One Day And A Wake-Up

As Roger and I talked tonight we both realized in one day and a wake-up I'll be in DC to help Roger come home. It seems kind of weird, I'm sitting here after cleaning the house and getting as much done before Roger comes home most of the weekend, that in one week he will be home forever. What's weird is having the thought, "he's going to be home for good in a week." Outside of the military, I don't think many people think that thought about a loved one ever. One of my biggest fears during this last year, and the first year Roger was deployed, was that I was going to get used to him being gone. That's something I did not want to happen. I didn't want to be one of those wives who would rather their husbands be gone all the time. That's not a marriage. I love being married and especially being married to my best friend. We have a great relationship and I just want it to be back to normal and continue to grow stronger and deeper. And start having fun again. Speaking of funny and normal, a few people have said this past week with the latest news we'll be able to get back to normal. The first time I heard that, I wondered jokingly at first, "what's normal?" Then I started to realize it was a real question not just a passing joke. Roger and I are going to have to get used to being around each other again, especially since he won't go back to work until the end of May and I work from home three days a week. It's probably going to be interesting at times. I am already anticipating the forty questions a day about where things are. Pray for patience for me. :) But I also know we're going to enjoy and cherish the time together. We'll eventually get back to "normal" but I don't think our lives, and our love, will ever be the same. Hopefully, we never forget to cherish our time.

Going home sooner than I thought - and I won an award!

I have more information regarding my departure from Walter Reed. I ran around today getting paperwork completed so that I can leave soon. Now I’m only waiting for my leave form to be approved so that they can create orders for me – then I’ll be set to go. As it stands right now, my last day of duty will be Friday, March 14th. I begin my 70 days of leave on Saturday, March 15. Holly is flying to DC early next week and we have to do a few admin things together to prepare me for my retirement pay. We’re planning to have some type of get together for our entire group of GCC/DC circle of friends the evening of Friday, March 14. An Evite is forthcoming. We’ll be driving back to Texas on Saturday. My leave will end Friday, May 23 and I’ll be officially medically retired on Saturday, May 24. Right now I’m a little flustered because I thought I’d have more time to say goodbye to people, so I’m trying to see people when I can. Today I had dinner with my friend Erika and then went over to see Buddy & Amanda and their handsome baby boy. At least I have more definite info on the dates – everything is pretty solid from here. I’ll believe it when I have my leave approved and my orders in hand. I’ll keep you updated.

Oh – a quick note… this came out a while ago, but I’m lazy and never posted it. As you know, I photograph for the Stripe newspaper here at Walter Reed on an as needed basis. Basically, I’m considered a freelancer or a stringer. Check it out:

Subject: Journalism competition
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Judging for the annual MEDCOM Journalism Competition and to choose MEDCOM representatives in the Army's Keith L. Ware Award competition was held Friday, Jan. 25 at MEDCOM HQ. Walter Reed Army Medical Center staged a near sweep of the awards, but the Fort Detrick Standard pulled out the win in the category of best Tabloid Newspaper. Individual winners were Walter Reed Stripe editor Bernard S. Little in Feature Writing, Commentary, Sports Writing and Single Photograph; and the Stripe's Kristin Ellis in News Writing and Photojournalism.

Serving as judges for the competition were Jerry Townsend, former chair of the journalism department at San Antonio College; Rich Lamance, print team leader for the Army/Air Force Hometown News Center; and SGM Paul Stevenson, NCOIC at U.S. Army North Public Affairs.

The winners will each receive a certificate from MEDCOM, and will go forward to compete for Keith L. Ware Awards. Also going on to Army will be entries with no MEDCOM competition: The CHPPM Sentinel in Magazine Format Publications; Kristin Ellis in Art/Graphics; SFC Roger J. Mommaerts Jr. of Walter Reed in Photography by a Stringer and COL Paul Little of CHPPM in the broadcast category for Television Information Program.

Thank you to all who participated. Congratulations and good luck to our representatives in the Army contest.

I was happy to hear this news – especially since I didn’t even enter a picture – Bernard picked one and entered it for me. Thanks Bernard and congrats to you and Kristin on your awards! Here’s the picture that won the award and is going up for another one:

Mar 3rd Again and... a Step Closer!

Here we are. March 3, 2008. Two years to the day of my surgery in 2006. Last year on this day, Holly and I drove away from our home away from home in Arlington, VA to get her resettled in Austin. Today I found out that my name is on the Transportation/Transition list. It is official, I am finally going home.

I found out late in the day and all I could do was see the guy that will head my transition out of here. And all he could do was give me a list of things I need to bring him. I tried to set up as much as possible for tomorrow to do. I have to go to S-1 (kinda’ like HR) at 0800 and they are going to get my records straight, I have to stop by the Reserve Liaison Office (since I’m a Reservist, they do things for us the Active side can’t), I need to decide how much leave to use and fill out a form (all of it!!), and I have to talk to some lady about my retirement pay. I went by her office today and she was gone, so I left her a voicemail and I’m hoping she’ll call me tomorrow – but I’ll stop by again anyway. I just need to get these few items squared away and go back to square one. If everything checks out, they’ll cut my orders… soon… I hope.

I spent time this evening getting all my paperwork together so that I’ll have everything I need to knock out as much of this as possible. I’ll let you know how far I get. If everything goes smoothly (HA!) I think I’ll be out of here by the end of the month!

Lastly, March 3rd is my sister Mirna’s birthday. Happy birthday Mirna!

Swim Meets, Finally A Teenager & Other Recent Happenings

So Thursday I went to swim and the pool was set up in 50 meter laps instead of the usual set up. Since the A&M swim team is in Austin this week at the UT Swim Center for the Big 12 Championships, the A&M Swim Center is hosting a high school swim meet. I was a little nervous at first, more like excited fear than scared fear. I wasn't sure if I could make it down and back. But once I started I realized not only was I able to, but I liked it a lot. I think I will need 50 meter laps if I want to increase my endurance and the benefits from the sport. This means I'll have to find a 50 meter pool in Austin once I graduate. I wonder how much that's going to cost. Well, it's all for a good cause, my health!

At a stroke clinic I went to a few weeks ago I found out the usual set up in the pool is actually 25 yards not 25 meters, so now I have to refigure what I've been swimming. 25 yards equals 22.86 meters. I thought the usual set up was 25 meters which is 27.35 yards. It would be so much easier if they left the pool at 50 meters. Yesterday I swam 1200 meters which is 0.75 of a mile. I can't wait to get to one mile exactly. That would be 1610 meters. I was hoping to add an additional day a week of swimming, but I don't know if I can get to Big Stacy Pool at 6:00 a.m. I've heard it's packed for lap swimming. And I'm sure the lap swimmers there are in way better shape than I am. I really don't like circling with 4 other fast swimmers. This may push me to a gym membership. Like I said, got to find a 50 meter indoor pool.

Roger did a really cool photo shoot Thursday also. I am hoping he'll blog about it. You think this will make him feel pressured to do it? :) He got to photograph a surgery, in the operating room. He had to scrub in and everything. I'll let him give you the details, but I think it's way cool! How often do you get to do that. He's really had some great opportunities there despite all the pains.

Roger pointed out to me that my new vehicle has made it on Consumer Reports' best models for 2008. I watched the video for my car, Hyundai Santa Fe, and I agree with everything said. I love my car! And I've almost put 5000 miles on it. And you know what's the greatest part about that? I still don't have to have the oil changed for 2000 more miles. Isn't that awesome?! It only needs an oil change every 7000 miles. Unbelievable. Today is my mom's birthday. Yes, February 29th is her birthday which means she is actually 14. She's finally a teenager! I hope she has a great birthday today. I'm flying to Denver this morning to spend time with my friend Janine. I can't wait! One last cold weather trip for my sweaters, wool jacket and winter boots.

Celebrity Look Alikes

Okay, Stephanie made me do this. I have been told many times I look like Elaine from Seinfeld (usually when my hair is big and pulled up part way). Kind of funny she showed up here too. I think it's my nose that matches the most. Except Carrie Underwood. No resemblance at all if you ask me. And I have no idea who Bryce Howard is. If you've never heard of the person, are they still a celebrity? Check it out for yourself. If you do, let me know the results. I'd love to see who some of you look like. Roger & the Rock?!

Almost home?

Just a quick update on my goings on here at Walter Reed. I understand from my Case Manager that my case has been reviewed by the Army Physical Disability Agency and I can only assume that they approved it and it is now moving on to what we call Transportation and Transition. They let my Company here know that I’m going home and then my Platoon Sargeant and I sit down to see how much leave I have and want to use. This is kinda how it works… they are required to give me ten business days to out-process here and then twenty calendar days of transitional leave plus any leave I have accrued. All this begins when orders are published. We have to sit down, decide that the above is pretty much what I want to do, submit it to Transportation and Transition and they will cut the order in a few days. Example: Say my name shows up on the list sometime next week. We’ll go over the paperwork and submit it. They publish an order saying that all this starts on March 10th. I understand that means I’ll have ten business days of out-processing and that my leave begins March 22nd. Right now I have 50 days of leave plus 20 days of transitional leave… that’s 70 days of leave (woah!) So that means I’d be on leave through May 30th. The whole time I will be paid, and also receive my housing allowance. I could even choose to go back to work at my civilian job through that time. But I’ve been away for four years – so I have no idea what I’ll be doing. Maybe a nice vacation with Holly. May 31st would be my first day medically retired. We’ll see how it goes.

