Sunrise and Sandstorms

On Easter Sunday, Justin lead the Sunrise Service for his battallion. Below, you can see that the service was well-attended. Worshipping God is always an awesome experience, but especially so at a Sunrise Service on Easter morning, as you're celebrating Christ's resurrection. Particularly so when you're so geographically close (comparatively) to where Jesus and other Biblical figures actually walked. I'm not sure who took the picture, as Justin should be leading the service and SGT Ross (his assistant) is actually in the picture (nearest the camera on the right).
Sandstorms are a common occurrence at Q-West, as they are in most of Iraq. The sand there, Justin has mentioned before, is extremely fine, almost dusty. He says it's nothing like the sand I know. This particular sandstorm blew in quickly and fiercely. Justin had time to climb atop something and catch the billows before they completely stained the air. What a powerful image!

Forgive me if I've misspelled anything in this post. I am up a little after 0200; Isaac is teething and possibly has a cold. Either way, he is blazing hot with a fever. I gave him Tylenol before bed and just gave him another dose 30 minutes ago. Isaac cut his first tooth today, which is probably why he's been restless and neither of us has gotten solid sleep the last three nights. As soon as he'll let me take a picture of it, I'll post his newest "first." Good night (or morning)!

"Widgets"

For those of you unfamiliar with blogging, all of the nice things you see at the right side of every page (our picture(s), Justin's address, etc.) are called widgets. Justin pointed out that I had a picture of him and me, and a separate picture of Isaac. He said I should update it with another picture from my computer, so I've done so! I can't believe I didn't think of this before.
I just spoke with Justin. He seems to be doing well. I received a letter from him not long ago telling me about some of the bible studies he's been leading. At some of them, he and his soldiers have been joined by some Kurdish Christians! This is super exciting for Justin, as he's always had a heart for this people group. He had to do a study in seminary, during which time he also filled me in on a lot of Kurdish history. I have to say, I am very happy for Justin to have this opportunity. God opens so many doors. Who would have thought Justin would get to minister to people other than his fellow soldiers? I did have to laugh when Justin told me about a mild language barrier. He said that one of the Kurdish gentlemen in attendance said, "We really have to stop and listen to you. Your accent is not like that of many English speakers!" Justin's Southern Mississippi accent isn't particularly strong but is apparently still detectable. Justin says he's taken some really neat pictures of recent sandstorms. He's sending them to me on a DVD. As soon as I receive them, I'll post them on here.

Happy Easter!

Isaac seems to have had a good first Easter. I'll post pictures with details from our day below. In a way, it was a bittersweet holiday without Justin. I took comfort in the fact that we were celebrating the same Savior across the miles. All in all, it was a good day.

I tried to use the timer on our camera to get a shot of Isaac and I together. This is the best I could get, as he was getting sleepy and spent most of the time diving for his thumb, which was behind my back. He's wearing the outfit Uncle Stan & Aunt Brittney gave him before he was born. I'm wearing a dress for which my mom got an amazing bargain -- what a shopper!

Isaac was very sleepy, hence the previously-mentioned thumb sucking. He went to sleep watching "Storytime With Daddy," a series of stories Justin read with Isaac before he left, as I finished getting ready. He is covered with the blanket Grandmother (Justin's mom) made him.

After church, we went to Rick & Diana's house (some friends from Sunday School) for Easter Lunch with their family and other friends. Rick has just gotten back from Iraq in the last month. He's holding Isaac in the picture below. Isaac took to him instantly, pulling on his nose, biting his finger, and otherwise letting him know he was an o.k. guy.

Isaac had just been presented with his first Easter basket. The Easter Bunny left it this morning, but Isaac didn't get it until this evening. He was too sleepy this morning, by the time we were ready for church, to pay any attention to the basket. The Easter Bunny left Isaac two cans of the melt-in-your-mouth cereal bits, one can of sweet-potato-flavored bits and the other corn-and-cheese-flavored bits. The Easter Bunny also left three eggs with some objects inside to help tell Isaac about Jesus's Crucifixion and Resurrection. The first egg contained a piece of our rose bush (thorns to represent the crown of thorns), the second egg a rock (to represent the tomb cover), and the third was empty, to symbolize Jesus rose again and is alive still today. It's never too early to begin teaching such important concepts.Isaac was puzzled by the empty egg. The other two eggs rattled and had something inside. Please ignore the huge strand of drool. This picture was just too cute.

Before anyone is alarmed, the Easter Bunny picked a very tender portion of our rose bush to include in the pink egg. Isaac listened intently as I read parts of the account of Jesus's crucifixion from Matthew. Thank you Rick & Diana for inviting us over. Thank you everyone for your prayers and concern. We truly are blessed!

Look Ma....No Hands!

This afternoon, when I went to Lynn's to get Isaac after school, we played in the floor for a little while. Isaac was getting very frustrated that his friend, Daniel, was crawling around. Isaac can't quite crawl yet. However, he did have a small victory today when he sat up on his own! Well, we helped him up, but he kept his balance.

Sitting up with just a little bit of help...

This is just a random picture of Isaac and I that I really liked. It was taken at Justin's parents' as we were passing through on our way to Tennessee for my Ninnie's funeral in February.