AWOL and Transitions

Hi everyone...wow...nearly two months since my last post! That's definitely a record. I'm going through lots of transition lately and the one thing that has been put on the back burner obviously is my blog. I'm sure once Oliver arrives (for those who hadn't heard yet, we found out a couple of weeks ago we are having a boy) posts will increase again with a focus on being a dad and keeping the family in LA up to date on life up here.

However I'm not sure what the next couple of months will look like on here. As I mentioned above, I've been transitioning. One of the major transitions is away from politics. Being the huge majority of my posts on here were political that has been the main reason for my lack of posts.

Along with that I'm launching the two projects listed at the top of the blog posts which has taken up a majority of my time outside of my full time job.

And of course spending time with Mimi and preparing to be a dad has taken up all the rest of my time thus again, blog is low on the priority list. I still have some wedding posts to do and hopefully I'll get to them sooner rather than later.

All that to say, for those who come here looking for the latest political hot topic, then you probably will no longer find them here (except maybe an occasional manmade global warming rant). Please check my blogroll for plenty of great sites that will fill that need. If you are just curious about Mimi's growing bundle of joy and then after Oliver arrives, life of a first time dad, then stay tuned.

Introducing Baby Comeaux!!!

One thing I've never been accused of is taking things slow. In early December, after Mimi was late we took the following test...

Two lines equals pregnant! Obviously we were pretty excited but everyone says to wait until after 3 months before spreading the news (possibly the hardest thing I've ever done!). So, today was the 3 month Dr. visit (I know it has only been 2 1/2 months since the wedding, but as I learned they start counting from your last menstrual cycle so you have 2 weeks before conception that count also towards the 40 weeks) and as you can see below...we are DEFINITELY pregnant...introducing to the world

BABY COMEAUX!!! =)

Baby Comeaux was a very active little peanut during the ultrasound and we also were able to hear the heart beat which was way cool. As you can see at least one foot is formed with all 5 toes and we were able to see the other one as well and also a little hand even waved to us =)

Please keep Momma Mimi in your prayers b/c she has been having a very rough time with the nausea and vomiting and tiredness and...ok...please keep me in your prayers too =)

Oh and Baby Comeaux is due to arrive on August 5th!!!

Small Steps of Faith

One of my biggest struggles since becoming a Christian has been asking for things for myself, especially things that in my mind seemed small. After reading The Shack, I felt this was an area that God wanted me to work on and learn more about, so that is exactly what I've started to do.

Two nights ago my laptop was not working properly. Normally I would have spent hours trying to figure out on my own how to fix it because to me that was not something to "bother" God about. However, as I'm learning, if it is a concern for us, it is also a concern for God. So, after catching myself for a few minutes doing it in my strength, I stopped and spent a little time in prayer over the issue.

Call it what you want, but I'm calling it answered prayer b/c as soon as I finished praying and I went back to my computer it was working perfectly fine again. That was such a huge faith builder for me to see that God really does care about even the smallest things in my life.

Now don't get me wrong. If I had come back to my computer and it wasn't working, I wouldn't have thought that God doesn't care. It would have just meant He is not answering it in the way I would have liked or the way I thought was best. But I truly feel in this case, He was rewarding my new step of faith in trusting Him even with the small things.

Then yesterday it happened again. I was looking for something that I really needed. I spent about thirty minutes looking for it and couldn't find it. Then I caught myself realizing I hadn't asked God for help, so I stopped and spent a few minutes in prayer on the issue. Yep, you guessed it, in a few more minutes I found it in a place I hadn't thought of looking before. Another great growth of faith for me.

So, all this to say, God really does care about even the smallest details of your life. If you give everything over to Him, He will get involved with everything in your life. He is just waiting for the invitation.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone from Mr. and Mrs. Comeaux =)

Making it Legal

More pics from the wedding month =) As I had mentioned in a previous post, on Nov. 12th we were legally married in Baton Rouge. We had to do this in order for Mike to be allowed to "remarry" us in the Bahamas 3 days later.

Mike Haman getting his prayer on!

Yep, it's legal!

No turning back now! =)

Brad Duplechain (far stage right) and Michael Ferris (far stage left) were our witnesses being they couldn't make it to the Bahamas and I really wanted them to be a part of our wedding, so this was the next best thing.

