SHELTER's readers may be happy to know that editor Samantha Carpenter is on vacation for two weeks, spending time with her husband, Jeff, who is home on leave from Iraq.

Jeff, a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, has been deployed for more than a year and this visit marks only his second visit home since his departure in the summer of 2003. Jeff left to serve overseas when the Carpenters' twin boys, now 20 months, were only eight weeks old. Samantha will be returning to work on December 16th when Jeff reports back to his unit in Iraq.