A MOST MEMORABLE CHRISTMAS...

Happy Holidays, everyone! I am astounded at God's great blessings that are so bountiful and rich. I arrived home via a stand-by seat on planes that safely left Baghdad and Kuwait (twice from Kuwait). Then, my incredibly wonderful husband greeted me with a goodies bag of my favorite coffee, beer, diet coke and carrots with ranch dressing. I chose to drink the coffee and munch on the carrots. Tim had dinner in the Crock Pot and I wanted to talk with him since we were both still awake. By 3 a.m., we were sitting at our dining room table with candles lit and a chicken dinner. I was really amazed at how it felt like we had just picked up from where we left off. It was a great relief.

I wondered if things might be strange because I had been gone for so long. Instead, everything is blissfully wonderful and even better than 8 months ago. Two things have changed for us, but all for the better. Tim has become extensively more intelligent about our world's political scene and wiser about our media's tactics. I have learned to be even more thankful for the basics of life than I ever was before.

Nine hours after our chicken dinner, I stood in our kitchen. Tim was making scrumptious scrambled eggs and bacon. I reached into our cupboard for a coffee cup and became overwhelmed with thankfulness at being able to choose from at least six different types of coffee cups. Living in Baghdad for the past eight months cannot be described as a picnic or walk in the park. However, the fact of life is we are American soldiers living in Baghdad and we made the most out of it, which was still many levels above the standard of living for the Iraqis. I could write more on my thoughts about this experience, but I only have today and tomorrow with Tim then I must go back to Baghdad and to my soldiers.

I wanted to post this on the website because I wanted to tell all of you, THANK YOU. My eyes become misty with tears from reading all the emails with your supporting and kind words. Thank you all very much and most of all thank you to my amazing and wonderful husband, Tim, I love you!

IF YOUR NAME IS ARAFAT YOU JUST GOTTA HATE IT WHEN HE SAYS SOMETHING LIKE THIS...

Bush declares: "We must get rid of Arafat"

CPT PATTI IS MAN OF THE YEAR!

Well, not exactly...Time magazine is way to PC to make that blunder...

But Drudge says she might be included...

SOME GOOD POINTS

To be read carefully please.

All of this twisted, blame-America-Bush-bashing and mind-numbing negativism has obscured some very important facts that need to be re-emphasized:

Saddam is responsible for two horrific wars and the deaths of hundreds of thousands. His record is replete with the kind of atrocities that brought the United States into two world wars, as well as a bloody campaign in Korea and the war I fought in -- Vietnam. He raped, tortured, robbed, starved and murdered his own people. He acquired and used weapons of mass destruction against his neighbors and countrymen. He attempted to assassinate an American president. He trained and supported Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and Muslim Brotherhood terrorists who killed Americans. Are we to believe that Al Qaeda was the only Middle Eastern terror group that Saddam did not support?

The image of Saddam as a filthy, decrepit, coward captured -- not killed -- by an American soldier, is a powerful message to repressed people all over the globe that this is the way brutal despots go. Placing him on trial before the people of Iraq -- not in The Hague or somewhere else -- sends a clear signal to totalitarians, be they in Damascus, Tehran, Pyongyang or Havana, that they are accountable to the people they have tortured. Now, the most committed followers of Usama bin Laden have cause to wonder if their bearded leader who wants them to die for his cause would ignominiously surrender himself to the tender mercies of the International Criminal Court to avoid an untimely demise.

Finally, the loopy leftist rhetoric in the aftermath of Saddam’s capture obscures the extraordinary courage, training, persistence and discipline of the American soldiers who pursued and caught the Butcher of Baghdad. Rather than wasting time inventing crazy conspiracy theories and efforts to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the Democrats and their media allies ought to simply try hanging around with these heroes for a few days. It would be good for their mental health.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21st.

It is almost noon. She is still sleeping...but given that bed time was nearly 5:00 a.m. small wonder.

Me...still pinching myself.

SHE ARRIVED AT RAY BARRACKS AT 2:00 A.M.

She looked great yet smelled a little like an Army tent.

We made it home about 2:55. She showered, I prepared a LATE dinner...

She looks wonderful..(.she smells beautiful)...her smile is even bigger than I remember it (if that is even possible) and the conversation is better than ever.

It's 5:00 A.M now. I'm too stoked to sleep. However, she is sleeping gorgeously as I expect she will for the better part of the next 12 hours.

And somehow...I think she is even sweeter than when she left.

Amazing.

I over-achieved to an absolutely serious degree.

Praises to Him who makes such things possible.

1:00 AM UPDATE

Just heard from our girl...she has arrived safely in Germany...I'm guessing I'll see her in about an hour.

Whoo Hoo...

However, she sounds completely beat...three days travel will do that...