Other than just waiting for that, I’m just chillin’. I helped Amanda and Buddy run errands yesterday and we took some portraits of little Xavier for announcements. When Holly was here my portable hard drive took a fall while it was running from a coffee table and now it refuses to run. I think I’m going to send it off to have the data recovered. That really stinks. What else is there?.. Winter has really sucked here. We’ve only gotten two decent snows and a lot of rain. That’s about it for now.

Here’s an update from Holly on her dad:
Harvey is still having digestive issues. The ulcer medication had to be approved by insurance and was taking so long to get approved and prescribed that Dr. Bonds prescribed an over the counter medication instead so it would get into his system since it's the same thing as the prescription medication. His legs started swelling again after activity this week. He had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Bonds Thursday and he's going to start the Warfarin again in a few weeks. He really needs the ulcer medication to start healing him so his digestive issues will calm down.

Little Black Dress

Yes, I am a typical female and have already started thinking about what I’m going to wear for graduation. You know how they say all women should have a little black dress that you look fabulous in so in the event something comes up last minute, you have a tried and true dress you can throw on and go. Well, I have a little black dress for dressier functions that I love and purchased on sale last year but haven’t had a reason to wear yet. When I began to think about just what the heck I wanted to wear on graduation, under that lovely, figure flattering graduation gown no doubt, I thought, oh, I can finally wear that little black dress with my killer black pumps and I won’t have to buy anything. Then I started to remember that little black dress was loose on me. Not a bad thing, except I lost ten pounds last semester. When the weather got cooler and I started to wear jeans, none of mine fit and I couldn't figure out why. I eventually weighed myself there was the answer. I couldn't believe ten pounds would make that big of a difference. Now I have been swimming regularly for almost two months (with the plan to continue for the rest of my life) and was kind of hoping to lose ten more pounds by the end of this semester. If it's already loose on me, it's going to be huge on me by May. And if you know me even a little, I don’t like to hide my figure. So now I will not only have to get a new little black dress (more shopping, darn), but I need to hurry up and wear this little black dress before it’s too big. Roger needs to hurry up and get home so he can take me out. That or my girlfriends need to take me out somewhere nice so I can wear it. (Hint, hint.) I’ll lose weight to fit into a dress, but I’m not going to gain weight. Thank goodness I have a back-up for graduation now.

Baby Bear Is Here!

Amanda's due date was February 16th. Although most of us didn't think she'd make it to that, especially after contractions began last Wednesday, I figured Baby Bear would come while I was here in DC sometime. I was really hoping to meet Baby Bear before I left because if I didn't, I don't know how long it would be before I did since I'm flying home to Texas this afternoon and this may be my last visit to DC. But we got a text message about 7:00 o'clock this morning that after five hours of labor Xavier Allen Staats was born at 4:48 a.m. He's 8 lbs, 4 oz, 20 inches long and had a full head of hair. Not surprised by the full head of hair, if you know Papa Staats. Mama Staats and Baby Bear are both doing great. And we're on our way to meet him before I head to the airport. Check out their blog for updates and pictures soon.

My Dad's Home

My dad is home today. He was moved yesterday from ICU to a regular room and they began medicating him for the ulcers. Early this morning his doctors checked his stats and said he was good enough to go home. They made it home by noon after all the paperwork and checking out. He was prescribed medicine for the ulcers and will take it for two months. His appetite has returned and he said he's feeling great and has more energy than he's had in a long time. But he's going to take it easy for a while though. I would feel great too if I was given four units of blood and three units of plasma. Roger said he's got the blood of seven people in him. He also said his legs weren't swollen and were actually the same size. Dr. Price, checking on him while Dr. Bonds was out, said my dad's blood was too thin and she did not think he needed to be on Warfarin anymore. She told him not to take any for two weeks and to have a follow up with Dr. Bonds and she would let him know what she thought about him being on Warfarin. So thank you for your prayers. My dad is doing well. Hopefully after the ulcer medication begins to heal him, he can finally start gaining some weight. He needs to gain as much as he can.

As for my weekend in DC, I got here Friday afternoon and Roger & I went to lunch at a quaint Indian restaurant we never got a chance to try when we lived here. It was delicious. Then as I thought we were going to head straight over to Walter Reed, Roger told me we were going to go check something out and he turned into the circle drive of Hotel Palomar in Rosslyn. I was shocked. He reserved a spa suite for the whole weekend. It's wonderful. Hotel Palomar is a 4 star, luxury, boutique hotel owned by the Kimpton company. It's very eclectic and I love the decor and art. Our room is a spa suite meaning it has a jacuzzi tub and an elliptical machine in the room. No, we have not used the elliptical machine. But we have used the jacuzzi tub. It also has spa products, luxurious linens and two soft robes in cheetah and zebra print. The service is great and we are really enjoying our time together. It's so nice to not be at Walter Reed. We can sleep in late and really rest. Roger's not going to want to go back to Walter Reed. And it's so close to all the places we love in our old stomping grounds. We had dinner Friday night at Hard Times (Texas themed chili parlor), dim sum for lunch Saturday at China Garden with friends Mike & April and a surprise dinner for Roger's birthday with a bunch of our old friends arranged by Amanda & Buddy at Costa Verde (Peruvian). That was a lot of fun. It was so nice to hang out with so many people we love. Today we had lunch with more friends at Silver Diner after a great message from Derek at church. I'm so glad we went to so many of our favorite places and got to go to Grace since this is probably going to be my last visit to DC. I also got my hair cut by Azziza yesterday afternoon at her new salon, L'Azur. I'm not looking forward to finding a new hair stylist in Austin, but I'm glad to see she is doing so well. She gave me the color information for my highlights so I can give that to the next stylist at any Aveda salon I go to in Austin.

Well, we just finished dinner and we're heading back to the jacuzzi tub which is so big it's like a mini pool. I fly home tomorrow afternoon. This has been a great weekend and I'm glad our last weekend visit while Roger is here in DC has been so relaxing and special. Hopefully Roger will be home in a month. I can't wait!

Update On My Dad

Sorry I didn't get this update on my dad out yesterday. We weren't able to get internet access until today. My dad was admitted into ICU Thursday night. The CT scan showed no tears, so a gastrointerologist was called in. While he's been in the hospital, he has given 4 units of blood and 3 units of plasma. They decided they wanted to probe my dad's stomach in order to check it. His gastrointerologist, Dr. Ragupathi, did the probe yesterday afternoon. And they found 6 ulcers in my dad's stomach. So that's why he's been losing so much blood and probably attributing to all his gastrointestinal issues. Dr. Ragupathi gave my dad a lecture because he was supposed to go back to see him last year after his colonscopy, but he didn't. So my dad has to go see him now. Can I say, I told you so.

Praise And Prayer Request

After class was finished today, I called my mom to tell her what I made on my test since I wasn't going to be stopping by their house tonight but going straight home since I'm flying to DC early in the morning. But before I could tell her I made a 93 on the test (yeah!), she said my dad spoke to his doctor this afternoon about his circulation and that he needed to go to the emergency room. They were getting ready to leave so she handed me over to my dad. My dad told me that he has been really cold, his fingers were numb and he could barely lift his arm. So he called his doctor but they were gone for the day. He left a message with the answering service and his doctor called him right back. He asked my dad if he had a few specific symptoms and my dad had exactly what he asked and told him he could see him tomorrow but preferred he go to the emergency room. I was a little torn if I should go to the emergency room or go home to Austin. My dad told me to do what I had planned to do that he'd be fine. But he always says that. And every time I go to DC or am in DC, something happens with his health. So I didn't know what I should do. My sister wanted me to go to the emergency room but I didn't think it would help. My mom has a cell phone now and could call us if needed. I called my brother who lives in Bryan and he said he would call my mom and find out what was up as soon as he got off work. I called Roger and talked to him about it. I just needed to express all the different options and think about it out loud.

As I was pulling out of the parking lot on campus, I thought about my mom trying to get everything done at the house before she left so I called her back to see if they wanted me to go do that so they could just go to the ER. They were already on their way to the ER. My mom was driving so she handed me over to my dad and I asked him if he wanted me to bring in the chickens or pick up eggs or something. He said it was too early to bring them in but I could pick up eggs for them. So I drove to their house (it's on my way home to Austin) and went inside to get a bucket for the eggs. I knew there would be more than my jacket pockets could hold. As I was walking toward the chicken coop with that white bucket, the chickens started coming toward me in droves. There's over one hundred I think. I know my parents feed them to bring them in, but my dad said it was too early. I thought, these girls are hungry. So I went inside both chicken houses and I could barely move because I was surrounded by chickens looking for a hand out. I collected a bucket full and another half bucket of eggs and called my mom back to ask her if I should feed the chickens since they were swarming me. She said yes and told me the mix. My dad has a concoction of three feeds. I know there's a method to the madness.

