Update for June

Sorry for the lack of posting. It has been busy and with Cliff's situation, and how little he is allowed to talk about anything, it doesn't leave much for any kind of regular update.

He did post this on his MySpace page (June 6) so in case you haven't seen it...

Did I mention it is HOT here?

So I am almost at the half way point of my little trip with the military. Things have been good here. I have done a little traveling since I have been here in Iraq. Everywhere I go there is one thing all the places have in common. It is hot. I am not talking about "oh its warm outside I think I will turn on the ac from low to mid."

It is 90 by 8:00, and I am talking about in the morning! by mid afternoon we are looking at temps around 120. It is so hot I swear I could bake cookies outside my room on a rock. Now I do have it better than some of the troops here. I share a room with another Seabee. We have ac and I just found out he bought a TV. While you are outside you drink water or Gatorade every thirty mins. I sweat so much my shirts could be a salt lick for deer. I lose 3 to 4 pounds fluxuating every day in water weight. When the wind blows it does not cool it down. Instead it makes it feel like a blast from an oven.

Before I get caught up in my heat rant I have to say that today in the 9th anniversary of the day that I married the greatest woman in the world. I think its funny that we were married on D-Day but Sara doesent think so.

Everyone send me letters or email. You have my address or email if not
ask Sara for it. I love hearing from everyone.

Sweating in Iraq
Cliff

Caleb and I are fine, just trying to juggle work assignments and having him home for the summer. He has VBS this week at church and will start swimming lessons in two weeks. Then he'll have a week of daycamp I signed him up for and it won't be long after that when he starts school in August. The marbles are slowly going down - I actually have to tip over the jar for Caleb to reach them because they're lower - that's a good sign that it won't be long before this deployment is over.

Flowers and Bacteria Infections

That's what we've been doing this week. I've been trying to get our yard and flower beds in shape and our dog Sammy has a bacteria infection that had him pooping diarrhea and vomiting all over our carpet for the last two days. Thankfully, the vet put him on an antibiotic and after one day of the medicine, he's almost back to normal, and my carpet is breathing a sigh of relief.

Life continues on for the Horns - Cliff is on a mission in another location than his regular one and is enjoying the change of pace. Though I don't know what they're doing (of course), I do know it's different from what they were doing before. He also seems to be able to call a little more, every couple of days, for free, which has been nice. He said at this location they're allowed to work out for an hour during their workday and he has enjoyed getting back to the gym, though he admits that there isn't a lot to do after their work hours are over other than work out or watch tv, both of which I think he's getting a little tired of.

The heat is averaging 110 degrees or so each day, and Cliff and his buddies have gotten used to it, I think. He said that when they go inside to their rooms where the thermostats are set to 80, they start complaining it's too cold. He is drinking about 6 liters a day of water and has the greatest farmer's tan in the world. It will probably take years to even out. :)

I have stayed busy the last few weeks with writing assignments and projects and Caleb is winding up his first year of school. Three more school days and he will be done! We are all excited I think. I'm glad they haven't sent any more school work home to do - the weather has been so beautiful the last couple of weeks, it's been hard to keep Caleb focused. He just wants to play outside with his friends.

I am planning to keep him going with his reading and writing this summer so he'll be ready for first grade. He will be going to a new school, Longview Elementary. The town where we live is growing VERY fast, and his current school has run out of room in only four years, so they built a new elementary school and our neighborhood has been rezoned for that one. They will start back in the first half of August which feels really early to me, but maybe the summer will go by fast.

That's what I'm hoping anyway - once Caleb is back in school, it won't be long at all before we'll be counting down for Cliff to be home.

Well, I wanted to update everyone on how things are going. Please remember that Cliff does have email and does like getting mail, though he doesn't always (most often) get to write back. Sometimes he literally just has time to read an email, but he does like hearing from his friends and family. Email me if you need an address.

