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You may have noticed Mosul in the news more frequently lately. Most recent news stories I’ve seen describe the streets littered with burned out cars and debris from bombed out buildings as if these are signs of Mosul descending into chaos. The interesting thing is that as the initial reports of increasing terrorist activity in Mosul were being aired, most of the pictures accompanying the stories were from other locations. As the media has begun to focus on Mosul, everyone is shocked at the images. I was just as shocked by what I saw when I first arrived almost six months ago.

Chris’ unit, 1-8 Infantry, came to Mosul as an attachment to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment as part of the US move to assist the Iraqi forces in fighting al-Qaida in Mosul. As reported in most major news sources, the strategy is the same as was used successfully in Baghdad last year. This success comes at no small price. On Monday, 28 Jan 08, an armored vehicle from 1-8 Infantry was hit by an IED while on patrol in Mosul. Immediately after the explosion, the convoy started receiving small arms fire from insurgents in a nearby mosque. Five US soldiers in the vehicle hit by the IED were killed in this attack.

On Wednesday, 30 Jan 08, the US Department of Defense released the names of the 5 soldiers. They are:

Sgt. James E. Craig, 26, of Hollywood, California
Staff Sgt. Gary W. Jeffries, 37, of Roscoe, Texas
Spc. Evan A. Marshall, 21, of Athens, Georgia
Pfc. Brandon A. Meyer, 20, of Orange, California
Pvt. Joshua A. R. Young, 21, of Riddle, Oregon

Please pray for the families, friends, loved ones, and mates of these soldiers. Remember to pray for Chris as he continues to lead his unit.

Rest in Peace.

Each day of my life I am not concerned with knowing every stranger’s name who crosses my path and how old they are, but for Ezekiel this is vital information.  When he talks on the phone, he will ask the caller, “What’s your name?”  If someone asks how old he is he will reply, “I’m 3.  What number are you?”  I am required to give him the name of everyone I talk to, be it telemarketers, store clerks, or old ladies standing next to me.  He is relentless.  “What’s her name?  What’s her name?  What’s her name?  What’s her name?  What’s her name?”  He won’t stop until I tell him and then he commits it to memory.  If, I hang up the phone on a telemarketer without listening carefully for their name, I’m doomed.  “What’s his name?  What’s his name?  What’s his name?  What’s his name?  What’s his name?”  “I don’t know” is not an acceptable answer.  In Australia, a telemarketer from India called me and told me his name was Bruce.  His pronunciation of Bruce made me sincerely doubt that Bruce was his real name.  If he called me now that I am back in America, would his name be Bob?  Anyway, along with having to know everyone’s name, Ezekiel will periodically make rude comments about the person.  He doesn’t use the term man or woman yet.  So, instead, he says, “I don’t like that girl.”  “I don’t like that boy.” in reference to various people that don’t appeal to him.  In the midst of trying to correct him on this rude habit, he looked over at the lady next to me and said, “That girl’s got a big nose!”  I told him to apologize for being rude.  He said “I’m sorry” followed closely behind by “That girl’s got a big nose!”  I figured it was best to just move along.  If he doesn’t have a name for something, he makes one up.  This afternoon when I was driving in the car, I heard him in the back having a conversation with his fingers.  He would hold up a finger and say, “My name is Lala, I like to dance.”  (This is chanted repeatedly on the inane show Yo Gabba Gabba.  The kids or characters insert their name into the phrase)  He continued through all ten fingers and they had names like Umi and Umu and Aza and Holly Hobby.  When that was done, he told his fingers that all his friends were in Iraq and he asked them one by one if they wanted to go to Iraq too.  They all agreed to go to Iraq and then he counted everyone of his fingers who were going to Iraq and they all cheered.  I will admit that it was probably a mistake to buy him a camouflaged jacket.  Then, the only bathrobe (dressing gown) that I could find close to his size was camouflaged too.  The first time he put his bathrobe on, Abby said we should buy him a pipe.  He does look hilarious in the thing.  In fact, he came downstairs wearing his bathrobe tonight to tell me that he needed “warm and toasty”.  When I tuck him into bed, I say, “There, now your warm and toasty.”  So, while most kids ask to be tucked in, he needs “warm and toasty.”  If you come in contact with the boy, be prepared to give your name and age.  I can’t promise he won’t insult you, but if your lucky he may invite you to go to Iraq with him to see all his friends. 

