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!!