Update from Sharon in Kuwait

The wind has stopped blowing. We have had a sandstorm blowing for 3 days. I am told this is called a Shahlam. Here's a link to some pics of a dust storm here last year.

Constant dust, dirt and sand blowing constantly everywhere in everything. This is a regular weather occurrence that lasts 1-3 days.The world as I know it is covered in sand, dirt and dust in my bed, my clothes, hair, skin. I am a bit weakened and rundown from working 7 days a week for months on end. And after what has amounted to inhaling pounds of dust and dirt, my lungs have become a haven for an upper resperitory infection. I cant breathe, coughing,and congested, general unwellness prevails. So, the Shahlam has ended and Inshallah (God willing) I will be leaving here in about 35 days.

I also attended a briefing, which is mandatory for all returning military and deployed civilians. The briefing includes information on financial issues and a chaplain's briefing on readjustment to normal life and suicide prevention. Last month 24 soldiers committed suicide. The highest suicide rate for one month in history. What can someone say about such things? I ask you to think about this issue with your heart and spirit. I think the number speaks for itself. For every
soldier who commits suicide, friends, family, wives and children are left to bear the pain.

So, not only 24 soldiers committed suicide, if that does not give you pause, 24 families were decimated to the point of despair and lifelong heartache. You must hear this with your heart. Enough Said!

As-salaam Alaaikum ( Peace be upon you/Peace be with you )

Sharon's journal from Kuwait (Part 5)

I've got a busy week coming up! (Nancy, not Sharon - although I'm sure she's busy too.) She's busy helping soldiers in much less happy ways than I get to help people around here. I'm glad she's there to help.

• I helped with a 1/2 day event at work today
• Planning a (post-holiday) Ladies' New Year dinner for 13 for Monday night
• Coordinating all the food for a Ladies' Sneak-Away local retreat at our church for around 120 next Friday/Saturday.

Needless to say, there's a lot to be done. Pray for me for stamina, focus, creativity, attention to detail and lots of volunteers. I didn't plan it this way, they just all kind of fell close together on the calendar. So instead of writing more about me, I thought I'd post a new journal entry from Sharon in Kuwait. Here are a couple of pics that she sent too.

FROM SHARON'S JOURNAL:
Outside the wire there is nothing. Nothing but dirt, dust and sand, nothing. The perimeter wire is a very tall fence topped with razor wire, like the ones surrounding prisons. Inside the wire is more sand, dirt, dust topped by concrete buildings, beige tents, blast walls, bomb shelter bunkers and military tactical vehicles.

But there are small signs of life. Underneath a camouflage net, a little way from the bunker, a watermelon seed grows in a pot placed on a homemade picnic table constructed from scrap lumber. I am told that a soldier who planted it now lives at Walter Reed VA Hospital as a Wounded Warrior. He was so desperate to see something grow he dug the seeds from his watermelon at lunch one day. He found a pot and some dirt and planted the watermelon seeds. He nurtured and watered the seeds, until he got wounded and was sent to the hospital.

His battle buddy found the plant while cleaning out his friends hooch after he was injured. He brought it down to the table for sunlight, where he waters it regularly. The watermelon plant is now 3 inches tall and growing here in a war zone, in the middle of the barren desert, inside the wire of Camp Arifjan. There is a sign of life here now. A sign of growth and nature. A thing to be nurtured and cared for and coaxed into creation. A seed of Hope and Faith . A spark in this place of dreary lives and landscapes. A seed is growing in this place. Imagine that, a seed growing, so tiny and fragile.

Growing the way all of life and hope begins, from a tiny seed.

Quite a different world she lives in right now, huh? Pray for her as well, for stamina, creativity, compassion, patience and that she continues to see God's beauty in such a desolate place.

If you want to read more about Sharon's journey go here.

Note from Sharon in Kuwait (Part 4)

Laying in bed one morning, peacefully sleeping in my pod/cell/closet and I hear the camp-wide loud speaker screaming...
"Wha, Whaw, WHAW"
"Put on your gas masks. Put on your protective gear."
"Put on Your Gas Mask! Put on Your Protective gear!"
"PUT ON YOUR GAS MASKS! PUT ON YOUR PROTECTIVE GEAR!

