Margarita, anyone?

Sorry to double post but I wanted to get an entry out before I make my great escape to San Diego. It may appear that I'm high tailing it out of here as a result of DLI but in reality the trip was planned long before the full miserable reality of language training set in... :) This week has seen improvement. I still feel as if my life revolves around the bodily functions of two small children and a dog sometimes.

As hard as DLI is for Daniel I know that some of what we're dealing with here at home is simply adjusting to Daniel having a work schedule that is actually closer to normal than what we were experiencing before. Apparently most people work more than three hours twice a week...who knew!!!??? The first week really was quite a shock and the dog's sensitive stomach didn't help anything. Let it be known that for as great a personality as Herschel has he is equally high maintanance when it comes to his care. He's MESSY, he doesn't shed he blows coat, and he has really really really really really really really bad gas. Unfortunately I tend to be the one the maintanance falls to the bulk of the time. We're working on having more fun together.

Through all the ups and downs my day is highlighted by the love and smiles of my children. Whether it's Emma grinning up at me when I'm changing her diaper or Aiden saying with as much forcefullness as he can muster, "MOMMY, I LOVE YOU!!! I am constantly reminded of what I'm doing and why. I have chosen the path of stay at home mom, a job that in the moment can seem thankless and neverending but in the long run I know the rewards are beyond measure. Even on the most difficult of days I am blessed by my husband who is strong and faithful and by my children who love me and make me laugh.

That all being said, I can't wait to get to San Diego for vacation with my best friends. :) I hear the margaritas at Miguel's are waiting for me...

The passing of a legend

Well, if you didn't hear the bad news, UGA VI, the most successful UGA ever, passed away Friday night. here he is in his black gear for the "Blackout" last year vs. Auburn. Thankfully, he died peacefully and quickly and apparently didn't suffer. As a bulldog owner myself, I'm happy that he went quickly and didn't linger in pain. Here's some more info. He'll be buried in the Stadium Monday with the other great UGAs before him.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2008/06/28/ugamascot_0629.html

If you haven't seen this photo of Aiden and Emma, you've missed out. Look at these cutie pies. Joy sent me this at work the other day and it made my week. I love them so much and who couldn't? Look at them...they're adorable and sweet. Thank you, Lord for these children. al Hamdulillah.

Hope everyone is well. Things are progressing here, which is to say one more week is in the bag. 48 academic weeks left.

Joy is taking off for San Diego for a few weeks with the kids, so they'll be having fun while I'm....well, NOT having fun. Aiden will see his best friend Carter and the three of them will go to Sea World, and Wild Animal Park, and the Zoo and the beach and all the wonderful perks of life as we once knew it on Coronado and greater San Diego.

Arabic: Don't know what to say. I haven't been singled out from the herd, but this basically sucks. I know, I know. I volunteered for it. Oh, well. I plan on succeeding. The time commitment at a minimum is huge. I'm having dreams in Arabic which is sick. Just sick. It's very hard to turn it off at night and let my brain relax. i'm hoping at some point the language area of my brain well be less stubborn and just give in! Doubtful, but I can hope.

Transitions are rough, but we're finding our stride. I'm getting really tired of the Mickey Mouse games the Navy det plays here, too. Ridiculous. It's so ridiculous at DLI that it actually makes me want to go back to a ship. That's a different rant, though.

Well, i'm going to go spend a few hours with the Aiden-meister. Best to all,

salam.

Daniel

Ana Talib Arabeeya fi mehad aldefay lleyat fi medina mewnterey weleya kalifornia

I am an Arabic Student at the Defense Language Institute in monterey, california.

I don't know what to say. Frankly this is even tougher than imagined. It sucks. No getting around that. it sucks. It's easily the hardest thing i've ever done. that being said, I'm doing fine. However, it's hard work. i'm putting in about 15 plus hour days right now. I'm up at 6 am. At work by 7. go from 7 t0 4 pm with intructors. Go workout for a bit walk in the door at 5, eat, walk the dog, walk to the library, study for another 3 hours. Remember that feeling after taking a 3 hour final in college? You know, where you are staring at a piece of paper for three hours at about 12 inches and then look up dazed...now imagine that for 10 plus hours a day...it's crazy. That being said, six days in, I'm speaking Arabic in short sentences and can basically c0mmunicate in a foreign tongue and that's pretty darn cool. i can say who I am, what I do, where i live, ask basic question, etc. ana naqeeb fi al bahreeya. I am a LT in the Navy. Aendee wahid wa bint. I have a son and a daughter. So as our team leader, Istetha (Teacher) Najilla tells us in her broken english" Ahh, Noor (my Arabic name in the classroom)...it day 5 and you speak...that gooood. very goood."

