Happy Thanksgiving!

The things we are thankful for...

I received the following in an e-mail from Josh this week...

"I am thankful for you, family, our nieces and nephews, my real job, friends, and the fact that we are citizens of a developed and democratic country."

Happy Engagement Anniversary

Josh proposed to me four years ago today. It was such a wonderful day and one that I never would have guessed for it to end the way it did. For those of you who have come into our lives since our engagement and/or wedding, here is the short version of the proposal story that we included in our Christmas cards that year... that Josh - he is somthing else!!

The Broken Road Mission, tied into their favorite song – Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts - began at his school after driving the two hours to Northern Virginia. Darci thought she and Diane were meeting Josh for dinner, but she was quickly surprised when she was told he left school already. The school staff provided Darci with a box full of items - a map, mission book, the key to his apartment building, camera, video camera, batteries, money and food... all to aid in the Broken Road Mission. Josh taped himself the night before and provided Darci with her mission on video.

On the way to each destination, Diane would read special notes to Darci which were included in the mission book. After leaving his school, Darci, with Diane’s assistance, drove from there to Josh’s apartment to their favorite breakfast spot, then through Old Town Alexandria to Gravelly Point – a place of many special memories. From there, it was on to the final destination – the Washington Harbour in Georgetown, the place where Josh and Darci went with their mutual friend Wendy (the matchmaker) upon meeting each other in March 2004.

As Darci and Diane arrived, Josh was standing on the boardwalk by the Potomac River near the very spot where Josh and Darci were that wonderful night eight months ago. Soon after spotting Josh, Darci approached him, while Diane watched with a camera in hand. Nearly three hours later and the Broken Road Mission complete, Josh proposed to Darci. And of course, she said yes!

Ahhh the memories!!

"The Incredible Little Car Who Shifts for Himself!"

Things with Josh are going well. He greatly appreciated everyone's birthday wishes from 1/2 way around the world. As many of you know, since you participated in it, there was a little drive to see how many birthday cards he could receive. We don't have an official number as of yet, but he stopped counting at 300!!! They kept pouring in. He even recieved 21 cards in the mail on his birthday! We'll count them once he returns home! Perhaps I will even post a picture of them all displayed, though I envision setting them all up and a dominoe reaction occuring before we ever get to the end.


I missed my usual monthly milestone for the 19th of the month! Wednesday was actually a pretty long day, but it is worth mentioning that November 19th brought us to the double digits of Josh being gone -- 10 months! This is exciting because his deployment is supposed to be 12 months, so we are inching our way closer!


The good news is that the holidays are just around the corner, which again, means Josh's homecoming is not far off either. It's been a long year for sure and we look forward to the new year and everything it will bring!


I was blessed with two great phone calls from Josh this week - which is (unfortunately) a rare treat (the number of them that is!). He is doing well and looks forward to coming home with each passing day. Safe to say, the 7 by 7 plywood room has lost it's luster, in addition to close living quarters within the hut. He continues to stay busy by car shopping from afar. This week's online discovery... Reconditioned Beetles from the 70s...

Josh love his beetles. He dressed up as Herbie when he was a little tyke, around age 5. Did you know that it took about 100 vehicles to make the Herbie movie? Each vehicle was specifically made for each of his stunts, i.e driving backwards meant the chasis was turned around, a sports car motor was installed for it to do wheelies, etc. Amazing what it took to produce a movie before special effects and computer imaging! No, I did not know this little fact. Josh certainly may have, but I did not! A local car salesman buys replica cars from movies and his latest purchase was a HERBIE complete with the 53 and stripes! There was an article in the local newspaper about it, so I learned some "fast facts"!

On the other side of the world... I have been staying busy by Christmas shopping, though it was a rough start. I went last weekend on Friday and Saturday to different locations and only had some minor luck on Friday and nothing was checked off the list on Saturday. Thankfully, this week, I was able to accomplish quite a bit. I am even close to making the list of what is left to get and where. Yet in comparison to last year, I am a quite a bit behind as I had all presents purchased and wrapped, with the exception of a few things that had to wait. Hopefully a few more trips is all it will take! At times I do miss the spirit of shopping in December, but the leisurely approach and stress-free experience that I had this week makes it hard to not want anything but doing it in advance! I have been sending Josh links to everything I have purchased for everyone so that he can see it all in advance. We have exchanged a lot of "idea e-mails" and this gives him an opportunity to weigh-in on the gift, just as if we were in the mall together. (Except it might require a return trip. Thankfully though, I am "batting a thousand" so far!)

