Joining the Army

We got some new and unexpected news today. I am getting orders to deploy to an Army unit for 8 months. The last couple years the Navy has been sending people from shore duty assignments to augment units in the Middle East. Lucky me- my number came up. I will be headed to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina in March for a crash course in how to be a soldier. Then I'll on to an Army base in Kuwait. Good times.

Wyatt loves his spaghetti

I actually took this last week, but with all the business of Christmas I didn't get to post this. I couldn't resist posting this picture... he's just too cute!

Chiming in on this digital FHE.

You may be asking yourself what Zack, the last born son, the bottom of the deck, the baby, could possibly have to contribute to this here virtual Hensley hob-nobbery. After all, his life currently contains all of the the excitement an infomercial marathon. I mean, if I sleep past noon, it really makes no difference and no one would even notice or care. And sure, Josh and Deborah may have a gaggle of kids to keep them busy- Jenna too. Jon may be fighting a friggin' war, and Joey may be holding a human kidney in his hand at any given time. Meanwhile, Jake and Sam may be bearing down on all of the excitement of Jon's possessions.

So again, you may be asking yourself - what could boring ol' Zack possibly contribute to this forum of familial confabulation? Well I found a toy giraffe on the ground while riding my bike on Palafox Pier this morning. So beat that, punk.

-Zack, The Omega Child.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and whatnot

Well, merry Christmas everybody I'm sure you are all nestled all snug in your beds with visions of sugar plums and Wii video games dancing in your heads. But I am up. Right now I am even shirking out of work to post this little message. Christmas day is in full swing here in Asia. But Santa Clause didn't really bother stopping by. It really doesn't feel like Christmas at all to me. I have been contemplating why I don't feel very Christmasy. This is what I have come up with:

Of course, the easy answer is being far away from family and loved ones, but I think it is a lot deeper than that. As listened to the Breuer family read the Christmas story from the Bible in a language that made absolutely no sense to me, I had an epiphemy. The reason it doesn't feel like Christmas here is that we are outside of the New Born Baby Jesus's jurisdiction. Yeah, you see, this is Allah's domain. Every day, I see dudes wearing man dresses and bath towels praying and screaming jibberish in the streets. Their pieties are dedicated to Allah, who has some genetic similarities to Heavenly Father, but who never bothered to send his son to atone for the world. Now in the Christmas story, some Wise Guys from the east showed up and brought some token gifts for the Son of the Western God, but opted out of going full on Christian. Now, I find myself in the land of the Wise Guys. and I see that the birth of Jesus isn't all that important here. The Wise Guys gave Jesus the nod originally and recognise him as a prophet, but decided not to have any holidays or even take the day off of work. Of course, delving into slightly more recent history, it is a little easier to understand.

Looking back about 1500 years, and the Holy Land is in turmoil. The Crusades are in full effect and Christians and Muslims are slaughtering each other over the right to pray in front of a rock in Jerusalem. When a man comes to your home and kills your family in the name of his god, it really doesn't help convince you that that man's god is the kind of god you might want to hang out with for an eternity. So instead of telling the Muslims about Santa Clause, putting up a Christmas tree, and giving Furby's to the good little Islamic girls and boys, The Christians made the fundamental mistake of just trying to kill all the Muslims. The worlds divided, and really haven't ever stopped fighting. The Crusades continue on though the reasons and places have changed. And today, I am the Crusader, far from home and fighting a war over religious intolerance and fanatisism just like our ancesters so many years ago. So this Christmas Morning I find myself sitting in a dusty bunker in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, thinking, "Crap, now why couldn't the Early Christians just share Santa Clause with Islam?"

Merry Christmas everybody. My thoughts and prayers are with you today, as always.

Love you all,

Jonny

Merry Christmas. When I was a little boy, I always liked when Dad would read The Night Before Christmas right before putting us to bed for Christmas. I would like to carry that tradition on with my own daughter. I can't be there to read to her this Christmas, so I recorded this little video of me reading the story. And I tossed in some photos and clip arts to help animate it a little. This is designed for Destiny, but if anybody else wants to watch it, I hope you enjoy it. If not, well, you are just going to have to wait. I would just email this to Jenny, but the file is to big to attach. As it is, it has been uploading for HOURS with no end in sight.

A Note from Jon.....

If anyone is interested in news from the front lines, I will say that not a whole lot of exciting stuff is going on. I will admit though that I have the dubious honor of being the first pilot ever to bang up a UH-60M Blackhawk during combat operations.

