Got a call on Christmas day, it was 11:00 pm his time so his day was just about over. He was trying out some of his French skills he has been learning so wished us a Merry Christmas in French. He had and interesting feast of I think it was goats liver, boar, and olives. There were a couple of other things I can't remember, but from what he was telling me I think they would chop up the goats liver and mix it with other stuff, then eat it on crackers, the same with the boar and olives. He didn't eat the olives, but did try some of the other stuff. My Christmas box didn't make it to him, it is such a hit and miss thing. The last one took 2 1/2 weeks where others have taken 3-4 days. He said he thought there would be stuff coming this week so hopefully it will make it. He has counted down that it COULD BE 12 weeks and he will be home. That would be nice!

Merry Christmas to all.

WE HAVE PICTURES!! I don't think they need any explanation so I will just post them. He keep saying it is a lot like Utah there and they think the pictures prove that. Enjoy.

One other thing I forgot to mention, when I asked him what he wanted for Christmas he said "American Food". He has no stove or microwave so use your imagination and come up with some fun stuff if you are sending him something.

Got to chat with Shane for just a minute this morning so thought I would post. He is in the process of passing another stone and has been working on it for 3 days. They won't give him anything for it until the pain gets worse, but he seemed to be okay with it. Other than that he is doing great.

Just as a heads up I sent him a package before Thanksgiving and it took two weeks plus to get it to him so if your are planning anything for Christmas allow plenty of time. I am thinking maybe I missed the convoy before Thanksgiving that was going to his base and it just took that much longer this time. He usually gets them in a week or less so I'm really not sure what happened this time.

Got a phone call for Thanksgiving and I know other heard from him too. The good new for me was that he will "probably" be home for this deployment by his birthday. That is about 6 week earlier than I was planning so am hoping that one becomes more than a rumor!!

We have new photos!! Most of them are just kind of random but I really liked the one of the tents. It really shows what life is like for him there. I am still waiting for one of where he sleeps. I am sending Christmas decorations this week so maybe he will send one of the festivities.

He has received word that he will finish his stay where he is now. I asked if his address is going to change and he said he hasn't been told that it will so for now things stay the same. He keeps losing his phone so I don't many calls, but he keeps reassuring me that he is doing fine.

Ramdom Photos

Huh?!

Caution camel crossing.

Looking out one of my tents

Well the phone call finally came. It has been way to long since I have had contact with him, but of course he told me not to worry he's fine. He has passed two more kidney stone's so there are two less of those to worry about. He is still at the French base and thinks he will still be there for a while. I asked if he thought he would go back to the other one for Thanksgiving and he doesn't think he will. I told him they had fed Jake lobster for Christmas so he maybe missing out on a great meal and he let me know they have lobster every Friday night where he is. He hasn't tasted it or the crab legs yet however.

He had been in a village and was waiting in whatever vehicle they were in and a little girl about 12 years old kept waving at him. At first he didn't think it was him she was waving at so he didn't think much of it. He finally waved back and she moved a little closer and waved again. He waved back and she moved a little closer again. After a couple more times and she then gave him the sign for money. She was hoping for some free hand outs!!

He still gets his packages in good time. I had worried about the last one I sent but he said it was in great shape when it got there. He loves getting mail and whatever else. So thanks to all of you that are supporting him.

My phone calls are becoming less frequent. Maybe he is running out of minutes!! I haven't actually talked to him, but the kids were on there facebook account and he was one so we "chatted" again that way.

He said he is still doing good and that he will be going back to the other base soon, but didn't know for sure when. I am figuring that he will be back for Thanksgiving.

I keep watching to see if I can catch him on line again and find out what is going on, but haven't had any luck yet. Just wanted to post and let you know that I have sort of talked with him and that he is doing good.

Finally the phone call, I was almost beginning to worry!! He had misplaced his phone but finally found it.

He always sounds so good, it is still so hard to believe that he is that far away. He is still on the French base and will basically be there most of the time. Keep in mind if you are sending him packages that it takes longer now to get to him as he has to wait for a convoy to come. Sometimes it can be quick, sometimes not.

We talked a little about the pictures that I posted previously. He is definitely seeing a world that is hard to imagine. I asked about the pictures with the village Elders and if they spoke any english and he said no that they go through and interrupter.

We had a lot to talk about so didn't really find out what he has been doing on a day to day basis. I do know that on the French base they are closer to their work and are able to get out and get some of it done.

He also said that he probably won't be coming home for the 15 days in Feb-Mar like he thought. His replacements start coming about that time and if he doesn't come he can save the time to use later and earn a littler extra money. It is so close to when he is coming home anyway. If it were closer to the holidays he would definitely be coming.

