It's been awhile since I wrote on xanga, but I don't appologies ;) I'm busy.   I've gotten a chance to talk with many of you, but not everyone so I thought I would let you know how it's going.  The weather is comming around, only 100 degrees now.  It feels like a spring day.  Sometimes at night I sit outside my can to relax, and I actually feel cold. It's about 75 degrees then.  I hope it stays like this, but i know it won't.

Work is going well.  The weeks are going by fast, which is a good thing.  It starts to feel like groundhog day, doing the same thing everyday.  I brief the same briefings to the same people every week.  I see the same trucks come back in for maintenance over and over.  We also seem to get attacked on the same day everyweek at the same time.  You kinda know when to go hide out in the protected areas. 

We have gotten into a battle rhythm nowso were able to give the Soldiers time off.  For the first couple months we were working 14-18 hour days 7 days a week, now we have pushed everythign to 8 hour shifts for the Joes and the Senior NCO's and O's work around 10-11 hours.  We do work 24 hours so your always on call.  I've only had to get woke up a couple times.  With my time off I've been watching the baseball playoffs and sportscenter.  We get AFN (armed forces network) TV which has 12 channels (Sports,news, movies) that sort of thing.  I did enjoy all those people who would email me about how the Phillies were doing.

This is Iraq...the out skirts of the FOB.  Real fun, huh?!?

I'm preparing for my many briefs to the Commander

I sign up for anysoldier.com and one person sent of supplies to decorate!  My Senior NCO always waits at my desk when I get boxes b/c he loves taking all the food I get.  This time he saw all the decorations and went crazy.  He put orders out that everything needed to be decorated on the night shift and look nice before he returns in the morning...I just smiled and noded :)

Ever wonder what 15,000 peoples worth of trash goes????  I don't, B/c I can usually see it burning from over a mile away.  I took a quick picture when it died down.

These are some of my soldiers.   It takes about 3 minutes for them to be covered in grease.  I caught them in the morning here where they were clean before they got real dirty lol. 

see ya

B

Prayer

I know many people have been asking about prayer request for Jackie and I.  I thought I would post some specific ones:

1. Pray for Daniel who is without both his parents now, and we both miss him tons.  He is in loving hands but it's hard on us and I'm sure it's hard on him.
2. Jackie starts her Officer Basic Course today, big shift for her.  She's used to mothering for the last 2 years if you count the pregnancy, and has to readjust to the Army.
3. Safety for my Soldiers who are on the Roads.  It can be dangerous out there. 

4. Prayer that the enemies plans to kill us are twarted. 
5. Prayer for wisdom to lead.  It's very hard when your new.
6. Prayer that God can work though Jackie and I and we are apart.  That we search and fulfill his purpose for us now.  Pray that we also still grow together.

I miss everyone!  Thanks for the Birthday notes

drumrollllll please!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRIAN!!!!

WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!

AND WE'RE ALL PRAYING FOR YOU DAILY!

It's Been a While...

Hey All,

It's been practically FOREVER since I posted last, and a MILLION things have happened!  Let me give you the brief synopsis:

Since my last post (the Washington D.C. entry), I've been in 16 different states (21 total so far this summer), and my best friend got married.  Brian and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary, and now I'm just about to start my 7-week pre-officer basic course in Fort Benning Georgia.  A LOT has happened in the past 6 or 7 weeks, and sadly, it just might be that long before I post again (due to my training, I'll have limited internet access).  But, to ease the pain of such a long time, I've got a lot of pictures and videos to show you today. 

But first, a couple of stories:

My Best Friend's Wedding:  Yes folks, that's right!  Julie got married!  YAY!  (and Julie, if you're reading this, smile, because the entire world has access to your wedding story! haha!).  Danny and I made the exciting trip up to New Hampshire right around the 4th of July.  What a trip!  We split most of it up into smaller sections, and stayed with a lot of family on our way through.  The wedding itself was so exciting!  We got to see a lot of friends from Cville (holla!) like Hannah, Jackie, Joel, Nick, Dustin, Cristy, and of course, Julie and Paul (the bride and groom).  Danny was so cute in his little suit outfit!  Good times!  (I'm sorry, but I forgot my camera for this even, and so I lack pictures to share with you).  But by far, Julie was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen!  You're a very lucky man, Paul.

Brian and I's 2-yr anniversary was on the 23rd of July!  And let me tell you how amazing Brian is:  He set up a scavenger hunt for me (my favorite!), all the way from Iraq!  So for a couple hours I was driving all over base to all these spots that were special to Brian and I, and he had a friend drop off all these balloons with clues attached to them.  By the time I'd figured out where the last clue led to, I was right back at home, and there were a dozen red roses waiting for me!    Hurray!  I love you babe, more than ever!

Speaking of Brian, he's doing well.  He says he really appreciates all the notes, letters, and boxes everyone's been sending him.  He says to keep them coming! 

And now, for the pictures:

These first few are dedicated to those Red Sox fans out there :) 

This picture was taken on my Anniversary Scavenger Hunt.  Yay Geese!

And many pictures of Danny learning about the wonders of swimming!

This is my AWESOME cousin Sarah who flew down to visit me and help take care of Danny last week:

Danny likes to make messes.  Here he dumped over the trashcan...

And this one I had just finished folding all the laundry.  Apparently, I didn't do it right...

Learning one of the ESSENTIALS of life:  MUSIC

And another essential:  BASEBALL!!!!

And THIS, my friends, is by FAR, the CUTEST picture I have EVER seen in my ENTIRE LIFE!!! 

And if all those pictures weren't good enough, then enjoy these videos!!!

Take Care Everyone!!

Iraqi Hair Cut

Last week I had this brilliant idea.  The financial mind I have was hard at work, and I decided I would save some money and give my self a haircut.  I’ve done it before never turned out bad, but I’ve never done it with a 2in. x 2in. Mirror.  I figured that I could handle it.  So I proceeded and cut my hair to what I thought was decent.  Well needless to say in the last week I’ve had 3-4 different people ask me where I got my hair cut or who cut my hair.  I have a gut feeling that they all wanted to know so they don’t make the same mistake.  Finally one warrant officer asked me, and I said I did it.  He responded with, “Well that explains it” 

Soooo….

Today I decided I would venture off on a new adventure.  One I haven’t done in like 10 years.  I headed off to the barber.  I waited about 25 minutes in line today and I thought that was very long, but I was taking notes on the different barbers.   The barbers here cut your hair, but afterwards they give you a head, back, and shoulder massage.  I was shocked out of my mind!   I thought it a little weird to have a man massaging you, but everyone around thought it was normal.   I haven’t had a massage since I left and this was a golden opportunity, even if it looked a little suspicious.   As I waited there I took notes of which barber gave the longest and best massage.  I picked him out and waited for him.  All in all, this was the best haircut I’ve ever had, and the best 3.00 bucks I’ve ever spent (plus 2 for tip).   Now, I’m tempted to go back every week… J

I travel this week to Baghdad so please keep me in your prayers.   I have a week of classes I have to take, so I’m quite excited about the set schedule!   I can have the evenings off to myself now!  The other good thing is, everything is “secret” so I can’t take notes, and there is no graded tests, just hands on.  Pretty nice huh J  Better than college and school ;)

Miss you all, feel free to email me.  I love hearing from friends.