Boy Did That Go Fast

Well here I am at the BTC Bagdad. My least favorite place to be stuck. The 12 days at home seemed to go by so fast. This is my last stretch. Dec 2nd is when my contract ends. It seems so far off. I still dont know if I will extend for another year. Or if I will evan have a job when I finally get back to base. If security is important in a job this is a bad choice. My R&R was so nice. I went skeet shooting for the first time. I did really well. Dina turns out to be a great shot. I will have to reconsider making her mad in the future. I had lots of church activitys, which i really needed. Now I am back to this place. I Get back to my base tomorrow if all goes well. Once I get back into the rythim my last few months will hopefully go by quick. I keep seeing real improvements here. Bagdad airport looks like an airport. It evan had a pa system. The A/C was evan turned on. lots of local people are using it. We still cant take pictures of it. But it has been rebuilt and looks pretty good. I saw bus service running to it for the local people. They still have a long way to go but there are signs of real progress. I hope after all the loss of life and pain and suffering there will be some peace for this place. They have been a war 2000 years Let all pray they are willing to try a new way. I am off to find something to do I have all day. There is not much around here but I will find somthing. Sadam built a flinstone replica community for his kids I hope to find it and get some pictures. I think we can tour one of the places. I will see
Love Jim

Homeward Bound Part 2

Well tomorrow I go home again. It seems like I just got back. So much has changed. Some of our very best friends have moved away. Steve, Holly and all 6 kids have been with Dina since we joined the church. And they have blessed us in so many ways. ( like the really nice grill they gave me when they left )They will be greatly missed. And my wounderful wife has remodeled the house. The surge troops are leaving and I may or may not have a job when I get back. This palce has been so HOT. And crawling around in the back of closded up vehicles is evan worse. My sister Cindy and her son LJ are on a great course. I hope to finish my contract but I will go were God wants me the most. This is truly a great experance. And what ever happens I am so glad I did this. I was talking to a local Iraqi Christian. I complain beacuse church does not start at the time I like. After his church is over some of the men have to go out and check the cars for bombs and the immediate area for gunmen that want to kill Christians. They only have 4-6 hours of electricty a day and high speed internet to them is 126kb a second. Once again I was humbled and realized just how good we have it. I wounder how long I can rember and appericat what I have after I get back. The scriptures are full of peoples that achived great status and fell beacuse they forget to give thanks to God for what they have. I have been writing in my journal, not as much as I should but hopefully enough. We seem to be coming to some sort of a draw down and soon it will be up to the Iraqi people as to what path they choose. I pray everyday they choose a path of peace and prosperity. So many brave people have paid the ultimate sacrafice, we all need to pray for them and there family. Off to packing and preparing I go.
All my love
Jimmyjoebob