MIA...

Missing in Action...I have been gone lately and have no promises as to when I will be back on consistently. Moving is crazy! I am currently staying at some good friends house until Saturday when I fly out. My Dad comes tomorrow night, helps me with repairs on Friday, takes me to the airport Sat., loads up the car and leaves Sunday morning very early to catch the ferry on Monday! Whew...the craziness of it all. We have had movers come and go. Cleaned the house, taken care of LOTS and LOTS of errands and paperwork and legal stuff on base. It feels like it will never end. However, I know soon enough it will! I look forward to Salem and some rest; however, am dreading leaving Anchorage. It's always hard to say goodbye to good friends! :( Jacob is being quite the trooper! Today is the first day all week he has been with mommy. He has been at a different house most of the week and just travels around with his play pen! He has LOVED playing with his buddy Levi so that makes me feel not quite so guilty about leaving him all the time. Anyways, needless to say, life is crazy and I haven't been online much and cant guarantee when the next time will be! Thank you to all for your prayers during this time. Please pray for my dad as he has come down with the flu right in time for his trip up here! Also, continue to pray for Jacob and his flexibility during the remainder of the craziness!

Jacob Walking and Playing Video!

So I realized it's been several days since I've updated, and I promised matt I'd be better. I don't have pictures right now, but here's what we've been up to...MOVING. It's so crazy around here right now. I have 3 piles going (some physical and some in my head). The movers come Monday and everything in the house will be packed and I won't see it for at least 2 years. Ahhh...how do you pack for that? I have a pile of stuff Jacob and I will need in Salem, and a pile for things needed in Oklahoma. I feel like I've been as productive as possible with a rug rat running around. :) Saturday I have several friends coming over to help take apart all of our furniture and what not. Starting Saturday we will be staying with the Stokes family for a week till we leave for Salem. In the mean time there is still lots to do! Sell our house (please continue praying as I have a possible bite, but not looking great), get Jacob his shots, disconnect our utilities, finish packing and dropping everything off where it belongs, I need a new military ID...anyways, you get the drift. Lots to do! I know it will get done, it always does...I just don't know how. :) Please keep Jacob in your prayers during this time. He doesn't seem to handle change very well and knows something is up and definitely is letting me know!

Jacob was trying to kill the mouse (fake) with a spoon










Jacob was so excited to be able to sit up here, he isn't allowed on ours, he sat here for at least 20 min! He's so funny!








Levi and Jacob learning how to share :)








Jacob's first bite of a cinnamon roll

I don't have a lot to write about, but I have a few updates and funny stories. :)

First, we only have 13 more days till the movers come and 18 more days till I move. This comes with mixed emotions. Last deployment I had good friends, but we weren't as close as we are now. Obviously that happens with time. I've been busy every night with someone, which makes it that much harder to leave. On the flip side, I'm super excited to be with family and reunite with old friends! Please continue to pray for the sell of our house. It is listed by owner currently, but is going on the market with a realtor on the 24th.

I mentioned a few posts back about my grandma's husband having cancer. He has gotten significantly worse. :( This is a really hard thing on the family. He went from having several months to a few weeks. Were hoping I make it down there before he passes away.

Jacob is walking like crazy now! He thinks its so fun! He really likes the praise he gets for it as well. If any of you know my son, you know he will do ANYTHING for praise! Tonight for dinner Kyle and Natalie were over and we bbq'd salmon. Jacob ate more than Natalie! It was so funny. We made it with a lot of cajun seasoning...so it had bite! The kid loved it! He never ceases to amaze me! I am going to have quite the grocery bill someday! Matt is not a cheap eater (asks for steak at least once a week) :) and Jacob is following in his steps. Luckily, in Alaska the fish is free....so eat on! Another funny...yet not so funny story about Jacob. Biting...you heard me...biting! How could this be funny? I thought the same thing! I have NEVER found biting humorous...until today. (isn't that horrible) Jacob laid his head on my shoulder and all of a sudden I felt him chewing on my neck. It tickled SO BAD! I squealed and started laughing hysterically! Which...as stated before, Jacob loves reactions! So of course he thinks its funny and proceeds to do it. I was trying so hard to put on a straight face and say no...but first, it tickled! Second, he would bite me and then laugh so hard I'm sure he pee'd his pants! I've never seen him laugh so hard at something! He thought it was the greatest thing ever. Anyways, eventually he was trying to bite my arm, leg yada yada. I sternly said no, put him down for a nap and smiled as I walked away! I'm hoping he forgot about it cuz he hasn't done it since. I know its absolutely horrible and I cannot allow my child to think its okay to bite...but if you know me at all when I think somethings funny I can't stop laughing! Moments like these I always pass him off to Matt and let him take care of it while I go to another room and laugh. Where is Matt in times like these!?! :)

