Christmas Tree Hunting we go.....

Last year, Andrew and I disagreed over how important a Christmas tree was and especially to me, how important a real one was..... My family spent many a winter hunting through Christmas tree farms in search of the perfect tree to cut down....Although there was always someone cold and whining and Dad was upset when we got home because the tree wouldn't stand up straight in the stand; I liked the tradition. Last year we had a white fake Christmas tree that we had used at our wedding reception. This year, I was bound and determined not to do that again!

We found out from friends that for $10 you can get a permit and go into the Pikes Peak National Forest and cut down your own tree. That sounded even better than a Christmas tree farm!!! We packed up Boots, headlamps, blankets, ropes, snacks and snowshoes and headed off. After driving for several miles into the "Xmas tree territory" Andrew picked a spot to park, marked the spot in the GPS and off we went. Boots was in heaven! We decided against the snowshoes which was a wise decision in the end. We hiked around for a while and then Andrew thought (very logically) that the better trees would probably be down in the ravine where there was more of a water source for them to grow. As we slowly made our way down the hill into the "valley" I of course thought to myself...."this is going to be a pain to drag out, but Andrew must have already thought of that because he is an engineer and because he is so strong, he is not worried about coming back up this hill with a tree" *** Almost two years of marriage and communication still is an issue sometimes :)

We marked a couple trees in the GPS (think of the cellphone/GPS commercial about finding a Christmas) After finding 3 good ones, and doubling back to compare between them, we decided on the one furthest away...of course! We took a photo op and then Andrew started cutting. Turns out that although Andrew and I were prepared for hiking and possibly hours of searching (snacks, headlamps, GPS etc) we were not prepared for how prickly and heavy our tree was! Leather gloves in multiple layers would have been very helpful! After dragging/carrying our tree what felt like hundreds of feet (but was probably only 100ft) Andrew checked the GPS to see how long it would take us if we followed the ravine out to the road....3/10's of a mile!!!! After about 10 more minutes of dragging/carrying our tree, wishing we could harness Boots up to help us out, we decided it was too long to take the ravine and we should go straight up the hill....It was about this time that Andrew started commenting on how maybe we should have thought about where we picked a tree in terms of dragging it back to the car.....Helpfully, I said "I did, but I had trusted him that he had already thought of that when he picked the ravine, because he is an engineer" :) (next time I will speak up sooner;)

Well, several hundred feet later we were up the hill and in a clearing where we could leave the tree and drive to it. I was not excited about driving to it, but the thought of carrying the tree any further was worse. We almost mashed into several trees trying to back to the tree, but by the grace of God we missed them all. (somehow the gearshift had popped out of 1st/4 WD and into regular drive without 4wd....big handling difference!) Andy of course thought almost sliding off the mountain and/or into a tree was fun where I was almost in tears! We got the tree on top of the car with an issue and started home (thankfully the car stayed in 4 wd this time)

Once we got home...the "small" tree in the forest was much bigger than we thought.....My old tree stand wasn't big enough for the trunk, so out we went to Walmart.... On the 3rd attempt to make the tree short enough for our ceiling, it fit! After all that work though, it is still sitting in our living room, bare except for 4 ornaments....(3 of which were early Christmas presents!) I am in a minimalist mood this Christmas :)

Iraq Comes Calling

(My Hero - Don't mess with him!)

Many of you know by now that Andrew has been called to serve in Iraq. On Monday, December 10th an email was sent to him from the Pentagon asking for him to serve in Iraq on a Joint Task project....On Wednesday, December 12th at 10am he had a meeting with his commanding officers who gave him permission to go. (they had the right to not let him go, based on the base's needs) It was slightly surreal to wait all morning for his phone call confirming he would be going. By 11:15 he called and not only said it had been approved but that he would have 7 weeks of pre-deployment training (this was a complete surprise to both of us - not that he would have training but for how long) and then would be deploying June 19th. When we first found out about of this, his location was classified..... It has since been disclosed...Baghdad (but not to Central Command - he will be at a smaller base that is not heard about that much in the news) The basics un-classified version of what he will be doing is remote electronic warfare....GPS/IED's/Jamming technology etc....

