Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Thanksgiving in Kuwait!

Dear All,

I know it has been a while since I sent an update so I hope to catch you up on things. Life has been very busy working on the center. They have almost finished painting and since it was the first time for this Iraqi crew to paint we have s lot of touch up painting to do! Shari arrived almost two weeks ago and she is working hard keeping things going on this project.

We moved into our new housing and we love it. They are dry trailers but the bathrooms are very close. It is a whole different environment than my old place. Quite a community type feel to it. We have the Red Cross staff on our row and I think they are not as happy about us being there as we are being there. The walls are paper thin and you can hear everything that goes on in the room next door. Fortunately for me my neighbor works 10 at night until 8 in the morning so that makes it easier for me at night to not have to be overly concerned about making noise. Shari on the other hand has a neighbor who is here at night and he is VERY sensitive about any noise. Being that our rooms are also our office we are in and out and in each others rooms constantly. In the evening when we are there we leave our doors open and that way we can go in and out and visit with those passing by.

We have been so busy we have not been able to work at the hospital as much but we love it when we do. There was a mass causality a week or so ago and while we were at lunch the called for all medical personal to return to the hospital. We were going there anyway so we went on in and were able to help. We ended up taking all the litters or stretchers and cleaning them. You use a power washer to wash them down then stand them up in the sun to dry. Another part that has to be done and it felt good to be able to help. Again it was amazing to watch the staff and volunteers go into action and handle this so well and care for the injured Iraqi people.

We have met so many wonderful people and have had so much support and help. Our regional operations person was here and she got me a car so wow I am spoiled. It does really help though.

United Through Reading is going well and I am so appreciative of all the books you have sent. There is no way to describe how much this program means to our troops. One Airmen told me that his wife said their two year old son talk to his daddy all the way through the DVD and when they went to replay the DVD the little boy said “no daddy I’ll get us another book.” Did not quite understand daddy on the TV yet! They are starting to bring me pictures of their children and I will soon put together a bulletin board to display them. I kind of feel like they are all my babies now! Last Friday and Saturday I filmed 38 DVD’s. Isn’t that cool! It just blesses my heart to be a part of this program.

This next week I have several other unites that I will go to and film. The word is out and I could be doing UTR 24/7 if I could. Again thank you for the books and keep them coming.

Things started really falling into place this past week on the building but we kept running into one brick wall after another. The first of this week it was suggested that we fly into Kuwait and find what we need and then have it brought in on a convoy. So in a matter of hours we were on a small plane into Kuwait. I will say that was a nice way to travel and it was interesting being able to see a little of the terrain. Shari and I have had a good time here in Kuwait. Who would have ever thought a bath would almost make you cry and a toilet in your room would feel like such luxury.

The only things about coming meant that we missed Thanksgiving with our troops but it was necessary. God was good. The day was hard and emotional realizing how far away from my family I was. We were invited to a family’s home that are American’s but have lived here for seventeen years. They were delightful. Their home was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Bottom floor was a beautiful pool then there were four levels above that. The have a remodeling/decorating business and their home certainly showed off their abilities. It was a sit down dinner for 125. Prior to dinner we were entertained by singers. They had an amazing spread of food with all the trimmings and desserts that fit for the famous. After dinner a magician performed and then best of all they pushed the furniture back, cranked up the music and danced. Boy was that fun. It was a delightful evening. Kevin was here and his daughter and Shari’s son so in the absence of my own family I was very grateful for the new extended family God has giving me. The host and hostess were very gracious and made us feel very welcome.

We shopped all day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and found a good deal of stuff we needed. The contractor we are working with from Balad came in and took us around Saturday. Hopefully we have made some progress!

We are now on the return process which who knows how long that will take. It is the hurry up and wait thing. I am back now. We ended up spending the night at the USO center in Kuwait and arrived here today at four in the morning. A little tired but feeling like we are moving forward.

I love you all and miss you greatly.
In His Mighty Grip,
Linda

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Happy Belated Veterans Day!

Dear All,

Happy Belated Veterans Day! First and foremost I want to thank all my dear veteran friends for your service and sacrifice to our country. To my son John Micah, I am so proud of you and your service to our country and for the patriotism that runs so deep in your veins. Your choice changed my life. Blake I thank you also and am so very proud of you!