While I am stumbling and fumbling around my pod wondering who is screaming at me and why and where the hell is my gas mask and gear. Wondering if I am dreaming and thinking it may have been a good idea to take the gas mask out of the box and try it on previous to this
insanity. My heart begins to beat a bit faster and I am now fully awake.

The next voice I hear says, "This is an exercise. This is only an exercise."

What a rude awakening! I cuss to myself and go back to bed. I return to my sleep thinking about what kind of crazy life I got myself mixed up in this time.

More posts about her adventures here.

Sharon in Kuwait - Part 3

Here's an update from Sharon. I'm pretty far behind on posting her communications, but don't want to bury you with information, so I'll continue to inject these as time/space allows. If you want to catch up on previous posts, go here.

From Sharon,
"Yesterday, when I came into work we had a message from a wife who reported that her husband had told her he was wanting to end his life. This is a desperate situation for a soldier with a gun. We began to work on locating this soldier. We found his command in Baghdad about 30 minutes after we received the emergency message. Command will find the soldier and take steps to protect him from himself. I hope we found them in time. I may have made a difference to that one.

Through out my shift I pass messages relating to the death of grandparents, actively dying parents, brothers and sisters in ICU and children's tragic accidents. Any form of tragedy, illness or death in every form imaginable passes through the Red Cross and we handle the cases for all of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. We also assist Afghanistan and Iraq by locating service members with a secret security locator program that is supposed to track all service members. Here in Kuwait we pass about 30 emergency communication messages per day.

At the end of my shift yesterday, I was sent a message from Afghanistan that they were having difficulty locating a soldier. The address provided by the family was in Afghanistan, the locator system provided data indicating he was in Kuwait. I was torn on how to focus this search. I made two phone calls here to reliable connections and they did not see him anywhere in the system. The locator system for this soldier had not been updated since April so it was hopelessly outdated and unreliable as a resource. In the meantime his mother was actively dying and I wanted desperately to help him get home before it was too late. It is important! But I did not know where he was and my resources were wearing thin. I made a decision. I believed that since the locator system records for him had not been updated for him since last April, he was probably here when he first came into the theater and had moved out to Afghanistan. I dispatched the emergency message back to Afghanistan with a few more bits of information that I had picked up from the locator system. I hope they found him. I hope he got home in time to see his mother before she died...I hope.

I went home last night with specters of soldiers wandering lost and alone in the desert darkness. I know that this is probably not true, but it feels that way from here sometimes. The Air Force is always able to locate its members, they have a very good system.It takes us only 2-3 calls and as many minutes to locate Air Force service members. The Army has much to be desired in this area. Sometimes it takes as many as 20 hours and as many phone calls to locate an Army Soldier, but 99% of the time we do find them. Sometimes they get to go home and spend the
last few minutes , hours or days with there loved ones or they are able to pay their respects and attend the funeral. It makes a difference to those ones.

News from Maui
So we're in Maui now. As you can see I had time this morning to change my background. Today and tomorrow are free days for us to do whatever we want. There's so much more to post about, even though we've only been here since Thursday night. I won't be able to catch up on my sister in Kuwait until we get back because her last few emails are on my computer at home and once they're downloaded there, I can't get to them from here.

I have some pics of Christmas decorating at home and at my sister, Diane's for her birthday celebration with her grandkids and others. There are a few cute ones of the kids...I'll get to those at some point. I'll try to post some of my home decorating on the 15th for the Christmas Tour of Homes (at right). I'm sure mine will be minimal compared to others there, but it will be fun anyway. Linda, you should do it too.

I was also trying to do "Journal your Christmas" posts along with Amy, but we'll see if time allows for that. I have a few started, but it will just depend. It seems kinda crazy to be sitting in the room doing this when it is absolutely gorgeous outside and so far, I haven't found a wireless connection at the beach or the resort. I am a little stuffed up since yesterday and and I haven't figured out yet if it's a cold or allergies. So far not too big a deal. Just pray that it doesn't get worse and that it goes away VERY soon! Fortunately colds don't usually last long with me, but I know there have been some mean ones going around.

