"You wouldn't thinkg three guys could have so much fun with a blow up beach ball, but since we blew it up, it has been non-stop action. My room is seperated by a bunch of wooden make- shift dividers, so we volley over the dividers like it's a net. We are still trying to come up with something creative to do with the Boogie Sticks. I take it those were Sara's idea."
Oh my gosh! Yes, they were my idea! Is that not one of the most awesomest things to hear! Kind of funny how he would think I would be responsible for those! I do have to take credit for the beach ball too! I saw that and thought, this might give them a bit of fun, in that god-forsaken place. And for those that might not remember, he's is stationed near Baghdad.
"I hope you all don't mind that I shared alot of the things you sent with alot of the guys here in my platoon and my barracks. The cereal bars are always a huge hit along with Twinkies and Oreos. Those are some of the things we don't have access to here. We do have a little store (PX) where we can buy some things, but they don't always have certain things. If you want some of the good stuff, you have to be in line when they restock and be willing to wait a couple of hours."
So tomorrow when I do my shopping, I'm going to find some more boxes of the above mentioned items, and we are going to send out another care package to them. You do have to be careful though. The last time we had picked up some of that sanitizing hand gel, and we couldn't send it because it has alcohol in it. So this time we are going to focus on food stuffs.
"The weather here or should I say HEAT is always teh main topic. We have been averaging about 115 degrees everday for the last two weeks or so. They say it's going to reach about 135-140 degrees by the end of July."
All I have to say about this is, I will no longer bitch about it being in the 90's like is has been. There is no way in hell I could ever stand it, yet they have to deal with it everyday!
"I had an oppurtunity to go out on a Humanitarian Mission a couple of weeks ago to a local village. A Humanitarian Mission is where you go to a local village and hand out all kinds of free things, like used shoes, clothes, candy, paper, toiletries, and some food. The people are so poor here. When I handed a boy a tube of toothpaste and a brush, he had no idea what it was or what to do with it. Wh had to do a little demo for them to show them how to use the toothbrush. They thought the toothpaste was food or candy. It was a really cool trip. Most of the people here live in mud huts with dirt floors. The kids were great, if you didn't have anything for them, they wanted their picture taken. I took about 190 pictures in just over two hours."
Wow. For me, that puts things in perspective. And makes me thankful for living where I do, and having the oppurtunities to do things, and to know things, that others don't. I still don't agree with why our men and women are over there, but I will support THEM, and keep praying that they can come home soon.
When I was talking with Pam today, she has been keeping in touch with Jim's wife, and she told Pam that Jim is coming home for leave, but we don't know when. I think that has got to be one of THE hardest things to do. I don't know how anyone could come home for a short period of time, knowing that they had to go back. My heart goes out to all the service men and women and their families, I just don't know how you do it.
