An Update

I have come to realize that several of you are keeping up with me and my husband and our journey while he is deployed to Iraq. I so appreciate all of your support and prayers. It is so comforting to know that he is covered in prayer during his time away.

Thanks to modern day technology, I get to instant message with him every night. Around 10:30 here, but 6:30 a.m. there! Plus, I have a good man that treks down to the phone center about every other day, and stands in the lines with 1+ hour waits just to talk to me for anywhere between 15-30 minutes, depending on how busy the center is. He gets to email me pictures, which is ALWAYS exciting and I figured I'd share some with you so you all can have a peek into my husband's job and for 6 months or more, his life.

I will try to explain briefly what the last week and a half have been like for Jason. He left our base on Monday afternoon, from there was taken over to another base by bus, where they caught their first flight up north. After a brief layover where they played in the snow, they hopped on a plane to Germany, from there, to Kuwait, and from Kuwait...their final destination in Iraq.

Now, I have to brag a little on my sweetie. He is so smart. His job in the marine corps is to fix and build field radios (the big radios that the infantry/grunts use out in the field to communicate back to base). I'm a firm believer that every job in the military is vital to it's troops survival. Since we've been over in Iraq for what seems like eons, they have set up better living quarters for our guys (and gals). Jason lives in what looks like the trailer off of a tractor trailer truck. It is divided into 4's, I believe, and made into rooms. Two to a room. I will post pictures of his living quarters another day. He goes to work 7 days a week and his only down time is in the evenings. He says he can't complain about the food, and that it's not too awfully hot yet. They issue bikes for them to ride to and from work each day. But being the Marine Corps, they also have to run for their physical fitness to get to and from alot of places.

I sent out his first care package on Tuesday. It will take approximately 2 weeks to get to him. We loaded it up with his fave goodies from home. It was really neat, because when I went to send it, the lady behind me in line picked up the bill for the postage. She said she once was a military wife and she was just so thankful for mine and my husband's sacrifices. It's the little tokens of gratitude like that one that remind me how many supporters still are out there. He also gets to send out mail as often as he likes, so we already have some in route! It will be so good to see his handwriting.

He has not had to go on any convoys yet, and doesn't expect to have to. Those are when they travel off base in military vehicles for all different reasons. This is when alot of "accidents" happen. Just last week, a humvee ran over a field mine. I've asked him not to tell me the bad things that go on, as it will just give me an ulcer. I'm not sure if this is fair as I know he needs to talk about things to other people, outside of the military. I just thank our good Lord that he doesn't have a job that puts him on the front line. That fact helps me sleep a little easier at night.

Today is the 13th day that we've been apart. It still isn't any easier, but it helps that I have contact and know that he is a little safer as long as he's on base. Again, thank you to all of my new friends here in blog land for your prayerful support.