Trip into the countryside

Bryon was able to take a trip a few weeks ago out into the countryside of Mali as part of a support mission. I dont even know all that he was involved in but that he was gone for several days and worked in support of the crisis in Chad.

During his travels, he took a few pictures of the country side that I wanted to share with you all. As many of you know Mali, alongwith a great deal of Africa, is one of the poorest nations in the world. The Land does not support much sustainable agriculture, the people are hungry and homelessness and disease plagues every nation from South Africa to Egypt, Malawi to Mali. Technology is far behind, the political arena corrupt and religion is a free for all with different tribal groups believing in one version of a certain faith combined with local tribal tales and a little witchcraft here and there.

Upon finding out that Bryon is deployed to Mali, many people have said, "Aren't you glad he isnt in Iraq". My initial answer is "Yes, I'm very glad". Well, I still feel that Mali is a safter place in general than in the middle of a war zone, however, this past month that he has been gone, I have come to know a lot of things. One of those topics that I think of often is the related to the question.. "What is worse, Syphilis crazy or Religious crazy?"

What does that mean you ask? The people in Iraq act out of passion for their Muslim faith, they kill people in the name of Allah and believe they will be rewarded for their faithfulness. In Africa, devotion to one's Muslim faith is there, however, it is a different type of Muslim faith than the faith Iraqi's give their life for. In Africa, when people bomb embassy's, attempt to assassinate dignitaries, raid already impoverished refugee camps, it isnt because of total religious fanaticism but I would say a combination of that plus a syphilis type insanity that is bred from prostitution, STD's and AIDS running rampant and an ugly mix of a lack of respect for the value of human life and extreme poverty. Which then, is worse? Religious crazy or syphilis crazy?

The Bible says to feed the hungry before trying to share your faith with them (paraphrased). Why does it say that? Because you have to meet the basic needs of a person, food, water, clothing, shelter, and safety before they are open to anything theoretical and non-tangeable like faith. In Africa, there are so many orphans from parents who have died of AIDS and are left without any family members. From my time working in Malawi and Kenya, I know that there is a religious battle going on for these orphans. Whichever orphanage gets the child, is the faith the child grows to embrace. If a Christian orphanage claims the child, they will become Christian and if a Muslim orphanage claimis the child, they will become Muslim. What a concept! The group who provides the basic needs in life to the child is the direction the child will then follow. Sounds familiar, eh.

I'm so proud of my husband. The work he is doing is making such an incredible difference on the people in Mali as well as other nations in Western Africa. I wish I could write more and I wish I could know more but that is the plight of a military wife, especially an intelligence analyst's wife. No complians though, I have had a great deal of time with the Lord realizing, my faith and strength must lie in him, not my husband. I was reading my Bible the other day about the story of the prodigal son. It is my opinion that Africa is the prodigal son of the world. The son wandered far away and fell into a life unpleasing to the father, however, the son was not lost. There is salvation to all who seek it and open arms of the Lord awaiting the children of Africa. I pray God's blessings on the people of Mali, especially the orphans and widows and all of our troops who give their lives to help give them a safe place to call home, free from terrorism and hate. I thank God for you men and women and for the sacrifaces you make, trying to keep our nation safe.

Enjoy the pictures!

LETS GO TAR HEELS

No. 3 UNC Rallies to Defeat Clemson in Double Overtime, 103-93

NEED I SAY MORE?????

Well dad, enjoy wearing a beautiful Carolina blue shirt on Christmas Day. Ain't life grand :)

LETS GO TAR HEELS!

Brandon

Ok, this is the cutest picture of little Brandon telling his mommy Diane to get well soon.

AWWWWWWWWWW. I really love this! I bet daddy had something to do with this cuteness!

Brandon in his santa hat at Christmas and Brandon posing with his mommy. We cant wait to meet you little man. Your so handsome! Your aunt Haley, uncle Bryon and everyone reading this love you and send you big kisses!! muah!

Daddy to be

What a beautiful picture of Bryon with my little nephew Ayden only a couple of days after he was born. My sister just sent this to me. What a great daddy he will be!

Now all we need is to meet our other little nephew Brandon (Bryon's sister's little angel) so we can get some pictures of him up here!

We've been thinking about names for our little one. My dad has guessed the sex of all 3 of his grandchildren so far. No one else has guessed correctly every time. So what do ya'll think? A boy or a girl?

New Nephews Collin and Ayden!

Welcome to the world little Ayden Hoke Lyash and Collin Christopher Green!

