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Five years ago, when we headed overseas to live in Hawaii, our pets did not travel with us.  At the time, the quarantine was long.  Our Siberian Husky, Czar was 12 1/2 and Hawaii would have been a torture for him, so he was given to a friend and ridiculously spoiled for the last year of his life.  Our Ragdoll cat, Magnolia also decided she loved the good life lavished on her by a dear friend.  So, for close to 5 years, we have had no pets.  When you must live as a renter, it is very difficult to keep pets.  It severely limits your choice of places to live.  So, we told the kids that when we returned to the States and owned our home, we would once again get pets.  Dale’s deployment delayed the fulfillment of the promise, but now that I’ve started, there’s no stopping.  Dale went with the children to choose fish.  They happily named them which I discovered was probably not a good idea after some fish died and had to be replaced.  I had somehow missed the time worn advice of “Never Name Fish!”  However, fish were not enough.  On Saturday, we will be bringing home a Golden Retriever puppy.  I have spent the last several months reading dog breed, dog training, dog care, and dog cleanup books.  The kids and I watched multiple episodes of the Dog Whisperer and on Saturday, we wandered lost through the aisles of the pet store choosing brushes, dishes, toys, leashes, etc.  Before Dale brought home Czar, our first dog, there was no preparation, no research, and no plan.  Reading all these books and watching all these shows, I have concluded that we did everything wrong with him.  Czar was never completely housebroken, he chewed up everything, and ran away every chance he got.  We loved him dearly, but here’s hoping I can do it right this time.  For the last month, I have felt like I am preparing for a baby.  Instead of nursing/formula, crib, and diaper brand decisions; I must now decide which dog food, kennel, and brushes are the best.  Dog food is very complicated now.  There is endless research on dog food nutritional value and endless personal reviews that alternate between “this food is excellent” and “this is rubbish, it made my dog sick”.  For now, I am going to feed him the food the breeder uses as well as a dog vitamin.  Yes, a dog vitamin.  In the midst of debating how much I’m willing to pay to ensure my dog has the proper nutrition, I’m feeding my children waffles with peanut butter, chocolate chips, and syrup for dinner.  And no, I didn’t give them a vitamin.

