Tonight, it's me or the Wallpaper

Well, as the subject of this post might suggest, my Friday evening will be spent in the kitchen. Not surprisingly, our little house built in 1940 hasn't been updated much since it was constructed, specifically the kitchen wallpaper. While some may think this is endearing, I maintain my position that it is hideous, just terrible. So the white with blue ribbon and little red roses wallpaper that's been inhabiting the kitchen, has seen its last sunrise this morning. (The kitchen gets amazing morning light.) Then maybe tomorrow I'll paint it, I'm not really sure yet. Monica and Joe are coming over to help, and we'll make dinner together. I know I haven't written much about Monica, but she's basically been a Godsend since Billy has left, with her friendship, faith, and support. It's so funny how life works out, and I can't wait for Billy to come home, to get to know Mons and Joe better. Anway, I will be documenting this renovation adventure, which undoubtedly will be just as fun and interesting as past projects. Oh that's right, if anyone has suggestions, please let me know! So far, I've read fabric softener and hot water should do the trick... We shall see!

My baby is coming home!!

The end is in sight. Finally after 11 months, the last month is upon us. Since the break in May, life has been running full speed ahead. So much has changed, it's hard to believe it's only been 5 months since Billy and I have seen eachother. It seems like much, much more than that. Our reunion in May was amazing, it was like a dream. The kind of dream that wakes you up smiling, wishing you could fall softly back asleep to return to it. And now here I am, planning Billy's homecoming, which in its own right is surreal. The return date has been pushed back several times, so it's a cautious excitement that has taken over. Once November comes, I don't think there will be a happier person breathing on this Earth than me, unless it's Billy. We have learned so much, and grown so much as individuals and as a married couple in our time apart from eachother. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful, communicating, loving relationship. I'll write more soon, especially about our new house... which I just LOVE!

The break!

Well, first of all I apologize for not having updated the blog in quite some time. It seems that time moves faster than I do! We've been planning Billy's break in the foreground, and figuring out where I'll be living for the next 6 months in the background. Most probably know, my oldest sister Melissa is in pharmacy school and is finishing her last rotation in London, England. We've been planning a sister vacation, that will start in London and end in Barcelona, Spain. I really can't express how happy I am to see my sister, and show her my favorite city! Well, luck would have it that Billy's leave was moved from July to May, so we've decided to spend his break in Europe! Mel changed her ticket so that she'd be able to see her "brubs" before she heads back stateside. It's really too neat. Billy flies into Barcelona on the 11th, and Mel leaves on the 12th. I'll try to post once we're there to update where we are and what adventures we're getting into. Billy is such an excellent travel partner!! Not to mention I am bursting at the seams to see him!! I can't believe it's already been 5 months since he's left, and 8 months since we've been married...

On the home front, we're renting out our house downtown June 1, Melissa is moving to Kentucky for residency (yaayyy!!), I'll be moving my domain to mom's house in Summerville, and our little sis Marisol, is moving to Washington DC for grad school! All of these happenings have recently come to be realities, and it's all very exciting and challenging at once. Our little family has been nothing short of put to the test, but so far, it's been excellent!

Billy is doing well. He's on a mission in Iraq, which will be his last before he starts the process of going on break. From the looks of him via pictures, he's lost some weight, but still looks like his same smiling self. :) I miss him so much, and I can't wait until I see him in the airport!!

Best wishes to all...


Amy

Address!

So below is Billy's address. My first package to him will have some homemade goodies (with the help of friends because I cannot bake), gum, loose leaf tea from teavana, and a little tea steeper, maybe a new book, ohh and his bible, since he left it here. Any other thoughts? I'm making a costco trip for him this weekend!! If there's something you want to get to him just drop it by my house and I'll send it with my stuff to him. :) I know Billy and his guys really appreciate it, even letters are awesome!!

SSG William A. Slater
1864th Trans Co. 1st PLT
Camp Arifjan
APO AE 09366

On the road again!