December 3rd was my 41st birthday.  A year ago, I was at the Botanic Gardens in Canberra with our Aussie friends celebrating my 40th.  Most of the time was spent watching all of our children attempt to fall into the pond nearby.  Raffe was the only one who succeeded.  It was a beautiful day and a fun time and I even spotted a fairy wren flying in the bushes.  This year, I had my cake a week early when my family was here for Thanksgiving.  Abby made me eggs for breakfast and I opened my gifts in the morning.  Dale wasn’t here to take the kids shopping at Walmart for my gifts.  Dale believes all good things come from Walmart.  I, however, do not believe in that mantra when it comes to my birthday presents.  Not wanting to veer too far from their pattern of gift shopping, the kids shopped for my birthday gifts at the home improvement store.  Last week, we had to stop there to get rakes and gloves for Abby and Josiah’s rake-a-thon and it seemed as good a place as any.  When we walked in, they were caught up momentarily in the over the top Holly Jolly Winter Wonderland.  Eventually, after pushing the buttons of every obnoxious Christmas decoration in the store, they chose my gifts.  They kept them hidden from me and paid for them with their allowance (pocket money).  We made it out of the store and into the car without my seeing the gifts.  However, Gabe made the mistake of placing his gift next to Zeke.  While we were loading up I heard Zeke say, “What’s this?  Oh a pretty plant!  Nice and green leaves!”  Keeping gifts a secret is near impossible in this family.  Dale sent me a lovely silver necklace with matching earrings from Iraq.  He told me that the cost of it was determined by the shop owner weighing the jewelry on a scale and calculating the cost based on the current price of silver.  The shop owner used a calculator to show the price of the jewelry just like they do in Korea.  Here’s hoping my necklace is actually silver, just like I hope my bracelets really are jade.  I spent part of my birthday at the bookstore with Zeke.  The entire time there, he tried to convice me that it was not about me.  “Not your books, Mommy.  Zeke’s books!”  Then off he’d walk towards the children’s section.  For dinner,  the kids and I went out to a Japanese steakhouse.  I figured that flames and knives would keep Zeke occupied long enough for me to eat a hot meal.  I had forgotten to warn the kids that the hostess would seat strangers at our table.  Five guys who looked like they had just gotten off the job site came and joined us.  What do you do in that situation?  Other than a polite hello and goodbye, are you supposed to talk to the other people at the table?  With Dale deployed and me alone with four kids, it didn’t seem like a good group to chit chat with.  Every time I go into one of those restarants, I don’t know what to do.  When the waitress came out banging a drum and carrying a small cake, we were all forced to interact.  The construction crew got to sing Happy Birthday to me.  After dinner, the kids and I had planned to stop at a good dessert place, but were sad to discover that it was not open on Mondays.  Gabe was extremely disappointed, so I agreed to try and find somewhere else to go.  I made the decision to go to Bob Evans.  This was a bad decision.  The only good thing to say about the place was that the kids got cool bendy straws with their water.  Dale claims he’ll be here for my next birthday.  I hope he is.  It will make me thankful for gifts from Walmart and dessert at Bob Evans.  Well, maybe not the dessert at Bob Evans.

Thanksgiving Day this year was a much different experience than Thanksgiving 2006. Last year we celebrated the holiday in Jerrabomberra, New South Wales, Australia, with our great friends from church. I think we had about 30 people over that day. Everyone pitched in bringing unimaginable amounts of food, drinks, and desserts. It was a blast! Fortunately, there was no blast here for Thanksgiving today.

I won’t bore you with the details of my day, but I will skip right to the highlight - lunch. The DFAC pulled out all stops for the Thanksgiving meal. We were able to get some photos of the feast, so I’ll just post a few here. I hope you enjoy these creations as much as we did!