Please continue to pray for Cliff's safety and his health and that things will stay relatively calm here at home. We appreciate your support!

A New Week, A New Month

Two months are officially done, and we can now count on one hand the number of months to check off until Cliff starts making his way home. A lot of military wives count the days - that's too many for me. We stick with counting months, and using our marble jars.

The marble jars sit on our kitchen counter and have provided a good visual for Caleb. At the beginning of this year, after Cliff left for training in California, I put 300 clear glass marbles in one clear jar - one marble for each day we expect him to be gone - and every morning after breakfast, Caleb takes a marble and puts it into another jar. We are very close to the marbles being of equal height, meaning we're almost halfway there!

Cliff is doing fine. He said it is getting very hot now, in the low 100s, and they expect it to get to 120 very soon. The heat is causing some problems for him with his skin - he said his hands are very dry and cracked, and no amount of lotion seems to be helping. He's also getting cold sores on his lips because of the heat. But other than that, he is doing well. They are wrapping up the project they've been working on essentially since they got there, and should be starting some new things soon. I think he's looking forward to that.

Thanks to everyone who has emailed him and written him letters. Please continue to let him know he is missed. If you do not have his new snailmail address, please contact me at sarahorn2003 @ hotmail.com and let me know you need it. He does also check email, so feel free to contact him that way too, though he doesn't always have time to answer back.

We'll update again soon!

Another Month Says Goodbye

Well, we're at the end of April. One more month down, several more to go!

Cliff is doing fine; they are working hard and it is starting to get very hot. This morning when he emailed, he said it was raining, so they were working on other things than what they've been doing.

He gets to call once or twice a week and emails when he can get to a computer. He isn't traveling, they're in one place most of the time so that helps. He's been doing a great job writing letters, especially for Caleb. That has helped Caleb a lot.

I am getting ready to undertake a big project here - organizing our attic and getting ready for a yard sale! :) I was teasing Cliff, "aren't you glad I'm doing it now?"

I heard from Fox17. They are running the next part of the series May 7, 8 and 9. I'll do my best to post links as they're up.

As always, please remember that Cliff does get email, and he loves to hear from you. He does have problems sometimes opening e-cards, so standard email is probably best. Thank you to everyone who has sent cards and letters this month.

April Update

Well, sorry for the month of time that's passed since we last posted.

As I expected, March flew by. Caleb and I had a great time at the beach with my sister Karen for Caleb's spring break (which coincided with our birthdays), and Cliff made it to his destination in Iraq with no problems, and even got to call three or four times along the way.

I then had a writer's conference I went to in California which was wonderful, and Cliff's parents came and stayed with Caleb for the week. They were a huge help to us, as was my mom, and I am very grateful for all the support.

So, we are now in countdown mode and dealing with the new challenges as they come. I've said since Cliff left in January that it would hit Caleb the hardest after he left for Iraq and unfortunately, I was right. He's had a hard time with Cliff being gone the last couple of weeks since Cliff can't email or call nearly as much as he did when he was in California, and due to the classification of his job and his location, there is no web came or photos allowed, so we haven't been able to see him, which for a visually-oriented 6-year-old, that's hard.

But, we're taking it one day at a time, and Caleb's teacher has been wonderful with him, and I'm doing as much as I can to keep him connected to Cliff. We'll post pics when I have time, but we got a "Flat Daddy" made of Cliff - this has become a really popular thing to do for military families - you take a picture of your service member and get it made into a lifesize picture which is mounted onto foam board and cut out. There's actually a company that does them now, free for military families (though I think they're now charging shipping because of the demand), and all I had to do was take it to a craft store and get them to put it on matting board for me. Caleb likes carrying "Flat Daddy" around with him and he even took a ride in the car with us to dinner last night.

Cliff is trying to send more cards and emails to Caleb and let him know what he's doing, and assure him that he works more with bulldozers and building than with guns. Caleb has been worried about him getting shot, so Cliff was able to get a picture approved to send us through email that shows him in a bulldozer (will post when we can). That seemed to help Caleb quite a bit and he's had a much better week this week.