Veterans Day was another memorable day that will be forever etched on my heart. One hundred and fifty six soldiers, airmen and marines stood together and pledged their allegiance to our country and took the American oath of citizenship. It was so touching. The keynote speaker was the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. It was rather poignant to be sitting in what was once a beautiful theater built by the past dictator and ruler of Iraq that stripped his people of freedom and yet today that place was hallowed ground as troops representing fifty three other countries raised their right hand and took the oath of allegiance. As they stood to take the oath the aisles filled with theirs friends and battle buddies snapping pictures right and left. As their name was called and they walked across the stage to receive theirs papers and to receive the congratulatory hand shake and photo with the significant people on the stage their battle buddies captured just the right picture and often cheer out of excitement.

And me, I cried like a baby all the way. I found every part of it to be so meaningful and dear. I love watching the pride these troops had as they took the oath but equally as meaningful was the excitement and support their battle buddies exhibited to them. It was clear they knew what a special day this was.

I have much I want to tell you and will catch you up on everything this evening but I just couldn’t wait another day to thank our veterans.

I love you and miss you!
In His Mighty Grip,
Linda

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Making Progress

Dear All,

The time seems to be flying and things for the center are moving along. They have just about finished painting the rooms that they can and now our work begins doing touch ups and all those things that will make the center homey. This was the first painting this crew had ever done and I guess for a first they did pretty well. Many drips, drops and run found their way to the floor and we are hopeful they come up.
Shari is here and will be with us through the end of the year and we are most grateful for that. She is a delight and a very hard worker and I am excited about learning from her.

Big news! I am moving! Shari needed a room and they found her one a couple miles away from mine in a different pod. It is a little smaller pod and the bathrooms are much, much closer. We did some checking and talked to the appropriate people and were able to secure me a room in the same area and in fact just across from Shari’s. For me this is a real blessing. One the bathrooms are very close and there is a walk way to the showers which will be wonderful when the rainy season begins. With Shari and I there together we will be able to do the battle buddy thing which will make us both feel much more secure. I couldn't be more pleased and relieved. The room is almost exactly like what I was in so it will be an easy move.
The weather here is wonderful. It is in the 50’s when I get up and gets up in the 80’s during the day. Very pleasant! I think I am a little intimidated by the rainy season that everyone talks about. I had two people ask me today if I had my rubber boots. That sounds attractive! They say it is really yucky and messy. The sand is so fine is just makes a paste and it goes everywhere. I am sure I’ll have much more to tell you about it when it is here. Until then I will enjoy these beautiful days in this land where it all began.

Shari came with me to the hospital yesterday and was trained at the helipad. We stayed for a couple hours and she thoroughly enjoyed it. We will enjoy the time we have right now to be there as I know once the center is open it will be a little harder to go. I am still hoping to work my schedule where I have at least one night a week where I can go and help. It is just so rewarding and I love meeting all the different ones that come to volunteer. I have so many special friends there at the hospital. Most will go home sometime during the first of the year so then I will have a whole new group to get to know.

United Through Reading is tomorrow and I am always excited about that. I have received a good deal of books and that makes it so wonderful. I received a big box from Pat and Jill yesterday!

Well I must get to bed. I love you all dearly and miss you so much.

In His Mighty Grip,
Linda

Monday, November 5, 2007

Busy Days and Books and Bagpipes

Dear All,

It has been a busy week but one that has some progress to show for it. First and foremost, we have a building. It will be perfect and we are excited to now move forward. We have a crew of Iraqi national who are painting and cleaning the building. It is quite a process for them to work on base. I don’t know what all that process consists of but I trust they have been thoroughly screened. Even with all the screening they are accompany by two armed soldiers who guard them as they work. They only work about two to two and a half hours in the morning and are gone before noon. If you want them to stay until mid afternoon you must provide them lunch. The guards have quite a job keeping them working. They would rather take breaks than work. A strong work ethic is not real apparent. It feels like it is going to take forever for the painting and all to be finished but they actually have made pretty good progress.

Supplies are hard to come by on the base. Finding and having enough rollers, buckets, extension poles and paint is a battle in itself. Of course one must realize we are in a war zone and supplies to help improve the esthetic of building is not, as it should be, a priority. We are fortunate to have some wonderful contacts that are doing everything possible for us. The base is thrilled at the thought of having a USO Center here for our troops.