I have heard from Matt a few times. He is doing good. Just found out tonight that he will be staying with his platoon for a while. He is very excited about that, as he was not ready to leave them.

Yesterday we went to my friend Renee's house. Her son Levi is 6 months older than Jacob. They had a lot of fun playing together and we had fun hanging out together! It's nice to let the boys play and have opportunities to work with them on sharing! OH YES, one more story...
So, we were making a spinach salad of sorts. (It has lots of other things in it too) We had all the other stuff ready and were putting spinach on our plates when Renee pulled out a FEATHER! Isn't that gross! I just about lost it! My stomach was so queasy! A bird feather in spinach! Needless to say, we emailed the company and both have a new distorted view of spinach. It may be a while before I can eat it again....a looooooooooooong while!

Well, that's all for now. I'll put a few more pictures up of the last few days. Enjoy!

Jacob decided to help mama make some cake. I gave up and gave him his own bowl of brown sugar to play with.

Ravioli "fun" for lunch :)

Jacob Walking

This is a short clip of Jacob walking. He had been doing this for about 20 min. He thought it was the greatest thing. Walking to me then racing back to the chair (while cheering for himself) and doing it again. Every time I'd say do it again he'd get super excited. Catching it on video was not easy! As soon as he would see the camera he would drop to his knees and try to get it. Please excuse my annoying voice :) Obviously I was holding the camera while cheering him on (you may want to turn down your volume). It's sideways, sorry about that also. Don't know how to fix it.

some pics from this week

Jacob is going to be walking any day now! He started taking steps a while ago but preferred crawling. Lately he has started preferring to stand and walk rather than crawl!

How far is half a world?

Well, here it is. I am 13 1/2 hours ahead of my wife and son, countless miles away, and still wrapping my mind around being deployed again. So far, my journey to and through Afghanistan has included a stop in Leipzig, Germany; Manas Air Force Base, Kyrgyzstan; Bagram Air Force Base, Afghanistan; FOB Salerno, Afghanistan; and I am in temporary holding now at FOB Sharana, Afghanistan. Let me just say that I hate living out of a duffle bag! I have still about another month before I will have a permanent home.

Following FOB Sharana, I will move to FOB Khushamand, where I will replace the unit currently living there and will train my replacement, the young 2nd Lieutenant who is taking over my platoon. I know God has a plan for all things, but it is frusterating to have trained my platoon this entire last year, developed relationships and trust with each of them, and then to have them taken away from me as soon as we deploy. It is a very hard thing to do, but again, God has a plan.

In a couple weeks, after I have trained my replacement, I will move back to FOB Salerno where I will wait for further instructions. I will be going to another job where I will be living in the midst of a major Afghan city. While there, I will be running a joint operations center with the Afghan Army, Police, and Border Patrol, along with other Special Operations Agencies. Essentially, it will be much like my job in Iraq, just on steroids. It should at least be interesting, and will keep me on my toes.

I miss my wife and son terribly and think of them all the time, praying for them daily. I sleep with a little monkey that Jacob got for his birthday. It is almost exactly the same as the monkey Liz and I gave him for Christmas from Build-a-Bear, so he has his, and I have mine. I think of him every time I look at it. I also have with me the memory quilt Liz made for me for our wedding. It has nine pictures of our dating and engagement. Just a taste of home.

Overall, after a week, I am doing well enough, but again, it's only been a week and I haven't started my job yet. I've been mostly just working out, reading, watching movies, and relaxing. Things may change soon enough. I want to thank everyone for their continued prayer support. Liz did an amazing thing for me, and many of you are participating. She organized a prayer group, where every hour of every day, someone is praying for me, and that is a very comforting thought. Thank you.

