This Week's Dallas Update

Hey again everyone,

Getting to FaceTime a bit. He caught
me off guard with his call---No
makeup! Eak!

Dallas has made it safely to his final location, a bit ahead of schedule. Yesterday a flight opened up and he was able to push out. The FOB (Forward Operating Base) that he flew from was large-- it had coffee shops, restaurants and a shopping complex on sight. As Dallas put it: Weird.  Time change is a full 12 hours and he seemed a little tired the first few times I spoke with him. However, he was not too tired to be extremely exited about Texas A&M upsetting Alabama. He also wanted to know how everyone was doing, including the players on his fantasy football teams. :) Internet is better now and, speaking selfishly, I'm very excited about. We were able to FaceTime this morning (for me)/last night (for him).

Dal tweaked his foot a few days before he left for AFG but it is feeling much better now. He's able to get into the gym fairly regularly to work out which, as you know, makes him very happy. After all that travel, he is excited to get back to running again--even though it will take place on the tredmill.

If some of you are worried, the FOB he is at is very safe with many protocols in place to ensure it stays that way.  He really likes the situation he is in now. I think being in continual transit was beginning to wear on him a bit. Now that things are more constant he has better control over his daily activities and can begin to proactively work on the mission at hand.

Additionally, he was able to get his hands on his address. As soon as I learn which mode is more secure I will be sending it to those of you who requested it. If you are planning to send a care package plan on it taking up to 2 weeks for him to receive it. Rumors say it only takes 7-10 days, however that's from an officer on a larger FOB and I'm not sure if it is accurate for Dallas. For those of you sending baked goods, I heard packaging them in zip-locks and then in a second airtight container helps them keep while shipping. While on this subject, I must say: Thank you for your kindness and willingness to send dal a little piece of home. I know it will make the time much easier for him.

Lastly, with Dal having better access to internet I hope to send updates fairly frequently. If you would like these blog updates automatically sent to your email inbox there is a link on the side panel of the page for you to enter your email address.

XOXO

Ash

Dallas deploys; Bellarmine wins 3rd place State Trophy

Hi everyone!

To start things off, a few days ago I sent out an update to friends and family via a Facebook message. It occurred to me however, that I might be missing a good number of people wanting an update on how Dallas is doing as he begins his deployment in Afghanistan. Therefore, I am attaching the message at the end of this post. Please ignore the redundancy if you are on of the individuals receiving the message a second time :)

In other news the Bellarmine girls cross country team placed 3rd at the State meet last weekend! Once again, we traveled to Pasco to compete after both the girls and boys teams qualified for WIAA State in the District meet. Our boys finished 14th, and will be looking to make some real noise next year. One of our Senior girls lead the team with her 8th place finish and simultaneously qualified for the Oregon-Washington Nike Border Clash! The girls are competing today at Nike Cross Regional today in Idaho which is also very exciting and a mark of their regional success.

Personally, I am trying to keep busy while Dallas is away. I am ramping my training back up after racing the Army Ten Miler with Dallas and Aunt Charlene at the end of October. I finished 24th over-all among the women with a time of 62 minutes. I am hoping that strength will propel me to a solid indoor track season. My friends here in Washington are great and have been helping me keep my mind off things with dinners, movies and hangouts.

Thanks again to everyone that has reached out or send notes of encouragement! If you haven't already recieved it and are interested, here is the update sent out via Facebook:

"Hey friends and family!

Just wanted to send out a quick note updating everyone on Dallas. He left in the late afternoon on Monday and safely landed. He flew into AFG and is now on a base there safe and sound although technically still "in transit". Apparently the food is finally pretty good. Also, he is still accompanying the small group he flew over with which includes a group of his friends from his company. He is pretty happy about that, since he is able to spend his free time playing games on his ipad with them :) Wifi is pretty non-existent and the only Internet is in the MWR building, which you can imagine, is pretty packed.

I have received messages from a few of you, but please let me know if you would like to send Dallas something while he is in-country. I can get the address to you as soon as I receive it. 

Thank you all for your kind words and support over the last few days! Ill try to send out updates periodically and hopefully I have included everyone on this list. If there is someone whom I accidentally left out, or someone that you know would like updates please let me know and I can add them.

Xoxo

Ash"