CHRISTMAS TO TREASURE MARINE SAVORS EVERY MOMENT WITH HIS FAMILY AS HE PREPARES FOR MORE IRAQ DUTY.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY - Every hour with his wife and three daughters is precious to Sgt. Martin Lopez - especially this Christmas.

Any day now, the 31-year-old Marine reservist will be getting orders sending him back for another tour of duty in Iraq. And even though he and his wife, Luz, worry it could be their last Christmas together, Lopez feels fortunate.

``The price of freedom comes to mind now,'' he said. ``There are troops over there and they can't be with their families. I am thankful I am here with my family. I can't take this for granted.''

This time last year, Lopez had just come home from Iraq - a situation that makes the celebration of this Christmas bittersweet.

``We had just gotten adjusted. We just got over this separation,'' said Luz, 30, as she stroked her 15-month-old daughter's curly black hair. ``Now he is going to have to leave again and it's going to be harder this time.''

So Luz and Martin are putting on a brave face and treasuring every moment with their daughters - Vanessa, 7, Marianna, 5, and Annalisa, born Aug. 21, 2003, while Martin was overseas.

They've concentrated on their time as a family - shopping for Christmas presents, decorating the tree, and spending quiet nights together at home.

``We're trying to make this as special as possible,'' Luz said.

Like Martin Lopez - a maintenance supervisor for a Santa Clarita property management company - hundreds of other Southern California servicemen and women will be saying goodbye to their families early next year and heading for war-torn Iraq.

``It's obvious we are leaving really soon. We just don't know the date but we are doing mobilization exercises. We are updating battle rosters and getting new crew assignments,'' Lopez said.

Marine officials at Camp Pendleton declined to provide deployment dates. But they estimated that two-thirds of the 35,000-strong 1st Marine Expeditionary Force - to which Lopez is assigned - will soon be on their second deployment.

During his first tour of duty with the 4th Light Armor Reconnaissance Battalion, Lopez spent six months in Iraq, much of it roaming the country searching for insurgents looking to attack U.S. troops.

Two of Lopez' buddies were killed in a roadside bombing and a third in a vehicle accident. He's heard story after story from the battlefield about how it is increasingly dangerous to drive the streets of Iraq.

``It's a lot more dangerous out there,'' said Lopez, who commanded about 330 Marines, most under 25, when he was in Iraq.

Luz knows it is her husband's duty to return to combat and said she was thankful for the time - a little more than a year - the family has had with him since his return.

``I have really gotten used to him taking the girls to school, picking them up from my mom's and eating dinner together. He even helps me clean the house and do the laundry,'' she said.

His daughters were his salvation when he last served, sending him drawings and cutout pictures of themselves. Vanessa, his eldest, always made sure to paste a cutout red heart on all the envelopes.

He kept the stack of letters in the tank he traveled in, a constant reminder that the gunfire would end one day. In his most dire hours, he retreated to those letters.

Over the past few months, Lopez has been trying to make the time spent with his daughters special, accumulating the memories because he knows that is all he will have once deployed. He's taken them to Disneyland, on shopping trips and to grandma's.

``I am not going to see my oldest daughter's first Communion. And I will be missing out on my youngest daughter's developing her first few words, first few sentences, all those little things,'' Lopez said as a bright-eyed Annalisa grasped her daddy's knee.

So, last week he went to the mall and purchased a stuffed bear that allowed him to record his voice.

Push the bear's paw and out comes Lopez' soft voice, ``Merry Christmas, Annalisa. Love Daddy.''

``It's so I am always near,'' he said with a smile.

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) AT HOME

Marine reservist Sgt. Martin Lopez helps his daughters Vanessa, 7, center, and Marianna, 5, wrap Christmas presents while his wife, Luz, holds their youngest daughter, Annalisa, in their Canyon Country home earlier this week.

(2) Marine reservist Sgt. Martin Lopez holds his youngest daughter, Annalisa, at their Canyon Country home. Lopez is expecting to be redeployed back to Iraq soon.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

(3 -- 4 -- color) IN IRAQ

Marine reservist Sgt. Martin Lopez spends some time with Iraqi children during his duty in the war-torn country last year. He expects to be redeployed soon.