Didn't get a phone call, but Brett was on facebook at the same time as Shane so we I guess talked that way. He passed a kidney stone and said he got some French drugs. I asked if they were better than ours and he said they are the same, just have different names.

Now we can all see what the new haircut looks like also. I don't know if there has been growth since he did it, or if he is now keeping it short.

This picture tells it all for me. This is a picture of the kids in their classroom. We are truly lucky to live where we do!

This is him and one of his "French" buddies standing on a piece of artilery.

A picture of him with the village Elders.

Village girl holding her little sister.

Another quick phone call and a funny story. They were away from the base for a couple of days and packed lightly. The first day out he split his pants from the crotch to the belt buckle and those were his only pair of pants. I asked if he had safety pins and he said no he was just flapping in the breeze. He was glad he didn't have on flame boxers and I was just glad he had on boxers!!

Sorry I am late getting this posted. It has been a busy week. Missed a phone call on Sunday and then I think it was Tuesday when he called back. He is doing good as always. He is still at the French base as isn't really sure when he will be going back to the other one. They haven't been able to get and do much because of things going on in the area. I asked him if he is able to go out into the "shopping areas" and he said they do. They are kind of set up like a bazar and they just go from vendor to vendor. I asked if it was safe and he assured me that it was.

He said it was time for a haircut and on the French base they aren't set up like the US one so he did it himself. I asked for pictures so we will see if they come, but he went for the bald look! His computer time is very limited however so we may have to wait awhile for more pictures.

He has bought a self help French course and is hoping to learn enough French to pass a test in the military. He figures that now is a good time where he is living among them and can speak what he learns and put it to use.

I asked him if there is church there for him to go to and he said no. He is not aware of anyone else LDS on this base. It would be nice for him to have someone else there so hopefully that will happen for him.

Five more months and he will be home for a visit, but then who's counting!!!

Got another phone call last Thursday letting me know that the package had made it and that nothing was green. I could hear people yelling in the back ground "SEND MORE" so I think it was enjoyed by all.

He will be at the other base for at least two more weeks then back at the first one for about a week then back to where he is now. If you are sending packages or letters they have convoys that go that can take them to him so please keep supporting him. Thanks!!

I missed last weeks phone call, but he left a message on the machine. I couldn't hear it very good though so didn't post anything.

He has been at a French base for a couple of weeks now and is enjoying that. He told me sometime ago that they move his group there as it is closer to their work. He is enjoying the change, is enjoying new types of food and learning a few French words. I guess they (the French) wear really short shorts on base. He's not sure now long he will be at this base, so if a new address comes I will let you know. I said a package Fri. of last week and I am afraid all the homemade goodies are going to be green and fuzzy by the time he gets it.

He has been fighting a head cold of some sort, but said he was feeling much better that day. He also said he hasn't had much access to internet, not that he is good at writing, but hasn't even been able to get on and check things.

He sounded good as always.

Well the phone call came and it was good to hear from him. I was able to talk to him about the pictures so have updated the information on them. He says the weather is starting to get a little cold, he had to get up in the night and put sock on as he was cold. He will have snow for winter, so it is very much like Utah.

These two pictures are of the road project they are working on. I asked him what the pile of rocks in the fields are and he said just that. He did say some piles are for an old water system that runs underground, but he doesn't think these are them. The structure in the background are of another village.

He had been out again on these roads and he said that going out is always and adventure. They don't have driving school over there and the main rule is just that if your leg is long enough to reach the gas pedal you are eligible to drive!! He says it makes for some pretty interesting stuff. Both of these pictures are taken at the same place.

You can see some of a water system in this picture. He said this is like a canal they use and the water is a real blue-green color. You can see a little of it in the bottom left hand corner. He got other pictures of it, but he wasn't in them. He said there is a huge dam further up that is about two football fields high. The building in the back is a village that is close to Kabul.

My phone call came last Friday and I didn't know if I would get one this week or not and as of yet, no. He sounded good as always. We talked a little about the pictures he sent and so I updated the pictures explaining what we had talked about. It was late when he called and he had just climbed into his bunk so we didn't talk long.

You can see all the gear that he is required to wear when he goes out. He says it is about 100 lbs extra that he has to carry when he goes off base. I asked about the round cylinder on the gun and he says it shoots grenades. You can see that there is a second trigger that is used to shoot the grenades.

I asked him about the path that you can see in the back ground of this picture and he says that's they way it is all over. They really don't have structured roads like we do and these paths are as close as it comes to a road.

He says there aren't many cows, mostly goats that jump and get into everything. Most of the cows have these colorful bands around their necks. Andrea said they were like this in Costa Rica also.