I don't have many photos on my phone right now, but here's one of my
gunner's hindparts hanging out inside our truck. This won't be too
long of a post; I'm sending it via my phone from a small camp in
Baghdad where we've stopped for the night along our route. I'm
actually surprised at prevalent wifi access has been on some of these
camps, but I still haven't had the inclination to lug my laptop around
on convoys yet.. (at least not until I get a sturdy case). As Amy
said, in a couple weeks we will be replacing our counterparts who've
been here for the last year, and who just recently have been training
us to take over their missions. I'm looking forward to moving into
their nice barracks and acquiring some of their stuff secondhand, eg
fridges, furniture, tv's, so we don't have to buy those things new.

**Update**
Well, I had a lot more than this tapped out on my little phone, but it looks like when I sent this post out to get published via email, it somehow got truncated by about half.. Bummer. Anyhow, I just said it seems like the roads here are much more secure than they were when I was here 4 years ago. The civilian traffic has picked up a little, and although that may add a little to the pucker factor, it's not a bad sign by any measure. It means they feel safer on the roads (I hope). I also wrote a little about my techie desire for a flexible or folding travel bluetooth keyboard for making blog posts via iPhone. Apparenly some people much smarter than myself have figured out how to connect a wireless keyboard to an iPhone/iPod touch to pass the keystones on as if they were tapped on the screen. Iphone typing isn't bad, but a full size keyboard would be awesome.

Anyway, I'll refine my methods for mobile blog posting, so I don't have to retype another post like this. I miss all of you, especially my little muffin back on Nunan street! (I love you!) I'm praying for you and I hope to be back home in a hurry! Love,
Billy

Kuwait

Two Sunday's ago Billy and his unit finally made it to Kuwait. Right now, they are in temporary housing/tents until February, then they move into their permanent barracks with internet access, etc. For the moment, we are doing fine, just trying to deal with the time difference, and the limited accessibility to internet and phone. The staff sergeant who preceded Billy gave him his Kuwaiti cell phone... so my little electronic savvy husband took it apart, and put the sim card in his iphone. So now, via Skype or Nimbuzz, which I've installed on my iphone, I can call him for about 14 cents/min. The connection is sometimes fuzzy, or the call drops, but we are learning to deal with it. It's much cheaper than him calling me, which costs about 60 cents/minute from his phone. It has been a blessing for Billy to have that sim card, especially since it's still going to be a while until he has regular internet access. The other guys in his unit are only able to communicate with their families every third day or so, which makes us very lucky. We normally talk for 2-3 minutes twice a day, once around 930pm stateside, 530am over there, and again around 700am stateside, which is about 3pm there. I'm very thankful to hear his voice and say hello and that I love him, even if it's only for a minute. Billy is taking lots of pictures (per my request) and when he has regular internet access, he'll share them with us. He misses everyone a lot and misses being here with us, but we keep each other's spirits up by looking forward to his next break, although we don't know when that will be. Well, it's getting pretty late and it's about time for me to check in with Billy. I hope this post finds everyone well, and Christmas and the new year were wonderful for all. Please keep Billy in your daily prayers, he needs all of our support and love. I'll post his address soon, he should be able to get it to me tomorrow.

Warmest regards,
amy

updates!

One week from today Billy and I will be in each other's company, probably sitting right where I am now. I'm looking forward to him coming home with all my heart, but in a small way it is a bitter sweet reunion, since his unit will be leaving the country soon. And I'm finding out that I really loathe saying goodbye to him. We aren't sure when exactly he's leaving, or where he'll be leaving from, so more than likely this will be the last visit we'll have until he is on leave at some point midway through the deployment. For Christmas Day we are going to Florence to be with our family. I wish we'd have enough time to make the trip to see Dad in Rhode Island, but he's only going to be here 3 days, and It'll be awesome for my mom's family to be all together and see him again before he leaves. Marisol is coming to Florence too, so she'll be a great addition to our Christmas!

Billy sent me this picture that I've posted, in fact he sent it just a few hours ago. They were bused out from Oklahoma to Arkansas for more training during these final days before he comes home. They are staying in tents and doing outdoors type training. Poor baby, I'm sure he's so cold! Well, that's it for now, Merry Christmas everyone!