Great news, my sister Elizabeth had her baby Collin on February 1st, 2008. He weighed 7ibs and 11oz. Healthy and happy and perfect. Elizabeth did so great. She had Collin without any pain medicines all naturally and never complained once! She and Chris are super parents. The other child in the picture is Collin's big brother Casey Ray.

I'm also excited to announce my other new nephew Ayden who was born on January 2nd, 2008. He weighed 6ibs 4oz and is doing great. Despite Ayden being breech, Mary has really been solid and made so many hard decisions all of which have resulted in a healthy beautiful baby boy. I'm so proud of you sister!

Enjoy the pictures!

HAVING A BABY!!!

Boy do I have big news! It seems like one big event after the other. Just the other day, I was writing about our marriage and Bryon's deployment. Now, only 1 month later am writing about other news.

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

Yes, Bryon and I are having a baby! It seems that I am around 4-5 weeks along! My 8 week visit to the OBGYN is February 29th. We are so excited about this unexpected blessing. So many of life's memorable moments are happening now and we are both very grateful.

Please keep the baby in your prayers. It looks like I will be due late September, early October which is before Bryon returns. As you can imagine, this is very hard for us, despite the joy we are feeling, it will be hard going to doctors visits, seeing my tummy grow and experiencing the craziness of pregnancy without him. However, we believe this is God's beautiful and perfect will for us and that He will give us the strength to not only survive but enjoy every moment of the blessed time.

Also, if everyone reading this will please email their mailing address to me at haleymushrush@hotmail.com. I will be sending out our wedding announcements soon and soon thereafter shower invitations and invitations to our reception and want to make sure I dont miss anyone. If you know someone who does not have an email, please send their address as well. I will send out a group email for those who do not get this message later on.

Thank you all for your calls, letters and prayers these past few weeks that Bryon has been gone. As these 9 months progress, Bryon and I both will continue to appreciate your support.

Oh, and in case you cant make out the picture, it is of my pregnancy test, saying "PREGNANT".

Email from Bryon

Bryon sent me an email with information to post on the blog. I am going to copy and past the majority of it here for you to read his own words.


"I’m going to start work on my primary project. I can’t get into too much detail now, but it should have a large impact in the country. My project focuses on radio communications (Mali has more radio stations than any country in Africa) and distributing anti-extremism messages that have the ability to reach 95% of the people in Mali. The project will have a budget over $1 million, work closely with coordination with part of the Department of State as well as the military, and promote education, health awareness, religious tolerance, conflict resolution, and anti-extremism. As I get more into it, there will be more specifics that I’ll be able to share about. The project will give me the opportunity to see a lot of the country. "


"Also, I’ll be making big strides in setting up my post-military career. Africa is going to become an increasing focal point for the government and I saw aspects of that in Ethiopia, and even more of that here. The current focus is Iraq and Afghanistan, but in the aftermath of those conflicts, the focus will be shifting to the open areas in the world, and many of those are in Africa. So I will have spent time in two countries playing key roles on the continent as well as been following the rest of the continent to some extent. "


And I thought this part of the email was cute...

"I drove for the first time around Bamako. Its not quite the free for all like driving in Addis was. People pretty much stay in their lanes, and don’t cram in front of you as much. But the motorbikes and mopeds are everywhere. They drive between lanes and around vehicles and are hard to see in the mirrors. So it’ll be an adventure every time I get behind the wheel here"


You know how much Bryon loves a challenge, He'll love the crazy driving for sure! He was also really excited when he arrived to find out that not only did he have a cook that prepared dinner for them every night, but he also had air conditioning in his house! Yay! While it is the cool season there, the temperatures are still in the upper 80's to mid 90's with no rain and little breeze.



Well, thats all of the update I have for now. Thank you all so much for praying that our communication lines would open up. They certainly have! I've talked to Bryon daily on skype since Saturday and its been so much easier for me being able to see his face every day. Please continue to pray for our brave soldier. I will post more when it comes. Love to you all!

Bow the knee

Today the church service was just for me (or so it felt). Awhile back, our pastor surveyed the congregation to see topics that we would like him to preach on. This Sunday, he preached on one of the congregation's choices. The title of it was "He Heals the Brokenhearted". After the sermon, I thought my feelings would be of comfort and encouragement but I was so angry at God! I left the sanctuary in tears, got in my car and went to get gas at the gas station. My feelings of grief were so overwhelming, I literally screamed, "Why!!!". Thankfully, no one was around to be scared (I certainly would have been). I still have not accepted why God allowed my husband, of 1 month, to be deployed. He was supposed to be out of the Army in September, for goodness sake!


God is so amazing though, just when you think you cannot make it, he rides in with his sword and shield to protect you from the attacks of the evil one. Today his shield for me was being able to talk to Bryon on skype for TWO HOURS and his sword were the lyrics to a song we sang during the service.


