October Stuff

We are almost finished with October...whew! This month has been particularly difficult for me. God has tested, convicted, and renewed me all in the span of a month. Although when He does that, He usually sees me and my family to the other side while adding blessing to us...so no hard feelings. Just exhaustion!

This month I had my birthday (27...man I'm gettin' old). To emphasise my age, I found out that one of my soldiers didn't even know about the show In Living Color. One day I turned to him and said "Homey don't play dat" to which he just gazed at me blankly not knowing what I was talking about. I was immediately struck with the reality of my age. I am amungst a generation who knows nothing of, Perfect Strangers, Mork and Mindy, CHiPs, Knight Rider (original series), the A team, Mash, Who's the Boss, Three's Company, Family Ties, when MTV actually played music...etc. I could go on forever. So I will say again...MAN I AM GETTING OLD!

Yesterday we had an "Organizational Day" which roughly translates to mandatory fun. What they hadn't planned on was people actually having fun. About an hour into the days festivities it began to rain. Yes, you read that right...rain...in Baghdad...and how. It was pooring! Did that stop anything what-so-ever? NO!! We went ahead and completed the events in the rain. Inbetween events we even were playing mud football, and soccer. Yesterday was the most fun I have had so far on this deployment. There have been more meanningful times, but none quite so fun. Most of us were covered form head to toe in mud, even as we proceeded to other events. Have any of you ever played dodgeball on a water filled court? I would highly rcommend it. The referees lined the balls up on the center line and the teams each had to sprint from their corresponding side of the court to try and get as many of the balls as possible. So everyone would charge the centerline, water flying everywhere, people sliding across the slick, wet pavement. What a great time. Later we realized that while we played the entire post was turning into a mud bog. Yuck!

I will be coming home on R&R leave soon, though not soon enough. When I am home we plan on not doing much of anything except be a family for the short itme I am home, and perhaps have some dinner with some dear friends. I will only be home for 18 days or so and then it's back to Iraq. Oh, and by the way...Sandy and I will be trying to get her pregnant again while I am on leave...please be praying for us.