In the interest of time, here's a very brief summary of our group activities so far. As we go along this week, I'll also introduce you to the couples that we're traveling with.

When we got off the plane from Phoenix, our hosts, Steve & Barbara (pictured below) greeted us with welcome lei's at the airport. The large flower pictured is actually not real, but looks like it. It's attached to a hair clip, so I can wear it again and again.

Thursday night was just getting settled in.

Friday morning, we left for the heliport at 6:15 am (9:15 AZ time).

Left the heliport in 2 luxury vans for the Tempation Tours 5 hour drive (including stops) down the road to Hana. We drove along amazing coastline, thru rainforests, and beside gorgeous streams and waterfalls.

We saw hundreds of flowers, including 6 foot high poinsettia's growing in someone's yard. I've never seen that before!

Some brave folks from our party went swimming in this freshwater swimming hole at the base of a waterfall. It was pretty cold so we didn't go in.

Our leisurely drive ended at a beach in Hana for a wonderful lunch of chicken, mahi, rice, fresh pineapple, caesar salad and macadamia nut cookies.

After lunch we were taken to another heliport in Hana to catch the helicopter for our 35 minute flight back with a few detours to see some amazing waterfalls, coastline, etc.

We came home, freshened up then joined the group for sushi and an amazing dinner at the Hyatt hotel next door overlooking the beach.

Steve & Barbara treated us to all of this on the first day! They are such a dear and generous couple. What a blessing to be working for them and not only because they are taking us on a trip like this! They are so kind, encouraging and giving of themselves in so many ways. I love that I get to help them and help the non-profit ministries in the office too.

The background on this picture is the view that we saw from our dining spot on the patio. The ocean is right there!

O.k., as I said, I need to get going. We need to go to the store to buy some food for the meals that we'll have at home during the week.

Kuwait rewind...
My sister pointed out that I missed posting her entry about Bangor, Maine and since it was one of my favorites, I'm going back to post it. This was when she was on her way from the U.S. to Kuwait. Read the description below, then watch the video. She's not in it, but it's an example of what she's talking about.

November 7th, 2008
After leaving Fort Benning, Freedom Hall, we flew to Bangor, Maine. Upon departing the plane and entering the terminal we encountered a long line of people shaking our hands and offering free cell phone calls home. Men and women of all ages, even a little Cub Scout volunteer to greet the incoming and outgoing soldiers coming in and out of the theater of operations.

As I walked through this line of well wishers I began to cry for the second time today. The dedication of this group of volunteers is astounding. Most all military soldiers depart and enter the US through Bangor Maine. So this is the last and first thing we see in the United States. This group of caring people who have been meeting all planes, every flight, every day for over five years. They call themselves the Maine Troop Greeters. After shaking all their hands, we were invited to the greeters little office in the terminal. There they provide cell phones to call home and say good bye to family and friends before leaving the US. What a gift!!!

Inside their office they have snacks, candy, sandwiches, etc for free for all soldiers and Department of Defense personnel. I called home and left a message and then called my mother(of course). I listened as some of the officers tried to make a donation to the greeters. They refuse any offer of contribution from all soldiers. Their funds come from outside the military circles.

After a couple hours we were loaded back on the plane, all weapons were counted and we were on our way. I would not encourage anyone to contribute to any cause besides the Red Cross, but if one is so inclined to give a little more this would be a good place to contribute. imagine every plane in and out of the US filled with soldiers and support on their way to who knows what, is offered a warm heart, a call home and a full belly that shows them that the people care and are supporting them on their journey. A gift from the heart to the heart. These things make a big difference in a soldier's journey. Some citizens may not support the war, but we absolutely must continue to support the troops. I must admit that prior to this journey I was not always proud to be an American and I was reluctant to affiliate myself with the military. Today, after my experiences these last 7 weeks, I can say that I have great hope for these United States of America and that the soldiers in our military are great people, each individually bring honor to our country and our lives. God Bless America!