I typically either know the song in church or don't know it (duh) and if I know it, I sing with all my heart. If I don't know it, I find myself not even trying to sing (rather than stumble my way through it) and just listening to the words. Today however, the choir sang a song which dropped me to my knees. I felt the gentle hands of my Heavenly Father, reaching down, picking me up off the floor and embracing me. I could feel him kiss my head, stroke my hair and whisper a soft "shhh, be still my child" in my ear. The lyrics are below.

Bow The Knee

There are moments on our journey following the Lord where God illuminesevery step we take. There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us, as we try to understand each move He makes. When the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to Him

Bow the knee, trust the heart of your Father when the answers goes beyond what you can see. Bow the knee; lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity. And when you don't understand the purpose of His plan, in the presence of the King, bow the knee.

There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall, the cold and lonely winds wont cease to Blow. And there seems to be no reason for the suffering we feel; We are tempted to believe God does not know. When the storms arise, don't forget we live by faith and not by sight.

The part of that song that impacted me the most was in the chorus when it says "trust the heart of your Father". It isn't asking me to trust in a human for my strength, because no human can ever be strong enough. It isn't even asking me to trust in the omnipotence, or strength or steadfastness of the Lord. No, it asks me to trust the HEART of the Lord. How can I, or anyone for that matter, not trust in the heart of a Savior who gave his life for me on the cross. A God who loved ME so much that gave His only son, to die, the death of a criminal, just so that I can live forever in Heaven with Him. Christ took on the punishment of Hell so that I would not have to experience it. In THAT love, I will willingly and gratefully give all of my trust, my fears, my sorrow and my very soul.

Please allow me to share a verse from the sermon which has been an enormous encouragement to me. May it strengthen you as well.

Philippians 4: 4-7

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say it, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, through prayers and petitions, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Mailing Address

We have a mailing address!

Bryon emailed me his address today. This may be changing in the next month when he moves houses, i'm not sure, but here is what it is for now. Remember there is a 2-3 week delay from when you send something and he gets it. So no perishable items, as much as he loves pumpkin pies, I dont think that would be the best thing to send :)

The address is:

Sgt. Bryon Mushrush/MIST

2050 Bamako Place
Dulles, VA 20189

Yes, this is a Virginia address, very confusing, I know. The way it works is that all mail sent to deployed soldiers is routed via Virginia and transported by military aircraft (I believe this is how it works). So, what that means for us is that anything we send to him requires only local postage to Virginia! Saves A LOT of money.


I hope everyone writes lots of letters to my sweet husband. I know he is very lonely for his family and friends and receiving letters from people he loves is a huge support and means the world to him. If any of you ever need me to send something in one of my packages or if you need to contact me for any reason, my email address is haleymushrush@hotmail.com. I bet I will write more letters than all of you put together! Who wants to take up the challenge? :)

Hello From Mali!

"Hello from Mali", Bryon says to everyone!

Bryon arrived safely in Mali yesterday and is starting to unpack and settle into his routine. He was able to get on AIM last night for a few minutes to let me know he had arrived and that he was excited to begin work today. He is living in a house, which he described as being 'very nice', along with other Army soldiers. He is currently sharing a room with Nathan, the other Sgt. he traveled with from Fort Bragg but that should change shortly. The house is no longer able to accomidate everyone, so within the month they will all be moving a larger house closer to the embassy. Then, he should have his own room. There is a cook at the house who the guys already living there hired. Each person pays a small monthly fee and she cooks nice hot meals for them! That made me very happy, his mom too I'm sure.

He has had very limited internet access. I got only a very brief email from him today. I have not heard how the job is going so far, but as soon as he is able to contact me I will let you all know.

He said when he arrived it felt like Africa. It was hot and there were 8 soldiers with guns standing near them as they disembarked the plane. There was a man from the embassy there to greet them and take them to their house. He sounded really excited last night about getting to the embassy today and starting on the intelligence work. This is what he has been hoping to do the entire time he has been in the army, and this deployment is giving him a great opportunity get the hands on experience he was hoping for.

Please pray for his internet and phone access. It has been frustrating for both of us that we have been unable to talk to each other any more than a two sentence email the past few days. I am trusting the Lord will work it out in His time. I am just very impatient!!!

This is a picture I found on my phone today that Bryon took of me wearing his massive body armor, and all the other VERY HEAVY stuff (I dont know the proper names for all of his gear, but you can see what I mean by looking at the picture). It's pretty funny and he had a great time loading me up with it, as i'm sure you can tell.