Dear Mal,

I received your letter the other day. You don't know how good it is to finally hear from you after such a long time. Not a minute goes by that I don't think of you and pray for your safety.

. I know that you wanted to be home by now but I'm sure that you'll be home by spring. Thank goodness you've only been in a skirmish so far. If things go well I hope that you'll be home in time to weed the garden this spring.

Chi Linn and Sophia are very anxious to hear from Maisie. They haven't heard from her since she decided to join the 1st Sharpshooter Company. I too, wish that she hadn't done it and stayed in the 57th Overlanders with you. She's as headstrong as you are and likely to do something rash. If you hear from her or see her please get word back to her parents. All of us are sick with worry.

We celebrated Christmas quietly. There was a makeshift service Christmas Eve at the church as Shepherd Ambrose joined the cause about two months after you left.. I did manage to put up a tree cut from the grove where your Pa rests. Chi Linn cut it and Sophia and I decorated it as best we could, but something seemed lacking without you and Maisie here. Even the apple pies I baked just didn't taste the same without either of you here to eat them.

The ranch is surviving, but honestly, it's just getting by. I sold three quarters of the herd several months ago but I kept what Chi Linn and I considered the best. No one has any feed to spare and with feed prices so high and no one to speak of to work them, I'm putting them out to pasture.

They'll do good there. We've been lucky in that it's been a wet winter so far and the grass will be lush and green in a few months and the ponds are full so I expect that the grass will last well into summer.

The last of the hands joined the Cause a few weeks ago. Those left around here are either too old to fight or are too shiftless to trust. Occasionally someone in need of food will come and help out for a day or so in exchange for food and she