Sightseeing on FOB Marez

This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to visit the single tourist attraction that the US Army has to offer here in Mosul (all other sight-seeing opportunities are fraught with the risk of hitting an IED so I consider them off-limits). The Monastery of St. Elijah was not named after the biblical prophet but after someone that lived in this region at the time of its construction. It was built between 350 and 571 AD and so predated Islam by at least 100 years. Apparently it was a large monastery, housing between 100 and 150 monks. The monks back then had prayer at noon, 3 PM, 6 PM, 9 PM, MN, 3 AM, 6 AM, 9 AM, etc.. I bet it was something to here 150 monks reciting Gregorian chants back then. When Saddam Hussein came to power his republican guards built barracks not too far away from the Monastery. Eventually it was turned into a headquarters building. They fortified it with tanks that were placed behind burms. When the 101st reached Mosul they came through this valley and were fired on by the tanks that were hunkered down. So the 101st returned fire. One tank was lifted up into the air and smashed against the chapel wall of the Monastery. It speaks to the construction of the Monastery that the wall is still standing (although the chapel is deemed to be an unsafe structure).

Breaking Dawn

Well, tonight I thought I would list some of my favorite books and as you can see, the Twilight Series is right there at the top so I thought I would let you all know that the fourth and final book, "Breaking Dawn" is set to be released on August 2, 2008! I am so excited! Also "Twilight" the movie is filming now I think in the Portland area! I asked the kids if they wanted to go and find Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) who is playing Edward down in Portland one of these days! They of course thought that would be cool. I said we would have to wear t-shirts that read: TEAM CEDWARD on them. I think the girls are in but not the boys. Dave is out too on the t-shirt thing. Luckily he will be home just about a week after "Breaking Dawn" is released. He is a fan too and I will definitely have the book read before he gets home. So, he will have a good read while he relaxes a bit! For more on Twilight/Breaking Dawn stuff go to: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/breakingdawn.html

Dave is doing good by the way. A bit tired because he had to go to the bunker 3 times last night. He does however have time during the day to take a nap so I think that's his plan! When we talk on the web cam which is about twice a day, we also get to play games like Backgammon, checkers, hangman and chess. It is fun and sure makes it feel like he is a lot closer. The kids have a great time too. We also have Family Home Evening together and do family scripture time together. Luke said it would be cool if Dad could just travel through the web cam to visit us real quick and so we could give him a hug and then he could go back! I told him that would be really cool and neat! But, ya know, he has already been gone one month and it went by pretty quick. Only 5 1/2 to go! Right on!

Another week down, but who's counting

We've had some very interesting trauma come in, mostly Iraqi but a couple of Americans. Some of these IEDs are very powerful. I finally made it to church yesterday. To get to church you have to check out a vehicle, drive around the perimeter of our base and then go over to another base. Church was a lot different. Most people can't afford to be gone for 3 hours at a time so sacrament meeting consists of a song, a prayer, the passing of the sacrament, a 5 minute talk and then the closing song and prayer. This takes about 20 minutes and the other 40 minutes is the Sunday school lesson. Somehow I don't think I'll be in the primary. One of the men attending church related an amazing experience. The day I got to Mosul there were 3 rockets launched onto the base. Apparently this is pretty unusual but as it was my first day I didn't know any better. The man is a contractor, here as a civilian, and he drives a bus. He had just parked his bus and was sitting inside waiting for the next load of passengers. Something quietly reminded him that he needed to go get a Valentine's Day card for his wife. Since he was close to the PX he walked down the street and picked up a card. While he was inside he heard the rockets explode. After the 'all clear' was announced he walked back out to find that the front of his bus had been blown off. Had he been on the bus he wouldn't have been at church yesterday. Heavenly Father really is looking out for us over here.

Tea Anyone?

For my birthday, my friend Heather took me to a little tea room for lunch! It was very fun and the girls, Sophie and Lucy had a great time. The food was great too. I even had some herbal tea which was tasty. It was raspberry with a few other ingredients. Heather added a cube of sugar to hers, so I did the same, and then I did it again. 2 cubes...perfect! Or was it 3? Well, at any rate we had lots of fun and the girls loved trying on all sorts of hats and boas!