On Saturday, Josiah participated in the ACSI National Spelling Bee.  There was a reception the night prior for the students to meet and get to know each other.  They were each given a list of statements (I live east of the Mississippi.  I am the oldest in my family, etc) and they were supposed to find students who matched the criteria.  I know it will surprise many of you to discover that Josiah was not wandering around asking questions of kids he didn’t know.  However, he could not avoid those who came to ask him.  And so, we met Jack, a 6th grader.  He walked up to Josiah and said, “So, where are you on this list, son?”  Josiah offered him a couple options and upon seeing Josiah’s name badge said, “You’re from Fredericksburg, Eh.  You must know all about the battle of Fredericksburg then.”  When Josiah replied that he did not, Jack spent the next several minutes explaining the battle to Josiah.  Jack finished his military history lesson with “The bottom line, south won!”  Then off he went to harangue the next unsuspecting speller.  Later in the evening, each speller got up to introduce themselves.  They had to say their name, grade, school, and claim to fame.  Jack said, “I am mostly known for my shy and reserved demeanor.”  Even though the students had only known each other for 30 minutes, plenty of people laughed.  Josiah’s claim to fame was that he had lived in Australia for 2 years.  He even said, “Good Day, Mate!”  Another boy’s claim to fame was that he had memorized the Gettysburg address in 1st grade.  Some students were mortified to speak and others relished the spotlight.  I was greatly entertained by all their uniqueness.  On Saturday morning, the spelling bee started and it was very obvious that most of the students had memorized the published words list.  For the practice round, Josiah had to spell eventual.  In the 1st round, he spelled lingcod.  In the 2nd round, he spelled cavil.  In the 3rd round, he spelled geriatrics.  In the 4th round, he spelled toponymy.  In the 5th round, the judge went to the unpublished list and Josiah had to spell, escritoire.  When she said it, I knew he was done.  Unlike some of the other parents in the room, I had not provided my son with a French tutor to prepare him for the Bee.  He gave it a go and almost had it.  He spelled it escritoir.  He left off the last e, and he was out.  If only my Grandfather had not taken the e off of the end of Meloche, Josiah may have thought it best to always throw an e on the end of a French word.  He finished 25th out of 46 spellers.  Of course, including all the students who participated in the Bees leading up to the Nationals, he finished 25th out of 7000.  It sounds more impressive.  I’m fairly sure, Jack will use a similar statistic throughout his life.  Josiah was disappointed, but as the Bee went on and he began to realize the skill level of his competitors, he leaned over to me and said, “I could have never won”.  By the 6th round, there were 12 students left.  One girl asked every question she could before she spelled a word. “May I have a definition?  Is the language of origin French?  Is the root word …?, and on and on and on.”  It took her 5 minutes to spell a word.  The Gettysburg address boy was eliminated and his father protested twice to the arbitrator.  His father had a laptop computer that he showed to the judge to try to prove that something unjust had occurred.   I leaned over and told Josiah that he needed a better arbitrator.  I didn’t even have a dictionary, let alone a computer, and I certainly didn’t have a French tutor.  The boy’s father was denied twice.  The Gettysburg address boy was officially eliminated.  Jack was eliminated as well.  There was one boy who upon receiving a word, would scan his eyes back and forth as if reading pages of the dictionary in his mind.  He was eliminated by an Italian musical term.  By round 13 there were 2 students left.  The girl spelled without asking a question,  The boy only occasionally asked for a definition.  The boy spelled words I had never heard of.  He would spell with double p’s, or l’s or oui’s and I would think, “There’s no way that word is spelled that way.”  Yet, he was always correct.  I thought for sure he was going to win and yet he got thrown off by a dog breed.  He misspelled dachshund.  The girl, who never paused, then spelled susurration and cetacean to win.  When it was all over, I was happy to consider that the seemingly endless spelling hours were over.  We picked up Zeke, and on the way home he started, “M-O-M, mom, D-A-D, dad, N-O, no, Y-E-S, yes.  Apparently, it’s never going to end.

I spent Saturday and Sunday visiting projects in Western Ninewa province along with Mike Miller, MSG Phil Baker and our security team. One of my two security escort teams was recently fielded the REVA armored personnel carrier vehicles. After spending approximately 18 hours on the road in the REVA this weekend, I can testify that the REVA is a tough vehicle, especially on my old bones! When I would comment on how uncomfortable the ride was, MSG Baker would reply “Yeah but the armor is really thick!” He has his priorities set correctly. We linked up with a local US Army Civil Affairs detachment for a little additional firepower during our visits. The first village we visited is in the Sino sub-district of Sinjar, in Western Ninewa Province (approximately 20 miles east of Syria).

In this village and the others we visited on Saturday, we inspected a series of wells from a recently completed project. The inhabitants of this village are Yazidis. Many Muslims view the Yazidis as devil worshipers at the worst or anti-Islamic at the best. Shortly after I arrived in Mosul in August 2007, approximately 800 Yazidis were killed in this region in a series of coordinated suicide bombings. The people in this village were extremely friendly and appeared very pro-American. I felt safer in this village than any other village I have visited in Ninewa Province. At some of the wells we visited, we found families that had taken up residence. One gentleman we encountered reminded me of Willie Nelson. In addition to him and his wife, I counted at least 7 kids living in a tent next to the well pump house.

It’s very humbling to compare this to my life in Northern Virginia.