Well it's Monday and the phone rang about when I exptected it. He sounds good and it's hard to believe that he is that far away. I still haven't received any pictures and I am running out of pictures of phones to post so am hoping for some this week.

He said he has been out on another mission and doing some other things. Much of the day to day stuff is the same. We talked for quite a while, but it was just "stuff", but wanted to post and let everyone know the phone call did come in and he sounds really good.

My call came Sunday afternoon this week which made it 2 a.m. for him. He had just left the hospital saying good-bye to someone in his unit who was being sent to another base for gall bladder surgery.

He has been attending his church meetings but keeps telling me he's going to stop going as they keep asking him to pray. He is just joking of course, I keep telling him this is his missionary experience. They have two different times for meetings and with his schedule he is attending an evening meeting. It is a smaller group and so prayer duty rotates through faster. I think he told me the earlier meeting has about 50 that attend, but the one he is going to is much smaller.

He also met someone who is at another base in the area that is trying to get church going at that base. They have 4 of them that are returned missionaries, but as of now they are doing only a study group. This soldier is working with the Branch President (I think that's what Shane called him) that is over Shane's trying to get things going at their base.

I did get his camera to him, but as of yet haven't received any pictures, I will post any as soon as I get them. He still sounds good.

Just for your information, I sent his box in one of the post office's flat rate boxes. If you are interested in sending him "stuff" especially with the holidays coming, you can but as much as you want into the box and the rate is the same no matter how heavy it is. I sent the box on Monday and he had it by Friday and it was $11.95 to send it.

I'm not sure what is going to happen when a Monday comes and I don't get a phone call. It is becomming a regular thing and it is good for me.

He should have his camera this week so hopefully we will get some pictures coming and see more of what he is seeing.

When I sent his package the postmaster was surprised how small his address was so I asked if he has received any mail and he has so it is a good address. (Grandma Cheryl he mentioned he got yours)

He sounds good and as each monday comes that is one week less until he is home.

I don't know if Monday morning is going to be my time for a phone call, but it has come in the last two weeks. It is always such a relief to hear his voice.

He had been out on his first "mission" this week which was to go and visit a high school we (the U.S.) is sponsoring. This was basically his first time seeing some of the country side, he said it basically reminded him of Dugway. He said they had got a flat tire on the way and were changing it right by someone cutting grain. This is when I wish he had his camera so we could get some pictures of it. Hopefully by next week. He sounded good and said everything is going good.

I am one of those people that look at my caller ID, then decide if I am going to answer the phone or not. Yesterday morning I got a call with a "weird" number, but decided to answer it. It was all static and my first words were "Shane is that you!" and it was.

He had his first meeting with the native people with the use of an interrupter and that was a good experience for him. I asked him if for the most part the people do want them there and he indicated that what we see on the news is just the bad, for the most part they are wanted and needed there.

His current projects are working on a road and a school. His said their traveling is very restricted right now because of the road side bombs . They aren't even allowed to drive in humvee's right now. I know I for one am okay with that!!!

His camera is broken so I am getting a new one on the way to him, so for now there are no pictures. He referred to his living quarters as a hut so it will interesting to see what's what when pictures do start coming in.

Was surprised, but pleased to get a phone call on the 4th of July letting me know he had made it and all is well.  His base isn't as big as he had thought it would be, but he said he is getting settled into his new bachelor pad.  He thinks he has broke his camera so I am working on that hoping we can get some pictures posted.

For those of you interested in

a physical address for Shane

while he is gone, I have it.  He

asked that I don't post it so if

you are interested e-mail Lyndi

or I and we can forward it to you.

Got a quick phone call from

Shane letting me know he

was scheduled to fly out at

3:00 a.m.  on July 2.  He knew of one

scheduled stop but wasn't sure

when he would arrive at his final 

destination.

I also received a new self portrait.  He said he was really tired this day.  I do think they keep him busy.  When he does call, which isn't often, the calls are short and end with "gotta go" and he hangs up.  He is looking forward to having this part of things done and getting the next part over with.  He will be home for a short visit the 4th  week of June.  He is also sporting his new sunglasses that he purchased to take with him.

Training Pictures

Received a few new pictures.  This is a Humvee roll-over simulator.  There are actually people inside of this Humvee, not Shane, but some of the people in his unit.  When he was in it he was the gunner in the back.  He said there is a place for him to slide into, brace himself with his feet and hands, and then the passenger in front helps hold him in place.  

After the ceremony Shane was basically free for the day so we went and had some lunch with him before saying good-bye.  

I am getting better at remembering to take pictures and even took one with me in it and that won't get posted, but I thought this one was worth putting up. (My kids probably don't think so!)