Cliff is working long hours and doesn't have a lot of access to a computer anymore due to some job responsibilities being shifted around, so we're hearing from him by email a couple of times a week and by phone once a week or so. He said the days are very long, and it's getting hotter. There isn't a lot of down time, that's for sure. One funny thing - he and some other guys are working on building an ottoman - he asked me to send some black "pleather" and batting to cushion it. The ladies at Joanne's got a kick out of that one. I hope he'll be able to get permission to take a picture of it. I'd love to see how it turns out!

I have been extremely busy finishing up ghostwriting projects for the one publisher I've been steadily working for. Just turned the last one in, and now I hope to do a little more freelancing. I've missed writing for magazines. Also, I'm turning my attention back to Wives of Faith and AGreaterFreedom.com. I know I've allowed myself to be distracted quite a bit with other things this past year, and I feel like it's time for me to get back to those - God has really laid it on my heart that that's what I'm supposed to be doing.

We'll keep you posted! As always, if you'd like to send Cliff a card or a letter, feel free to email me if you don't already have his address.

Thank you for your prayers,

Sara, Cliff and Caleb

We're off!

Won't be posting for a few days. We're headed to the beach in just a few minutes! Please continue to keep Cliff in your thoughts and prayers and us too. Even fun times are a bit bittersweet for me because I always think about Cliff and what he would be doing if he were with us.

I've turned off the comments until I get back. Have a great week everyone!

Playing in the Sand

Cliff has made it to his destination in Iraq. He actually was online yesterday when I jumped on to check email, and we were able to instant message for quite a bit. It was great to hear from him, and he is getting his bearings around their new base. He's got email/computer access now due to some of what his job entails, so that's a bonus and an answer to prayer. Usually, unless you have a computer you're required to work at, Seabees don't have much access to email/phone and have to wait in long lines when they can call.

For those that don't know, his group's mission/assignment changed a couple of weeks before he actually left, and it is heavily classified. This means no pictures and no specifics of what he is doing (no, even I don't know!), though we know it is construction, which Seabees are usually used for. The good side to all of this is I believe he is actually in a safer situation than he was going to be and he was able to say yesterday that it is much "cooler" in terms of potential action than they were expecting before they arrived. That's a very good thing.

He is bunking with one other guy who he doesn't know very well but he may get to move in with a buddy of his. He said the food is good and the work is long - a lot of hours in the day that stay busy. His biggest wish right now is DVDs of his favorite tv shows - The Unit, Studio 60, Criminal Minds, and of course Lost. I'm supposed to be burning all these to DVDs for him, saving them on Tivo, but I've been bad about finding the time to sit down and do it.

Yesterday, after I got off the computer with him, we headed to Caleb's birthday party. He turns 6 on Wednesday of this coming week and so we had a party for him at the local jumper place. 12 of his friends from school and church showed up and they had a blast. He got some great presents and had a wonderful time. It was hard not having Cliff there - he would have been on the jumper inflatable things with Caleb, and he always adds his special touch with jokes and making things fun but we videotaped and took pictures, so I hope I can make some videos for him soon and send them out.

While Cliff is experiencing his first full week in the sandbox, Caleb and I are also headed to some sand of our own. The beach! This week is Caleb's spring break, and also happens to be both of our birthdays (mine-the 19th, Caleb's-the 21st). Yes, I turn the big 30 tomorrow and my sister is flying down from NY to come with us. We were given a free 4 day 3 night package from Cliff's work so we're heading to Pensacola. Looking forward to some fun, though unfortunately, I have writing work that has to be done so the laptop is coming too. At least the office walls will change a little! :)

Thank you for continuing to keep us in your prayers. If you would like Cliff's new address, email me and I'll be glad to pass it on.

God bless,

Sara