Coming Home!

Just wanted to update everyone that Crystal and the 335th Fighter Squadron "Mighty Chiefs" are heading home soon. They will be leaving Afghanistan on January 3rd. Crystal asked that I pass along a big "thank you" from the entire squadron for the goodies and everything that was sent! They were much appreciated.Please pray for safe travels for all of them. I will coordinating with the squadron taking their place and we will possibly start sending goodies to the 494th squadron "Panthers". Thank you everyone for sending the boxes full of items!

Round 15 Info

It is coming up fast folks! Here's the Round 15 info!

Sign up for Teams: Nov 23 thru Nov 29
Addresses Mailed to team members: Nov 30
Shipping Dates: Dec 1-16th

If you want your package to get there by Dec 25th, you MUST have it in the mail no later than Dec 11th!
Please do not feel obligated to get them in the mail by the 11th. They will be more than happy to receive packages after christmas too!

It's Christmas package time!!! Let's bless the socks off of Robert and Crystal and everyone they work with.

Thanks again to everyone that joined Fire and Icing for Round 14 :o).

Team Shipping Stats!

Well, I haven't heard from everyone on the teams but here's what I have so far:

Team Grier: Heard from 13 out of 18 members.
21 packages sent!! (holy wow!!)

Team Kirkley: Heard from 14 out of 21 members
18 packages sent (woot woot!!)

Fay and Angela

It's always fun to bake w/ a friend! Here's Fay and her friend, Angela, baking their hearts out for our soldiers.

Maggie's Baking Party

Maggie invited some ladies over for a baking party. What a great idea!

Tonya's Little Helpers!

Check out these cuties coloring pictures for our soldiers! Thanks for the great pics Tonya :)

A note About Crystal & Other Stuff

Just wanted to fill everyone in on Crystal. She is doing good but the shifts have been very demanding and long lately. They are very busy these days. She keeps in contact with me when she can or sends message through her mom, to me. Her and everyone in her squadron are very thankful and are looking forward to the upcoming packages.

On a personal note..

I have been getting so many emails from team members (Roberts and Crystals). I must say I am blown away by the generosity of each of you. The care and time put into these packages is amazing. It brings tears to my eyes every time I read an email from you. I am blessed to be your team leader. Thank you, thank you, thank you for joining the team! Some of you have included extras in your packages as well. Awesome! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and I hope to see all of you in the Christmas round!

A Thank You From Robert

Hello Team Members :) I got an email from Robert last night.. this is what he had to say:

Shannon,

Thank you for all of the support. I still have not gotten the chance to send a thank you email or letter to all of the team members yet. We have been extremely busy lately. Very long and demanding shifts. I look forward to the packages, and will let you know when they arrive. If possible could you let all of fire and icing know that I say thank you for everything, and I will try to personally send a thank you to everyone when I am able to. Hope all is well for you. Thank you again for all of this. -SrA Robert Grier

The Guthrie Girls & Goodies

Ummm seriously... how cute are these kids?!?!?!?! Thanks Deb for the great pictures!

Yummies by Laura

Is it just me or do these make your mouth water??? YUM!

Laura also added a few "extras" for the Mighty Chiefs!

Cute Goodies made by Suzanne

Suzanna put together some individual care packages to send off to the ladies that bunk w/ Crystal. How cute are those!?!

Auntie's Little Helpers

I babysat my best friends kids the other day. They helped me make some cookies. Not sure if I will get to send any of them though. There's about an inch of frosting on each cookie followed by a half a jar of sprinkles. I wonder how the frosting would do in the middle eastern heat. Hmmm probably not pretty...

But it made for some cute pictures! Here are my "niece and nephews". Noah, 5. Jack, 3. Lucy, 11months.

Alternative Packages

Crystal mentioned in one of her letters that they wouldn't mind some healthier snacks to go along with all of the cookies. Being a woman and on a weight loss journey myself, I decided to throw in some dried fruit and a homemade trail mix.

I also put together little thanksgiving boxes for the ladies in her hut. Equipt w/ Chapstick, Lotion, Antibacterial Wipes, Instant Coffee, Crystal Lite drink mix and an all natural Cliff Bar.

Aren't they so cute? Gotta love Michael's and all of their holiday adorned items!

