Ciao, all!

I am sitting down to write because I want to communicate with all of you, and not because I actually have anything to say!  But I miss you all and I feel closer if I “talk” to you.

I just got an email from Charlotte and it made my day!  I love getting letters from home more than you know.

Well, today is Monday and it was a really nice weekend.  You would be proud of us, we went OUT with PEOPLE all three nights this weekend!!!  Yay us!!!  There are two couples who we hang out with when we do get out, and we had dinner with one couple Friday, the other couple Saturday, and both couples Sunday!  AND I have invited them all over to our house for Friday night – which is very intimidating because the house is SO not ready for company, but that’s okay because they have been there, too, right?

We have mice in our house!!!  EEEWWW!!!  I am so disgusted and a nervous wreck as well.  We’ve trapped three so far and last night they ate the bait off the traps without getting caught.  I am frantically putting everything in the pantry into Rubbermaid.  I guess this is a risk of an old house, huh?

We don’t know anything more regarding Mike’s squadron and their role, if any, in the upcoming war.  It seems fairly unlikely at this point that he will go anywhere, at least not anytime soon, but you never know for sure and it is very stressful.  They are, of course, having to be VERY prepared all the time, which is stressful in itself.  We pray constantly and appreciate your prayers as well.

Because of all this, we are not able to travel like we had hoped.  We’re hoping maybe things will ease up a little and we can still see the places we planned to see together, but for now he just can’t get away.  I may end up seeing lots of places for the first time with you guys, when you come to visit!  J

My friends Gina and Jen are planning to come visit in February sometime, and last I heard Christine and John were considering April, but those are the only ones I know for sure.  We so hope that friends and family will come to visit!  Let us know if you are considering a trip and when!  We get more excited about it than you might believe.

We keep seeing the most beautiful pictures of our niece!!!  I’m including one here so you can appreciate how precious she is too.  I’m learning to make adjustments to photos in the computer, and am pleased with the color adjustment we did on this one.  We ordered a better program for doing that stuff yesterday so hopefully it will be here soon!

I have nothing to tell right now so I guess I will go.

I love you all and miss you so much!!!

Love,

Shelly