A letter from Iraq

This letter was forwarded to me from my mother-in-law. It comes from the uncle of a soldier (US Army) serving in Iraq. The uncle is friend's with Bob's Uncle Deed, and he sent it to Bob Sr.

It irritates me that this information is not in the liberal media. Read on, to see what our soldiers are doing overseas...

"The fighting over here has stopped. We found out just recently that all the bad guys we've been having such a hard time finding fled the country months ago. We spend our time now organizing grants from the Iraq govt. for local people to create jobs and boost the local economy, overseeing public works (that are decades behind) to insure quality and weed out corruption, sitting down for dinners and meeting with the once warring fractions to settle differences, talking to the key leaders to advise them on how to keep corruption and terrorists from coming back into the city and trying to rebuild and reestablish the education system, and sometimes I sing and dance with the kids. As a special project we take it upon ourselves to check up on the child households and widows in our area. I wouldn't recognize the city I showed up in and the one I live in now as the same. The trash is cleaned out of the streets and canals. The streets are filled with children laughing, playing and moving to and from school. The markets, once barren alleys with boarded up shops, are now jammed pack with people haggling and shopping. There are even a few soccer teams that started up with uniforms'n'all. I have no idea who started them but we stopped and watched a game with a crowd of fans. Wedding parties fill the now clean courtyards on a regular basis with dancing and singing long into the nights. All the once vacant houses have been filled with the happy faces of the former owner. People are no longer afraid to talk to us in public, but go out of their way to seek us out and offer us their gratitude and hospitality. We have made this city our home and the people in it our friends and neighbors. In doing so, we have changed the lives of those around us forever and given them the tools to dream again. Thank you for being there and supporting me in being a part of this. All of you back home have been the answer to my prayers and that is what gives me the strength to be the answer to theirs."

Almost settled...

Ok, we are in our new apartment. We've been in Birmingham for 4 days now, and our furniture was delivered this morning. We can now finally get settled. It's been a mix of excitement and boredom for me the past few days. The drive up was not too bad, and rather pretty along some roads. We did a lot of exploring and got caught up on some much needed sleep over the weekend. Bob started his new job on Monday. He seems to really like it a lot, and is definitely keeping busy. I have tried to keep myself busy, but I think I will be now for the rest of the week unloading and unpacking. The job hunt starts next week. Thus far, I've found a few positions online that seem appealing. I have to update my resume. I know it will be easy, but for some reason, I hate doing that kind of stuff. Winston is doing well too. I think he's happy as long as he's walked daily. I do feel badly for him though, and I can't wait for us to be in a house. 

Speaking of houses...I've found some great neighborhoods. We really would love new construction, but like Florida, all the new homes are in cookie cutter neighborhoods. We've found a few subdivisions, where the homes are 10 or so years old (not too bad). Either way, we have a 7 month lease, so we've got plenty of time.

I can't wait to get situated though and organized. Now to some unpacking!

3 More Days

Just a quick update - we are moving in 3 days!

Our house is all packed up, minus the belongings we are taking in our car. The heat down here is unbearable right now, especially while trying to pack. I hope Birmingham is less humid. I am excited to get this move out of the way though. As my friend Rachel stated, "moving is like ripping off a band-aid, you just want it done fast." And to think, we have to do it all again in another 7 months! Well, at least we have about 1/2 our stuff already in storage.

Anyhow, I'll start posting more I'm sure. Life's been crazy for us. We seriously have had one free weekend in about 2 months. No complaints though, it keeps life interesting :)

See ya in Birmingham!!!