Going Well...

Hello again!

Just thought I would let you all know how things are going. Hunter is crawling and pulling himself up and basically getting into everything. We have been hurrying around trying to get stuff out of his way. He is loving the good weather (although it has been cold the last few days) and we have been playing outside as much as we can!

Things are going well with the house. We had the home inspection done and there was just two electrical things that needed to be taken care of and actually the electrician is there right now so hopefully that will be done at the end of today. The appraiser was there yesterday and we will have that info by the end of next week. Also, the termite inspector was there and we have a clean record in that regard as well. Along with the electrican, the HVAC inspection was happening today and so we are well on our way to being done with all the little things we needed to to before the closing. Then it will just be a matter of waiting until the 26th to close.

Ben is doing well, still busy as always! He is in touch as much as possible. We still haven't been able to get the webcams working well, I think that is mostly due to his internet connection. But at least he can see Hunter and I on our webcam here. No exciting news to report on him either, he is just keeping busy and hoping that time continues to pass quickly.

Hope that all of you are well. We miss everyone that isn't here in IL! Love, Em and Hunter J

Good News!

Well, thank you to all of you who have been busy praying for us, we have some good news! We accepted an offer on our house yesterday!!! We are very excited about it, and although it is a little lower than we might have been hoping, we are content with it and thrilled to be nearing the end of the process. I believe that the closing date that we have set right now is May 26, so just about a month from now. The buyers are having the home inspection done tomorrow and I'm sure that they are anxious to get into the home, just as we are anxious to be done selling. Now we just need some prayers that everything will go as planned and we can close without any problems.
In other news, Hunter is cutting one or two more teeth on the bottom. I still haven't captured a good picture of his teeth, I will keep working on it. Hunter and I have been very busy going for walks and playing at the neighborhood park. He absolutely loves playing on the swings and watching any other kids that might be around. The weather has been beautiful the past few days, so that has been great. We are trying to keep ourselves busy to make the time go by faster. 38 days down! We are getting there.
Well, I just wanted to share our good news with everyone. Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers. Talk with you soon! - Em and Hunter

new pictures of HJ

Hi again to everyone! Thanks for all the great feedback about the blog, we are really enjoying sharing it with all of you. Ben has been able to keep in touch very well, we talk on the phone quite often and email daily. It's been such a blessing for him to have internet available in his room this time around. We are able to keep up with each other, family and of course, Hunter J! Today marks one month since Ben left. It's hard to believe that it's been that long, but it also feels like it's been forever since he has been gone. Hunter and I definately miss him a lot!

Hunter is getting bigger by the day and eating like a monster. Just this morning he had an entire bowl of oatmeal along with his bottle, and then he helped me eat a pear. I can't keep up with him. He's moving around so well now and he has almost mastered crawling. Everytime he hears music he wiggles and dances around, it's so sweet. I can't believe that he will be 8 months old this week! He misses his Daddy of course, but he is getting lots of attention from everyone around here. We went to a bridal expo this past Sunday for my mom's shop and Hunter wore his tuxedo, he definately stole the show. He even got to be a part of the fashion show. We are so lucky to have such a sweet little boy.

Well, I hope that you enjoy the new pictures. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers! Only 14 months to go... love, em and hunter

Pictures from Afghanistan

My Office. The guy in the back is Scott.
The fence and road just outside my office.

An ANP checkpoint on the road between Kabul and Bagram.

Hey ya'll I don't really have any new exciting news but I do have some pictures finally of the area. Right now I don't have any of the city of Kabul but the next time I'm out I will try to remember to take a few. So far I have seen chicken street, the Russian apartments from "Bookseller of Kabul", as well as the obligatory Ministry of Interior and Defense Compounds. I will try to work on getting pics of some of those places as soon as I can. - Ben

Eating is fun!

Hi everyone! Well...we have teeth! Hunter got his two bottom teeth in a few days ago, but I haven't been able to get any good pictures of them yet, so I guess I will just have to keep trying. In the meantime I thought I would post these pictures of him enjoying his new favorite snack, rice rusks. I have no idea exactly what they are, but he just loves them! As you can see in the pictures, he even holds them himself. It's so funny to see him chomping away. He is getting really ready to crawl, he even makes it a few steps (well, if that's what you call it when it's crawling) and then he falls. But he's making progress! Other than that, not too much exciting going on here. We are waiting for some good weather so we can start getting outside more, but we are adjusting pretty well to life in IL. We also had news yesterday that there is a couple who may be putting an offer in on our house today so we are praying that will work out for everyone. Well, Hunter is getting restless so I should sign off, but thanks to everyone for all the calls and emails. We really appreciate your thoughts and prayers!

Love, Em and Hunter J

Hey Ya'll

Hey Ya'll just checking back in from good ol' Kabul. All the books describe this place as metropolitan in a third world sense but it's still very rustic. You can still see donkey carts right in the city itself and the farther out you get from downtown the less likely it is for buildings to have electricity and running water. The people in the city are a strange eclectic mix as well. Shoulder to shoulder you can see a traditionally dressed Afghan man; and a very European dressed Afghan. It's the same way for the women some dress in a very European style, some wear a little scarf over their head, and some are still wearing burqas. The society here in general is just very adamant against change. They are very used to being occupied by foreign armys that they can't beat militarily so they just patiently resist any change. Some of the young people are more open but for the most part the society is still trying to maintain it's roots in the 6th Century.

For me things are to bad. I do get a chance to get out from time to time. I don't interact with the Afghans as much as some people but I do get a chance at some of the meeting I attend to talk to some of the Afghan leadership. It is amazing how so many of the people on our staff don't go out and try to understand the Afghan point of view and try to ensure that we mentor them and teach them so eventually we don't have to come here any more. A lot of the staff guys read about the Afghan culture and history before we came over here but it seems like as soon as we got over here they threw all that out the window and now they want to win "the war" in a week. Maybe it is competition because we are taking over from the 82nd or maybe it is just that so many of them haven't deployed before. Either way it is frustrating how many people don't see the big picture.

Overall though things aren't to bad. I'm living pretty comfortably and once we get folks to calm down the job won't be too bad....I think. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Still teething...

Hunter is still working on getting his bottom two teeth in. As you can see in the picture, we found that apples are a great thing for him to chew on! He rejected all the teething rings and everything else that we tried. But hey, this is healthy and easy too! There isn't too much else to report. Just trying to keep the fussiness down and still get stuff done. Hunter is apparently growing like crazy because the pajamas I bought him last week are almost too small already! I guess we need to go pajama shopping again. Anyway, we miss all of our Clarksville friends and our family that isn't here in IL. Hope that everyone is doing great and we really appreciate hearing from all of you! Talk to you soon! - Em and Hunter J