Now, the real hero is joy. Boy she's had a tough week. Herschel has been sick and provided her with plenty of opportunity for character development (He went to the bathroom in his crate 3 nights in a row). Also, Aiden has had a rough week. The adjustment has been particularly hard for him with best friend gone a lot every day for the first time since he's really been a cognizant being. Oh yeah, there's a newborn, too. My hat is off to my beautiful wife. Hands down the tougher job between the two of us and she's doing great as always. I love her. What a woman!

Unfortunately I had to cancel plans to be at a friends wedding in San Diego this weekend. I'm swamped with Arabic along with family issues, but I'm also happy to get the time with Aiden. Poor boy's been missing his daddy. I have to confess I've been missing my "little" man, too. Sometimes you just have to do what's right for your family even if means eating some plane tix and maybe upsetting a friend.

hope all is well with everyone. How bout those dawgs? Tearing it up in Omaha!

Finally, thanks for the prayers. I've been feeling it at work and Joy likewise at home. It's been a ROUGH week for all in many different ways. Pray for Joy, Aiden, adjustment for all, a routine, and also mastery of the language.

Al Hamdu lillaah.

(Praise be to God).

Daniel

Need...Oxygen...Can't...Breathe

Just kidding, it's not that bad. But, it is sure going to be hard work. We were just putting away the trash and packaging from the 2 foot high pile of textbooks we were issued when the instructor quit speaking english and started instructing the alphabet. Yikes. Truthfully, the sound and script I know very well from tutoring, but it's still difficult because the little english that is used isbroken---they are all native speakers...really native. Najilla, the team leader is from Iraq, Michael, from Egypt two from the Sudan and one from..Morocco. Different accents, pronunciations, just very unclear what they are asking me to say sometimes. During every break you could just feel the shock in the air among my section. There's a good dynamic, though. I'm in a class of 9 divided into sections of 5 and 4. It's a good mix: one JUNIOR enlisted airman (E-2), two army captains, and a wife of an officer in the other section. It's really exciting to finally be doing it and not talking about how hard it is going to be. I have to keep in mind it's a marathon, not a sprint. I think Joy is getting used to the idea that I'm always going to have the Ipod they issued me in my ear listening to phrases and vocabulary. So this weekend we're going to have a little fun as a family, and at some point I need to come up with a routine for the week to stay on top of this because it's going to take a lot of effort.

In other news, I found two great links you should look at. This first book review in the NYT is about why people pay for bottled water. It's stupid, but as Joy can attest, this is just one of those weird pet peeves for me. I just refuse to do it except in extremis: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/books/review/Margonelli-t.html?l_r=1&ref=review&oref=slogin

The second is for my buddy Jon Blanchard (one of my good friends and high school teammates). It eloquently states the case for the absurdity of comparing Kobe Bryant to Michael:
http://www.tiricosuave.com/2008/06/13/please-never-ever-ever-ever-ever-ever-never-ever-never-ever-ever-ever-ever-never-ever-never-ever-ever-never-ever-ever-ever-never-ever-compare-kobe-and-michael-jordan-again-thank-you/

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Stay in touch with Joy at least...I think I'll be busy for the next 13 months!

Salam,
Nur aka Daniel

p.s. Nur is my Arabic name, not the Arabic transliteration of Daniel. It means brightness, or brightness of faith, which coincidentally is what I'm going to need a lot of here!

Do you need a good reason to mock the French?

Got this in my inbox, and while I principly oppose forwarding mass emails, I sometimes invoke the 'French clause.'

A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.' The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.' 'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !' The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained. 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to.'

You could have heard a pin drop

Which reminds me of another few jokes:

How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris? The world will never know.

Why are the streets of Paris lined with trees? The Germans like to march in the shade.

"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes." —Mark Twain

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me." —General George S. Patton

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." —Norman Schwartzkopf

"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it." —Marge Simpson"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure." —Jacques Chirac, President of France

"As far as France is concerned, you're right." —Rush Limbaugh

"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee." —Regis Philbin

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know." —P.J O'Rourke (1989)

"You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it." —John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona
"They've taken their own precautions against Al Qaeda. To prepare for an attack, each Frenchman is urged to keep duct tape, a white flag, and a three-day supply of mistresses in the house." —Argus Hamilton
"The only way the French are going in is if we tell them we found truffles in Iraq." —Dennis Miller
"I would call the French scumbags, but that, of course, would be a disservice to bags filled with scum. I say we invade Iraq, then invade Chirac." —Dennis Miller

"You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He IS French, people." —Conan O'Brien

"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of France!" —Jay Leno

"The last time the French asked for 'more proof,' it came marching into Paris under a German flag." —David Letterman

How many Frenchmen does it take to change a light bulb? One. He holds the bulb and all of Europe revolves around him.
An old saying: Raise your right hand if you like the French.... Raise both hands if you are French.
Next time there's a war in Europe, the loser has to keep France.

