Spencer's Spot

Monday, April 21, 2008

Joshua and Vanessa's baseball game

They didn't really have a game but I got to go to batting practice while I was home. Josh has always been a natural hitter and his catching ability has greatly improved. Vanessa got hit in the cheek by a wild pitch last week and was gun shy about batting. I talked her into getting into the batter's box and I knelt behind her to keep her from backing up. She stayed right in there and swung away.

Joshua the chef

Joshua is working on his Wolf requirements in cub scouts. One of the requirements is to help plan, prepare, and cook an outdoor meal. He helped to grill this salmon. We also enjoyed rice, green beans, and a salad. Joshua helped plan, shop, prepare, and eat. I'm so proud of him!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Vanessa gone crazy or just turning 7?

I'm home from Ft. Sill on a four day pass. I leave this week for Kuwait. Vanessa and I were having some fun with my new camera and I couldn't help sharing this very funny picture of her. She was making faces as fast as I could capture them. She may look crazy but she is active, toothless and definately turning seven next month. I sure have missed everyone. I can't seem access blogs from the government servers so the best way to keep in touch with me for the next 10 months will be my army email address: jonathan.ennis1@us.army.mil. I'd love to hear from you.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Hope

Gun Truck

Offhand

Nightshift

Overwatch

Sunset #1

Battle Buddies

Sentry

Hope

The images of war are a dark place for me. They are full of fear, the unknown, a rocket attack, or perhaps mortar fire. Yet; always in the background is hope. A hope as beautiful as the Iraqi sunset, a vibrant colorful future painted across the horizon as far as I can imagine. A future filled with hope. I hope for a safe return. I hope for peace. I hope for a future filled with family. I hope to watch Joshua and Vanessa grow. I hope to play baseball with my boy and to hug my girl. I hope for more time. My hope swells with love to Nancy, my wife. That hope contrasted against the despair of war is as beautiful as the Iraqi sunset punctuating the darkness of day and night.
I hope for home. Home: a long way off, settling on a distant horizon. Home: providing the light of hope in all her colorful splendor across the desert of eight months.

Spencer Ennis
October 5, 2005
Ar Ramadi, Iraq

Hope is a curious thing. My fear has been displaced by hope. Fear remains an enemy lurking in the unknown but the light of hope has turned to faith and my faith sustains me.

November 15, 2005

I wrote this to accompany a series of color pencil drawings I created or maybe I created the drawings to accompany my writing. It's hard to say which came first since they were both created about the same time and place. The creation of both were generated from feelings of loneliness, fear, and hope. These drawing are posted above. They were inspired by photographs I took while serving with the Utah National Guard in western Iraq. The photographs of sunsets in Iraq did not capture the color in the sky. The color in my drawings are more what I saw. I was especially facinated by the dramatic effect of dark silhouettes against colorful sunsets.