Sooo Hot

Hey friends and family. Sorry about the delay in getting a new post on here. I have been pretty busy as of late and things are starting to heat up here. So about the weather. Hot. Today the heat reached 115 degrees. Pretty much the only way to combat the heat is to sit inside the office all day until around 6:30 or so then venture out of your cubicle and embrace the night. Other than the heat, things here are good. I have a pretty easy job that has a relatively low stress factor. My job is to supply my company with all the equipment necessary to function on a daily basis. It is not the most glamorous job, but it keeps me safe and usually out of the heat. The meteorologist here on post said that last year the high temp was 149. Are you serious? That is crazy to me.
I hope all of you back at home are doing well. The reports coming in are saying that this WILL be a nine month mission and we should return home safely by December or January. For us that is great news. I hope that you are keeping Summer, Olivia and I in your prayers. They have church services here so I have been attending those. They aren't like the ones back home, but the word is still the same wherever you go. I think I am going to start working on a project while I am here. I spoke with a couple of the Chaplains and I am going to make a video on how soldiers worship over here. Hopefully I will have enough footage and pictures to put it together by the end of June. So keep this project in your prayers also. Well anyways I love you all and I can't wait to see you.
Rob

Rob Has Arrived Safely

Hey guys. I wanted to let you all know that Rob has safely arrived in Iraq. When I spoke with him today, he assures me that this next year will be a "piece of cake." That is his way of saying that it is totally safe and he feels confident that all will go smoothly. He was told that the only time they will have to leave the camp is when they are coming home for leave and when they leave for good. Not leaving camp is a positive thing to ensure his safety. Travel is when most soldiers encounter danger.

As of right now, he is living in a huge, air conditioned tent with many soldiers. They will have to stay in those tents until they can make room for his unit to have better facilities, probably at least a month or so. He said that the military is offering many activites for the soldiers to occupy what free time they are given. Tonight, there was a line dancing event. Needless to say, I don't think that Rob was going to that one. : ) He sounded in great spirits and very encouraged to know that in just three short months he would be back in Georgia to hold his new baby girl.

I feel very blessed at this point, the pregnancy has been smooth sailing. At 25 weeks, I am now starting to show a little more. Still not much of a belly, but it's definitely growing. She is kicking up a storm and you can even see my belly bounce with her little movements. It's definitely an unusual experience!

Below is the address if you would like to send Rob mail in Iraq. Thanks for all your continuous thoughts and prayers. We are so grateful for all the support.

Rob Hathcock
278th MP Co.
Camp Bucca, Iraq
APO AE 09375

IRAQ...HERE I COME

Well my time here in the states is over. I have been officially notified that I will be crossing the pond tommorow. I have a little bit of mixed feelings and some anxiety,but it is what it is. My time here at FT.DIX has been a very pressing and somewhat bittersweet. I have met some really awesome people here and as much as I loathe New Jersey I will miss some of it. The 18 hour days I will not, but like I said there are some really good people here. I don't know when I will be able to post another message, it may be a few days or so. The flight will be about 24 hrs or so because of a long layover in Germany. So i plan to occupy my time with sleep and dvd's. Support Summer and Olivia as much as possible while I am gone. I know tommorow will be really rough on her. One last thing.....An old veteran stopped me at the Gas station on post to thank me for what I do. He asked me how i feel about going over there to protect someone else's country. I told him it is my duty to do so. He then told me to trust none of them. I immediately remembered a quote I recently heard, "Your wrong if you think the joy of life comes principally from human relationships. GOD has placed joy all around us. It is in everything and anything GOD has given us. People just need to change the way we look at things." I think this is a very profound statement and it is very applicable to what is going over there. The people of Iraq will let me down I am sure. But the joy GOD is going to give to me while I am in country will never let me down. I love you all.

IRAQ....Not Just Yet

What's up friends and family. So my whole company left on the 25th and myself and one other soldier are staying behind. Not for good, but we loaded about 3 million dollars of cargo and I have been chosen to stay behind until the plane gets here to pick myself and the cargo up. So it will be another 10 days or so...which I have no problem with. So I am doing what every good soldier would do when they have no commander to boss you around..sleeping. I wake up when I am no longer tired and I go to bed when I am tired. Yesterday I was really bored so I played a round of golf. It has been a wonderful blessing. It's two less weeks I will be in Iraq. And that will always is a good thing.
As you can see Summer, Olivia, and I had the most wonderful time in Philadelphia. Wow..What an awesome city. We tried to do everything we possibly could and it still was a long 4 days. Olivia started Kung Fu fighting in Summer's belly and I felt her for the first time. It was such a powerful event in my life as well as Summer's. It was really special. If you guys can think of anything I can do here on Ft.Dix to pass the time I would love some suggestions. I am really that bored. Well any ways I love you all very much and thank you for your support and prayers.
Rob

Our trip to Philadelphia

We loved this city and had a wonderful week! Thankfully it went by very slow and we got to do alot. Our hotel was right in the middle of everything which made it very easy to walk from place to place.

On Monday night, Rob got to feel Olivia move... which was so exciting. She definitely got excited at the sound of his voice. We also bought her some new clothes (our first purchase). Some of the cutest little blue jeans that are so tiny.

As far as Philly goes, we did just about all we could. We saw the tomb of the unknown soldier, which was Rob's favorite. We visited the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It was really moving to think that our founding fathers walked where we stood. We also visited the Eastern State Penitentiary. That was rather interesting. Apparently it is said to be haunted, but thankfully we saw no evidence. It was a pretty creepy place. We ate at some wonderful places and went to see "The Odd Couple" at what is said to be the oldest theatre in the United States.

Needless to say, it was a great week. So the next four months should be wild. I will growing very large and Rob will get to come back at the end of July/first of August to see this beautiful little girl join our family. We are just trying to stay very positive and take things one day at time. He has about two weeks before he arrives in Iraq and I will post again when that occurs. Until then, words that we have learned to live by... don't sweat those things that we cannot change. God has this under control!

It's a Girl!!!

I went to the doctor yesterday for my half way check up and we found out that we are having a baby girl. Here is her picture. I hope that you all have no trouble identifying her. I know that sometimes these pics are hard to see. It is her little face profile. What you may think is her arm is actually her leg. She had them very drawn to her and crossed at the ankles. One of her arms is to her side and the other is tucked behind her head.

According to the doctors, everything is looking great. She is measuring exactly where she is supposed to be. I believe she is about 6 inches from the tip of her head to the bottom of her booty. Rob and I are both very excited. He has been wanting a little girl from the beginning, so he screamed the announcement out to his entire unit when I called. She is already definitely as active as her dad, that is for sure. My due date is set for August 7. Just in time to not start the regular school year.

As far as changes with Rob, he is moving into the barracks today and out of the tents. That means more room and regular bathrooms. Needless to say, he is very excited. A whole new battalion showed up at Ft. Dix, so I guess they get the wonderful tents now. I will be spending the week with him in Philadelphia soon. His ship out date is set for March 25/26, but who really knows. So much changes with the military on a regular basis. Thanks for all your prayers and support thus far. It is so obvious that God's hand is at work here.

Look at that snow!

I just got this picture from Rob's first sergeant and I thought everyone would like to see what the weather looks like in New Jersey. It snowed four inches last night. Fortunately, they actually had some time to relax today and get laundry done. I believe they were all very thankful they didn't have to work outside in this snow.