The other day I was out flying and we had some time, so we started practicing one wheel pinnacle landings on peak of a 7500' mountain. This maneuver is a little tougher than it sounds, since the wheels that I balance on the mountain top are a few feet behind me. The pilot can't see the point where he sets the helicopter wheel, so he counts on his crew chief to guide him in for the last few feet of the approach. I had a very experienced crew chief with me, but he wasn't very on point, and I am not a very experienced pilot. On one approach, I set the helicopter down a little to far forward of the exact spot that I should have landed on. The jagged mountain top rock that I was supposed to set the wheel on was behind me and I was off center anyway. When I set the helicopter down, I rocked it back just a little, and the helicopter squatted on the jagged rock. The rock punched a whole in the bottom of the helicopter, right through my ADF antenna. Post flight inspection, even revealed a small jagged rock sticking out of the antenna. So there you have it. The first combat zone UH-60M helicopter accident. Finally, I made a piece of aviation history. As it turns out, our parts guys keep ADF antennas on hand, and the Army employs sheet metal experts that can make my helicopter as good as new. Blackhawk #07-20054 was out of commission for one day for repairs.

Maddie's new glasses

About a month ago we got a letter from the school saying that we should take her to an eye doctor to get her eyes checked after they did the usual eye test there. So it took me awhile to make the appointment because I honestly did not think Maddie needed glasses since neither Josh nor I wear them. Maddie kept asking me when we were going to go and get her eyes checked. So I finally took her in. We found I was very wrong!

She has a stigmatism in her left eye and a slight one in her right. So we (actually Maddie) picked out some cute glasses, and today we went and picked them up. She was pretty excited about it. I think she looks pretty cute!

BTW _ Jakes HOME!

So since no one else has.... I will take the opportunity to welcome jake Back to the good ol USA! Since we sent off one brother we got the other one back. Not a bad trade, eh? hehehe... just kidding But we have missed you Jake!

Jack's Interrogation

Today, after picking Jackson up from daycare we stopped by McDonald's to get Jack a Happy Meal. (Pre-school makes a little guy very hungry!) Grandma Jones (whom Jack sometimes calls Jones) was with us, and had excused herself to go to the ladies room. Upon her return, Jackson begins his line of questioning by saying:

"Did you go to the potty, Jones?"

Grandma Jones: "Yes I did."

Jack: "Did you flush the toilet, Jones?"

A surprised Grandma Jones replies: "Yes I did."

Jack: "OK, did you wash your hands, Jones?"

A now red-faced...shocked Grandma Jones replies, "Well...yes - I did, Jack!"

I was rolling in laughter, finally after a moment of recovery for "Jones" and she started laughing too! We decided since he is in the potty training room at daycare this must be the general line of questioning there, and he just took the opportunity to turn the tables on an adult.

But Grandma Jones's reaction was as funny as Jack's interrogation!

Family Photos

My wonderful and talented cousin Amber (please check out her blog here) http://www.amberkatrina.com/blog/
has started her own photography business, and lucky for me she just lives a few hours away! So this last Saturday we hired her to come and take our family photo for Christmas! We had a lot of fun, and she got some wonderful pictures! Just so you know, you will be getting some pictures, so don't worry!

Sam is Moving

Sam and I went to a good -bye lunch today. After work tomorrow (Saturday) or perhaps sunday morning, he's heading north into the cold. Well....not quite as brrrrrrr as Indiana or Michigan, but still... Actually Sam is looking for a new start, and is heading up to house sit for Jonny & Jenny, while they are both out of the country and hopefully will quickly find a new job. Good luck Sam! Keep us posted!!

Just FYI- Elder Joseph B Wirthlin

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, the oldest living apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Monday night, age 91.
Elder Wirthlin had gone to bed at his Salt Lake City home, and died peacefully at about 11:30 pm of causes incident to age. His oldest daughter, Jane Wirthlin Parker, was present. A member of the family had been staying and caring for Elder Wirthlin, whose wife, Elisa Young Rogers Wirthlin, died in 2006.
He had continued to work at his office right up until the Thanksgiving holiday. Funeral services were held today, December 5, at the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

Maddie Mae is Getting New Glasses!

Today, Josh & Deborah called and said Maddie had an eye exam at school that suggested that she might need glasses. So off to the eye doctor they went and YEP! sure enough she needs glasses. Deborah said Maddie picked out a pair of pink ones that looks very cute on her and they should be in some time next week. We will look forward to seeing here in them. Maddie is the 3rd Hensley grandchild to wear glasses. Jeffrey and Jessa began wearing glasses October 4th. http://ajaslife.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-glasses-for-family.html

Hello All

For those of you that were not present during Thanksgiving, we decided to start a family blog and ask that everyone try to post every once in awhile what is going on in your world or just generally harass your siblings. lol
Hopefully this will allow for a fun lighthearted way to keep touch even when we are not playing fantasy football.