Note from Nancy: Isn't that amazing! You can read more about the Greeters at the web link above.

By the way, I've been posting more than usual lately, and I know everyone's been busy, so be sure to scroll down to see if you've missed anything. I miss seeing your comments.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I hope your day was filled with the joys of family & friends!

We had a relatively quiet day, compared to other years. We had only 7 here for dinner compared to 20 or 30 in the past. Amy & Andrew are in So Cal, Kevin is in the Middle East, my sister, Sharon is in Kuwait, Ashley & Russell were at Ashley's parent's house, Lisa was with the Strattons and Hope & Steve were with Steve's family.

So dinner time was Terry and I, my mom, Diane, Pat, Sharon's boyfriend-Steve and Sharon's son, Dustin. It was a nice group. Dustin was kind to put up with us older folks with no other young people around. He's growing up to be quite a handsome young man (see below). He's in ROTC right now and wants to be a pilot someday.

Steve was so sweet to bring Diane and I early Christmas presents (which he didn't need to do) but he's going to be out of town at Christmas and said he wanted to. He got us each beautiful serving dishes that we can use for entertaining. I can already picture when I'm going to use mine. Steve's so thoughtful. Sharon finally has a great guy! He's the one in the blue shirt talking on the phone. I wanted to get a picture of him on the phone to send to Sharon so she can see what he looks like when she's talking with him.

There are also pics here of Mom, Diane & Pat.

We were thrilled to get a phone call from Kevin early in the day too!!! We had been trying to figure out a way to connect with him, but weren't sure that it was going to happen. We had a chance to talk to him for a half hour. It was so great to hear his voice! We got to find out a little bit about what it's like there, although he can't tell us what he's doing. He says he might be moving to a different location, so he doesn't want us to send anything for Christmas until he knows his new address. I may send a few things anyway, just on the chance that he'll get them at Christmas. I'd hate for him to be without anything to open. We miss him.

Sharon called too and I got to talk to her for just a few minutes. She's a bit homesick and wanted us to take lots of pictures and send them to her. I'll be printing out some of these and others from our day together and sending them to her. We missed having her here with us.

We tried to call Amy & Andrew, but only were able to connect with them for a few minutes. We missed them too!

Ron & Bunny stopped by for a little while in the evening and we got to catch up a little bit on them and the family. It was great to see them.

Here's a picture of our nearly 24 pound turkey. I have this amazing recipe where it cooks overnight and turns out delicious...and it was!

This Grandma Perkins Pumpkin Patch sign always reminds me of Thanksgivings with my own Grandma Perkins and the extended family in Ohio. We would have tables and tables of people and food and homemade pies. I had so many cousins that I really barely knew many of them, but we'd all get together on Thanksgiving at my grandma's house for dinner and visiting. My uncle would sometimes go out and hunt rabbits after dinner (poor rabbits) and the cousins would all hang out together outside while the aunts and uncles would catch up on the latest family news.

I'm so thankful for all the blessings that God has bestowed on me thru-out my life and especially what he's sent our way this year. I trust that you're able to consider all the big and little things that God has allowed to happen or has protected you from in 2008 and thank him for his loving care. We serve a gracious God! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy 24th Birthday, Miranda!

We interrupt the Kuwait updates for a very important event. Miranda's birthday and bon voyage party! We were privileged to be invited and are blessed to be able to share life with this sweet young woman.

What a fun party too! Her mom, Linda spent countless hours making so many delicious treats for everyone to enjoy. Take a look at that table!

She also served awesome fresh-baked bruschetta in 3 flavors. One with fresh basil, tomato and mozzarella, one with brown sugar, cinnamon, sliced pear and brie (I think that was my favorite) mmmm, and another with cranberry sauce and bleu cheese. It was good, but I'm not a bleu cheese fan, so my least favorite. She did an amazing job with everything, food and presentation. What a treat!

After a bit of mingling they had everyone go outside and several people spent time affirming Miranda and letting her know just how much she is loved. This is always so touching to watch and be reminded of the unique qualities that God has given to the guest of honor. I would love to share in the affirmation, but I get so emotional just watching, that I'd never be able to articulate how I feel about the person. I just have to do it in writing, otherwise no one would understand a word that I said.

