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Abe was born March 16, 1985 in Fullerton, California. The year he turned 3 his 2nd brother was born, he had moved to Chino Hills with his family, and one night after a Bible story and bedtime prayers he asked Jesus to come and live in his heart. He began attending Calvary Chapel Chino Hills with his family when he was in Kindergarten.
When Abe was in the 2nd grade he went on his 1st backpacking trip with his dad in the San Jacinto Mountains. All he carried in his backpack was a canteen and a teddy bear. Also that year he became one of the founding members of Cub Scout Pack 227 that started meeting at Briggs Fundamental School. His den leader, Dave Carlock, was a Brea Policeman and set such a good example for Abe that he decided one day he would become a policeman, too. That same year he determined that he would first serve his country in the United States Marines.
In the 8th grade Abe's science project on where to place the weights on a pinewood derby car won 1st place at his school and 2nd place in the district. He left the county science fair with a 1st place ribbon.
Abe attended two Christian High Schools where he made lots of friends, Carbon Canyon in Brea and later Southlands in Walnut from which he graduated. Abe was a smart kid, but always fought the image of being intelligent. He just wanted to blend into the group as one of the regular guys.
Also during his high school years Abe served as Senior Patrol Leader of his Boy Scout Troop, and attended Buckskin, a scouting leadership camp, the 1st year as a candidate, and as a staff member thereafter.
In the spring of Abe's junior year he attended a midweek urban evangelism school with his class that changed his life. He later wrote an essay about the experience and told how somehow God touched his heart during that trip and he had been changed forever. When he returned he signed up for every mission trip he could, and enrolled in an evangelism class called "The Call."
Abe joined the Marines in the beginning of his senior year, according to his lifelong plan. He arranged his boot camp entry date so that he could, complete a DVD of his last mission trip to San Jose del Cabo, graduate high school, complete his last session of "The Call," staff Buckskin, hike the sierras with his dad and troop, and have his Eagle Court of Honor before he left.
Abe entered boot camp Monday, August 11th, 2003, graduated boot camp Friday, November 7th, joined 3rd battalion 1st Marines Tuesday, February 10th, 2004, left for Iraq Friday, June 19th, and was killed by a direct hit of a rocket on Tuesday, November 9th during the battle for Fallujah.
In the Marines Abe left a lasting image with those he came to know. He considered the Marines to be a huge mission field, as well as an opportunity to give something back to his country. He was a friend and example to all. Most importantly, he looked forward to one day meeting his Savior face to face, and today that hope has been realized.
Brian and I have been saving for months and Friday was the final paycheck before we could go shopping for a new(ish) car. Despite the events of last week, it was nice to get my mind of things. We got lost & ended up finding an out of the way car lot that had exactly what we needed. Everyone there was super sweet and treated us like family. We got an amazing deal on a car I never thought we could afford. It was truly engineered by God. Anyways, here is a picture of our new minivan. Yes, that's right. A minivan. We've become that family...
Our little one was not meant to be and was born into heaven yesterday. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