We had a lovely morning in DC. I only made a few wrong turns. The trees were in peak bloom and stunning. We parked on Hains Point and walked up to the Tidal Basin. We arrived at 0930 and thankfully, the crowds had not yet descended. The festival officially kicks off tomorrow, so today wasn’t absolute madness. I am really glad we went. It is stunningly beautiful. I took 60 pictures and am hoping that there is at least one good one in the lot. Yes, my camera has film in it. It is not digital. I’m like my father and his polaroid. We visited the Jefferson memorial where the security guard lectured me for being two feet away from my stroller. My favorite bit of that memorial is the quote etched at the top about taking an oath on the altar of God. We then walked around the Tidal Basin, stopping every few inches so I could take another picture and make the kids pose under, next to, or behind some tree. We then came upon the FDR memorial which I had never seen before. I liked the waterfalls and the kids liked the bronze statues of his dog and the men in the soup line. It was unique and well done and I liked it. We then continued on toward Lincoln and passed a photo shoot where the mothers had brought a white table and chairs set up as a tea party under the cherry trees and dressed their toddlers in coordinating pastels. I commented to the kids that I wasn’t that bad. To which Abby pointed out that I had made them all dress alike in white shirts and jeans and, “At least those kids got cupcakes.” She had a point. I was only able to get away with it because Dale wasn’t there to defy me. I appear to be on a “all pictures in DC must be color coordinated” kick. The 4th of July photo is evidence. We arrived at Lincoln and as I walked up those marble steps to see him, I was reminded once again why he is my favorite monument in DC. When my 2 year old nephew Jadon went to see Lincoln, he told his Dad that he was bringing him a present. Howie asked him what kind of present and he replied, “a blue one.” When he arrived at Lincoln, he held out his hand and gave Lincoln his imaginary blue present. Jadon and I are both very fond of Lincoln. After Lincoln, we looked out over the reflecting pool, the mall, the Washington monument and I declared, “Look! There’s the Capitol!” After that, we did the most difficult walk in DC. The kids and I walked along the Vietnam Veterans memorial. That black wall of names never fails to fill me with overwhelming grief at the loss of life brought about by war. We then had lunch and started the walk back. During the ride home, Josiah read us the entire Declaration of Independence from the copy scroll he had bought in DC. It was a lovely day, but I must admit that the cherry blossoms I am most fond of are blooming in my front yard.

Muhsan is a 77-year old Kurdish gentlemen who lives in Amadiyah, Dahuk Province, Iraq. Amadiyah, also called Amadi, is approximately 10 miles south of Turkey. Muhsan is the most influential person in Amadiyah; he is also highly regarded and respected throughout the entire province of Dahuk. He spent most of his life as a Freedom Fighter fighting for the Kurdish people. At one point in his life, he was a Member of Parliament for Kurdistan. I had the privilege of meeting Muhsan during my recent visit to Dahuk. Gee was able to arrange the meeting because of his family ties. Muhsan is the uncle of Ravina, Gee’s wife. I visited with Muhsan at the KDP Headquarters building in Amadiyah where his son, Muhammad, works as the KDP leader for the region. It turned into quite an event. After spending a couple of hours in discussions, we had lunch at Muhammad’s house with his father and some of his brothers. In the photo, seated on the orange couch are Muhammad and Glenn. Kneeling in the front is Saleh, Muhsan’s son who is running their farm and tending the livestock. Kneeling in the back is Muhsan’s son Hakar. He is the head of the Special Forces group that provides security at PM Barzani’s ranch. Standing is Ahmad, the son of Muhsan’s daughter. Ahmad’s father was killed by Saddam’s forces in the early 80s. Next is Gee. After Gee is Hashe, Muhsan’s youngest son and personal driver. Hashe’s daughter is in the picture, but I didn’t get her name. The last one standing is Rebin, Hakar’s son. I am seated on the couch next to Muhsan, the patriarch.

After lunch, Muhsan took us into the mountains to see the snow. He is very proud of a road construction project that will provide access for some of the isolated mountain villages and wanted us to see it. We drove along the finished portion of the road and parked at the end. Then we began walking further into the mountains on the unfinished portion. He is extremely fit for a 77-year old man. As he said, he spent most of his life living and fighting in the same mountains. At the crest of one hill, we spotted a Kurdistan flag flying. It had been left by the construction crew when they stopped work for the winter.