Skype!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! I just arrived back at my house in SLO and this year's Christmas was soooo different for me! To name a few, my parents moved into a new house, so everything just seemed off, eating at a new dinning room table, where do you sit? Christmas tree and stockings in the same room, that's a new one! My sister, brother in law, nephew and older brother all decided to slumber party at my parents for the first time in 12 years.... odd seeing as my sister lives 5 minutes down the street! Then there was the fact that it's the first Christmas in 20 years that my brother wasn't there.... and that's where Skype comes in! 

I love skype! I used it when I was in Australia to simply call home, didn't use the video chat stuff, just a very cheap calling system while I was studying abroad. My brother skyped us, via video chat during christmas so he got to "be there" while we opened christmas presents and stockings. I was also able to take him out to his truck to hear the new speakers and amp his buddy James and I had installed on Christmas eve. He said it was great to be able to see us, and what we got for christmas, and to see my nephew opening presents and playing with the paper and bows!

Not only did I get to skype my brother over Christmas, Charlie was able to give me the best Christmas present of the year.... he stumbled across a wireless internet connection and we got to skype too!!! FOR HOURS!!! It came up Christmas eve at about 2 am my time, and Char texted me to say he had wireless and wanted to skype, we chatted for 2 hours that night and it was soooo special. It was so amazing to see him, to see his face, his smile, his reactions to our conversations, to see him laugh and be goofy! I've gotten to  chat with him a lot more than I thought I would this deployment, but to actually see him was the best thing ever. Charlie had wireless for 2-3 days and I'd say we probably video chatted via skype for a good 8-10 hours. It was so nice to see his face and have some really good conversations with him, and it was semi private b/c he was in a neighboring tent, not at the big communications center! We talked about anything and everything and it was so reassuring and heart warming. 

Charlie has since lost that wireless connection, but I sure hope it comes back again real soon. Until then it will be letters, e-mails and phone calls, and lots of prayers that wireless comes back!