Miranda is a special young lady! Intelligent, funny, sweet, kind, caring, and a lover of God. She's independent, talented and self-confident. I hope she was reminded of all those things and so much more on Saturday. Here's a picture of her proud parents, and they have every reason to be.

We're so excited that she is getting the chance to go to college near London for a semester. What a great adventure! I wish I was going with her or at least going over to visit. We'll be praying for a rich and wonderful time for her there.

We love you Miranda! Happy Birthday and Bon voyage in the coming months!

My sister in Kuwait - part 2

Written Nov 14 - In the first few days at Fort Benning we continued through the various stages of processing. We had meetings with lawyers, chaplains(not a very nice one) security, finance, medical plus vaccinations for anthrax, typhoid, flu and small pox. We were issued uniforms, gas masks, Kevlar helmets, bulletproof vests etc. We attended trainings on IEDs, Geneva Convention etc. etc. etc.

Finally came the day when we were ready to deploy with thousands of green duffel bags laid out on the ground plus all personal belongings, the bomb dog came around to inspect everything. The duffel bags were loaded by baggage detail volunteers onto two semi trucks and we were
bussed to Freedom Hall.

Now Freedom Hall is an experience in itself. This is a huge building specifically built to send out the Troops. It is amazing! Very high ceilings with huge flags from every state overhead. Hundreds of very comfortable recliner lounge chairs on each end and 8+ huge big screen TVs above the chairs.

I was laying on the floor because although there are hundreds of recliners it is still not enough for everyone and we as a Red Cross team were sharing a chair. While laying on the floor an old veteran came to me and shook my hand and told me, "Thank you for your service." and I began to weep. I don't know why this makes me cry, but it does and my eyes are leaking as I write this sentence. Across the hall and old military man sat with a tables full of books that he had collected from donations and were given free to anybody in Freedom Hall. This too touched my heart.

After we were there a few hours, they herded us in to the "Ready room", well I was not quite "ready". In Freedom Hall I had a lounge chair, free books and a huge TV with Obama's first speech being aired. I was content to stay at Freedom Hall. It was the best place I had been for some time. But off we went to the Ready room, which is wooden bleachers in a small auditorium...

I will end this today because I must go to work, but next time I will tell you about the trip across the world, it was close to hell, but that is the rest of the story. TATA for now.
Love you all so very much. Sharon

My sister Sharon in Kuwait

I don't think I've mentioned too much about my big sister, Sharon recently, except maybe the fact that she's in Kuwait. She just left the U.S. a few weeks ago to go and work for at least six months for the Red Cross as an Assistant Station Manager over there. I'm very proud of her that she's following her dreams and stepping out of her comfort zone. She's a year older than I am and has left the safe soil of the U.S. for the first time in her life.

Now she's started to send updates on her experience via email. She was supposed to be blogging, but she's new to it and I guess it's just too much to think about with everything else that's going on, so she gave me permission to post her emails. In some cases, I may leave out some of her personal commentary, since this is a public forum and I don't want to get anyone in trouble, but I have been enjoying her journey and thought you might too. She's not sending pictures yet, but I'll see what I can do to get something to look at...we'll see.

This photo above is from a recent trip that the 3 sisters and my mom took to Breckenridge this summer when Sharon had the chance to fulfill a dream of going sailing. Needless to say, you can tell from her expression that she LOVED it!