A little bit more from Crystal

Crystal and I have been emailing all day. She is super nice and willing to answer the hundreds of questions I have. Here's what she said:


I fly for a good 5-6 hours some days and thats just the flight, not including getting it started, turning everything on, or getting to work, and getting all our briefings for the flight prior to walking out there. So, trying to lose weight, is tough when you really have to watch what you eat. So thats why I let the guys have all the cookies. Yes, you can ask how many people are in our squadron. There are approximately 59 aircrew, plus we have 6 life support personnel, 4 intel personnel, 1 army guy attached to our squadron (his name is Bryan Demotts), and 4 enlisted admin personnel. So thats 74 people total. Its actually not the normal amount of people we have in our squadron. We left a few aircrew back at home for various reasons and we are sort of min manned right now since we just lost a few pilots that had to go home. Its just our squadron, we are the 335th Fighter Squadron "Chiefs". Its one squadron in a operational group of at least 5 other squadrons of different types of aircraft. Its definitely not like the army, even though this is an army base.

As for the other girls, yes, you can just swap their names in for mine on the address. It will go to the same place. Just keep everything the same and change the name. And yes, a job like yours and mine can be difficult when you really have very little control over your life/free time. LIke you said, you can get called in on days off, the same thing goes for us as well. Pretty much any time here is all work, i get to work out, sleep, and get up and do it all over again. At least back home our squadron will try to keep our weekends sacred and not call us in. However, at least every 6 weeks or 8 weeks we go on a 2-3 week mini deployment to different bases all over the country for different training exercises. So we pack up and take everyone I just mentioned to that location with us. For example, this last year, I went to Nellis AFB, NV for 3 weeks in Jan, then Eglin AFB, FL for 2 weeks in March, then MacDill AFB, FL for a week and a half in April, then Nellis again in May for 2.5 weeks. Its alot of traveling and alot of time away from home, but I guess if you're young and single, its a great opportunity to go travel. It sucks for the married guys with families. back to work for me, have a great day and GO ANGELS!

Crystal

A Note From Crystal

Hi Shannon,
I was going to email you tonight and let you know I received your package and to thank you for all the stuff inside. I pretty much don't eat any of it, but there are alot of men I work with, I'm sure you can relate, so I what I do is basically leave all the stuff in the squadron around for the guys to eat. It pretty much gets eaten fast. Its great that you guys are sending stuff, I really appreciate all the effort you guys are all putting in to send me stuff. I got 5 packages the other day all with cookies! I think we have a wall built up in our squadron of entirely cookies. I know you guys can be pretty creative, and I think we can scale back on cookies. Also, the if you want to send stuff to the other girls in the squadron, their names are: Wesley Rivera, Cindy Bindert, Erin Moretti, Rose McGehee, Nina Konsavich, Melissa Wess, and Kontressa Dunaway. These are all enlisted girls and I am sure they would appreciate things like, hand wipes, body wash, lotion, loufas, air fresheners for our rooms (the type you can put in your car or something that doesnt require electricity that can be put on a hook, or just stuck to the wall). Those are just some ideas. And as a woman, I'm sure you can understand, cookies are great for the guys, but us girls, might appreciate healthier snacks, like dried fruit, or something like that. Not sure what you can come up with. I just think it would be great for those other girls to get packages and not just me. I would feel like I"m hogging all the attention. Otherwise, I just want you to know we really do appreciate the things you all have sent so far and its kind of nice getting stuff from people all over.

I can't believe you've been on nights for 3 years! I have only been on nights for 3 weeks. I hate it. I can't imagine doing this for 3 years and not seeing the sun. And I think thats awesome that you work with Cal Fire. That must be a difficult job to deal with. But it must be pretty interesting also to work with that company. All my sisters live in Califorina with my parents and my brother Roy lives in Texas with is wife and 3 girls. Its tough to get back home and visit them all since I live so far away now, I wish I was closer, but the aircraft I fly in is only stationed in North Carolina, Idaho, or England. And unfortunately I am in NC. Anyway, I have got to get going, its super busy here and not a whole lot of time to get things done. I hope you have a great week and take care.

Crystal Kirkley



** If anyone would like to send a package to one of the other girls instead of crystal, please do so. but you are not obligated to do so**

Meet Crystal!

I would like you to meet Crystal Kirkley! I have been in contact with her mom and here is the little bit of info I have gotten from her.

Crystal is 26 years old, a Captain in the USAF. She is part of the 335th Chiefs aka "Mighty Chiefs" or "Mig Killers". She is a WSO on an F-15 and working 12 hour night shifts (yuck.. sounds like MY schedule). She is currently on a 6 month deployment to Afghanistan. Crystal has 4+ years of active duty and an Academy Graduate. The hut she lives in houses 8 women around the same age and they share everything.