Viva, La France.

Finally

Daniel has been promising a post from me so here it is. It has been a whirlwind almost four weeks since Emma arrived. It is already impossible to remember life without our new addition. Our family is so beautiful and precious. Aiden continues to impress me with his love and affection for his little sister. He came in from playing baseball to help give her a bath. Of course he then tried to dump water on her head but it was only because he thought that was how to rinse her hair.

I'm really proud of how Daniel and I have come together so well and have risen to the challenges of having two little ones. This was a huge accomplishment for us, it was scary at first, not having help here immediately but it has brought us to a whole new level of team work and confidence in parenting. I've had a couple of practice days with Daniel gone doing administrative things when I had the kids by myself and I even managed to get us to the park for playgroup on time! This next stage does seem daunting at times but these past few weeks have really shown me that I CAN do this, that WE can do this and do it well. I think one of the hardest things we have coming up will be Daniel finding the balance of work and family time but I know that as with all his professional challenges he will impress me with how he manages it all. Even though his days will be busy at least we'll still have him home every night.

To Grandma and Papa we miss you so much already. Your trip here was far to brief. This visit has confirmed in my mind that we can't get stationed in Florida quickly enough. It was heartbreaking to have Aiden, "just want to show them one thing!" this morning. As nice as Hawaii would be, it would be nicer to see family a couple of times a month as opposed to once a year, twice if we're lucky.

We'll continue to keep you updated on this adventure of a lifetime, raising our amazing family.

Love to all,

Joy

Good times keep rollin'

Hello All.

Daniel here...Daniel Hancock, like the superhero: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809801452/video

I'm often signing something, or checking in somewhere, or introducing myself and usually say some line like, "Daniel...Hancock, like John Hancock." Now I'm just referencing the movie. Honestly, most people these days don't even know who John Hancock was. One day at the gym the receptionist looked at my card and said, "Oh, like John Hancock Insurance." Yes, like that. It's sad.

Anyway, we've just had my folks here for an all too quick visit. It was great to see my parents and we were happy for Aiden and Emma to see Grandma and Papa. Granddaddy and Nana will come later this summer. Here are a few pics


Grandma was able to teach Aiden how to successfully blow some bubbles.

...and how to climb trees. So that's a new hazard to watch for in the backyard! Thanks!

One of these days we're going to record this for AFV and win 10,000 dollars. Herschel is hilarious when he jumps and chases bubbles.

It's not UGA's ice bag, but Herschel knows how to chill out on a warm Cali day.

Aiden (USNA '27) takes a break from playing to knock out a few sets of pushups. Hooyah!!!

Not too much new to report. Emma is doing great. She is sleeping most of the night and Joy is looking fantastic getting back into shape. Things should be getting busy real soon here, though. I start class on Thursday and we'll take it from there. I'm going to try and get Joy on here later because i'm feeling entirely uninspired at the moment but I wanted to put something down. If I can get a hold of mom and dad's pics I'll try to post a few of them here, too. I think they took more impressive photos this past week.

Salam.

Daniel

P.S. hey, only 78 days until football season (college football that is...do I need to clarify? NFL is boring). Wonder if Coach N at Navy can hold to PJ's success. Love PJ, but I'm wishing him no luck at GT. The heck with GT. Carpetbaggers.

Emma's 1st Bath

Well, well, well. Another lazy Sunday. Yeah, right.

This sums up Aiden's afternoon. He was a real trooper today, but he hit his wall at some point. Here he is melting down and letting the world know it.

Anyway, today we gave Emma Grace her first real bath. Here are some pics!

She did fairly well. Not too much crying. Here she is leaning over the end of the tub while her Mama scrubs her backside.

Of course, when Mama took her out, that she wasn't too crazy about...Don't leave me cold and wet, mama!

Now if you have seen a similar one with Aiden, it is actually a spontaneous moment of Daddy's silliness captured after Aiden's first bath. Admittedly, this is a re-creation of that same moment. I still like it.

Things are definitely picking up the pace. I'm trying not to go into my pre-deployment zone since I'm actually not leaving, but nonetheless, the feeling of major system change is palpable. Still a few more days of fun, though. I reported last Friday and have 2 days of admin to do, but don't start class until next Monday. Where did the time go? Didn't we just find out we were having a little girl?

Pray for a smooth transition for our family, strength and wisdom for both of us as parents with two children, energy and grace for Joy as Super-mom, and while we're at it, mastery of Arabic for me!

Have a great week!

Oh, one more thing...if any of you watch the NBA, how rigged is that Finals series?...I can see David Stern smiling broadly as Sportscenter spends a week showing Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabar, and Showtime highlights from the '80s. The NBA is so rigged.


Take care,
Daniel

P.S. There are more pictures to the right of the blog post that you can click on if you want more bath time.