Anyhow, I will write more and post pictures soon.

In His Grip,
Matthew Bate

Here are a few pictures from tonight. Uncle Kyle and Aunt Natalie came over for our "usual" (usual minus one person :(...daddy) Sunday Dinner...





So Strong...







Jacob thought it was hilarious to slide across the floor on his belly

















"I got your hat"

How many times can you hit your head and be okay?

Yesterday was quite entertaining. Not the best entertainment, but humorous now. Let me start at the beginning...

Last week my uncle emailed me asking for prayer for a little girl at his church who was 1 and fell out of her crib. They thought she was fine, but ended up taking her in and finding internal bleeding. Friday night I got a follow up email asking for prayer for the family as she had passed away. I was absolutely taken back! I CANT IMAGINE loosing Jacob right now! I thought...I wonder how high her mattress was that she could get out? Jacob could never climb out of his. (never say never right!?!) Seriously though, Jacob's crib hits him mid chest. How do you get over that? Well... Saturday morning I wake to...THUD...followed by intense screaming. I look at my video monitor and don't see him. I still didn't think anything of it...my contacts are always fuzzy first thing and I looked as I ran out of bed. I run into his room and HE IS LAYING ON THE FLOOR BALLING! Are you kidding me? How did he manage that? I seriously can't figure it out still. I have no side bars on the crib that he could climb on. Jacob does have an extremely strong upper body (due to his father thinking its funny to make him do pull ups on the shower rod). So my guess is this...Jacob likes to throw his paci out and then try and look for it. He probably threw it out and then while looking for it pulled himself up and flip....the rest is history.

So we calm down, eat breakfast and he seems fine (Although I have no clue what to look for). Bathtime it is. So I get him in the tub and he keeps standing up, normally not an issue. I tell him to sit down and as he does...flip...his feet fly out from under him and he's on his head screaming again! REALLY!?! Seriously child is there a magnet in his head pulling it to the ground? Yet again, he seems fine after the tears clear. NAP TIME FINALLY! I put him down for nap and watch him like a hawk on the monitor running downstairs panicked a few times. I don't want him falling again. After nap I brought him upstairs and my friend was here. We were getting ready to leave to go to Fur Rondy. I went to grab a diaper real quick and I hear Jacob racing across the room. I turn just in time to see him fly toward the gate....the gate I hadn't closed! From that moment it felt like slow motion...I scream JACOB NO! Fly across the room thinking seriously again...DIVE on the ground just in time to grab his final foot as he falls down the stairs. SERIOUSLY CHILD, DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH? I actually started laughing at this point, the whole day seemed so unbelievable. I had Melanie take a picture of which I will post. :) The rest of the night was fun. We went and saw fireworks. Jacob "played in" or touched the snow for the first time and went to Red Robin for dinner. Our friends (Jacob's godparents) Kyle and Natalie came over after and fixed the crib. So no more worries! If Jacob gets out of this one he will be old enough to know better and not only will reap the consequence of a fall...but a spanking to follow it up. ha ha such a twirp he is!

Today, Sunday, has been another hard day. Jacob fell apart at church. The nursery worker brought him back to me twice! He has always loved the nursery and it has never been an issue before. That was hard to deal with. It really is pointless to be at church when you have a child that is unhappy and you're alone. We finally got home and went down for nap and he woke up in a bad mood. He wines like crazy! I was so frustrated and thought, grace isn't working! Everyone says, "Keep giving him grace, he has a lot going on!" But what do you do when grace doesn't seem enough...drugs! ha ha I gave him tylenol. Maybe he has a headache from his head being thrown at the ground or he is teething. Unfortunately, the wining only stopped for a bit. All that being said...I started thinking. I wonder if the Lord ever thinks that about me? "Grace isn't working!" I wonder if I ever put Him at His wits end like Jacob does me? It's kinda funny how having a kid can put a different twist on the way you think about the Lord. My only question is this...does he resort to drugs? If so....WHERE ARE MY DRUGS????!!!!!!!