So I fed the chickens and the goats. They were singing too that they were hungry. The hogs have an automatic feeder. It was kind of funny. I haven't done that kind of farm work in a while, animal husbandry. It reminded me of when I lived at home. I called her back to tell her I was done and she told me they forgot all my dad's medicine so I had to go inside and read all those bottles off to her so she could write them down for the doctors. Then I left to drive to Austin. I was starving so I stopped at the McDonald's in Caldwell. I know, disgusting, but I wasn't going to make it to Austin. Of course, the french fries were delicious and the first few bites of the burger weren't bad, but then I began to start tasting grease and I had to make myself finish it. I don't normally eat McDonald's unless it's absolutely necessary and now I remember why. Yuck!

Once I got home I called my mom to tell her I was home and asked her what was going on with my dad. He's anemic, his hemoglobin and hematocrit were low. They gave him a pint of blood and were going to give him vitamin K. I asked her to inquire about that because on Warfarin he's not supposed to have a lot of dark green vegetables because they are high in Vitamin K and mess up the drug in his system. So she asked about that and they said his blood was not clotting enough. Okay, I'll take their word for it. I don't know about this stuff. And they were going to do a CT scan to see where he might be losing blood. I asked her if they checked his digestive system since he's been having so much gastrointestinal issues lately and Dr. Bond had asked my dad specifically about the condition of his stool, I figured that had something to do with what's going on. Again, I'm not a doctor. So she asked and the nurse said the CT would show them everything and whatever they found they would address. I talked to her again around 10pm and she was going home to put up the chickens (she should have let me do it when I was there earlier) and feed anything else that needed to be fed. I forgot about the horses when I was there. And she was going to stay home and go back up early in the morning. They admitted him and were taking him to do the CT when she left. They couldn't do anything until they saw the CT results. But if he had a tear or something serious, they wanted him to be in the hospital already.

My mom is going to call me in the morning since I'll be up early to be at the airport around 6am. Yes, that's early for me. I'll let you know the latest tomorrow. Please pray for my dad to get the care he needs. This is going to sound cruel, but we're country folk so we're more realistic than most, my sister and I had a long conversation tonight about my mom being stuck with the farm all by herself if something happened to my dad and all the unfinished projects that would be too much for her. He does not have life insurance and it would be really expensive for him now. I guess we're going to have to have another sit down with my dad about making sure things are taken care of for my mom once he's gone. He knows as well as we do that he's not going to live much longer. He reminds us every once and a while. So please pray for provision for my parents and for all of us to be able to help my parents in any way we can. I still feel strange going to DC knowing my dad is in the hospital, but I need to be with my husband. I know my dad understands. I can't help him or anyone else, if I don't take care of myself.

No Hearing, Great Results, Excellent Birthday!

I know that many of you know that I had a hearing scheduled for this morning to appeal my initial disability rating from the Army Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) of 30%. Up to this point I didn't want to reveal too much information because my attorney had a strategy and the last thing I wanted to do was to undermine it. I know that sounds kinda' lame, but I don't know who's reading this blog. I can't remember how much detail I went into after I got my initial rating so I recap just a bit.

After I got that rating, it seemed low to me so I went to talk to a rep from the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). They have someone on-site at Walter Reed (WRAMC) to help us out with these things. When he looked at it and then looked at the regulation, he said it looked like I was supposed to get 100% disability. The DAV has a program where law firms in the DC area will represent soldiers that want to appeal their ratings. I was assigned an awesome lawyer from the firm Jones Day. This guy was awesome. He looked up tons of information regarding my situation, gathered documents and records and spoke to me several times to discuss my case. We finally met face to face last week at their office in DC and we went over all the information they gathered for my case. Then late last week I had to do some running around to gather a few more documents right up to Friday night. I took the weekend off and stayed with my good friends Amanda and Buddy (check out their blog!).

Monday morning I was getting ready to do some more info gathering when I saw that I missed a call on my phone. It was my PEBLO Counselor and he said that he had a new DA199 for me. The DA199 is the form that has a disability rating on it. I was a bit confused and when I called him back, I had to leave him a message. I then called my attorney and he said he wouldn't be surprised because they came to WRAMC last week and observed a hearing and then had a chance to speak to the board. Then as I was about to run out the door, my Case Manager called me saying that I needed to speak to my PEBLO ASAP! I headed right over there and as I was walking down the hall, he came out of his office and he called me back immediately. He showed me the new paperwork and apparently, after my attorney met with them, they convened another informal board and changed my rating from 30% to 100% through Aug 2009 on the Temporary Disability Retirement List (TDRL). So, I did not have to go to my hearing after all! I shared this new information with my attorney and he told me it looked like this was the best I was going to get, so I signed it.

Now the paperwork has to go to the Army Physical Disability Agency (PDA) for approval. If they agree, then they will cut order for we to leave WRAMC and I couold be home by the end of March. I know it's all confusing, but there is a very good short summary of the whole process, including what TDRL and other things mean, here: Military Disability (Medical) Separations and Retirements. This has been such a relief for me and my entire family. This entire four year saga of being away from home might soon be over... but lets just keep on praying for now. Thanks for praying for me and sticking in there. We only have a little bit more to go!

So today is my birthday... I'm 33. The staff at the Stripe newspaper office had cake for me - that was nice of them. And this evening I went back over to Amanda & Buddy's for dinner, games and cake. I'm so glad they invited me. It was nice to have a somewhat regular birthday. I wish Holly was here with me, but I'll see her soon enough. BTW - I think Amanda is going to be giving birth either Thu or Fri, the contractions are kicking in, so please pray for a safe delivery!

Valentine’s Day

I’ve read some articles lately about people griping about Valentine’s Day being a ridiculous holiday, guilting men into spending way too much money on flowers, lingerie and silly cards and dehumanizing singles and those without a date. I mean, we all know it’s a Hallmark holiday, but come on. When I read stuff like that, I just want to shake the author until they wake up. People in the articles say love should be shown every day not just on Valentine’s Day. You know what I say to that, join the real world people. We all know love should be shown every day, but in real life, that doesn’t happen. We’ve all seen it. Think about your parents. Men take their wives for granted and rarely show them love in the way a woman needs it. For some women, if it weren’t for Valentine’s Day they wouldn’t get a card or flowers or have a special dinner ever. I know married women who have never received flowers from their husband. I even know a woman whose husband doesn’t give her a Mother’s Day card even though she bore him a child because he says she’s not his mother. What a loser! In fairy tale land, spouses show love and affection every day. But the last time I checked, this wasn’t fairy tale land. No matter what the tabloids try to tell you. Why do you think the romance novel industry is so huge?! Women are reading romance novels to get the romance they are lacking in their relationships. Why do you think romantic comedies are such popular movies?! For some women, it’s the only romance they get. If you’re wife is reading romance novels, you’ve got a problem. And you are the problem. And I’m not talking about making one night a year special. Show her how much you love her by doing the laundry on a regular basis. Cook dinner one night a week. Wash dishes with her and talk about whatever and listen. Share the household chores. Write her a note or send her a card just because. Take her out on a date at least once a month. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to show someone you really care about them and you appreciate them. Take the kids to the park on a Saturday morning so your wife has a few hours for herself for goodness sake. She deserves it. Hold her hand everywhere you go and kiss her good bye every time you leave her. Come on guys, just because you won her doesn’t mean you have to stop wooing her.

Amazing Message

Sorry to blog twice in one day, but I didn't expect to be so moved by tonight's message to blog again today. Although every week the message is great.

I started going to the 5pm and 7pm service at Austin Stone at the beginning of the year. They are experiencing overcrowding and parking issues during the morning services, so to help matters out they asked people to try out the evening services. They already expanded and took over the entire Austin High School gym, but there's still more people coming to the morning services. This is a problem most churches wish they had. It turns out I really like the 7pm service. It's more laid back and relaxed since there's no time constraints and it's way more free spirited. They kind of joke around that they like the 7pm service better because the congregation is more free spirited and I have to agree. We get down. Tonight's worship and message was amazing. Chris Tomlin was back to lead worship again. And it was more like a concert than usual. That place was full of the spirit. But what I thought was even better than a semi-private mini-concert by Chris Tomlin, his band and the other amazing singers on the worship team was the message. Tonight a pastoral intern for the church, Ronnie Smith, originally from Detroit, Michigan gave the message. We have been going through 1 Corinthians and he covered chapter two verses 6-10. And it was completely from God. That boy was on fire! He is on fire for the Lord. And he's only an intern. When he becomes a pastor, he's going to be a five alarm blaze. I totally needed that message tonight. I mean, it was awesome. You've got to listen to it. This was a message everyone needs. There's no way I can do his message justice, but to recap it was about the times when the wisdom of God doesn't dictate how we behave or act and there's only one remedy to overcome the wisdom of this world and that is really seeing and hearing Jesus Christ. Even though we know the Lord and see the Lord, there's a disconnect between seeing and knowing the true power and wisdom in the cross of Jesus Christ. He goes through the scripture verse by verse and explains what Paul is telling the church in Corinth which was having some issues. I highly recommend you listen to this message. If you think you know it all, don't have problems with succumbing to this world and don't need this message, you need it the most. Please, please, please find the time soon to listen. The message will probably be up late Monday. If anyone would like to check out the Austin Stone with me some Sunday for the 5pm or 7pm service, please let me know. I'd be more than happy to share this awesome church.

