Chris is doing well...keeping busy but surviving none the less. I was talking to him the other night about how thinking about him over there in the intense heat and poor living conditions is rough for me. He surprised me with his response. In comparison to a lot of other people, he says he's got it pretty good. He says he usually has three meals a day, a shower at least once every other day and a means to call home. He says that in comparison to his last deployment where he filled his time with busy work that did nothing to stimulate his brain, this deployment is full of actual work. That makes me feel better because I know that Chris thrives on intellectual stimulation and he drives himself crazy when he doesn't get it. He's the guy that if he isn't watching a movie, he has on the discovery channel or the history channel learning about some weird aspect of 'Time: The world we live in.' I wish that there was more information that I could tell you but of course disclosing any sort of particular details or locations is something that the military stresses to us wives NOT to do. We have still been able to communicate pretty regularly and Sophia is able to see her Dad on the computer in the mornings! That is what matters the most to me. She grabs the phone when dad calls and although she's not always 100 percent willing to sit still while Dad is on the phone, her face sure does light up when she sees him. He's also been able to see/hear that she's learned a couple new words and watch her give hugs and kisses to the puppies (which I think is his ABSOLUTE favorite!). It's tough moving into the holiday season without him here. I was putting out all of my Halloween decorations and was aching with how much I really miss him just being around the house. To be able to spoil him with his favorite holiday cookies and candies and cook him a hot meal at the end of a long day. So much of the holidays is about being with family and especially now with Sophia being more interactive, it gets tough filling the void. But at the end of the day, Sophia and I are the lucky ones because we have each other and our nice warm beds to come to when things have quieted down. We'll just have to work extra hard to bring the festivities of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas to him in Iraq. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. We, as a family, appreciate all that you do to let us know we're in you're thoughts.