Watch out Elvis! Grandpa Duck is in the House

Well the girls, Jenny and Sophie went to a fabulous (Grand) Daddy-Daughter Valentine's Dance with Dave's dad since Dave was out of town! It was a Sock Hop and they had a blast! Elvis was there and everything. They even had mini burgers and shakes to enjoy at the diner. Very fun. Thanks Grandpa for coming up and sharing this with the girls! It is a night to remember!

Brett's Basketball Party

Well, Brett's season ended with a ...strike! Or maybe a spare! The team had a fun pizza/bowling party on post. Their season was fun, and they all improved which is what we want right? Watching was sometimes painful (Dave said I should be the assistant coach next year which I just might do) and at other times quite amusing. And it was really great when the team made over 5 baskets in one game! The coach was great at reminding the kids that all they can do is their best and that's what they did!

The Work Begins

Similar to the airline industry anesthesia has been described as 99% boredom and 1% sheer terror. Well that's about what the last week was, although there wasn't terror involved. Not too much going on until Sunday morning. I tried to get to church across base but couldn't catch a ride. Lucky I couldn't because the hospital got pretty busy pretty fast. And they kept on coming. Just like everyone else Iraqis seem to be allergic to bullets and shrapnel. Things finally slowed down around 3 in the morning so I got a few hours of sleep. At 6 AM I got woken up, not by a bunkers call, but from an ingrown toenail so I went down this afternoon and had one of the medics cut it out. It feels fine right now but the marcaine will only last for another hour or so. It actually has rained a little in the past couple days which creates mud that I track into my CHU (contained housing unit). Fortunately the rainy season here is much shorter than the rainy season in Washington (by about 10 months).

Journey to Iraq

Well I finally made it to Iraq. Its quite a convoluted process to get over here. I started with a 6 day vacation in Georgia where the army provided me with such useful equipment as mosquito netting, tent poles and an entrenching tool (shovel). Of course I also got some cool looking stuff like body armor and an M9. After sitting around Georgia our plane finally took off for Kuwait. On the way I got to see the inside of an air terminal in Nova Scotia and the airport in Hungary (from the inside of the plane) while we refueled. Waiting for us in Kuwait was a nice warm tent with cots. We did some additional training and finally took off for Mosul early Wed. morning. I felt like a real soldier sitting in the back of the C-130 in the middle of the night undergoing a combat landing. But once I got to the hospital I quickly remembered how I don't resemble a GI in the least. Things are pretty comfortable. We have hot showers, lots of food and a nice gym to work out at. Hospital staff are all great and it looks like we'll have lots of fun. Skype has, for the most part, worked well to see Laurie and the kids and they all look great. Time is counting down, only about 5 months and 3 weeks to go!

I want to be an Anesthesiologist

Hello! I just need to write this down so I don't forget it. The other day Luke announced that he wanted to be an anesthesiologist to Sophie while we were in the car driving somewhere. (I was thinking, oh, he wants to be like his dad, how sweet) Then he said,"You know why? Because then I get to dress in really, really, REALLY warm clothes and I get to go to the South Pole and study penguins!" That was really funny. There's nothing like a good laugh. I think he was thinking of a different type of -ologist! Some other funny quotes: When Brett was probably six he was telling Jenny about a bra and she said, "What's that?" And Brett said, "You know, baby feeder holders!" That was hilarious but he was completely serious. Also, on the same note when Jenny was 4 or 5, Jenny told me one day that she didn't want her BOO to show. I asked her where she learned that word and her friend Allie taught it to her while they were playing dress up. Funny. There are other ones but I can't think of them right now but if I do I think I'll write 'em down. I've got to get better at journal writing. Or at least blog writing.

Jenny and Sophia's Little Gym

Jenny and Sophie took gymnastics at Little Gym these past few months. They both had lots of fun. Starting this week Jenny will be going to Black Hills Gymnastics. It is a lot more hard core gymnastics but I think she will learn lots too. And I'm thinking Sophie will do the Jazzy Bugs again at Little Gym. Brett just finished basketball and Luke starts soccer today. He's had his soccer clothes laid out for a few days just so he'd be ready to go! I'm not looking forward to the wet cold practices but Luke sure is. He's really good at it too!