6 Weeks Down...

6 Weeks Down! Mark is doing well. He is averaging 18 hours a day of work. That translates to about 4-5 hours of sleep a day. I mean day b/c he works the night shift. He’s got a lot and I mean A LOT of responsibilities and the work load is rather stressful. He’s mentioned several times that this has been his most stressful of all of his deployments to date. He is on a huge base over there but he still doesn’t get to see many or any of his friends over there (that are in other units) because of his work load and the hours he works. Most people work days over there and since he’s on nights it’s almost impossible to catch up w/ them. He still lives in the “tin can” and works in a “tin can”. He is doing well otherwise, he’s only lost 10 pounds so far. The first time he was over there at 6 weeks he had lost over 18 pounds and last year about 12 pounds. Mark is a strong guy, he knows he has a purpose there and is working hard to finish the job so “everyone” can come home. He misses home, all the soccer games, cub scouts, computer games, butterfly kisses and cuddling w/ Katie in the lazy-boy during football. He’s bummed that he can’t watch Ohio State or the Bengals play but he always wants me to send him the scores! He longs for warm fires in the fireplace, homemade pizza and ice cold Jones Cream Soda.

Here are a few exerts from the emails he’s sent to me in the past few days…

It is pouring rain outside right now, first real rain since I got here. The
thunder and lightning is intense. The wind cutting across the desert has
nothing to slow it down or take its edge away. With every passing minute, the mud is getting deeper and more soupy. We are going to have some serious cleaning to do.

We have regressed to picking people we look like out here and posting their visages by our desks. I have been deemed Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movie series. I thought it was funny. We have Drew Carrey (Gamble), Cleveland (off the Family Guy, Williams), Scott Evil from the Austin Powers movies (Curbow)... we are at least taking our minds off of the job for a little while in making fun of ourselves.

He feels horrible that he is not emailing and calling more often and sending info out to you all personally. Please know that he deeply appreciates your prayers, your letters, emails and packages that are being sent over there. He says he certainly doesn’t feel forgotten like many of the other guy and understands the time and sacrifices made by you all to keep in contact and support him. I am personally sincerely grateful for all of you. Thank you for keeping us and Mark in your prayers.

We’ve already had the appliance demon visit us, so that is already done and over (he killed the sump pump for the pool cover, my curling iron and the heating pad! Nothing too big! Yeah!) Things are running rather smoothly around here. Soccer season is almost over, tournaments this weekend. Looking forward to sleeping in on a Saturday!

On a personal note from me, this has been a different deployment so far for us at home too. The kids are getting older and much more knowledgeable of what is going on the world and in their little world. We are beginning the “coming of age” stage of life and I understand and get how to talk to and deal w/ girls, but wow, this boy stuff is strange. So keep all of us in your prayers, pray for Godly friends, good mentors, and courage to do what’s right when no one else is doing it.