Smoking

Oh, the weather in Texas has been so beautiful. The highs lately have been in the high 70’s. I have had my windows open since Friday. It’s just gorgeous outside. Everyone is out enjoying it. Yesterday afternoon I was running errands around Austin and people were everywhere. The traffic was crazy. I stopped at a store on the drag and it was just so nice to be outside that I just mozied in and out of stores and boutiques. They all had their doors and windows open. It's just too nice to be inside. So I went on a four mile walk this morning. I see a lot of interesting things on my walks to the park and back. I see families playing with kids, the jousting, sword, archery group in their costumes, frisbee golfers, basketball and tennis players, couples walking the trails talking, really cute, funny dogs and their owners, mountain bikers, sometime horse riders, you name it. All this happiness and joy. People out enjoying the beautiful sunny weather and fresh air. Then there are people who drive to a park, are out in all this loveliness, soaking in the sunshine and breathing the fresh air and they light up a cigarette and suck in dirty smoke that’s going to kill them. I just don’t get it. I will never understand smoking or smokers. I have never had an addiction, so I don’t understand addictions. I will never understand a craving so strong that you can’t control it and it makes you do something you know is detrimental to your health and others and possibly kill you. It bothers me so when I'm out walking and I have to pass a smoker and try not to suck in that nasty smoke. But no matter what I do, I can still smell it, which means I'm inhaling it. Thanks for trying to kill me too.

Updates On Everyone

I'm just giving some quick updates on everyone. First, my brother, Harvey Jr (aka Bubba), his wife Brandy and my nephew Cole found out Thursday they are going to have a little girl. Cole was very excited and he got a picture of his baby sister Chloe Grace to take home with him. Brandy is due in early June. This will be my second niece. Yeah for girls! As for my dad's health, he had his defibrillator checked on Tuesday and found out it engaged three times since it was inserted in him last summer on August 26th, September 8th and September 26th. He told the doctor that he has not felt anything. His doctor said when his heart got out of sync the defibrillator got it back in sync before anything happened. So now he can stop griping about it because it's saved his life three times already. Do you think he will? Ha! Probably not. I finished pressing the wrap dress I made on Super Bowl Sunday and before I went out to eat with girlfriends tonight took some pictures in it and posted them in the Flickr set Sewing Projects. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. If I can't wear my little black dress for graduation, I could wear this. I'll blog about my little black dress situation in a few days.

Graduation talk reminds me that my first test this semester is Tuesday. I started studying today and plan to spend at least an hour every day studying until the test. I want to make an A in this class to bring my GPA up a tad in the event I decide to go to graduate school. So far we've covered the introduction to Biblical Archaeology and the excavations found in the Holy Land during the Neolithic period (8,500-4,300 BC). I'll try to post the significant finds this week sometime. Our friends Amanda & Buddy are about to have their baby any day now. Roger is staying with them this weekend and he said he thinks she's not going to make it to the due date of February 16th. I think he just wants the baby to be born on his birthday, February 13th. We talked about what if she went into labor while he was there this weekend and his response was, "I've got my camera ready."

Speaking of Roger's birthday, it's this coming Wednesday. Which is also the same day as his disability appeal hearing. He has spoke with and met with his lawyers already a couple times. They are working on gathering all the evidence and preparing for testimony from Roger and his old boss who they are calling as a witness. After the lawyers present their evidence and ask Roger and his boss questions, the board will convene privately to make the final decision before presenting it to Roger. I know Roger is a little nervous about "taking the stand" and I can hear it in his voice that he's getting anxious and nervous wondering if all this work is going to pay off. He could appeal the board's decision on Wednesday, but it probably wouldn't be worth the time and effort. It would have to go to a higher level.

Although I thought this Wednesday could possibly be the start of a count down for his return home, I spoke with Roger Friday night and he has heard that it can take up to 30 days for the board's decision to get to everyone it needs to get to including the people that cut orders which would start the process of out processing which could take 30 days. This means that although I thought Roger could be home by mid-March, it looks like he probably won't be home until mid-April. This sucks, but like I've said before, I decided a long time ago I wasn't going to consider him home until he drives into our drive way. He did mention that he has heard of some people going home during that first 30 days, but as usual, this is hearsay and so far most of the hearsay at WRAMC is just that, hot air.

I won't be able to be there for Roger's hearing or birthday, but I may be there the weekend after. We are taking advantage of a service that gives free airfare to families of soldiers at military hospitals. And as usual, anything involved with the military can't be simple. They told Roger if he doesn't hear from them, then it was most likely approved. Don't you just love that. Oh, it gets better. I won't find out the actual flights and times until Thursday, February 14th even though I'll be flying the next day, February 15th. You gotta love the military. So I'm going to pack on Wednesday afternoon since I'm on campus all day on Thursday and don't get home until 9:30 p.m. usually.

Well, that's all I can think of. I'm sure there's more I've forgotten. I won't forget this though. Please pray for Roger this week, especially on Wednesday. Please ask the Lord to give him peace and rest, for the hearing to go smoothly and for the board's hearts to be softened to Roger's needs. Oh, can you throw a little prayer in there for me also? It's not easy being married without a husband. I went through a little situational depression recently and I could sure use the prayers. Thanks so much for caring about our lives and praying for us. You don't know how much we appreciate it and feel your love.

2/4/08 MRI Results

Just a quick note to let you know that I went to see my Rad/Onc at the NNMC in Bethesda and we sat down to look at the MRI. And... it looks just about the same as the last two! There is definitely something up there and it is most likely scar tissue and not tumor because it is not growing at all. He said that we can probably move the MRIs from every three months to every four to six months. Sounds good to me! It's funny though... I really do fall asleep in the MRI even with all the banging and clattering going on. It's just a part of life now. Thank you to everyone for your prayers!

-Rog

Weekend Update

Well, the Super Bowl is over. I feel like it was disappointing considering all the hype. The game itself was boring for a majority of it. The commercials were ho-hum. Nothing stood out as hilarious or awesome to me. Of course the PepsiCo American Sign Language-Deaf commercial was played during the pre-game festivities so I'm sure many people missed it. I didn't pay attention to who the performers would be this year and was surprised that the half time performance was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I can't believe it wasn't Alicia Keys or some other pop star. It was a great performance but I wish they could have played more than just their four most popular songs. I watched the big game this year at my parents' house with my brother and his family. I went there on Saturday because we went to see A Ride With Bob, an historical tribute to Bob Wills, the king of Western Swing at Texas A&M's Rudder Theatre. Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel made up a majority of the cast. It was very good. And after it was over, Asleep at the Wheel and a few other cast members gave us a short concert. We thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd love to see it again.

While I was at my parents', I hit my mom up for a refresher sewing course. I actually bought a dress kit and I wanted to sew it in her presence in case there were sewing terms and procedures I forgot. And there were, darts (six in all) and bias binding. Whew! The dress kit said it came with all pieces pre-cut and instructions. I was so glad my mom was there because the instructions, which I thought would resemble a pattern, weren't as helpful as I imagined. But we got it done just about the time the game started. And I have to say it was easy in the end and I am very proud of accomplishing it. But this will be the last time I use a kit. It would have been a lot easier to just buy a pattern and my own material. And cost a lot less. I am going to email the dress kit maker with the pros and cons of her dress kit and instructions. She is trying to mass market it and I think she'd appreciate any criticisms, good and bad. But I've posted some pictures of it. Once I get it pressed completely, I'll take a final picture in it with appropriate accessories and shoes so you can get a better idea of the finished product. By the way, the material is not red, but burgundy. I think the flash made it more red than it truly is. And I didn't put the bow on it. I'm not a bow kind of girl. Now I know I'm ready to tackle some more sewing projects. It had been 15 years since I sewed apparel. I've sewn drapes and headboard covers, etc, but needed an easy clothing project so I could assess where my clothing sewing skills were. I'm very happy with my skills. I'm going to try to talk my mom into letting me take back the 1969 Singer sewing machine she gave me a few years ago that I gave to her when I moved to Virginia since I knew I wasn't going to be sewing in our apartment up there. She has a few others so I'm sure she won't mind. My next project is to tackle a little bit more involved sheath dress pattern with cap sleeves. But I'm in no rush. I have a few more things at home to do first.

MRI Monday Feb 4

First, for those of you that get the blog emailed to you, something happened to the service this past weekend and plogs that were written late last week were not emailed at all. I made the system email them to you just a bit ago. Sorry about that... if you want to get the blog emailed to you, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the webpage to sign up... its free!

I have another three month MRI Monday afternoon at 5pm ET to see how things are up there. Please continue to pray that the tumor is still gone and that healing is continuing. I meet with my Rad/Onc Tuesday morning to review the results. I'll let you know how it goes.

This week is going to be a busy one... I finally have an appt with the VA to have my physical by them for my VA disability claim. And I have a meeting with my pro-bono attorney to prepare for my hearing on Feb 13 to appeal my initial disability rating from the Army. Yes, I will get a disability rating from the Army and the VA. I'll have to explain that at a different time. I'll try to get you caught up on the lowdown this week.

Oh - and what an awesome game tonight. Personally, I was glad to see the Giants get the win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. The Manning brothers get back to back rings. How cool is that?

-Roger

Another Loved One Affected By Cancer

Okay, I'm going to apologize now and only once for what you are about to read. I'm apologizing because this is not going to be lady like nor proper. But I don't know what it's going to take to get this message through. There's no other way to say this, so I'm just going to say it.

