brother left for the military. Feel free to share any ideas. I thought of naming him after my brother, but that might be a little strange. I thought of naming him Soldier, Sergeant Kitty, or Semper Fi (Semper for short). Let me know what you think!