Yay! Email from Phil!

So far he is doing great and keeping extremely busy. He sounds very excited about the work they are getting ready to do! They are currently on a British FOB (forward operating base), here is a little of what he has to say about the food:

[It] is a british FOB, and has a british DFAC with this Dutch chef, no joke. We are only allowed to eat there once a week, otherwise it's just the crappy Army tent DFAC (rations cooked in mass in boilers). It's like a fine dining restaurant at the british place: everything is freshly made, bread and pastries and desserts baked daily. You are only allowed to take one meat item, and as many sides as you want. For dinner on Friday (our company's day), I had a lamb chop and potato gniocci (pasta) in this tomato basil sauce. It was ridiculously good.

He also gave me a mailing address, so if you like you can start sending packages, letters, etc.

Philip Ambrose

Headquarters/557 En Co/864 En Bn

APO AE 09355

Because they have many missions and will likely be on the move quite a bit, the best things to send right now are things that are consumable and won't need to be packed up and moved or are very easy to pack up and move.

• snacks
• baked goods*
• good coffee (already ground)
• tissues, wet wipes
• single use items
• things he can share with his soldiers

Please keep in mind the season and do not send things that could melt or be destroyed sitting in the hot sun. Letters and cards from home are especially heartening.

*for baked goods to make the journey successfully they must be packaged carefully. Cookies and other things that could crumble should be put in plastic or tin containers that seal. Putting a slice of bread in with the cookies is a good way to keep them soft. Keep in mind it will take 7-14 days for him to recieve anything and it will likely sit in the sun for a few of those days. I have hear vacuum sealers are fantastic for keeping baked goods fresh, though I have yet to try it.

As for Nora and I we are doing great and keeping busy. Next week we will travel home (to Clarkston) to attend Kathy's bridal shower! Thankfully we will be riding with Terry and Mike (and Allie), so Nora and I won't have to make the 7 hour journey alone.

one week down...

I just uploaded a the last of the pics from Phil's last days...

Goodbye calls

lovin potatohead's hat

365 days = 370 links (just in case)

Daddy and Nora

we survived the first week! we can survive the rest!

actually things are falling into a pretty good rhythm. nora is sleeping well. eating ok. and playing fantastically. i still haven't even pretended to do laundry or housework (other than what is required to keep us alive), but i am managing to get us out everyday and haven't really fallen apart yet! :) so all in all i think we are doing GREAT!

this morning i was able to talk to phil a bit. he is in wonderful spirits and keeping very very busy. he will be traveling a while more before settling into a place we can mail to, so hold off on care packages-an address is coming soon!

he made it

So he made it safely, but will be moving on to a new location soon. We won't know when or where until he gets there-how very "Army". So far Nora and I are hanging on, though I still have trouble believing we will be living an entire year without Phil. My positive outlook is starting to fade, so instead of whining, here are some pics of our week!

And he's off!

The Ambrose Early Easter Hunt

His flight left this morning...I will post safe arrival info once I get it.

Thankfully, my sisters, Terry and Kathy are here staying with me (to watch Nora while I dropped Phil off, and console me when I get weepy). My parents come this weekend. After that I have the mirad of friends and support we have managed to gather around us the past 8 months we have been here. I feel so lucky to have so many people caring about us and checking up on us!

1/2 a day down...less than 370 to go!

Videos GALORE!!

They are uploaded and ready to watch. In an extreme attempt to get them all up before Phil left, I have pretty much all our current family videos uploaded, but not organized or labled. Sorry for the mess! But if you really want to see Nora in action, I suppose you will muddle through, right? ENJOY!

new site...

In an effort to simplify, this will replace our homepage. All the links are here, and all the news will be here too. Currently, we are just preparing for the worst day of the year, waiting to start so we can get it all over. Sad time. But I am hopeful that the year will go fast, communcation with Phil will be better than expected, and Nora and I will be able to take this time as an opportunity to visit family and friends more.

Any effort to help me stay positive is much appreciated!

He will be gone by Easter...

Nora throwing rocks

Well, we are in the final countdown days! Block leave has came and gone (with a week long trip through Canada and the Olympic Peninsula). Yesterday, Phil became the company commander for the old company he did his PL time in. Now, half days are approaching, and then goodbye.

If you can't tell, I am pretty bummed by the reality of Phil leaving. We have been preparing for this for quite some time; but I think no matter how much planning we do, we will never really be ready to live without him for a year.

Nora and I plan to be busy little bees over the next year! Hopefully that will make it go faster- to all my military moms out there, any tips for deployment with a 2 year old?

Breakfast with Dad

Phil takes command

Kisses on the beach