Ladies, look at your boobs. Feel your boobs. Check out your boobs. Get to know your boobs. If you aren't looking at them in the mirror when you get out of the shower, start doing it now. Please, please, do your monthly breast self-examinations. How are you going to know if something's going on with your boobs, if you don't know them! And as soon as you think something might not be right, go see a doctor. It doesn't hurt to be wrong. Guys, encourage the females in your life to take care of their boobs. If you're married, check your wife's boobs out with her. Make it fun. I don't care, just do it!

Our dear friend has Stage 3B Inflammatory Breast Cancer at 33 years of age. This was big in the news and spreading around in emails like crazy a few years ago. I haven't heard anything about it since. Don't stop talking about this. Cancer is not pretty nor fun. No one wants their loved ones to go through it. Please, please, please ladies, touch yourself for God's sake! Using light, medium and firm pressure in a circle without lifting your fingers off the skin, in an up and down pattern, for each breast, above and below the collarbone and your armpit.

Here are some links:
Breast Self Exam
Inflammatory Breast Cancer (same video I saw in June 2006)

Cathedral and News from a Friend

You know that sometimes I go on trips to get me the heck out of Walter Reed during the week. I saw that there was one going to the Washington National Cathedral this past Wed and I had to go. I have already been there several times, but the place is just so darn beautiful. Every time I go I find a different aspect that is just calling out to me. This time it was the light coming through the stained glass windows. The past few times I have gone in the summer, but this time it is winter. And the sun lays low in the sky for most of the day. From the time we got there until we left, the light shined through the stained glass and painted a heavenly and just beautiful splash of color on the walls and floors. I just could not keep my lens off of the resulting splendor.

We started off the trip by having lunch at this place called Booeymonger. I ordered a chicken cheese steak with light mayo. After a few minutes, they yelled that a cheese steak with light mayo was ready. Well, I didn’t order that, so I waited. Next they got on the sound system and started yelling. Since people that ordered food after me got theirs, I figured they screwed up and I’d better go up there. Sure enough, my name was on the receipt for the cheese steak (why didn’t they just call my name?). I clarified that I wanted a chicken cheese steak and I sat down. But then they kept calling out the cheese steak! I started to wonder if they were ever going to make it right and they did. They called me up and I got my sandwich. But then they called out for the cheese steak with light mayo again… sigh. The sandwich was pretty good and then we headed over to the Cathedral.

We were in a big tour bus and the driver was concerned that he was going to have to park on the street like usual, but they just finished constructing an underground bus lobby, as they call it, with enough room for about 15 buses. You get off the bus and get right on an elevator. They also completed a new underground parking garage. They claim that the Cathedral, which started construction in 1907 and has been continuously under construction, was finally completed in 2007. 100 years of construction!

As I said before, the Cathedral was as beautiful as always. This trip was organized by the Walter Reed Pastoral staff and so we attended a short service (the Cathedral is Episcopal). It was very similar a Catholic service, but easier to understand and follow, IMO. Then we were treated to an explanation of how the huge pipe organ there works and a recital. I wandered around close to that area and snapped some pictures. When the recital began, I wandered away but was still able to hear the organ as its rich sound filled every cavity of the Cathedral. It was quite amazing! After that, a docent gave us a tour of some of the features of the Cathedral and told us some of the history behind it. She focused a bit on the War Chapel and then took us around the Cathedral. After that, it was time for tea!

We made our way up to the 7th floor observation deck and enjoyed some very nice tea along with small sandwiches and other sweet goodies. We really had a great time. I took quite a few photos of everything and they can be found here on Flickr: Washington National Cathedral.

Moving on, I have a few birthdays programmed in my Outlook and I noticed that today was my friend Yoli’s birthday (Jan 31). On my drive to run an errand, I decided to give her a call to wish her a great day. Yoli and I met in the 8th grade, back in 1988, so I have known her for 20 years. She is one of a few people that I still have kept in touch with after all these years. Throughout High School I remember Yoli was one of the only people our age that had a job. She worked at a Christian Bookstore. At the time, I thought that was neat. I also remember how she always seemed to glow... She just has this happiness that made an impression on me and I secretly yearned for. We never talked about it and in 1993 we graduated. I moved to Texas and I stayed in touch with Yoli. One time when I went back to LA to visit, Yoli invited me to church with her. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was excited to go. I remember asking her questions about church and it was then that I realized what it was that she had that I was looking for, the Lord. I mean, I knew who God was, but I didn’t really understand Christianity that well. Shortly after I got back home to Texas, I got a package in the mail. Yoli sent me a bible… my first and very own bible. I still have it.

We didn’t talk that much more for a few years but we did still keep in touch. I don’t remember what led to it, but she and her husband Matt and daughter Kailee came to visit Holly and I during the summer of 2005 when we lived in Arlington, VA. And then Matt was in town in Nov 2006 and came to visit us again for dinner. We had a great time and we have stayed in touch since then. Fast forward to today… Yoli shared with me that she was diagnosed with stage 3b breast cancer about two weeks ago. They are going to treat her with chemo first to see what happens and then most likely perform a mastectomy and go forward from there. She had her first Chemo treatment this past Monday. I don’t want to get into all the details because you can find them here at Yoli’s blog. She’s a sweet gal and I know that she’s going to pull through this. Being a cancer patient myself, I was able to understand some of the feelings she’s having, so that was nice. I prayed for her on the phone and offered to lend my ear to them whenever they might need it. It just breaks my heart to know that they are now going through this trial. Yoli was the first person to put me on the right path to accepting Christ into my life… thank you so much Yoli. I am asking all of you to please pray for Yoli and her family while they go through all of this.

Finally! The Attic Is Done.

Well, I finished the attic today. It took me half the day, including the hour I sat up there laughing and looking at stuff in boxes from high school and early college years. I found stuff I can use for my graduation party and Roger's MRI's from when he was 13 in California. He and his neurosurgeon have been wanting to see those. I don't know how they can be in good condition from being up there all these years without being covered or in anything. I looked through them and didn't see any thing in the area where his tumor was, but I'm not an expert. I don't know what I'm looking at. I got to a point when I realized how close I was to being done and I decided to just keep going until it was finished. I nailed down the plywood I previously put down Saturday then moved everything from under the eaves over to that area. It filled up the entire space plus I finally put the Christmas tubs up there. Talk about a pain in the you know what. I really shouldn't have put those tubs up there by myself, but if I wait for help, nothing will ever get done. I did think once or twice, "You're going to hurt yourself Holly," but that didn't stop me. You get to a point when you just can't take it anymore and you have to do something about it. That actually happens to me a lot. That's how I find motivation to clean my house. Ha! Sad, but true.

Back to the attic. Moving all that stuff revealed a couple of pieces of plywood up there already so I used those and cut some leftover pieces from this project to cover almost all of the area under the eaves. Then I proceeded to move all our stuff around in a more organized manner. Only short term organized manner. When Roger gets home for good, he's going to help me go through every single thing in that attic. We have boxes of stuff from our lives before we got together and we seriously need to get rid of more than half of it. I think there were about twenty empty boxes from every electronic, appliance or set of pots or dishes we own. I understand the reason to keep them for ease of packing for our next move, but keeping all those boxes goes against every grain of sense in my body. I really don't like clutter and all that stuff up there kills me. But I have some patience to wait to toss or recycle or freecycle it all.

Oh it feels good to be done. Of course I'll feel even better once we go through everything up there and the other boxes left in the garage. I could move them to the attic, but they can wait for Roger's return. I can finally give my dad his pneumatic nail gun & long hose back. I'm sure he can use it. You think by owning a home there's always something to do. Most of the stuff there is to do on modern homes is stuff we create for ourselves to make our lives easier or more pleasant. On a farm, there really is always something to do, to fix, to repair, to make, to make bigger, etc. You get my drift. And my dad's fresh egg business is growing so much he added onto the chicken barn recently only to realize he's going to have to do it again. Demand for your product is not a bad thing. But with my dad's health issues, it would be easier to need to expand if he could work every day. He actually went to the doctor today. He was going to come to Austin with me yesterday and stay until I went back to A&M on Thursday for class, but he wasn't feeling good. I'm glad he didn't come after all. I think I would have had to take him back to Bryan after all. His knees were swollen this morning so my mom called and made an appointment for him this morning and they gave him a bunch of medicine. I don't know if it has to do with the usual fluid movement issues he has because of his hardened blood vessels, if he has gout again or if it's something new. And when he's going through all this junk, he doesn't feel good so he's not the most pleasant person either. Sometimes he can really fit the bill of an old, ornery, stubborn cowboy. If you've seen Lonesome Dove, think Woodrow.

Anyway, so I'm done for the day. I'm starving. What else is new? I'm going to eat a snack before I jump in the tub because I can't stand myself. I had to take my clothes off in the garage before I came into the house because I was filthy. It's easier to scoot around on your butt & knees up in the attic so I was covered in dirt and dust. I'm going to work a little bit after my shower then get ready for class tomorrow and yoga before I go to bed. My back in sore and I'm stiff. I seriously have been doing yoga every day just to stay flexible and not get stiff from all this work and all the swimming. I am really enjoying swimming. I could tell yesterday that my endurance is increasing. So I'm looking forward to being able to do my workout plan completely. Right now I'm doing a modified version of it. I'm still swimming an hour, but not exactly the same as the workout. It's all building endurance. I will eventually have to swim longer. And once the semester ends and I no longer have to go to A&M anymore, I'm going to start looking for a gym here with a great indoor pool for Roger and myself to swim. I'd like to swim at least three days a week.

