For those relatives that don't know me my name is Amanda Renea Jepson-Baca. I am 24 years old and am currently a Military
Police Officer that is stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. I met Tomasin Ft Richardson Alaska, he used to live on the top
floor of my barracks and I would see him every now and then as he went on with his life. The first time that I really remember
him was when I was watching one of the other guys in our barracks outside with a metal broom in the middle of a rare lightning
and thunderstorm that we were having here in Alaska. Tomas who lived on the top floor of the building saw my self and one
other soldier watching out the window and invited us up. I declined the offer. Little did I know but a few months later I
would meet him again while holding the Battalion Colors during a change of command ceremony. I remember being so mad at him
because he cheated and was wearing earphones during the whole ceremony. He was standing right next to me with his battalion
colors. After that I didn't get to see him for a while. The next time that I saw him was when I was on CQ ( charge of
quarters) he used to beat up on me and I would beat up on him but all together we had fun. That is how things started. When
he moved I was over at his barricks all the time. I even got him an article 15 because I was there when I wasn't supposed
to be.
I was supposed to deploy in March so we thought that we would be sneeky and get married privately
so that I could go to where he was when I got back from deployment. We thought that we were being slick by not letting anyone
know. So on February 13th, 2005 we were married in a little chapel on Ft. Richardson Alaska. Everything was set. Little did
we know but God had other things in store for us. We were due to deploy on the 23rd of March but on the 21st we found out
that I would not be going. God had saw fit to give me the opportunity to have a child which I was told I would never have
the chance to have. Upset but very happy we now had to tell the family two secrets that we had been keeping from them. Let
me tell you those were the hardest phone calls in the world to make, not only because we had to tell everyone that I was pregnant
but also we had to tell them that we had been married for over a month and didn't tell them. Piece of advice just tell the
truth it only gets harder after time. Jonathan was born on November 17 2005, our first little miracle child. In February Tomas
went to school to become a cavalry scout and when he was done with that school he went directly to Ft. Carson, Co. I did not
follow him until several months later. Once at Ft. Carson I deployed a little less than two months later to Diwanyah Iraq
where it was our job to help the Iraqi Police. There were many hardships that came out of that tour and if someone had not
been watching over me I would not have come back from Iraq. I did recieve a purple heart for the wounds that I sustained.
In Iraq Tomas and I reenlisted for another six years of service.
We both came back from Iraq in December of 2007 in tact and alive. Tomas went away in march again to become a
military police officer. He graduated in July of 2008. In March of 2008 I found that I was expecting another little child
due on Christmas day 2008. Christian Angel Baca graced our presence on the 31st of December 2008. Now Tomas and I feel that
our family is complete.