Here are a few of her updates to catch you up:

Oct 31 Note: Leaving this morning for Fort Benning, Georgia (U.S.) to be issued military gear and then on to Kuwait. May be out of touch for a few weeks. Limbo is a strange place to be. You live in my heart and go where I go. Be well. Be happy. I should be back online by November 15th or so. Write or something. Love Sharon

Oct 31 Activities: Arrived at Fort Benning. Very sparse quarters, 4 to a room with bunk beds and lockers. "Gas chamber" style showers. Lady next to me snores worse then me, if that's possible. Met a guy on the way from Atlanta to Fort Benning that was Arabic translator with Jewish name who was Catholic, born in Iraq, raised in Chicago and now living in Modesto and working for the DOD as a linguist who speaks Babylonian, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, and English. Talk about multicultural! Does he know who he is when he gets up in the morning? Interesting people... DOD and contractors make a lot of money out here in the theater. Figure a minimum of triple any normal salary for any job. If you make $50,000 per year as a civilian, the same job with DOD here pays $150, 000. If you're willing to sell your life for a year or more big money can be made quickly, triple any civilian salary plus some. Check it out on militaryhire.com or USAjobs.gov under the Department of Defense jobs.

Nov 1 Activities: Life is strange. This morning they line us up behind the military and we hear, "Attention - left face - march!" and I crack up laughing out loud. I don't know anything about left face or marching, that was not in my training in DC. They like to laugh at our inability to do what they do naturally. I wake up in the mornings and it all seems so very unreal. What happened to make love not war, and here I am living in a barracks with mess halls and firing barrels. One never knows where they will end up. God has a sense of humor, that much I know is true. Population here is one third military, one third DOD civilians and one third contractors.
[Note: if you knew Sharon, you'd know that the laughing OUT LOUD is very predictable. She has a hard time keeping the status quo...she's a rebel against establishment at heart, so following all these rules has got to be driving her crazy.]

Nov 10 Note from Kuwait: Fort Benning and the trip here were hell, but things are settling down as we get better situated in Camp Arifjan. Camp Ali Al Salem was very spooky and surreal-"The gateway to the middle east". We got here sometime Saturday or Sunday, lost all track of time for awhile. 6am or 6pm ? I could not tell after a while. I am now working 3pm to 11pm shift. I will write more later this week.

That's it for now. More installments to come. Since she's already written a few others, I'll try to post them daily so be sure to come back often to catch up.

Check out these great cards and stuff!!

I stumbled across these really cute cards and magnets in a shop in Breckenridge.

The creator is Leigh from Curly Girl Design and she has a very inspiring collection of products.

She has cards, magnets, prints, t-shirts and even a calendar. You can order her things online and she also has a listing of stores around the country with some in our area, so check it out.

I bought the magnet shown here when we were on our road trip. I could think of many great candidates to receive it, but just wasn't quite sure who it would be. Last night the light bulb came on. I'm going to give it to my sister, Sharon who is leaving in a week or so for Kuwait to go work for the Red Cross for about 6 months. I can definitely say that it's her goal to save the world in one way or another. I'm very proud of what she's doing. I'll write more about her soon.

Breckenridge - Arrival Day
Today we drove from Farmington to Breckenridge, Colorado. We left the hotel around 10:30 am, arrived in "Breck" around 6 pm and had dinner at Bubba Gump's.

It was a nice drive. We stopped at a little roadside fruit seller to pick up some delicious peaches and gala apples. Mmmmm...is your mouth watering?

Everyone's tired of sitting in the car, and we're planning to split the drive home into two days as well. Overall, though it all went smoothly. We had a little rain, but it was no problem. We saw some awesome cloud formations, and a little bit of a rainbow, but it didn't really show up in the pictures.

The high in Breckenridge today was 70 degrees with a low expected tonight of 38!!! Can't wait for the cold! It's a classy little town. I'm not sure I'd want to be here during ski season. I was just looking at a website for the population and it looks like it has just under 3000 permanent residents, but the population balloons to over 30,000 during ski season. Wow! I'm sure it's not near that right now...maybe 5-10K or so. There are bunches of shops, cafes and galleries downtown, which is just a couple of blocks from where we're staying. Easily within walking distance for us girls (but probably not mom). We're looking forward to doing some browsing, and maybe I'll even do a little Christmas shopping. Any suggestions?

I think this picture of Sharon after our long drive is just hilarious. She looks like a puppy waiting for a treat or something. I promise I'll post some better ones of her during the trip. I need to remember to post about her upcoming trip to Kuwait. She will be there from November 7th to the first week in April 2009 working for the Red Cross. Pretty cool, huh?