Life

No kidding there I was.
You know. Not a whole lot going on lately. We were inop for a few days and then on lock down because of the bad man with an extremely expensive vest wandering the streets. One got picked off by the ANP right outside the gates of the compound and it was caught on video. That was interesting to watch. I'll stop there.
Next, thanks to the efforts of my wife and father I received my old laptop from school. 2003 technology at its finest and I forgot how slow and antiquated the old Compaq was. At any rate, I was glad to get another computer just to be able to download pictures etc. Well, I had it for 2 days and was minding my own business, spending about 45 minutes IMing and checking email before a mission and the damn thing crashed. We've got two computer gurus here, thanks to the 82 Airborne, and they reloaded windows XP on it.......after laughing at its antiquity. Well, I started downloading drivers for the hardware and the cursed thing loses all the memory blah blah. Well, they tell me to put it to rest. ARGH! Anyway, looking at Macbooks now......Anyone know Steve Jobs?
Next. We finally get outside the wire the last couple of days and had some great interaction with the locals in a fairly poor section of town next to one of our police check points. These kids came out of this makeshift medical clinic and we had the ANP hand out about 3 bags of stuffed animals and toys. It was so great. That's what its all about. We handed out paper, crayons and whatever else we had. I pulled out my medical bag and started to see people on the hood of my Humvee. The pic is of a little girl with a lacerated finger. Another is a girl that grabbed our hands and kissed them. It was breaking our hearts but it was so fulfilling to have and be able to give. Thank you all for sending what you have to give to these children who have nothing, literally. The joy that only comes from the one, true everlasting God was spread that day and man was it awesome. I have some better pics of us in action and I'll try to load those later.
Finally, I'm being moved to another Base. So, I'll be in transit for about a week. When I get my new address, I'll get it to Amanda and she can send out a mass email to let you all know. Hopefully, I'll have control of developing a small clinic. I'll still be riding out on missions but this location is going to allow me to do more VMOs (village medical outreaches), hopefully. All of you that know me know that I'm a fighter and a caregiver the same. So, depending on my mood, you may be healed or dead. Well, hopefully, I'll be able to lean toward the healing side now.