National Guard Gains Another Goodale

Yesterday Justin was officially sworn in to the National Guard. Already-in-the-Guard brother, Christopher, was at the ceremony, as were Michelle, myself, and Grandma Cotter (Michelle's Mom), who took this picture on the right.

Justin's MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) will be 35F, Military Intelligence. He'll report for Basic Training on March 22nd, which will be followed by his 16-week AIT (Advanced Individual Training) at Fort Huachuca in Arizona.

But... what's REALLY cool is that Justin has been assigned to do Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood in St. Robert, Missouri. That's where Justin served for more than seven months of his mission, and he's SUPER excited to go back to that part of the country. Michelle and I hope to be able to go back for his Basic Training graduation when he's done, and during family day there it will be fun to have him show us around the area, meeting with his friends and such.

Below is the video of Justin's swearing-in, or you can also view it by clicking here. To see all ten pics from the swearing in ceremony, you can click here for Flickr, or click here for Facebook.

Thanksgiving at the Goodales

Wow... am I ever behind on posting to the blog!!! We had a wonderfully quiet Thanksgiving at home some six weeks ago. My mother-in-law joined us for dinner, and we were supposed to have some guests from the Congo, as well, but as it turned out they could not make it at the last minute. It sure is wonderful meeting a lot of people from different cultures through the work that Michelle does with the International Refugee Center here in Boise. We are SO grateful for all of the many wonderful blessings we enjoy, and I may even be thankful enough that here it is January and I haven't had time to post on Thanksgiving, much less the wonderful Christmas we just enjoyed! :-)

Embedded below is a video taken at the Thanksgiving dinner table (or you can click here to view on YouTube). Note the huge ham in the foreground. We also had turkey; it's just hidden behind that big salad bowl. As for the audio in that video, you'll hear the phrase "Michael-sized bite" - check with me separately for the story that goes behind that phrase. :-)