Leigh is home!

Leigh made it home after about 30 straight hours of travel. Consider that the next time you plan a trip to Iraq. It's great to have her home, and now we are ready for some details! (-:

Leigh on her way home

Leigh began her trip home yesterday about 7:30pm our time. She was most worried about a connection in Istanbul in order to make the London flight. We've communicated by text this morning. She is currently waiting to board the London to Dallas flight. So, all travels home so far have worked out great. I wonder if she is as ready to get home as we are to get her home? (-;

I live for this sort of thing.

Paul's best friend was Madalyn, and her mom emailed this photo a few days with this piece of treasure.

"We were cleaning out a bunch of stuff and found this sweet letter that Madalyn wrote. It must have been written right after Paul died.
This is what it says: 'I miss Paul because he was nice and sweet to me and Loraly.'"

Funny Story

Most of you long-time trollers will recall that money-finding is a basic Saxon trait. My father had it. I had it. Paul was the all-time king. Jack and Whit both have it, and Leigh does as well which suggests that it's not all genetic. More evidence came in earlier this week. Now the story...since Leigh is not here to take Pepper on his morning walk, Jack has been getting up earlier and taking him before school. One day last week, Jack came back from walking Pepper and said, "Guess what Pepper found on his walk." Whit and I shrugged thinking maybe it was roadkill or a pizza crust or something. "He found $10," Jack said. He showed me a wadded up $10 bill. Apparently, Pepper sniffed it out on the curbside, and then Jack picked it up. So, even the dog finds money. Paul would be very amused.

Leigh in Iraq update

Since it is almost midnight in Iraq now and Leigh hasn't blogged, I guess I can't be accused later of being a blog highjacker with this update. She called today from her Iraqi town where she is staying with Jess and Jeremy Courtney. It sounds like she/they spent a good bit of the day recovering some sleep. But, they were spending time with some other families and planning to get out and do more tomorrow. We really miss her around here, and Pepper (the dog) is depressed. I think I may have to call the dog whisperer soon.

Leigh's trip (so far)

Most of you that still check this blog (which has pretty much become mine), also check Leigh's; so, you all are already aware that she left for Iraq yesterday. Did you know that with AT&T you can text not only from Europe, but also Turkey? I received several texts from her today as her trip progressed. As far as I can estimate, it took about 24 hours for her and her travelling companions to make it to Istanbul. There were few travel glitches, and it seemed uneventful. Her last text indicated that she was reliving some fond memories from previous Istanbul visits. So, sounds like things are going well, and I think the next step is a flight to a northern Iraqi city tomorrow or the next day. I do not know if she'll update her blog, but if not I will post an entry here if there is any news.

Costa Rica

I went to Costa Rica recently on a work project with some colleagues. A stunning country. Below is a slide show that captures a bit of what we saw and did there.

Click HERE.

Texas Two Step

Step 1. Get tickets for Texas MotorSpeedway's NASCAR race, and find your seat.
Step 2. Watch The Rainbow Warrior win his 82nd race and at the track he's never conquered before in 16 tries.
Step 3. (Optional) Cry your eyes out as Paul's hero burns his tires after taking the checkered flag.