In the process of all this I found an area that I think is so cool. On base they have an area set up with all sorts of tools that the troops can use. Though the materials are somewhat limited, troops were there making shelves, tool box cabinets, flag cases and one sweet soldier was making a beautiful little something for his wife for Christmas. I am not going to tell you what he was making, just in case she reads this blog. It was sweet and I was touched that with as few hours as he has off he chose to spend it making a treasured keepsake for his sweetheart. And it wasn’t even Christmas Eve! He planned ahead! WOW! Ya’ll know me and tools….I was itching to get in there and build something.

In the last two days books have been arriving in the mail for the UTR program. I am so excited and can’t wait until next Friday. Big thanks to my Mom, Aunt Ann, Don, Greta, Connie and Candy for all the books. I will now be able to go ahead and set up times in some of the other units to go to their headquarters and film their troops. With as many soldiers, airmen and marines on this base you could keep a person working pretty much full time just doing this program.

Now to the heart of my day! This week three Air Force Special Agents from our base were killed in an IED explosion. Today was their memorial. Once again I was so touched to able to participate in this memorial. If only the world and especially America’s could see how our “Fallen Heroes” are honored. I was intrigue and awe struck by the reverence and valor I saw displayed throughout the entire hour and half ceremony. The unfolding and folding of the flags, the firing of the guns and the bagpiper playing Amazing Grace all spoke loudly of the honor and value placed on the lives of these three who sacrificed all for me. There were no details left unattended. The words prayed and spoken by those present were not only a tribute to these three beautiful young service men but also a testimony to the country they loved. I couldn’t help but think of their mothers, fathers, siblings, wives and children who were at home grieving. I pray that God Almighty will comfort them during this time of pain. I pray the communities they live in will embrace these families not just today or through these initial weeks but will stand by them for the many years to come.

At the end of the service as the bagpiper played, those that served side by side with these three walked up in pairs to the traditional boots, helmet and gun to say their final goodbyes. To watch them stand and so reverently salute then kneel by each pair of boots and grieve absolutely took my breath away. I’ll never be able to express all the emotions that ran through as I watched. Sorrow, pain, pride, joy all mixed up together!

I sit here tonight only seven weeks into this journey and find myself so grateful for all your support and encouragement. Every card, email, package and book you send speaks volumes to me of how loved and supported I am. Johnny Robinson, you are my hero! Thank you for supporting in this journey and for being that constant hand of support.

I love you all so dearly and miss you greatly!

In His Mighty Grip,
Linda

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Moving Forward

Dear All,

It has been a busy week but full of new adventures and progress. Things are moving forward with our center. We are thrilled. The cleaning and painting has begun and that feels wonderful. Paint is very limited here on base so we only had two colors to pick from. We chose a light gray. When it first was going up and in contrast to what was there it looked like a beautiful shade of baby blue. Fortunately for me that was nice since I love blue. As more and more goes up and you see less of the old paint it is a light gray and will be just fine! We have a crew of Iraqi Nationals who are doing the painting. That is an interesting opportunity to work with them. We also have two soldiers who guard them so all is well. I will say they don't believe in working long hours and they expect many breaks so we are lucky to get two hours work out of them during their three to four hour time with us! They are very short on supplies here on base so you have to be a bit creative to get the work done!

It will be great when finished. We are anxious to get our offices set up and the rest of the center. We still have phone lines to run and Internet lines to drop so we are a ways from the finish line but we at least can see where we are going.

The United Through Reading is going well! Books are starting to come which helps so very much. Thank you all who are sending them. I will try to get some pictures of the set up and some of our troops reading. It is such an inspiring program and something that really means so much to our troops.

I had one soldier come Friday, grinning from ear to ear as his wife had given birth to a beautiful baby boy. He was so proud. Of course I wanted pictures and all he had was on his computer. He took my thumb drive and put them on there so I could see the baby. Beautiful! Beautiful! That night I made a couple copies and brought them to him Saturday so he could expand his bragging rights. Kind of hard to walk around with a laptop all the time to show off pictures. He was thrilled. He read a book to his new son! And, let's see, what did Linda do......cried like a baby!

Another hospital staff person walked by and told me about his new son also! Isn't it amazing the sacrifices these troops are making for us. I can't imagine not getting to be there for the birth of my child and missing it's first couple months of life. It makes me doubly proud and honored to be here and rejoice with our troops in these new arrivals.

Well I need to run. This afternoon we have a memorial service for three that we lost this week. This will be hard but something I want to be apart of. Again so proud and honored to share this time with our troops...even the hard times!

I love you all dearly and miss you!
In His Mighty Grip,
Linda