Amazed by Nate

Warning: I'm about to brag on Nate!! Stop here if you don't want to hear it.

Nate is not a complainer. He asks for nothing (except coffee), and is perfectly content where he is (aside from missing me of course). He sleeps on a cot, never complaining even though I know it makes his back ache miserably all the time. And Baghdad is even hotter than Phoenix. It doesn't take much to make Nate content in his surroundings.

Lately, several kind people have asked me what they could send to Nate...what he needs that he can't get. They are insistent that he must have wants and needs that they can help fill, and I am grateful for this thoughtfulness. For weeks I have been asking Nate to help me think of things that he needs, to no avail. He has always told me he doesn't need a thing. Until last night. Last night when I asked, he told me he needed clothes of all sizes for both men and women, and for children. Odd request, I thought. He said that when people are injured there, the medics or hospital has to cut their clothes off. The poor Iraqi people do not have very many clothes, and he suspects that losing a shirt or pair of pants creates a burden. The amazing thing about Nate is that he doesn't think twice about this. It is all very matter of fact to him. He doesn't want a hero's medal for this, and may not be very happy with me for sharing. I love that about him. His joy is to save the world, one person at a time.

Thousands of men and women serve in Iraq, finding this same joy in helping the people there. We owe a debt of gratitude to these people who are not only soldiers, but who serve as our ambassadors to the world. They are content sleeping on a cot in the desert, away from their families, scorpions and snakes slithering about, while I sit at home complaining because there's a silly little cricket chirping in the corner.

Thank God for the tough ones who fight for people like me.

Nate Looking Tough

hot dogs and orange juice

Shelley left for Texas on Friday after a week long visit to Arizona. During her visit, I made good use of her mad decorating skills, we spent a lot of time at the DeKok's pool (always wearing SPF 45 of course, Papa), saw a rather humorous production of "The King and I" at a theatre across town, and took a girls only camping trip to Sedona - a trip that we will one day look back on as being fun. Just kidding. It was fun, but not without glitches. We were so proud of ourselves for going camping - just the two of us girls. We had it all planned out. Got the grub, and I don't mean sandwiches. We were going to eat well on our camping trip. We bought beef tenderloin, and I sliced zuchini that we planned to grill.

We got up Sunday morning and drove to Sedona heading straight to this beautiful 4 hour hike, and did the whole thing. By the end, we were ravenous enough that we were practically running to the car. We could hardly wait to get to camp, set up the tent, and eat a gourmet camp dinner of beef tenderloin and grilled zuchini. Well...we found the camp site just fine, and then things took a turn for the worse. The Camp host informed us that there was a burn ban - no problem (especially since we forgot the matches). We looked at each other with confident snickers, knowing we had conquered the burn ban problem with our electric griddle and nifty converter. Oh, and our camp site was right next to the camp hosts' who sat and wathed our every move.

This fact made it much more difficult as we tried oh so hard to be inconspicuous with the huge electric griddle and regular-sized 10-cup coffee pot, not wanting to give the impression that we were not "roughing it." Shelley handed me the griddle, got the extension cord, and as I plugged it into the converter, I head a beep and then a very small pop - the converter short circuiting I guess. Now we didn't have a heat source and there would be no coffee in the morning. Thankfully (I guess) we took along some hotdogs (no buns, but we did have some french bread). We each had a cold hotdog on french bread with lots of mustard, and orange juice that was supposed to be enjoyed with the eggs, bacon, sausage, and biscuits that we both looked forward to so much, reminiscing about camp breakfast on Sheets family camping trips. Here is a picture of all of the things we took on our camping trip and didn't get to use.

I guess this gives away the fact that we planned to watch DVDs on our camping trip. Oh, and we were too embarrassed to drag the laptop (for watching the DVDs), the coffee pot, and the griddle out onto the picnic table for the photo shoot. Too obvious. Notice there are no matches on the table. One thing we could have used that we didn't remember to take: flashlight. Who goes camping and remembers the coffee pot but forgets the flashlight and matches for goodness sake?

Thankfully, having no way to cook our food gave us an excuse to go into town: we needed ice to preserve our food. On the way in to town, we noticed an ice cream shop. After suffering through cold hot dogs for dinner (cold hot dogs are so much worse than hot ones by the way...SO much worse), we decided we deserved ice cream. We ordered a double dip on a waffle cone to share, and a DECAF coffee, which I'm pretty sure was mistakenly made regular based on the hours it took us both to go to sleep! Best ice cream we've ever had...hands down. It was homemade. One scoop of malted vanilla, and one scoop of gingersnap (homemade vanilla with cinnamon swirls and crushed ginger snaps). We'll have to go back some day to see if it's really the best ice cream ever or if we were just hungry for something besides cold hotdogs and OJ.

Actually (that's for you, Kara), we did have a wonderful time, and are sure that the men in our lives (Nate, Papa and the brothers) would be proud of the two of us for attempting to rough it, even if we did forget the matches and try to cheat a little. It ended up being a fun trip and no doubt a lasting memory. We are both thankful to our Papa for teaching us to be creative and to turn challenges into fun memories!

This is Shaggs enjoying some good cold hot dog and OJ. You can tell she loved it! The above photo was taken at a coffee shop where we stopped in for our much needed morning cup of coffee (or cream if if you're Shelley).

7 Weeks Down - 45 To Go

More than seven weeks have passed since Nate left for Iraq, and it has just flown by! I have spend the past three weeks in Texas, where I finished my last class in law school and hung out with my family a lot. Last weekend, I decided at the last minute to go to a John Mayer concert in Dallas with most of my siblings (Landon was in Oregon with Whitney's family and Kara was at home withe my sweet nephews). We had a great time at the concert, and then made the late night drive from Dallas to Abilene. Reminded me of the many times I made that post-concert drive in college. Great memories, but I have to say that I had a better time at this concert with my bros and sisters than I ever did in college. They are my best friends. What a blessing to have such amazing family!

Now I'm back in Phoenix enjoying the hot, hot desert summer! I'm working from home for a lawyer in West Texas. I'm liking the work so far, and LOVE the flexibility it allows, and I have some future plans up my sleeve, so stay tuned! My sister Shelley is coming to visit in a week or so and I can't wait to hang out with her! Yesterday, my parents, along with Gini, Cori, and Heather left for Zimbabwe, Africa. Please pray for their safety, and for energy. There is so much work to be done there.

I wish I could say more about what Nate is doing. Unfortunately he can't really tell me all that much. He is doing very well and loving his job, which he says is fascinating. He's still working long hours, but is not overwhelmed as he was in the beginning. He loves getting to take little trips outside the IZ. I can tell those are the highlight of his time there. I'll leave you with a few photos he has sent.

This is Nate shopping for my anniversary gift, which I love by the way!