Update #3

Well, we have officially passed the 'one month' mark! So I guess that now when people ask me how much longer AJ is going to be gone, I can say "just 11 more months" now instead of one year! Personally I want to be able to make the countdown shrink a little more often than just once a month, so I am keeping track of weeks. Each Friday I subtract a week, and that means tomorrow will mark 47 weeks until his return (that sounds SO much better than 330 days if you ask me!)

Training for AJ continues to go as well as it can be. He's been keeping busy for the most part each day now. This week he had more medical stuff done and had to get his second anthrax vaccine as well as his small pox vaccination. Apparently his body wasn't too thrilled with that idea, and he ended up almost passing out when making his efforts to leave after getting his shots. But they allowed him to rest that day and get some sugars into him to help with the symptoms, and since then he has felt fine other than the tenderness in both his arms.

I asked him if the weather has still been pretty hot down there and if his allergies have been bothering him much since we've started to cool down a little up here but the pollen levels seem to be pretty crazy right now. (I know that MY allergies have been horrible at least!) He said that it's still pretty warm down there, but it doesn't seem to bad anymore. But whether that is because it has started to cool down a little down there as well OR if he's just now used to the excessive heat, that's another question! :) But he also said that his allergies haven't been bothering him at all, so that is also a good thing with how much he's out and about doing things :)

I know that AJ can't be missing our tree frog Alfie too much either because he seems to be having his own fun with his wildlife encounters down there! Earlier this week he had gone to go purchase a bottle of water, and when he pulled it out he noticed that there was something on it. So he went to shake whatever it was off, and it turned out that it was a tree frog! Obviously not as cool as Alfie I'm sure :P

Continue to keep him in your prayers to remain in good health and to also stay well rested as the days are slowly yet quickly counting down until he will head overseas. We truly appreciate all your prayers and encouragement so far. We know that we would not be able to do it without you! :)