More Photos From Iraq

Here are some recent photos from Iraq. This first one is very interesting to me. During the Iran/Iraq War from 1980 to 1988, Saddam Hussein commanded his soldiers to bring home the helmet of every Iranian soldier he killed. Then he built a monument called Crossed Swords to celebrate his alleged victory over Iran. The helmets of thousands of Iranian soldiers are piled high around the base of that monument. Some of them can be seen in this photo. What can't be seen in this photo are the bullet holes and other scars caused by shrapnel or some other violence that ended the life of the wearer. This monument is inside the Green Zone.

This one was taken at a meat market in the Diyala province. Note that there are no women in this photo. This is one of the most obvious oddities about the Middle East in general. There just aren't a lot of women out roaming around or running errands in public. Interesting.

Nate sent me this photo that he took on one of his trips.

He titled it "doomed sheep." No doubt! Poor little thing.

When I was in Jordan, I saw some men slaughtering a sheep

and gutting the poor thing for Iftar (evening meal during Ramadan).

When I tried to take a photo, the men began to shout and sneer

at me. I guess maybe taking a photo of the iftar lamb makes it unclean?

I quickly put the camera away.

Happy News

After a few weeks out of the country, I am back and ready to update again. There's not much to update on the Otts, but I do have big news from the Sheets Family. My little brother Landon is engaged! He proposed last weekend in Sedona, and I was lucky enough to go along to take pictures of the BIG SURPRISE! Whitney was completely surprised by the proposal itself, and even more shocked when we walked into my house and found her parents, my parents, and two of my sisters in teh living room. Way to go Landon! We all had a great weekend celebrating, and can't wait to celebrate with the whole of our families next summer! Here's a picture of the happy couple.

Nate is still working his tail off in Iraq. He is learning a lot about a lot of things, including how to survive on almost no sleep. It seems like things are looking better in Iraq in general. The rate of violence has dropped in the past few weeks. We are still praying for victory in Iraq so that all of our men and women can come home.

It's been six months since Nate left, so we're half way there...almost. I'm counting the days until we see each other for Nate's mid tour in South Africa. He'll be home the first of May. This year deployment thing is not easy. The missing each other is the hardest thing, but there are other things that are difficult too. Things like trimming trees, pulling weeds, taking out the trash, cleaning the floors, making coffee in the morning. Having Nate gone makes me realize how many things he does around here. Things just aren't as easy, or as much fun, without him here.

petition for a friend

Some of our dear friends adopted a precious little boy from Guatemala a year ago. After a wonderful adoption experience, they decided to adopt a little girl, also from Guatemala. They just received photos of Izabelle, the little girl that will one day be their daughter. Days later, the Guatemalan government announced that it is ceasing all adoptions as of 1/1/08. Sadly, this illegal action by the Guatemalan government will prevent our friends from picking up their little girl. I haven't experienced this, but I know this is painful for our friends who would give anything to hold their little Izabelle. Please click here to sign a petition asking our government to take every step necessary to intervene.

Lunch on the run. Takin' care of business. Lounging on Saddam's throne with a British chap.