"Enough" Chris Tomlin

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You are my supply
My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
worth living for
And still more awesome than I know

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You’re my sacrifice
Of greatest price
And still more awesome than I know
You’re the coming King
You are everything
And still more awesome than I know

More than all I want
More than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know
More than all I can say
You are more than enough for me

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Amazon.com Sample of Chris Tomlin "Enough" is Track #2

Alaska Troops Being Targeted by Sophisticated Iranian Munitions

INFORMATION: Brigade commander says Iran may also be training extremists.
By JAMES HALPIN
The Associated Press

(Published: August 26, 2007)
Iranian weapons are increasingly targeting U.S. soldiers in Iraq, even as a successful mission against insurgents in Baghdad wrapped up, the commander of a Fort Richardson brigade said Friday.

More sophisticated -- and deadly -- roadside bombs, mortars and rockets are confronting the soldiers, said Col. Michael Garrett, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, speaking to reporters by teleconference from Iraq.

The traditional munitions are easy to link to Iran because they are clearly marked, Garrett said. The origin of the bombs is more difficult to determine, he said.

"We believe these are manufactured in Iran and then smuggled into Iraq," he said. "We have information that leads us to believe there is also some training by Iran of the Shia extremist organizations."

The recent mission, called Marne Avalanche, began in mid-July as an offensive operation focused on disrupting insurgent activity in southern Baghdad to prevent it from becoming an enemy stronghold.

More than 120 insurgents were captured during the mission, with nine of those being high value, Garrett said. Nine others were killed.

Garrett said soldiers found 67 roadside bombs and 16 weapons caches, which contained a variety of guns, ammunition and equipment.

Garrett said those types of finds can make it difficult to work with Iraqis because they create skepticism.

"I just don't trust very many people here at all. We just can't afford to," he said.

Politicians and so-called "concerned citizens" can be difficult to trust, he said, because their motives are not always clear. "These are people who were fighting against us not too long ago."

There are about 3,500 members assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, which deployed to Iraq last fall.

Since the Fort Richardson unit deployed, 51 soldiers have been killed and 314 have been wounded. Last year, 26 soldiers based out of Fort Wainwright were killed during a tour that ended in December.

At least 3,724 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Despite that, Garrett said morale is generally high in the field, and preparations are already getting under way for their return in January.

"The people are very proud of what they're doing, and I couldn't be more proud of them," he said.

Tasted Like Home

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 10:16 AM
Mom and Dad,

Thank you for the anniversary care package, I got it yesterday. I think it came in about 8-9 days, not bad. I'm going to watch Wild Hogs tonight. You said it was pretty funny, and I haven't seen it yet. I also really like those oat, honey, and chocolate candy bars.

I got another big box of peanut butter cookies from the Michaels. I just passed all the bags out to my guys; I only had one for myself. One of my soldiers, O'Laughlin, actually said they tasted a lot like his Mom's peanut butter cookies, and reminded him of home.

It’s still very busy here, and will be so until we redeploy to AK. Its nice having some plans to look forward to and seeing the family for Christmas I think will be good for me.

Anyway, time for dinner.

Love,

Sam

God Peeking Through The Clouds

Here are a couple photos from a mission last week. Most of my missions lately have been using heavy equipment to clean up the roadways of highly traveled routes, in an attempt to make it harder for the enemy to hide IED's and EFP's.

This specific morning there was a gorgeous Iraqi sunrise, with some neat light coming through the clouds.

Peace & Love,

Samuel

I Can't Wait!!

To: "Valerie Chamberlain"
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 5:52 AM
Subject: Re: driFIRE shirts-gen 2

Mom,

I can't wait to get the new shirts. I still owe you a photo of my platoon, I should have all my guys together for a mission in a few days, then we can take it. The sizes should work out well, we had way to many XL's last time.

I saw Chad, have you heard from him yet? He was very thankful for the shirts, his guys love them.

Please relay to Audrey I got a box from her, thanks. Also, do you ever see the Michaels around? Do you have an e-mail for them? They have sent me three very large boxes of home made cookies over the last two months, and my guys have LOVED them, I'm talking hundreds of cookies, 6-7 large zip lock bags full. I haven't gotten a box from the Grafton book club yet, but I did get one from Mrs Ferrebee, and tell the breens I got one from them with the Irish soda bread, it was tasty, I shared it with SSG Ryan Finn, one of my Irish squad leaders, he has a four leaf clover cross tattooed on his forearm.

That's about it for here. I've been very busy with missions.
I can't wait for my war to end.

Love,
Sam
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James 1:12
Blessed be the man who perseveres under trial,
because when he has stood the test,
he will receive the crown of life that
God has promised to those who love him.

Free Lance-Star T-shirt Update

August 9th the FLS's Rob Heldelt published this update on our driFIRE t-shirt project.
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Local actor has big role in comedy 'Hot Rod'
Updates include new projects for local actor and fundraiser for shirts to cool troops.
Date published: 8/9/2007

FROM a string of successes for a local actor and writer to one family's attempt to help their son and others in Iraq, today's a day for updates on recent columns.

Community caring
Several weeks back, I wrote about an effort that a Stafford County couple, Jay and Valerie Chamberlain, started to help their son and other soldiers in Iraq, who deal with extreme heat while wearing hot and heavy body armor.

They wanted to raise money to buy 24-year-old Sam, commander of an engineering unit in the Army's 25th Infantry Division, and others in his unit new-age moisture-management T-shirts.
"To date, we have raised over $11,000," Valerie Chamberlain said recently. "I just sent another shipment of 250 shirts to four different platoons from the same brigade as Sam's."
They've sent 429 shirts so far.

Contributions can still be mailed to Valerie J. Chamberlain, T-shirt Account, c/o BB&T, 375 Chatham Heights Road, Fredericksburg, Va., 22405. Contributors may also make deposits at any BB&T branch.
Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415 Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com

Catfish Will Eat Anything

I hesitate to post photos from people I don't know, BUT. These may be the strangest fish photos I have seen in a long time. They sure look real to me???
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A guy who lives at Lake Conroe, TX (50 miles north of Houston ) saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange in the lake and went to investigate. It turned out to be a Flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a basketball which became stuck in its mouth!! The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The guy tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry catfish. You probably wouldn't have believed this, if you hadn't seen the following pictures...

Support, When You Least Expect It.

(click on images for full size)
Well we arrived home safe last night after a very hot week at Sunset Beach, NC. The house was nice if not a bit run down and a slight odor of beach mildew and dampness. We all began to wonder what the week would bring. Valerie was recovering from a sinus infection which left her dizzy and with an upset stomach. We think Maggi had a touch of the same thing for the first couple of days also. To start it off I woke up the first morning with a sore back from the beds.
So Molly was the only one who felt half normal. Everyone started feeling pretty good by Wednesday so I took a chance and loaded up the kayak and went fishing. The wrong thing to do. I was on the couch for the rest of the day and all day Thursday with my back out.

That evening I felt well enough so we drove down to Myrtle Beach for dinner and some shopping. We selected one of our favorite places at Broadway at the Beach, the Key West Grill. Sam was with us three years ago on our last visit and we really liked this restaurant. On the way out I decided to pick up a bottle of the Key West Grill hot sauce. At the counter, as the manager was ringing up the sale, I mentioned I was going to send the bottle to our son serving in Iraq. The guy stopped the sale and handed me the bottle. "On the house, give him by best and thank him for is service", he said. Support when you least expect it.