Round 14!

Round 14 is now OPEN!
Make sure you register for this round. Shipping starts November 2.

TAKE PICTURES!!!! I want to start posting pictures on our blog :)

Another Letter From Robert

Dear Shannon,
Thank you very much for the wonderful package. I am so amazed at how supportive you and all of baking galls have been. Everyone I work with has enjoyed everything that has been sent. Our flight has been well taken care of by all of you. It is amazing how so many people are reaching out to me, a complete stranger. It is a blessing to have people like you helping out everyone here. Everyone That I work with asked that you thank Baking Galls on all of our behalf. It has made the time here better, and brought up the spirits around work. I wish you could see all of the smiles every time I bring a package into our break room, it is like seeing kids on Christmas morning. I am sorry, but, I do not have a picture to send. Roseanne might be able to get you one. I will ask her the next chance that I get. I cannot say much about what I am doing here, or where I am. I can tell you that I am in a very safe location, and we are well supplied here. Home baked goods are about the only thing we cannot get on base here. As you know my name is Robert Grier. I have been in the Air Force since 2005. I am a Senior Airman stationed at Dyess AFB Texas. I work Munitions Systems Technology, (we just call it ammo). I have been working ammo since I joined the military, but, it is not my job over here. Ammo builds, maintains, tests, inspects and delivers all of the Air Force bombs and ammunition. I am 23 and married with 2 kids. My wife’s name is Jeanette, and my son’s names are; Leon he is 2, and Ash he is going to be 1 in November. Thank you again for taking the time to reach out to me and everyone over here. It is a blessing to have all of the girls of Fire and Icing letting us know that they care. It is something that I will never forget.


With much respect,
SrA Robert Grier

Round 14 Info

Hello Hello!
Here's the info for Round 14!!

Sign up dates start around Oct 19-21st. LAST day to join is Oct. 30th so get registered early! You CANNOT join after Oct 30th!

Shipping starts November 2nd and Ends November 11th!

I will email the addresses to our team members the day before shipping starts.

*****Changes to team Fire and Icing!***** I will be having 2 teams this round. One that will ship to Crystal and One that will ship to Robert. That way I can make sure each person gets a fair share of goodies! If you would like to join both teams, please do so! Thanks everyone. Let me know how you like the blog!!
~Shannon

To Julie from Robert

Julie sent this to me this morning:


Dear Julie and Bruce,
I cannot explain to you how much it means to me what you are doing for us here. I am amazed at how many people have gone out of their way to do something nice for a complete stranger. Thank you so very much for all of the cookies and the nice letter. All of you from Baking Galls are angles. I never expected this kind of support and appreciation. You are doing a wonderful service to everyone here. My section is so well stocked with treats now that it looks like a bakery. A little bite of home helps everyone here cope with this situation. It is a nice break from all of the chow hall food. I have been in the Air Force since 2005. I work ammo at Dyess AFB in Texas. I cannot tell you much about where I am now and what I am doing, but, I am quite safe. I am lucky to have gone to a base in the middle east with many luxuries. We are well taken care of here, and a long way from the front lines. What did your son do in the Air Force? What rank did he leave at? Thank you again for everything. This has all been quite a pleasant experience. You are doing more for us than you will ever know.
Sincerely,
SrA Robert Grier

The First Response

I recieved an e-mail from Robert's sister, Rose the other day. It really touched my heart:

Shannon,
My brother called the other day just amazed and excited. He said he got like 5 different packeges of goodies and letters from kids. He was so grateful to everyone who sent him stuff. He is gonna write letters back to the kids who he got stuff from and wanted me to tell you thankyou so much and that he was really touched by their gifts. He wrote an email to a lady whos name was in the packages. He told me tell to you personnaly that he loved it. It was awesome hearing how happy he was to get them. Thank you for your kindness and all you do.
Love, Rose

Welcome!!

Hello to all of my "Fire and Icing" team members! As I mentioned in the email, this blog is set to private so only people that are invited may see the blog. I am hoping that as we get responses from the people we send to, I will have the chance to post them for all of you to see. It is a great reminder of why we are doing this!

I am hoping some (or all) of you will send me pictures of you, your kids, friends, family etc while you are baking the goodies! Happy Baking :)