Health and Welfare

Thank you for praying for my health. I continue to have congestion but feel okay. We'll see how long this bug hangs on. Joshua has stayed healthy so far. Here is the latest on Jon's health and welfare.

"Well, a week or two makes a HUGE difference out here in terms of weather, at least in the transitional "seasons," as there is such a dramatic difference between summer temperatures and winter temperatures. We're now down to highs in the upper 50's, and low's in the lower 30's. No kidding. And the wind chill (it's almost always blowing here) works something fierce, I guess the only plus is the humidity is low (so at least our bones aren't aching). It actually snowed out here the week before I arrived in early 2008, and though there was no long term accumulation (the ground was not frozen), it serves as an indication of potential things to come.
My health is holding steady, I had a low grade cold that moved from my chest into my head, but very little impact. My tooth has been remarkable in the fact that I don't notice it, and all else is status quo. The reality is that the intensive nature of the staff work and other jobs I've had here have pretty much precluded the exercise I would have liked to be getting more regularly, it'll take a little while following my redeployment to re-achieve a base line of conditioning. It's hard to believe that 13 months ago I completed a marathon. Though 50's are a nice temperature range to run a marathon in, it's a little chilly for three mile stints, so that is another deterrent, even if I had the time.
It appears we may have a few more organizational holiday events this deployment than were permissible back in 2006, partly due to the operational environment. Generally, attendance is expected (that means "mandatory" for officers), though time off work to attend secular events is not what I'd prefer. On the plus side, there is usually free food (OK, I'm reaching here, we don't pay for any of our food over here, thanks to the taxpayers...).

Semper Fi, JarHedJon"