From the Bottom of My Heart

It has been a difficult day in Iraq for M. While originally, the 'move' inlcuded only their offices, in the wee hours of Monday morning, it surreptitiously expanded to include their housing units as well. How could that happen, you might ask? Well, here's what did happen: in the dead of night, eviction notices were taped to their living quarters. This forced them to also start looking around for not only for somewhere new to work, but also somewhere new to lay their heads. As though being uprooted from their offices weren't challenge enough for one week! I've discovered through M.'s description of today's events that being evicted in 120 degree weather and with less than 5 days to both find somewhere new to live and to move all of your equipment and personal belongings is no laughing matter. He's okay, and he's still the same unsinkable M., but this past few weeks has been especially trying for both of us. The cellular network that supported the phone that we once depended on so heavily for our communication with each other has all but completely degraded, and with it, the opportunities to speak to each other have become much fewer and farther between. The phone had been a bit of a light in our days (and a bit of luxury!), and we'd felt really lucky to have that connection. A hopefully temporary development this week is that, at the moment, M. has very little access to the internet. And tonight, he realized that all the hours his feet have spent with boots on them have caused him to need Micatin (of all things!) to which he has no access tonight...if only I could find a carrier pigeon to ferry a tube his way! It has been difficult to hear all these things in the very, very short span of time that the phone connection was clear this evening. I'm very proud of him: he's done an amazing job...but I think we're both really ready for this to be over. And I think what we need right now are continued prayers, so, if you have an extra (or two!) to send skyward on M.'s behalf, I'd be most grateful.