All Is Complete

Presents under the tree...all is complete now for our first Christmas at home =)

Happy Birthday to Me!!! Halfway to 70!!! YIKES!!!

A few weeks ago one of my sisters-in-law brought a cake home and it was very yummy...I mentioned that...she told her friend at work that made it...so she made me one for my bday =)

Mimi's First LSU Game

The month of November is being dubbed the wedding month. It started when we left for LA on the 5th and we finished our last official wedding event on the 30th. One of the things that was needed before the "I Dos" was to introduce Mimi to an LSU home game.

What better one to bring her to than LSU-Bama. Unfortunately it didn't turn out so well for the home team, but we had a great time nonetheless. It was a day game so tailgating started at 6am. All day long Mimi kept saying, "They do this EVERY weekend??? I can see once a year, but EVERY weekend???" =)

Here she is learning the ropes on tailgating cooking at its finest...jambalaya!!!

Tiger Band was rocking the house as always!

Despite the final score we still had a great time and Mimi learned a little more about football and a lot more about her husband to be =)

Our First Christmas Tree

Ever since moving out from my parents 17 years ago, I've never had my own Christmas tree b/c I've always said I wanted to wait until my first Christmas with my wife...well...that time is here =)

Adding the final touch

Of course Mimi did all the decorating and choosing the color scheme =) I did do the snow though =)

Now we just need some presents underneath...hint hint Mimi =)

Happy Thanksgiving

I obviously have a huge reason to be thankful for this year...I'M MARRIED!!!! =)

I'm also thankful for 7 years of no attacks on American soil thanks to President Bush never taking his eye off the ball despite tons and tons of criticism from all sides.

I'm most thankful for living in a country where I'm free to give thanks to the One who was the original receiver of Thanksgiving from the Pilgrims almost 400 years ago...and no...I'm not talking about the Indians despite what is taught in public schools but God.

Take 2 - I'm MARRIED!!!

Now it is definitely official in the eyes of LA and of God. We had an awesome wedding on the beach in The Bahamas. I'm so excited to see where life will lead now that I've found my missing rib =)

I'm Out of Here!

As always in my life change happens fast. I can make all the plans I want and God always finds a way to remind He is in charge. I've been saying for 6 months now that I'd be leaving here Aug. 31st. Well, the prime on our contract decided they want me home earlier, so I'm leaving tomorrow.

That's why I've been very lax on posts lately b/c lots had to be done before I left due to the accelerated schedule.

Being nothing was planned for home these next couple of weeks, I'm going to take advantage of them and get some down time to decompress and more importantly some quality and quantity Mimi time =) So while I'll be home this weekend, I will still be pretty much out of touch for a couple of more weeks and then slowly reenter the wonderful DC pace of life. I'll also take a break from posting unless something major happens like VP announcements.

So, see everyone in a couple of weeks! And thanks so much for everyone's prayers over this past year!

A Day on the Diamond

On Deck

Another base hit =) 14 for 18 so far on the season!

Team Habibis (Iraqi for dear friends) - our last game with Coach Sarah (we won...whooohooo)

3 Year Anniversary

3 years and 830 posts since I started this little adventure into the blog world. As I've done the last two years, I'll list highlights from the year starting with the first two anniversary posts.

1 Year Anniversary

2 Year Anniversary

Burundi Stories Part 5, 6, & 7

Mimi Serving It Up in South Africa

No More Wisdom

Under the Overpass

756

Finally Headed Out

In Iraq at Last

From Riches to Rags

Remembrance Ceremony

Fasting During Ramadan

I Will Not Fear

Risking It All For Freedom

10 Great Dates Before You Say 'I Do'

Small World

Fasting Debrief

My 'Hood on Camp Liberty

A Walk to the Bathroom

God's Smuggler

Inaugural Camp Victory Water Bottle Raft Race

Happy Thanksgiving from Camp Victory

Heartfelt Love

The Costly Call

Heading Home for Christmas

She Said YES...Our Engagement Story

Hunting with Dad and Merry Christmas

Engagement Photos

Rekindling Ministries

National Champions Again!!!

It's Snowing IN IRAQ!!!

