From Colorado Springs With Love

NEWS FROM RHEANNA!

Thanks to all of you that sent such nice,

sweet notes to Adam and Rheanna for their anniversary. Ryann got her dad an ice cream cake to celebrate so as Rhe knows he was happy with that!!!

The info for the blog is pretty much from Rhe with her latest news..sometimes I paraphrase and get the info out to you. Today I am just going to post exactly what Rheanna said...I think it is truly from her heart and I want you all to know we could not be prouder of her.

This week we had a 9/11 ceremony where we had a moment of silence for those who had died fighting in oef/oif. I thought about our friend and ROTC classmate, Forrest Ewens who gave his life in Afghanistan at the beginning of OEF. I have met so many wonderful Afghan people whom are truly appreciative of the help the Soldiers are trying to give them. No matter how anyone feels about politics and the war, the undeniable thing I have learned being here is that the Afghan people

( at least the ones i've met) have huge hearts and they have hopes and dreams for their children like we do. A glaring example of this is that our office has an Afghan janitor named Abdul. He lives in Kabul and rides his bike through the crazy downtown traffic to work on our base. He works extremely hard everyday to clean our office. He always has a smile on his face and beams when he talks about his wife, twin 9 month old daughters, and 5 year old son. I try to speak a few words in Dari to him every morning. Luckily he speaks better english than my Dari. I know about 5-10 words. Out of the blue one day he brought me a scarf and some bracelets. He told me they were from his wife. He told me she wanted me to have a gift because I was over here away from my baby to try to help them. I don't try to pretend that my job is actually helping the Afghan people. I'm just a lawyer doing lawyer stuff. However, I do see Soldiers leave the safety of our base every day to risk their lives to train the Afghan police and army. For people like Abdul and his wife, our presence here has helped his family. Or at the very least, they appreciate us for trying to help them. Again, this is not supposed to be about politics but rather about international human bonding. I couldn't help but feel bad accepting a gift from his family when I know he works so hard for every dime that they have. Also, recently Abdul's wife had to go to the hospital for an infection. So, many of you have asked my mom and Georgia if you could send me something. If you so send me something, please send baby toys or clothes (9 month old girl twins) or something for their 5 year old son. If you can think of anything unique to send for Abdul and his wife, that would be wonderful too. No pressure here. I am only throwing this out there because I'd rather you send them something instead of me.

This week, I am thankful for Soldiers like Forrest and Adam's friend Luke Wullenwaber for paying the ultimate sacrifice for our country and for people like Abdul who has hope that one day his kids can live without the fear of the Taliban in Afghanistan.