And then there were eleven!

Some happy news from home...

As most of you know, I work at SUNY Cortland as the the Special Events Coordinator for the President's Office, coordinating social events for the President and major "special events" such as Academic Convocation, Honors Convocation and Commencement for the College. For three and 1/2 years, I have been a full-time, 12 month employee. After being home with Josh this summer for a couple of weeks (out of the office for a total of three weeks) and being able to pick-up where I left off without any stress or cause for concern, I realized that this might be something to consider for the future.

After weighing the pros and cons and really thinking about it for a few months, I pitched an idea to Josh over email about changing my professional obligation to the College. We finally had the opportunity to talk about it on the phone in late September or early October. I officially submitted the request to become an 11 month employee of the College. And on Monday, November 3, I received word that it was APPROVED and I finalized everything today - signatures and all!! I will now enjoy one month off every summer (most likely July) with Josh, but still earn the same benefits.

"Every man who possibly can should force himself to a holiday of a full month in a year, whether he feels like taking it or not."

William James

Love the sound of that... holiday!

Happy Birthday AND Veteran's Day!

Happy 33rd Birthday, Josh!!

"It's the best!"... 33 yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting!

How many birthday cards did you get??

In Afghanistan it's been Josh's birthday for 9 and 1/2 hours already! His birthday is 33 and 1/2 hours long this year!

and

In honor of Veterans Day...

Thank You Josh!

Love you!

New Songs, Baby Wipes and So Cute!

Some of my favorite lines in a recent e-mail from Josh...

"I found this song on itunes - it is on O.A.R.'s new album. The song is called War Song and it is a serious song about places like this godforsaken hellhole, but the first line makes me laugh so hard, b/c it is so true. It is... OH MY GOD, TELL ME THIS WON'T LAST FOREVER. haha Isn't that what I said? I told everyone about it and now I just randomly sing it out. I should write songs. haha.

"I am going to bed. I cleaned my room today. It was so dirty. I even mopped with baby wipes. haha.

"Just to let you know that these sixty something year old women KBR workers stopped me in one of the many chow halls I have been in the last 48 hours and said we just have to tell you, you are so cute. What a bunch of nutties. haha."

And for the seventh time . . .

. . . It's the 5th of the month! Which means Josh has been in Afghanistan... you guessed it... 7 months OR 214 days!! Stay safe Josh, you are close to coming home! xoxoxo

Tuesday, November 4th

Please remember to vote!

I ran to my polling place this morning. Literally! I laced up my shoes and ran the 1 mile to the Methodist Church. It was my first time voting in person. The last election, I had just re-united with Josh after he finished up his Basic/AIT Training, so I voted absentee. I was yelled at for going through the wrong door (Shame on me!). I mean the whole one other person that was there voting, I can see where they would have gotten us confused. Voter #60 at 6:30 this morning. I voted!

You have to love Google's creativity! (Thanks, Diane for sharing this!)

Baci In Action

So, I was in the gym, there was an incident and I had to get ready fast and be on the truck yesterday. I am wearing my vest but underneath is my sweaty pt shirt. haha. Normally I would have on my ACU top or ACU combat t-shirt. I did not have time to fix my helmet and it got all askew in the hubbub. You can't tell because my vest is kind of covering it, but my pants are falling down-even with wearing my pt shorts inderneath because I had no time for a belt. haha. Notice the unlaced boots with shoelaces hanging all about. I just look like such a Gomer Pile. haha. Sgt. Gridley thought was the best part for some reason-the shoelaces. The whole thing turned a serious evening into something funny. haha.

Another Hour Apart

With daylight savings time ending, Josh is now 9 and 1/2 hours ahead of us. Eventhough we are both in the same location, it really does feel like he is further away.

Checked out the weather for Kabul... The sun sets over there just before 4:30 in the afternoon! At first I didn't think twice about that since it will be like that for us in another month or so, but then I realized not many of the Afghan people have electricity. Daylight is their source of light. Right now, the daytime highs are in the upper 60s and lowers 70s. It gets down into the low 40s overnight. In looking at the month of November, by the end of the month, the highs will be in the low 50s and below freezing overnight.