Mud Pics

The Second Mile

Dave Ramsey Rocks!!!

Adding Some New Flavor

Not About Mi

Authentic Manhood

Flintstone Village

American Heroes

Love AND Justice

Toby Keith Rocks!!!

Sand Storms Are Zero Fun!

Shooting Skeet

My Pic with the Man

Double Digit Midget

Missing My Girl

Good Bye to the Box

Combat Showers

Surprise Visit

Day at the Beach

Softball in Iraq

A Father's Love for His Son

Not About Mi!

I promised my gorgeous fiancé that I will start writing tonight, so I have to jump on board and introduce myself to the blog friends. I had many journals but never finished with one, I guess I just liked to collect cool notebooks. Shane had one very good point that’s really convincing me to blog. I came to realize that online journal is a better way for me to share my thoughts, my faith, and the amazing stories God has done and is doing in my life with others than keeping my journal in a notebook to myself. Because my life is not about me, I am a tool for Him to use to speak into others' lives. The people He sent to my life have blessed me and I pray that I would be a blessing to your life as well. I hope to continue to communicate from my heart through arts (with some writings) on each post, and let God write on these pages as I called a journal.

P.S. My name is Mimi! =)

Adding Some New Flavor

If you know anything about Cajun cooking it is all about adding lots of flavor. The biggest "complaint" I get about my blog is that I talk about politics too much which some might say makes it a little too bland. Well, I've come up with a solution to add some more flavor. I've added Mimi to the author list for this blog and she will start posting as well under her name. Hopefully this will add some much needed non-political diversity to the blog. She should be saying hi soon with her first post so stay tuned to see why I fell in love with this amazing girl as she spices things up a little =)

It's Snowing!!!

I woke up this morning to hear my neighbors through the wall (yeah very thin walls in our trailers - speaking of trailers...I finally got my trailer on Camp Victory right before going home for Christmas...will post pics as soon as I can) complaining that it rained overnight. That is not a good thing over here because it is NASTY when it rains due to all the sand/dust turning to this goo like peanut butter sticky mud that gets on everything! So, I wake up and get ready to start my day not looking forward to stepping outside.

However, when I open my door...what do I see??? SNOW!!! It was only a very light flurry that only lasted about 30 minutes but it was still SNOW!!! When I was home I was so hoping that it would snow at least once to no avail. Never in a million years did I think I would see it here.

While it is not uncommon for snow in Northern Iraq in the mountains and higher elevations, it is very rare in Baghdad due to the average low in January of 39 degrees and a record low of only 25...it was 27 this morning!!! I guess Iraq hasn't gotten the Global Warming memo.

I took a few pics, but due to forgetting my card reader in LA I can't upload them yet to see if you can actually see the snow falling. As soon as I get my card reader in a week or so, I'll see how the pics came out and hopefully share the fun.

Hunting With Dad and Merry Christmas

As some of you will remember, last year on one trip home me and my dad did a little skeet shooting. This time I went out with him to his deer lease in hopes of bagging my first deer.

Beautiful sunrise from the deer stand (we were in the stand at 5am before the sun was up...yes...I was still half asleep =)

The stand from the road

The main view. The little bottle is a wildlife scent to mask our human smell...my dad knows all the tricks.

The side view...yes that's an apple core...another trick to try and attract the deer.

Wood ducks in the pond

Well, we didn't see any deer on our two hunts, so I wanted to at least shoot a little. We went to the range and set this target at 100 yards. The 10 circle is about 3" diameter and then another inch each one out so all 6 shots were within a 7" diameter. Not too bad for not shooting at a target in several years.

As you can tell, I'm enjoying my vacation with family and friends. Hope everyone is as well. Have a very Merry Christmas and don't forget to take a few minutes to remember the real reason for the season.

She Said YES...Our Engagment Story

In my post on Friday before leaving Iraq, I said that I wouldn't post much during my two weeks home unless something major happened. Well, something major happened...I'm engaged =)

Some of you know bits and pieces of the story, but for those who don't and to fill in the gaps for the rest, I'll tell the whole story.