Roger had a photo shoot early this morning for the newspaper then he went to the National Cathedral on one of those field trips they set up for the soldiers. But of course, he takes his camera so the newspaper can use the photos if they need to fill space or decided to do a story about it. I really hope he blogs about it because it was a tour and tea. I can't wait for him to talk about the finger foods they had at the tea. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall. No, actually I wish I was there. He said everything was delicious and the tea was stronger than he expected. He went to a Washington Wizards game last night. These field trips make it possible to get away from Walter Reed and forget the crazy stupidity that goes on there for a while. Okay, enough for today, I'm off to grab a bite. Oh, check out the pictures of the finished product in the Flickr set House Work. Later!

More Work On The Attic

After sleeping in late, cleaning the bathrooms, eating breakfast, checking my email and starting some laundry, I worked on the attic some more. I finished the other side except for nailing the boards down. Since I started late in the afternoon, I decided to call it quits when I realized it was 8:00 p.m. I notched four joists for electrical wiring, cut the piece of plywood that was already up there, cut another piece from the left over plywood I used on the other side and used a left over piece of MDF (that's medium density fiberboard) from a project three years ago to make a patchwork floor. I don't really care how it looks as long as it's sturdy enough to hold junk. When I finish my homework assignment, I will nail the boards down and move more boxes and stuff from under the eaves to the newest area with flooring to get ready to put more plywood down under the eaves for more storage. I'm about to eat some dinner, I'm starving! And then I'm going to start working on my homework assignment before I catch the new Trading Spaces on TLC with the return of Paige Davis as the host. I might have already missed it, but it will show again in an hour. I posted more pictures from today in the House Work set in Flickr. Enjoy!

I had to run an errand before I actually starting notching the plywood. It gave me a chance to go through the car wash. It was such a beautiful day today. High of 71 and sunny. I was able to open all the windows and air out the house. It was way too nice to be stuck inside. Lots of people were outside today in my neighborhood. Of course, there are those people who always stay inside their house no matter how pretty it is outside. I just have to give up on those people after a while. I spoke with my doctor's nurse yesterday afternoon. The x-rays of my jaw were negative for fracture or anything like that. But since I am still having pain, she is referring me to an oral surgeon just to be safe. Hey, I don't mind. Ever since Roger was diagnosed with brain cancer, every worst nightmare runs through my head when I have strange pain or symptoms. I think things like, "I wonder if I have bone cancer or a tumor growing near the joint." I don't mess around anymore. And when people tell me of some strange thing going on with them, even the littlest things, I'm like, "You better get to a doctor ASAP!" Don't wait too long with pain or strange symptoms. The sooner you get it checked out, the better for treatment and ease of mind. Okay, enough rambling. I'm hungry!

Religiously Transmitted Diseases

I drive to Texas A&M every Tuesday and Thursday listening to my favorite local radio station, The River (102.3). And when I lose the River, I switch over to KLOVE (92.1, 97.1 & 106.3). Sometimes I can switch back to the River but if I can’t, I move over to a Houston radio station, Country Legends (97.1). I love that station. It’s my favorite country music and I wish I could get it all the time. When I can’t get any radio stations, I turn to my MP3 player, a CD or for two more months, XM Satellite radio. XM is nice when you can’t get a decent radio station. But I’m frugal and will not be subscribing to it when my free three month subscription runs out. I already have a 4GB MP3 player, which holds more than enough music for me. Why would I throw that kind of money away? I only listen to a few channels as it is.

Anyway, Tuesday morning I switched over to KLOVE and the DJ was talking about a book he is reading called Religiously Transmitted Diseases by Ed Gungor. The title is misleading and it’s supposed to be. It is targeted to the church or believer who has lost “the joy of their belief” as one reviewer stated. The DJ spoke about one chapter in particular regarding judgment and giving people second chances. It sounded really interesting and funny. I wish I could read it, because I know I experience periods of “spiritual disease” and would benefit from this book. But as the semester has begun and I already have another book I’m trying to finish, I must add this to the list. I found a really cute article regarding his book plus a test you can take to see if you suffer from an RTD. Some of the diseases he lists are humorous, like spiritual elephantiasis, evangelistic rabies, afluenza, last days flu (I know people with this one.), sovereignty shingles and inferiorphobia. Most of the reviews said it was funny. I can’t wait to read it. I’m sure I’ll be suffering from some of those viruses then too.

Yesterday was the one month anniversary of my new car. I have already put over 1200 miles on it. And I still love it. But I need to wash it. I keep forgetting to call my doctor about my jaw x-rays. I'm going to do it now. The muscle relaxers aren't helping with the joint jaw pain, but they sure are helping with menstrual cramps.

Half Way Done

Wow, I'm bushed. I just finished putting flooring in half the attic. After I worked a little bit this morning, I cut my pieces of plywood. What was great was I didn't have to cut them down anymore to get them to fit through the attic stair hole. That was a relief. And using my dad's pneumatic nail gun made securing the plywood to the joists so easy. I moved all the tubs, boxes, luggage, leftover tile and bags of grout over to the side with flooring to get ready to work on that side of the attic. I wasn't sure what I was going to find under the piece of plywood that was already there, but it turned out to not be so bad. I only found a small Christmas decoration of fake holly, some kind of decorative wicker racket thing and a bottle of light beer. Although I'll never know for sure, I bet it was left behind by the construction workers when they built the house. I've been around construction my whole life and I know they drink a little beer. There was something else under that plywood I knew was going to be there, electrical wiring. Although I'm calling it quits for today, my next step is to cut some notches on the top side of the joists for the electrical wires to fit into so the plywood lays flat across the joists and doesn't kink the wire. Don't want to create a fire hazard. When I'm finished with that and putting more wood down, I will again move more boxes and stuff from under the eaves into that area. Then I can assess if I need to put more flooring down there just for storage.

It was really cold outside (34 degrees) when I was doing all this. So I pulled my car out of the garage and shut the doors. I pulled a fan we have to the doorway so it would pull warm air from the house into the garage. Since I knew the circular saw and nail gun would be loud, I wore my drummer's ear plugs while I was cutting and nailing. I did eventually warm up a bit with all the moving and carrying heavy items around. I even broke a sweat. I'll need to do some yoga tonight though for my back and from swimming an hour yesterday. All in the name of good health.

Now I am going to grab some lunch because I'm starving. Then I will start some anthropology homework and reading. We were given an assignment in class yesterday that's due next Monday. It's only worth five points, but anything will help in the end towards getting an A in my class. Actually I added up all the points each test is worth plus this assignment and you can technically make 105 in the class. So there's no excuse for not making an A. Okay, I'm off to eat lunch. Oh, I almost forgot, I posted pictures from today in a set in Flickr that has more house work pictures. Enjoy!

The Holy Land

Okay, my class, Introduction to Biblical Archaeology is starting to get interesting. Now that I’ve starting doing the assigned readings this weekend, my interest has been perked. The readings start with understanding what Bible Archaeology is by understanding the geography of the area which also affects the political (and religious) aspects of the region. And we’re also getting into the history of the region. I’ve never understood completely the conflict with Israel, Palestine, Jordan, etc. I mean, I understand they are fighting over who should own Jerusalem because it is a holy city to three faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But I’ve never been able to keep it all straight. So I think this part of the class is going to set it all straight for me and help me to finally understand it all. I wasn’t a huge fan of going to the Holy Land before, but since becoming a Christian and learning more about the Bible and where it took place, I’ve become more interested in it. But I can feel this class is really going to enhance my interest in it and I am becoming more and more intrigued with going to see the places I read about in the Bible. I do think it would be really neat to stand on the land looking at the exact places some of the stories of the Old and New Testament took place. I wonder if there are any walls of Jericho still standing. I can’t wait to get further in the readings. I’m glad we have four weeks of introduction. I’m going to need at least four weeks to keep it all straight.

As for what’s going on with Roger’s case, I’m hoping he will blog sometime this week with the latest updates. He has spoken with his assigned attorney and will meet with him twice before the hearing on Feb 13th. But I’ll let him go into detail. Please keep him and his case in your prayers. Thanks!

Weekend Update

Well, I didn't get much done this weekend except some laundry and homework. I watched way too much TV. I decided to take my meds and not try to cut any plywood. I did manage a 3 mile walk which was so nice. I wanted to keep going once I got to the park, but since I forgot to put on chapstick and it was so windy out, my lips were already burning and I had a mile and a half back to the house. Plus I didn't bring any water with me, thank goodness there's a water fountain at the park. But it was sooo cold, it was hard to drink. I got to see the beginning of some kind of medieval sword or jousting group. I wanted to stick around and watch but they were still gathering and setting up. Their costumes were really neat, some more elaborate than others.

