Tim is doing well

Just a quick update on Tim. He has finished his local upgrade training, passed his checkride with flying colors and is over halfway to his first air medal. He will start with students on Monday. I imagine that will be challenging and rewarding--it'll be fun to hear what he has to say about that experience. He's been a great, well respected instructor here at Columbus and I know he'll do the same there. He is doing really really well and his outlook is very positive. I'm very proud of him!!! We get to talk on the phone about twice a week--he is able to call me when I am at work--which has been good for the soul. I'll post pictures when I get them from him. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

"Nesting" in progress

I have been working this weekend on getting Bean's closet ready. Previously it was completely empty (no rod or anything) and it was used to store suitcases and bags. Before:

Then I put in closet inserts and shelves and drawers. I may yet move the shelves around but I think it looks much better....and it's more useful :-)

The Baby's room is coming along:

Quick Picture

Tim sent another picture I wanted to share...Isn't he a HOTTIE???

Tim....in some of his own words

So far Tim has been able to call home and e-mail quite frequently (thankfully). He seems to be doing well. He is almost through MQT (local training to get him up to speed on local procedures before he takes students up). He seems to be enjoying the challenge of the flying and he seems to be enjoying seeing all of the places we have heard of in the news up close and personal. He has been flying quite a bit and he doesn't expect that to slow down for a while. It seems the thing he likes least is the living situation. As I said earlier he is living in a tent and apparently it is dirty everywhere. He has to walk quite a distance to go to the bathroom and that seems like the worst. I'm including some excerpts from his e-mails so you can hear from him in his own words.

FROM HIS FIRST DAY:
For your information. I live on Sather AB. That is where mu\y tent, and it is not kidding a tent with linolium floor a buck bed and a locker box and about 7 feet by 10 feet of living space. (I work at New Al Muthara AB). It is located a short walk from my tent. Imagine I am in prison but I have to walk 100 yards to the crapper and I shower about 300 yards away. Nothing is paved. Everywhere you walk on stone paths..... It rained this week so now it is wet and muddy and the water has no where to go so there are mud and brown water ditches everywhere. To get into the tent from the path, we have put crate boxes, a sandbag, and a think piece of plastic we found.

FROM EARLY THIS WEEK:
We are flying our you know what off. Got
10 hours already. Things are looking up. It will still be a long and
aggravating year in ways I do not think you could imagine unless you are
stationed here.

Baghdad is wet, muddy, disgusting and dirty. Flew over places you hear
about in the newspapers daily to take a peek. Been unreal to see the
battlespace from this perspective. Not saying I am dropping but flying
with Iraqis over the battlespace is something I will always remember.

we laugh everyday here until it hurts. some of us are soooo busy it is ridiculous. I get up at 545 am and I get home after working out every night around 1000 or so.

He was also able to send a couple of pictures. One I think is of his C-130 trip there and the other is his sleeping quarters....GLAMOUR!!!

NEWS OF TIM!!

I received some news of Tim this weekend. He has arrived in Bagdad and is starting to get settled in. He expects to be flying soon so I guess he will be jumping in with both feet. He wrote a little about his living quarters. He is living in a tent with six other guys and from his description it seems to be pretty muddy there now (I guess it just rained). He compared it to some of our camping trips and while I wanted to believe he was referencing the fun I think he was more likening it to the "roughing it" part. He said he would let me know if he needed any comfort items and I will pass that along if you'd like to send him something. Below is a picture of us at the airport right before he left.

Baby Furniture Weekend

Last week the store I bought the Baby's furniture at called and the Furniture was ready to pick up. YYYIIIPPPPEEE! I rented a trailer from on base on Saturday and drove to Birmingham and picked it up. After a quick stop at Stephen and Jenni's to show off the ultrasound pictures :-) I got home. A neighbor friend helped me get it in the house (Thanks Beau!!) Then today I put the crib together....fun in theory not in practice....:-) Here are pictures. The room is still rough but at least I have all the parts (except the mattress) and it just needs time to put it together. An ongoing process I imagine.


The final result.....


The crib Before....


AHHHH.....I love the glider!!!!


The Dresser/Changing table

I will, of course post more pictures as preparations progress.

Welcome Back

Hi Friends and Family!!

Welcome. I am starting up the Blog again as a way for Tim to check in on us while he is away and because we seem to have a great deal going on in life right now. Tim is off doing amazing things--I hope to be able to share them with you here. I am preparing for the arrival of the new Baby.

Some background for those just joining us: Tim is currently deployed to Iraq where he will be flying as an Air Advisor to the Iraqis. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. If you would like his address (mail is much appreciated) call me and I will happily send it to you. I am about 4 months pregnant (YYYIIIPPPEEEE). The baby is due March 21st, 2009. We have decided to let the gender be a surprise on birthday so for now we call the baby "Bean" because every book compares the baby's size to various forms of beans--coffee, pinto, lima etc. We love Bean and can't wait for his/her arrival!!!

To jump right in with the news I had my ultrasound today and I am going to try to post the pictures here.... (HINT: if you click on the picture it will blow it up...making it clearer)



The top one is an image of Bean's foot and the second is Bean's leg--do you see a punter or a ballerina??



The top one here is Bean in a kind of head down position...you can see the spine clearly. The second one is Bean's arm (the fingers are clear) and the last one is Bean again in a head down position but not so bent over. Isn't he/she PERFECT??

I also have a DVD of the ultrasound. I'll try to post that tomorrow.....Thanks for visiting!!!!