Happy Thanksgiving from Liberia

Hello, and Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I hope you all have an enjoyable time with your families giving thanks for all we have. I too am thankful for so much. An excellent wife and beautiful, a perfect child, great family, terrific friends, and I am thankful to live in such a great country. Being in Liberia really makes you appreciate what you have, and I am so grateful for everything God has provided. We are so blessed to live in America and we should never take it for granted.

Today, I had the pleasure to take part in an Air Inserted Foot Patrol (AIFP). 11 Bangladeshi security troopers, the operations officer and myself all loaded up in a helo to go visit a town that is only accessible by air. The primary town that we intended to visit, Manu, did not have a suitable landing area for the helo to land. (I could have put it down, but they were siding on the cautious side.... which is fine) So we proceeded to our alternate location, which was the town of Baryata. Here, 1,000 people lived in 80 houses. Yes, that is on the average of 20 people per house. We talked to the town chief, the school principal and some of the elders. It was a good visit. While we were talking with the towns people, the Bangledeshi soldiers were "securing" the area. (aka sitting around the helo, smoking and joking) I forgot to mention that we also had a Bangladeshi film crew with us. They were filming what the Bangladesh battalions do here in Liberia. So, before we boarded the helo back here in Gbarnga, they all hid in the bush waiting for a signal. The signal they were waiting for was 3 short whistle blasts. On that signal, they all came running out of the bush and lined up near the helo in some kind of formation. I dont know if that is how they operate or they were just putting on a show, but it was pretty darn funny. So, after the talk with the locals we proceeded down to the river where they showed us their bridge. One thing that always confuses me is that the people always request better road access. These people do not even own cars! I dont get it!! I understand that having a road brings people, business, and more things into your town, but to request this over medical clinics, schools and water-pumps is beyond me. After about an hour and a half, it was time to leave. The Ukrainians were getting antsy to leave. I think the locals staring at their helo made them uncomfortable. Of course, as the helo was landing, the entire town came out and surrounded the helo. We were continuously surrounded wherever we went. So off we went and arrived back to the team site.

I do not have any plans for Thanksgiving. In a bit, I will make my daily sojourn to the gym and then come back here to enjoy the AC, the electricity and the internet. Around 7pm I will commence my feast and crack open a can of tuna, cook some easy mac, eat a few pieces of bread, and eat bananas to celebrate Thanksgiving. Not bad at all!! Last night we did not have power at the house, so I am hoping tonight it will return.

I am going to conduct a BBQ this weekend. It is a dual purpose BBQ: to celebrate Thanksgiving and to celebrate fatherhood! I am going to cook up a bunch of chickens and probably make some rice, cut up some fresh cucumbers and cut up some fresh pineapple for the dessert. Should be a good time.

The highlight of my day still revolves around the occasional picture and the few minutes of skype-time with Leyton (and Shannon) to watch her wiggle and talk. Apparently she is growing like weed! I still deeply miss Shannon and Leyton but I know they are doing well in VA.

I think that is about it. Here are some pics. Enjoy and again, Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is everyone that went on the AIFP with us. 2 Milobs and the Bangladeshi contingent

Inside the Mi-8 Helicopter

This is the bridge they use to cross the creek. This creek is also their only source of water.

This is the town from the air

Myself conducting the interview with the town's leadership

This was taken from our patrol on Tuesday. I made it through no problem, but my teammate wasnt soo lucky. We were here for a while trying to dig out. Good times.

Big Girl! Leyton is One Month Old!

I took Leyton in to get weighed and measured for her one month birthday: 9 pounds, one ounce and 21.5 inches.  So she is up two pounds and two inches from when she was born.  I have also discovered that mom's don't get sick days - I have been running a fever for two days, but Leyton still needs changing and feeding.  Grammy has been a HUGE help though.  Thanks Grammy!  Okay, on to pictures.  Hopefully they won't post so big like last time... not sure what happened there.

