I just thought I would post an update for everyone on what is going on this week in the Phillips house. I am sure most of you already know about Nathan's 4 month "trip" coming up, but here are some things that I wanted to share with you all.
Well, I guess there is no more denying the fact that Nathan really is leaving in about 55 hours (but who is counting). We will be taking Nathan to the airport Wednesday at the base. They charter an airplane for all the guys to fly together out there, Nathan's squadron is being deployed for about 120 days to Al Udeid in the country of Qatar. He is scheduled to return the first part of January. Here is a little information on the base they are going to be at for 4 months: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/udeid.htm It is located in the Persian Gulf attached to the country of Saudi Arabia. It is a very populated place and should be fairly safe.
Nathan is taking a camera again and he took a lot of pictures last time that I was able to share with you all...so I hope we get to do that again. If you are interested in getting the address to mail care packages or letters to Nathan, just email me and I would be happy to give it to you. He will of course have email, but I am not sure if it is the same address as last time, so if you want his email too, just let me know. Elizabeth and I plan on sending care packages very often with cards, letters, pictures, and of course videos of everything that Elizabeth and I will keep ourselves busy with while Nathan is gone. He really enjoyed the videos last time and we hope to keep him flooded with more this time :) I have had some of you already asking what to send in a package and here are some of the things that Nathan said he would love to receive in a care package. Any Texas magazines, sports magazines (especially because he will miss football season!), and hunting magazines. There is a store there to go get food, snacks, drinks, and other things that he may need, but he has said that he usually just eats at the dining facility and that he really does not need anyone to send food or snacks...unless it is something special of course like Julios chips, or one of his favorite packages he received last time was the Big Red from Keri and Bryan :). He loves to receive cards and letters, and just anything to show that we are thinking about him. Hope this helps.
One of my main concerns right now is how Elizabeth is going to handle it this time. She was so young last time and did not know what was really going on, so this time will be much different! We have made videos of Nathan reading books again and I hope to show these to her everyday. I have gotten a special pillow for her that has a picture of her and Daddy so that she can sleep with it every night and kiss him at night. So, I hope she will adjust well, but I am not sure how it will go the first few weeks.
I will be keeping you all updated while he is gone and will continue to send pictures :) Just keep Nathan and his squadron (15 AS) in your prayers, and Elizabeth and me as well.