And I also made it to the 7pm service at Austin Stone to the excitement of Chris Tomlin leading worship. Man, that guy is full of the Spirit. Of course, if you didn't know who he was or what he looked like, you'd have no idea who he was other than a lead worshipper. And as usual, the message was good. I won't go into too much detail about the message since you can listen to it here, but I love that I learn many new things about the Bible and God's word every Sunday. And Matt, as usual, was funny. The surprising thing about service this Sunday was the church is now using the entire gym for all four services. It was weird when I first walked into the gym and the new set-up threw me off at first. Then I realized why, they were using the whole gym. Matt announced that he didn't want to have to go to five services on Sundays so to have enough room for everyone they pushed the stage back. Even though I don't particularly care for large or mega churches, I don't get that feeling once the worship and message starts. Another funny thing was during announcements, one of the elders was discussing some of the more interesting classes they are offering this semester and I thought about checking one out. It was called Transitions and it was geared toward senior college students or students who just graduated. So I grabbed a class schedule after service ended to read about it and quickly decided it was not for me. It kind of made me laugh. The description reads, "Graduation brings many changes in your life. This class will look at persevering in Christ and practically preparing for life after college. Topics include finding and investing in a healthy church, handling finances in a Godly way, redemptively engaging your work place." It sounds like a great class and I'm sure there a lot of "kids" who would benefit from it, but after being married for almost five years and in the workplace for fifteen, I don't think I need it anymore. We've experienced enough changes for a while.

So I completely forgot today was a holiday which means my doctor won't get my x-ray results until tomorrow. I hope there's something that can be done for my jaw. It's still hurting and the meds aren't really helping much. I stopped taking the Tylenol with codeine completely. All it did was upset my stomach and make me feel whoozy. The muscle relaxers aren't doing much either. I can't tell if my jaw ever stops hurting. But of course, you know I'm not missing any meals. Nothing will come between me and food. I'll puree it and suck it through a straw if I have to.

Let The Jokes Begin

Well, today was an interesting end to a good start. I started school on Tuesday. I’m so stoked, my last semester of school. The semester just started and I’m already excited about graduating. I even have a cap and gown already. My mom’s friend Tribbie is letting me borrow her cap and gown from her master’s graduation at A&M this past December. All I have to do is buy a tassel. I tried it on Tuesday night and it’s perfect. That will save me some money. Thanks Trib. We know the graduation will be either May 9th or May 10th. Once the university goes through all the graduation applications they receive by the end of this month, they will know how many students are graduating from each department of each college and will create a schedule to make it all fit into four ceremonies, two on each day.

As for school, my class, Introduction to Biblical Archaeology, so far has been interesting. I’m not as impressed with the professor as I hoped to be. He doesn’t use any of the available resources or technology the university has created to make his life or the students’ life easier, except for electronic course reserves at the library. Those are old hat if you ask me. The class is packed and you have to be in the room at least 15 minutes before to get a decent seat. You know I like to sit in the front and so far I’ve had to sit about half way up. It’s hard to hear him even with a lapel microphone. I’m going to have to start getting there earlier. Even though we got the “this isn’t a Bible study” lecture the first day of class, he mentions specific scripture and stories from the Bible often. He’s even mentioned Jesus a few times. So for me, it is a Bible study because I’m learning things about the Bible I didn’t know previously. For the next four weeks, we are covering the introduction to Biblical archaeology before we get to specific times periods. We will cover 10,000-8,500 BC to the first century AD. So far we’ve been given a 45 page reading assignment. But of course, the textbook for the class isn’t in the bookstore yet, so the prof (actually his teaching assistant) had to scan the pages in for us and post them on the library electronic course reserves. I don’t think it will be in when the bookstore says, (not surprised) so I ordered mine from Amazon.com (saved $7) and it is already on its way to me. I bet I get my book before the bookstore gets them in.

As for swimming, Thursday was my first day to actually swim. It was great. Everything came back to me, breathing, head placement, arm and leg movement, torso twisting, a few strokes. But I’ve decided to take a stroke clinic or two depending on the cost so I can get further instruction and correction. I was tempted to attempt a flip turn on Thursday, but decided to wait a few weeks. I did a workout I found online. It’s part of an eight week program, but I plan to spread it out since it’s been two and a half years since I’ve swam regularly. The pool was set up for 25 meter lanes. I swam for a total of 45 minutes to one hour with a short 15 minute break in between for a fire drill that required the entire rec center to be evacuated. Turns out workers in one area of the rec center smelled gas so the staff decided to be better safe than sorry. I can appreciate that since I was in an area closer to the boilers and natural gas and heat don’t mix well. It was disturbing to my workout and the cold outside didn’t help. We weren’t allowed to go into the locker rooms to grab more clothes or anything, just evacuate.

So there we were soaking wet only in bathing suits and they are telling us we have to go outside where it is 41 degrees. Yeah, we were happy about that. I had one towel already and they gave us as many towels as we needed plus these huge insulated parkas the swim team uses. I was happy to see those. They helped a lot but it was still cold. We finally went back in and I resumed my workout with a short warm-up. I wish I had some kind of abacus or counting frame to keep up with my laps. I swam about 200 meters before we had to evacuate. That was a 9 minute warm-up and the start of a 9 minute skill refresher. Then I did a 22 minute main set plus a 5 minute cool down. I think in total I swam 700 meters which is about 0.44 of a mile, almost half a mile. Not bad for my first swim in two and a half years. I was starving after that and my legs were slow. My right hip hurt a little also, but I have been doing some yoga hip openers to help with that. I’ll be doing yoga everyday to combat the pain I’ll feel from all this swimming. The time of day I swim isn’t busy at all. I plan to continue swimming at that time. It also gets me in a locker room shower before a swimming conditioning kinesiology class gets out filling up the locker room.

As for the title of this post, two weeks ago I started having pain in my left lower jaw. It has progressively gotten worse, but slowly. I have no idea what I did to my jaw. (Here’s where the jokes begin.) There has not been any popping, grinding, ear pain or headache, just pain near the joint when I chew (more jokes), but not any when I talk (even more jokes). Around Tuesday of this week it actually started getting a little stiff and was tough for me to open. So on Wednesday night I decided I better go to the doctor before it gets worse and I can’t open my mouth at all. (Insert more jokes here.) How would I eat? I’d starve! I did some research online about jaw pain because I wasn’t sure if I should go to the dentist or my PCM. The census online was to go to a TMJ specialist, but I am not comfortable with my dentist at all and on Thursday morning I made an appointment with my PCM. By Thursday evening, thank goodness after dinner, the pain started moving up the side of my face and giving me a headache. I did not feel well. I had previously tried Tylenol and Advil but neither helped. At my appointment, my doctor examined the area externally and internally (which wasn't pleasant) and decided to send me for x-rays. She also gave me prescriptions for a muscle relaxer and Tylenol 3 with codeine. I went straight to the lab for the x-rays hoping they’d be able to get the results to her the same day. After a 30 minute wait in the lobby and ten x-rays in different positions, I was informed the results wouldn’t get to her until Monday. So I have to wait to see what’s going on.

I turned in my prescriptions and ran all the rest of my errands before picking them up to go home and take them. I was planning to work when I got home, but that was before I found out I was going to be prescribed those meds. I wanted to get them in my system as soon as possible. I ate a small meal as to not have an empty stomach then took a half pill of the muscle relaxer and one Tylenol 3 with codeine as the pharmacist recommended. I waited a while and felt nothing. So I took the other half of the muscle relaxer and that helped. I was actually able to chew with no pain. I started to feel a little woozy when I stood up from the Tylenol 3 with codeine and decided I better stay down for a while and that I didn't need the second one yet. I think it has worn off a little, hence being able to blog, but I can’t take anymore for a bit. Darn.

My plan for tomorrow was to go for a long walk in the late morning as it warmed up to 52 degrees and cut plywood for the attic in the early afternoon. I’m not sure how I will feel tomorrow when I wake up, but I can’t drive or operate machinery on either medication. So I have two options, go with the pain until after I do those two things or take the meds and not do anything at all. I probably shouldn’t go for too long of a walk on muscle relaxers and Tylenol 3 with codeine. I wonder if I could walk at all. I was really hoping to be done with one side of the attic this weekend. Oh well, they say when you own a home you never run out of things to do. So putting that off a little longer won’t make a big difference. It will also give me time to hit my family up for help. :)

Project Gutenburg

I came across this article, "Peruse the world's best public library" and thought I'd share it. It's about Project Gutenburg which you can download 22,000 classic books for free. And they are adding more every day. I recommend reading the article first so you can get an idea of how and why the project began before you jump over to the website. I think it's a really awesome thing they are doing to save great literature, but I also think it's a great way to read books without having to buy them or if you have transportation issues getting to a library to check them out. Also imagine riding the subway and reading a classic on your palm or smartphone or whatever device you have. You wouldn't have to lug a huge book on the subway, save space and stop getting dirty looks from other passengers because you're taking up so much space because you have to turn the pages while you read. Yes, the DC rush hour riders can be that nit-picky. You should see how they act when you're trying to read the Express which is regular newspaper size! I hope many of you partake in this great service.

I had a relaxing but productive weekend. I got a few things done on the house that Roger & I didn't have time to do while he was home. I was able to get all the Christmas decorations down and packed into tubs, hung some decorative metal gates on the front porch, got rid of another box in the garage by putting all our photo albums in a basket under one of the end tables, and started working on the attic flooring by nailing boards across the inside of the exterior walls for the plywood to sit on since the joists are flush with the wall and the plywood doesn't have anything to rest on. It felt good to get those done. Now I start the rest of the list on Wednesday. Wednesday I plan to cut the plywood pieces I need and place them in the attic. I know I will have to cut them in half to get them up there through the attic stairway hole. If I have time, I will also nail them in and move stuff from another area to that area and start working on the flooring in the next area. I borrowed my dad's pneumatic nail gun and man, what a life saver! No pre-drilling or manual hammering. It took me a whole five minutes to get those exterior wall boards put up. Pneumatic tools are a life saver. Thanks dad!

