Out of the Green Zone, Into our Hearts

Our Mexico City buddies, Lourdes Lamela and her husband, Kevin Kreutner, came to visit us during a vacation in SE Asia. Lourdes survived the visa line with me, and in fact, our 5:30 am running sessions were responsible for getting me back in shape after Ellie was born. At the time, her husband, Kevin, was waiting for a place in a Foreign Service orientation class. He spent his time having coffee with Nathan, taking Ellie for walks, working in the Financial Services section of the embassy, and going to Iraq twice as a USAID consultant.

Since we left Mexico City, Kevin officially entered the Foreign Service and he and Lourdes were assigned to work in the political section in Baghdad. They had amazing stories about overseeing elections, spending hours identifying VIPs at dangerous checkpoints, and being awaken by mortarfire in the middle of the night. They also work literally all the time--about 9am to 11 pm everyday, though they do sleep in on the weekend and report for duty at 10 or 11.

Coincidentally, another friend and colleague of ours here, Dana Williams, was a friend of Lourdes' from grad school at the University of Texas. So we had Kevin, Lourdes, and Dana and her husband and three kids over for a fun if somewhat loud and chaotic dinner.

Front row: Ben, Cole, Sam, Lourdes, Ellie, Nina, Kevin
Back row: Nathan, Greg, Dana