Josiah turned 13 on November 1st and wanted to go to the Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate his birthday. Thinking how much less work it would be for me compared to hosting a party for his friends, I readily agreed. Then, I looked at the cost of the place and was reminded that it is always beneficial to have all the information prior to committing to something. You would think I would learn that eventually. After coming to grips with the price, Grandma, Grandpa, and Zeke’s participation in the event was eliminated in cost cutting efforts. They stayed home and had an exciting water adventure of their own. Mom dropped the phone in the pond. Zeke was thrilled with that turn of events, and told me about it in great detail when I arrived home. Grandma wanted it hushed up because of concern for my Dad’s blood pressure. One of the problems with having me, my Mom, and Abby in the same house is that nothing stays hushed up for long. Anyway, Josiah, Abby, Gabe, and I set off for the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. It is located approximately 2 hours away. Halfway there, we stopped at the Barnes and Noble in Richmond, and they were finally able to get the books they wanted with their gift card. I guess it’s true that the third time’s the charm. When we arrived, we stared in utter amazement at the place. It is a giant hotel with a giant indoor waterpark. After four years in Hawaii and Australia, supersized America still occasionally shocks me. Upon arrival, we received an unexpected blessing. We were given a free upgrade on our room. We stayed in a loft suite which was huge. I had to change our initial reservations when my Dad was ill and the woman was very understanding. I’m not sure if she put us in for the free upgrade, but it was very appreciated. We then went into the waterpark and the fun began. I am quite certain that Gabe would have been content to play the entire time in the massive climbing tree fort: dumping buckets of water on people’s heads, turning on water funnels, and pulling chains that squirted water at people. He really loved the gigantic bucket on top which was filled with thousands of gallons of water and would drench everyone every five minutes. If you needed to get down in a hurry, you could ride a water slide down. My favorite rides were the tube slides that were a bit like the bobsled track in Australia without the danger of flying off and breaking your leg. Josiah had the most fun at night, when the tube slide was competely dark. He thought it most enjoyable to ride the tube backwards on that occasion. We were all quite challenged on the boogie board wave. It was a rush of water soaring upward at a 45 degree angle. You stood at the top, holding a boogie board and jumped down onto the wave. You would ride down the wave and then push back up and ride down and push back up for as long as you could control your board. There were teenagers releasing and catching their boards, performing rolls, and going from laying down to kneeling on their boards. Josiah did finally accomplish kneeling on his board, but one time he decided to land on the wave with his knees already on the board. The wave rolled him and his board up and out the top. It was a spectacular wipeout. I congratualted him and said, “if your going to wipe out, you might as well wipe out with style.” Soon after, I didn’t follow that advice, I wiped out without any style at all. I lost my board and almost lost my swim top. The guy had to cut the power on the wave so I could stagger out. The next day, when I was standing in line to give it another go, the woman behind me was asking if I had done it before, so I told her about my less than stellar performance. She said that she couldn’t believe I was taking it so well. I told her it gave the kids a good laugh and a knock to my pride is occasionally needed. Thankfully, I had a successful run that go and so did she. As we stood in line watching everyone’s attempt, I was thinking that Martyn and Alex should build one of these things in their back yard. We also spent some time in the giant wave pool catching the waves with our tubes and in the lazy river where you just float along on your tube. The two biggest rides were a river rapids ride and one called the tornado. You sat in 4 person rafts and really got a thrill. Gabe went on both once. Josiah and Abby went several times. When you start on the tornado, your raft drops over the edge into a giant funnel and then your raft goes back and forth across the sides until you finally drop through to the slide. When we all rode together, Abby was facing backwards when we went over the drop. She was holding on for dear life. It was quite a ride. She and Josiah rode it again, but because they were so light, they didn’t achieve the break neck speed that you get from a weighted raft. Josiah and I got to experience that break neck speed to a level of fright quite unexpected. Abby and Gabe were back in the tree fort and Josiah and I decided to ride the tornado one more time. When we got to the front of the line, there was a big fat guy who was trying to convince the lifeguard to let him go down alone. The lifeguard told him that you had to have at least 2 people on the raft. So, Josiah and I got on the raft with him. Here is where my knowledge of balanced weight loads went out the window. Thinking that Josiah wouldn’t want to sit next to the guy, I told Josiah to sit opposite the guy. Josiah went over the edge and my knowledge of balanced weight loads returned to me. He was as light as a feather and with the weight load coming behind, I though for sure we were going to flip that raft. The next several moments were sheer terror and hilarity as we barrelled back and forth across that funnel on the edge of disaster. We were flying. When we landed in the pool at the end, the guy looked completely dazed and Josiah and I were laughing so hard we couldn’t stop. So, if ever you’re inside the tornado, take the fat guy with you.