Today is going to be filled with work related tasks and getting ready for school tomorrow. Texas universities officially started today, but my class is on Tuesday/Thursday, so tomorrow will be all about school. I'm also going to start swimming two days a week before class since I'll be there anyway and the Natatorium at A&M is unbelievable. I have to pay the Student Recreation Center fee anyway, so I might as well use it. By the way, my dad helped build the Student Rec Center that holds the Natatorium many, many years ago. I'm hoping to figure out a time when the lap lanes aren't busy so I don't have to circle with anyone. Indoor pools are rare here so they get packed at certain times. Before I moved to Virginia, I used to swim at the downtown Austin YMCA's indoor pool and after work the lap lanes were crazy busy. I usually had to circle with three other people. That's not fun, especially when only one person may be a trained swimmer and the rest of us aren't. Fast swimmers throw my whole workout off. They push me harder, but that tires me out faster. So we'll see how crazy the university pool is and I'll let you know how it goes.

So as you can see, I didn't do a whole lot this weekend, but I am really happy with what I achieved especially all the relaxing. I went to the 5:00 p.m. service at Austin Stone last night since I worked in the morning on the attic. It was a really good message. We're still going through 1 Corinthians and yesterday Pastor Matt covered 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 and his two points were 1) we must remember church leadership does have authority in our lives and we must honor the leaders of the church, but our loyalty is to Jesus Christ and we must never submit to the point that it defames or dishonors Jesus and 2) our hearts need to be in love with the message not the messenger because God moves and works through men. The church in Corinth was doing both of these. His over all point was if there is ever a situation or time where there is a division or argument or quarrel in the church, he hoped we would be the one to stand up for unity. The church was all a buzz because all the new classes, trainings, forums, etc are starting up for this semester. They have a lot of different classes to offer. I read through all of them and there are many I'd like to take, but I've decided to stick with the one day forums this semester. The thought of a 5-10 week study is more than I want to handle right now. But there are some good ones. The message was good and funny, so if you get a chance you should listen to it by clicking on the link above. And of course, the worship was moving, like always.

Boogie Back To Texas

Well, I boogied my way back to Texas today. Even after taking off late because of an approaching storm and turbulence all along the way, it flew by thankfully because it was a non-stop and I was preoccupied with a great book (Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge). Roger drove me to BWI for the flight and dropped me off at the curb. I wanted him to come in with me, but I knew if he came in I would cry. I was already feeling it well up inside me as we were driving up the beltway and I didn't want to cry. Plus I didn't use waterproof mascara this morning and knew if I cried I'd feel and look miserable the whole way. And I hate the feeling that I look like something's wrong. I don't want to look like an emotional wreck. I miss Roger a lot already. He was home for two weeks and I got so used to him being here. I guess that's why I avoided going to bed for so long tonight. Even when I started to head to bed, as I passed our bed walking into the bathroom to get ready, my first thought was, "My first night in bed without my husband again." I hope this next two months goes by really fast and he doesn't have to stay longer, again. We had a great additional week together. Although it's tough staying at Walter Reed and I was happy to come home, being there with him through all the things he has to do everyday made me wish I didn't have anything to do and I could stay with him. But we both know me being here is best. I'm finishing school and taking care of our house. I'm glad I was able to drive back with him and spend some additional time together. I'll take any I can get. You know how people take their spouses for granted? Yes, everyone does. I feel like there's no way I could take Roger for granted after all this. But I know, as human as I am, I'm sure I will as time goes by. I hope over the years I'm reminded not to. Maybe we should hang his radiation mask on the wall instead of sitting on a closet shelf. Hopefully how we have both changed through this and what we've learned about our love and God's love for us will remain in our hearts, always.

We Made It!

Thanks for the prayers. They worked. We made it safely to Walter Reed in DC about 9:30 p.m. We arrived later than expected due to the above. Lovely DC traffic. Can you believe that at 9:30 on a Saturday night there is traffic that bad?! We found out later a car accident was blocking three lanes on the beltway. In that same traffic report we heard something about an airplane down on a roadway. We were like what the heck?! We thought the bad drivers on the interstate was crazy but this takes the cake. After unloading the truck, Roger checked in with the CQ on duty, we ate some dinner while watching the end of the Steelers/Jaguars game, then got ready for bed. So finally after driving 1560 miles I can say, "Good night!"

460mi to DC

We left Nashville an hour later than planned... We sat down for a bite with Justin and Molly around 8am and all of a sudden it was 9! Anyway, we're doing well. It is cloudy today and it sprinkled earlier. We just got on I81 from I40 and we should be in DC before 9pm due to the time change. I am about to take the helm.

Roger

Sent from my AT&T Tilt mobile phone

In Nashville

We pulled in to our lodging for the night a little after 8:30pm CT and after 800 miles.

A few months ago in VA, I stayed at Ryan's house one weekend and met Kyla, who is pictured above. I could tell from my short time around her that was very spirit filled. I knew she was moving to Nashville in the future and we kept in touch. When I knew for sure that we were going to be driving through TN, I contacted her to see if she could help us find a place to stay. Long story short, she hooked us up with a fabulous couple, Justin and Molly, who are taking care of us quite nicely. And I got to see Kyla again! Kyla, thanks for your help.

Tomorrow we make the last push of just over 600 miles to DC. It should take us just over ten hours. Thanks for your prayers!


Sent from my AT&T Tilt mobile phone

Half way there

It is just about 2pm and we have driven 427 miles and the GPS says we have 447 to go. We left the house around 0730 CT (later than we planned) but if we're about half way I figure we should be there close to 2100 CT.

We're about to stop for a bite, stretch, visit the facilities and get back on the road. Weather has been great and the drivers not too stupid. More later!

-rog


Sent from my AT&T Tilt mobile phone

DC or Bust

We're on our way to DC. Please pray for our safety. Thanks, Roger & Holly.

Christmas 2007 Photos

Before we leave for the drive back to DC, I better post all those pictures I've been promising. Because you know if I don't do it now, I'll forget or not do it at all.

And since everyone has already received our Christmas card this year (Joy, your's was returned so it's on its way now.), I'm starting the set with that picture because Wal-Mart over-exposed our Christmas cards and frankly, I don't like the result. So I want everyone to see the real picture and know it is much better than the Christmas card.

So click on the picture below or the Flickr link to the right so see all our adventures while Roger was home on leave for Christmas. Happy New Year!

Roger's Christmas Presents

I mentioned in a post about a month ago that I was working on a personal Christmas present for Roger but I couldn't say what it was because he would find out. Well, it's after Christmas and he knows what it is now, so I'll share it with you all. Since Roger has had many photographs published in the Walter Reed post newspaper, The Stripe, our stack of newspapers was getting quite large. And I started to think about what the heck we were going to do with all of them. He wanted to keep them for memories and proof of his published photos but there had to be a better way to store them. Not to mention every time he wanted to show someone his handy work, they would have to strum through pages of pages of newspapers to find only his photos. So I thought about it for a bit and decided he needed something he could just hand someone kind of like a model's portfolio. Then it struck me, duh, photographer's have portfolios also. So I did some research online for a few weeks then went to our favorite local photography store, Precision Camera to see if they had the supplies I would need. I wanted to also see the items in person before I had to order online. It would give me a better idea of what I wanted or needed to order. But of course, they had exactly what I needed and cheap. As soon as the semester ended, I organized the newspapers in date order and the Sunday before Roger flew home, I printed blank pages with the citation for each article one of Roger's photographs were used in. It took me all night. I didn't realize how many of his photographs were published. Especially since the Stripe doesn't have a photographer on staff at all, Roger's used as much as possible. I almost filled up the entire portfolio which has 24 pages, front and back, so 48 pages total. And some pages have several photos on a page. He had many photos published on the front page. I was quite impressed with his work. I took some pictures of the portfolio to give you an idea of what it looks like and I will post those tomorrow with all the other pictures from Roger's Christmas leave. There are only four pages left in the portfolio and I know it will fill up soon. Now that he's going back for at least another three months, I'm sure the newspaper staff will take full advantage of him. And many of his photos have been published in other periodicals and brochures, so those will go in there as soon as Roger gets a copy of them. Some of his pictures are being published in a USO brochure. I'll probably have to buy another portfolio. That's not a bad thing though.

So his other Christmas present, although he's estatic about it, is for both of us, but really for me. We normally have five remotes to control the TV, cable box, dvd/cd player, stereo receiver, etc. And it drove me crazy. So I got him one of those universal remotes. Not the simple, easy ones. This one is a bad, mamma jamma. Roger had to download software to the computer and program all our devices into it and program all the settings for each possible activity we would do. And no, I did not pay the price shown on that link above. I did my research and found it way cheaper. It controls up to 15 devices and can even control your lights and curtains if you have those wired too. Of course, we don't but it is so nice to push one button on one remote and all the devices you need to turn on and go to a certain setting do it. I definitely don't miss all those other remotes.