K-town

Mom and I went to Kaiserslautern (K-town) last weekend and got home this past Monday. A short visit but I think mom got to do some of the things she wanted to do, like get a cuckoo clock, while we were there and I believe she had a good time. I showed her around our old stomping grounds, where we used to live, eat, shop and the like so that was fun...and a little sad for me but I always enjoy eating the food in K-town, one of the things I miss the most actually! We also went to the castle that's in Landstuhl, one of the surrounding towns of Kaiserslautern, I forget the name of it now but it's a neat castle and the only one in the area that I knew I could get to by wandering a little bit! I think she liked it, it was her first castle experience! Unfortunately I wasn't able to book a Rheine River Cruise for us while we were there so we may have to try for it next time 'cause I think she would enjoy that also!

We also weren't able to go on the underground Bamberg tour 'cause...well 'cause the military rarely gives you all the info you need in order to do something...but I wasn't surprised that we weren't able to do it.

Anyways, our next trip will be to Italy, starting this weekend and we'll be there for most of next week. We'll be in Rome for most of it, I think, with a day trip to Pompeii somewhere in there and maybe another day trip to somewhere else since we will be there for a while, I dunno, we'll see!

James is still doing mostly okay, I think the environment and people he has to deal with on a daily basis are starting to wear thin on him. He says it very much like the movie "Groundhog Day" there so please pray that things start to go a little better for him, I mean it's already bad enough that he has to be there and that his time WILL NOT be reduced down to 12 months unless God decides to have mercy on us and give us a miracle to bring him home. I know he's feeling the loss of their Chaplain as he (the chaplain) had to come back here to care for his wife, Heather Jackson, who is very much improved. He was a good buddy for James and one of the only Christian men that deployed with him, so I know that's hard on him too. So aside from all that and missing me, he says he's doing okay, but keep the prayers coming and as always they are very much appreciated, thanks.

I, on the other hand, have been struggling quite a bit lately. Crying a lot more these days and constantly fighting the feelings of depression that try to and sometimes overtake me. I never expected a separation to be so difficult, I mean I didn't think it would be easy by any means, but this totally sucks! *sigh* Well, all I can do is pray and hope that God allows the time to pass quickly for both of us, maybe He'll grant us that at least, but who knows. So that's the latest on my side, I hope you all are doing well, know that we love and miss you and can't wait for the day when we will be back on real American soil ('cause technically speaking I'm on American soil right now, but it's not the same as where you are) with you!

A Couple of Pics

Here are a couple of pictures that James sent me today.


This one is of all the officers in his unit. James is on the left side, somewhat behind the white chick and there's a white dude poking his head out next to his shoulder.


And this one is just of James next to the sign where he was in Kuwait.

So not really much to update on today, James is still doing well, they should have internet up and running in their rooms within the next few weeks. He says the work environment (for lack of a better word) is much better there than it is here so at least right now it's not as rough on him as it is here sometimes...with the exception of the whole war zone deal...oh well. He basically does the same thing he did here only he doesn't get to come home to me at the end of the day, which sucks for both of us. :( So he's doin' alright.

Well, mom and are might venture a walking tour of downtown Bamberg tomorrow with a possible night tour of underground Bamberg. Apparently there are catacombs somewhere downtown...I never knew that...so that could be fun. Hopefully we'll be able to do both without it raining on us! Aside from that we have a tentative trip to Kaiserslautern (K-town) planned for this weekend. I'll show mom around our old stomping grounds and see if we can maybe catch a tour or two while we are in the area and we'll DEFINITELY be eating some good food while there!! So should be a fun trip if we can make it happen! I'll be sure to post some pictures if we are able to do any of these things so keep checking back for updates! K, that's all for now.

The Latest and Greatest

Captain Geishaker and Captain Jardin - Jim and James. Yeah, the other guy's name is James too...but MY James is SOOOOOOOOO much BETTER!!!!!!!!! This is from a meet and greet dinner they had with a sister unit a few days ago. My man is so handsome, even in a war zone!



A wild camel in Kuwait...James said there was a lot of them just wandering around...neat!

Okay so the latest news from James is that they are slowly but surely taking over all the duties of the unit they were sent to replace. Which basically means all of the "old" unit people are only coming into the offices once or twice a day and James' unit is doing the rest of the work! They are staying pretty busy there which will hopefully make the time pass quickly for them so I guess that's good. I wish it would pass quickly here but it's slugging along. :P Oh well. Also James apparently cut his pinkie finger (I think on his right hand...?), with a knife he was given as a gift from one of my friends. It's not serious, his finger will heal, but James told me he could tell it was a deep cut so, pray that it heals quickly so it doesn't bother him! Of course when he told me about it I "demanded" that he go tell his boss what happened and tell him (his boss) I want James home IMMEDIATELY so that I could tend to his wounds and since they would take SO long to heal that he wouldn't be able to return to Iraq.....ever. Well, it least it made James laugh. :)

Anyways, I think that's it for now. My mom gets here Tuesday and I'm STOKED!!!! Not looking forward to the drive to and from the airport but it's definitely worth it to be able to have her here with me! I think we are gonna run ourselves into the ground with all the stuff we're gonna do but, YAY!!!! Check back for all our crazy adventures!