Mimi is a graphic artist. Last summer she was hired by a friend to help design some items for his new Cajun restaurant in Texas. She had no idea what Cajun was, so she started Googling Cajun. Link lead to a link that lead to another link and eventually she stumbled upon this blog. She read all my post over a couple of months and then eventually decided to leave a comment. At the same time she also sent me a message on MySpace. We started chatting, but due to me planning on being there for another year at the time, I just look at it as another blog friend. We found out we went to the same church and even new a lot of the same people, but due to it being a very big church we had never crossed paths.

Well, as some of you will remember in a week's time I went from thinking I'd be in Iraq for another year to on my way home in a week. Being I was now coming home, I decided to ask Mimi to dinner. We had our first date on Sept. 5th, 2006 and she chose a sushi restaurant in Vienna. We have been dating ever since.

Around May, God gave me a peace that I could ask her to marry me but also felt that it had to be after her trip to Africa, June-Aug. In June, I got permission from her dad. Earlier I was offered another job in Iraq and we felt peace that I was supposed to take it which meant I would be gone when she got back. The original plan was to come home for leave in October and propose then, but that didn't work out. So, then I changed plans to do it during my leave this month.

I had originally planned to do it the day after I got home (today) at the end of our 10th date from the book, 10 Great Dates Before You Say 'I Do'. In order to keep her guessing as I was pretty sure she was expecting it over these two weeks, I developed a little covert plan to throw her off and make her think it would happen Wednesday. That plan was working great, but due to the nature of the date I had planned for today, I figured she may guess before. So, I decided to change plans again and do it the night I got home.

That presented a challenge in that I didn't have the ring yet. I ordered it before I left, but it was still in the safe at the store. Thankfully the person who helped me is a good friend, so she allowed another friend of mine to pick it up for me. Then he and I developed an excuse to have him meet me at the airport as well. Obviously Mimi was at the airport, so we had previously set up that after a few minutes of welcome homes, I'd say I needed to go to the restroom and he would as well. Once there he handed the ring off to me and I put it in my backpack and headed home.

Mimi didn't plan anything for last night figuring I would be tired from travelling so just had planned for us to have a quiet evening at home. I told her that I would only change one part of the plan in that I wanted to go out to eat.

I took her to the sushi restaurant we had our first date under the auspices that this was the first place we ate together when I came home last year, so I wanted to eat there again. She was happy and sad about that choice because she was planning on a similar surprise to the same restaurant later in the week, but had no idea of what was coming next.

After dinner, we walked out and she started to walk towards the car, but I said let's walk a little first. I walked her down the sidewalk about 20 yards and started telling her about that first night that we met. I had gotten there first and was waiting in the restaurant. I first saw her when she stepped onto the sidewalk right where we were standing. I said I didn't know that at that moment I would be seeing my future wife for the first time and dropped to my knee and asked her to marry me.

Now this is where the story makes a very unexpected but in hindsight funny turn. Apparently I did my covert planning way to well because she was COMPLETELY surprised. So much so that she thought I was joking. She even got down on the ground as well and picked me up and said NO and tried to start walking back to the car. She told me after that she thought I was joking around because she had just recently helped a friend buy a ring for his future fiancee and she thought I had taken that ring which is still at my place and was joking around with her.

So I stopped her from walking away because I also sensed she didn't realize what I had just asked her and asked her again. Then it started setting in that I wasn't joking and she asked are you being serious? When I told I was absolutely serious and asked her a THIRD time this time putting the ring on her finger as I asked, she emphatically said YES!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers over these last 15 months and please continue to pray for us that through our engagement and marriage, we model Christ and always seek to serve Him through our relationship.

Heading Home for Christmas!!!

I was in the PX (shopping center) yesterday and the intercom system was playing that American Idol song, "I Going Home." Well it was very well timed because I'M GOING HOME!!! =) I leave sometime tonight and that's all I can say about that. I'll be in DC Saturday afternoon and be there until Thursday when Mimi and I head to LA for a week. Back to DC on the 27th and then leave to come back on the 29th and get back on the 30th.

I'll probably be pretty light on the posts for the next two weeks with the usual caveat, unless something major happens. I'm looking forward to spending time with Mimi, friends and family, so don't plan on being on here that much.

Also, just as a teaser, I'm planning on making the Cajun Tiger presidential endorsement on January 2nd, so stay tuned =)