We both know that the Lord is calling Andrew to this mission. There have been others at his base that have asked to go and been denied. Because of his job description (for military folks he is a 62 - non military it means he is a certain type of engineer) he was never supposed to go. He has been traveling a lot this Fall presenting at bases all over the country about jamming technology and GPS and because of that his name became known....Doing a job well got him recognized in a way we never thought possible.

I shed a lot of tears over this past week and weekend..... My thoughts ranged from the daily living alone, to missing his birthday, to his safety..... Many people have tried to comfort us with "it will be okay" but we both realize that may not be true. He is stepping out in faith and honor that the Lord has called him to serve our country by leaving the comfort of home and going to the "danger zone" but there is no guarantee that he will come home. Truthfully and painfully, there is never a guarantee for either of us to come home each night. God has a purpose and calling for both of our lives and it may look different than we and many expect. We both rest assured that our lives are for the Lord and that our salvation is in the Lord's hands.

Realizing that I want to hold onto him tightly to save myself from pain has been easy to admit, but hard to actually loosen up my grip. We are thankful that we get to enjoy each other for next few months before he leaves in April for training. We are trying to be prayerful with each other in this time of preparation and deal with our fears and the future honestly. We covet all prayers for us in this time. We are planning on taking time to visit with both sides of the family before April and take a 2nd "honeymoon" somewhere fun. Hopefully we will see many of you along the way.........

Ebola outbreak finally hitting the news

The following is a brief but good article about the Ebola outbreak in Uganda. They interviewed Dr. Scott Myhre who I mentioned in my last post about Dr. Jonah. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8nLHUlhDiLlgAafCb9-w_9Nki5QD8TCPQK80

I cannot imagine living my days in isolation waiting to find out if I have a deadly disease. They have not made him go into full isolation, but his wife is.....Her words continue to be informative and devastating at the same time: www.paradoxuganda.com . The pictures of the "funeral" with the people in full protective gear while a few Africans stand around, completely "unprotected" was a stark contrast to the unfairness of life in Africa. Because of the disease, Dr. Jonah's family as been left alone to grieve without the comfort of friends....People fear them and so have isolated them in their time of grief and need. One of the most recent entries on Paradoxuganda, shares the Myhre's desire to support Dr. Jonah wife and children, by helping set-up an educational fund and build them a home because they will no longer be allowed to live in hospital housing. Please read it and pray about giving.........Even one time would be a blessing, as what they desire to do is adding up.

The following is an interview of Dr. Jonah just months before he died: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8nLHUlhDiLlgAafCb9-w_9Nki5QD8TCPQK80

Ebola Outbreak....Dr. Jonah Kule killed

Have you heard there is an Ebola outbreak in Uganda? Did you see the news on CNN.com? Reuters.com? or anywhere else for that matter? When I googled Ebola Outbreak, I got only old new stories..... What the news isn't saying is that there is an outbreak happening right now! The photo is of a Dr. Jonah Kule, a Ugandan doctor killed by this new strain of Ebola. Along with not having heard anything about the outbreak, you will not hear that they think it is a completely new strain of the horrible disease......

As many of you know, my best friend moved with her husband and 2 children to Uganda in the summer of 2006 (http://www.calledtouganda.com/). They came back to the US this past September for a planned 4 week furlough. God had different plans for them and because of a variety of things, they are still here. In my selfishness, I am thankful they are far from the disease. I am also thankful that other teams members were able to fly their young children out of their village and away from being exposed. There are still team members and doctors there... There are so many scared people and parents, longing to spare themselves and their children from this disease....... Please pray for these people, pray for the Myhres who sent their children away to be safe, but stayed to care for the sick (their blog is http://www.paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/ and they are updating it constantly), for all the health organizations that are trying to contain and identify this disease and pray for the continent of Africa.... Things like this reinforce the false idea that Africa is a place of disease. Pray also for Dr. Jonah's wife and children. His wife is 6months pregnant with their 6th child! Dr. Jonah was a brave and honorable man. He thought he had malaria but checked himself into an isolation unit just to be safe. After caring for many in remote parts of the country with what they thought was typhoid fever, he was stricken with the disease.....There is much grieving going on in Uganda today. His touch had reached far. He was my friend because he was my best friend's friend.