My Little Stinker Bell

So it's not that I have zero 'down time.'  Leyton does sleep, and she even plays in her crib awake for a bit and I have lots of other people to hold her when she wants to be cuddle pants.  But that downtime is precious and I have a list of things that need to happen in that time (shower, brush teeth, change clothes, walk dog, laundry, run, eat...).  So blogging doesn't happen nearly as often as I would like.  It is a priority high on the list today though, so here goes. 
Leyton is GROWING!  She has officially outgrown several newborn outfits.  Anything with the feet built in is too short for her.  She has loooong legs.  I am a little concerned because some of the 3 month clothes aren't really much longer.  Today is the last of her newborn diapers too and then she will be in 1s.  Her favorite toy is a bright orange stuffed Tigger.  He got her first coos and smiles.  But yesterday I got them too, and for much longer than Tigger can get.  When she is a happy baby there is nothing in this world more entertaining.
She eats like a champ.  We both finally have the hang of breastfeeding.... after lots of practise.  And she has no problem meeting her poop and pee diaper quotas for the day.  Her favorite time to go is still when the diaper is off.... the other night she got me, her, and the floor (I now stand to the side when changing her -out of the line of fire). 
She sleeps pretty good at night.  She gently wakes me up... unless I am being lazy, then she gets more bossy.  And usually she goes back to sleep after eating rather quickly, but not always.  And she takes a two hour lunch nap, which I LOVE.  Today I am running during long lunch nap.  I ran 30 minutes the other day and felt great.  More jiggly than I am used to but that is due to the almost 20 pounds I still need to shed.
Leyton loves riding in the car and stroller.  Fortunately we haven't had to take any rides for the sole purpose of calming her down.  So far offering to nurse her takes care of any crying.  I dread the day that no longer works.
She will be one month old on Monday, so I will post her height and weight after I take her in to get measured. 
We both miss Ryan terribly.  What a sad day when he left.  The two of them together was so sweet.  But we skype often and I send pictures and keep him updated.  Hopefully February will come quickly and he can visit again.  Love you Daddy!
Here are some pics, which I know is the real reason you check this blog :-)

On the way to the hospital the first time.... second time there was NO SMILING!

I'm a big girl!



Birthday Girls!

Mommy ordering lunch .... yummm, CAKE!

Skyping with Daddy in the hospital

Being born is sooo exhausting.

On my way home (what am I wearing?!)

Hi Daddy!  Picking Dad up at the airport

Love at first site!



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All together finally



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Best place to sleep

Missing home

I have now been back in Liberia for one week. Things are still going good, however, the intense heat has decided to visit. Now that the rainy season is over, it only rains about once every two weeks. And, with Liberia being only 6 degrees north of the equator, the sun is extremely intense and hot. This doesn't help while I sleep. I had to go into town and purchase a second fan for the evenings. I now have one fan blowing on my face, and the other fan is down at my feet blowing up my body. I think even if I had 15 fans, I still would wake up sweaty every night. It is just that muggy and hot. The office isnt much better. There are two A/C units in the office, but due to how hot it is outside, they are having difficulty keeping up. It is better then nothing. Really, the coolest place to be is in the cars. 3 of our 4 vehicles have good A/C's in them.

I was immediately placed back on the patrol schedule once I arrived, which is fine by me. With the rainy season upon us, the roads are now much better to drive on. They are still bad, but there is not a lot of standing water to transit across and the roads are not slick and muddy.

We made a trip out to the Guinea/Liberia border. It was a heck of a drive. Took around 4 hours to get there. Each vehicle (3 total) became stuck at least once along the route. The road was in terrible conditions. We try to get to the border a few times a month to talk to the"agents" that work there. We get the numbers of the amount of people that have crossed the border and the reason why they cross. Most legal crossers come for a few hours to visit family and sell small goods to the people on the other side. Most illegal crossers, which is the majority of the crossers, use the bush to cross. Guinea recently had some national election problems and they were anticipating Guineans to flee the country and travel to nearby Liberia. We also make these trips to the border to monitor the security situation and make sure no refugees are taking up residence in Liberia. We cant do anything about it, just get the information and send it to Monrovia.

Things at home seem to still be going good without me there. I miss being home and being there to watch Leyton grow. Apparently, she likes to smile a lot now and might be able to smile on command. The highlight of my day is when Shannon gets on skype and places the webcam on LC. I can watch her for hours move around and make her weird noises.

I think that is about it. Nothing really new. Just same old stuff in good old Liberia. Here are some pics, I know that is the real reason you guys all read this blog. Enough with my rambling :)

This pic was taken on 22 Oct 2010. This was me at the office watching Leyton make her grand entrance into the world. What a great day. I was so excited and still am.

This is at the Bangladeshi logistics camp where we eat most lunches. They had a lot of decorations up because the Force Commander was visiting that day.

A road while on patrol. Like I always say, these photos do not give it justice.

Talking to the folks from the town of Karfilee.

This is my teammate from Malaysia, Lazim.

This was on the drive up to the Guinea border. We went up there with a platoon of armed Pakistani soldiers, incase the locals became restless. As I mentioned before, the road was very bad.

Here are the Pakistani's, stuck in the mud.

This is the border of Liberia and Guinea. The man in the white shoes (immigration officer) is standing in Guinea.

This is the immigration office where they keep records of the people who cross into and out of Liberia.