(We have a fish tank and the boys bought 4 fish one for both of them, one for me and one for anthony. We took a picture of the tank and the fish and sent it to him. We noticed that anthony's only had one eye so that is were this comes from)

Anthony wrote: The aquarium is tight. Soldier (anthony's fish) looks like he's been woring out. He's healthy I know that. Just because he has one eye don't let that fool you. He looks like he has been in a few battles just like me. A scar or 2 on our face just adds charater.

I thought it was cute that he mentioned the fish. The boys really liked that.

yes, sweet indeed shorty. these pictures help the guys a lot, I believe. I know of a woman who writes with a Native American who really loves roses. So last summer she bought his favorite roses (yellow ones) and grows them in her garden. She takes pictures of them and send it to him. So he has his own little rose garden in his cell anyway. I think that is really sweet and it teaches us to appreciate the small things in life.

it sure does

Stephen has a limit of 5 pictures (isnt very many when you have 5 kids!) does anyone know if you printout pics on a paper does it count towards the 5??? I would like to put a whole bunch of the kids like a collage and print it out and send it....

By the way...what a cute story....all of these battles are making us stronger!

It depends when he goes to the pen you can send up to 10 no bigger then a 5x7. So i would suggest that you wait if you can. You mentioned him going in a few weeks.. Just hang out cuz diagonis will make him send them home. No more then 20 letters and like 20 pic. ususally.. there are exceptions but that is the nor.

the best thing to do is then check the mailing rules again. I once had a part of my letter being returned to me, because I printed a picture on it. That was against the prison rules, printed pictures. That was in 1 prison, I never heard of this rule in any other prison.

Hey anthony asked me if I cleaned the fish tank and I told him no that he needed to come home and do it for me.. I am sure that he was laughing. I guess I should clean it tomorrow..

I AM NO HELP ON CLEANING FISH TANKS--WHEN WE HAD FISH, THE FIRST TIME I CLEANED THE TANK THEY ALL DIED--OF COURSE I AM ALSO THE PERSON WHO KILLED A CACTUS....

SHERRI :)

so did he come home to clean it? I'm sure, if he just tells them: Sorry, I have to go home, need to clean the fish tank and I don't want my wife to kill the fish', they'll let him out....NOT lol. I'm always telling Darrell the same. When I tell him I bought something new and he's like: I want to see it, I always tell him: just drop by, you know where I live'. Makes him laugh also...and I just looooooooooove to hear my baby boy laugh!

Yah anthony was laughing too.. I won't kill them I jsut hate the mess.. But oh well I cleaned it..

Sherri...I thought I was the only one who could kill a cactus!:haha:

well, I have another question. you know, sometimes I joke around with Darrell, tell him, when I come to visit him, he'll have to kick me out because I won't leave, that he has to smuggle me to his room. or that he has to come over or whatever. Makes him laugh....but when our phonecall is over, I think about those jokes and wonder if it doesn't push him on the facts more, by these jokes? I mean, don't they make him feel worse when he's back in his cell, because I know he wants to come over, but he can't?

I am sure some days it makes it worse but most of the time I bet it helps him keep going on and knowing that he has someone out here that wants him for him... Unconditional mistakes and all.

I joke around with JD a lot too... and based on what he says it helps.. no matter what the jokes are about... he has enough people being serious with him.... :)
Since he is in seg I give him crap all the time that he has enough time on his hands to write long letter... And in a recent letter he was talking about some little sexual fantasies he would be willing to participate in and he mentioned "handcuffs"... so when I visited him and he was cuffed and shakled to his little stool, I joked that I thought he would have had about ENOUGH of those... :)

lOL funny anthony and I talked about cuffs he was so against them.. He was like no way.. So i can tell he has a cuff phobia which I am totally cool with.. LOL He is so ready to come home and never go back.