New Niece!

My new niece, Chloe Grace Wise, was born yesterday, May 30, 2008 at 12:24 p.m. She weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. My sister-in-law Brandy and baby Chloe are doing well and resting at the hospital. My brother Harvey Jr, aka Bubba, and my nephew Cole, the big brother, are both excited. She's just adorable. Check out some pictures my mom took here. My favorite is the picture of Cole holding Chloe swaddled tightly and he is about to kiss her. Too cute! I can't wait to meet her.

Jet Lag

Well, we think we are finally getting over the jet lag. In O'ahu it took me a few days to get adjusted. By 9:00 p.m. every night, I couldn't keep my eyes open or my head up. Roger didn't seem to have any problems with jet lag there. But now that we're home, we both felt it the first few days. We got up this morning when the alarm went off even though we wanted to keep sleeping. We are both hoping to be done with it especially Roger since he goes back to work tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Yes, on Memorial Day. Roger's work is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, so holidays are work days for most employees. But he will take some of that time off next Thursday and/or Friday to be home when our new windows are installed. Roger seems to be excited about going back to work. He is definitely happy about getting back to "normal" meaning being home for good and getting back to a normal routine. Going back to work is helping to get that established. We'll see how he feels by the end of the first week. :)

We're Home!

We're home from O'ahu. We are exhausted from the flight. But we had a great time. We're completely unpacked and going to take a nap. We'll post pictures later tonight.

Finally…A College Graduate!

Well, I’m finally a college graduate. I know, it’s about time. My oldest nephew William asked me Friday night how long I had been in college and my response was, “Forever.” I made an A in my class but I haven’t found out yet what I made on the final exam. I could email the professor, but I guess it doesn’t really matter now. Thursday night Roger, my mom and I went to an Association of Former Students event called the Next Tradition. It’s where you learn about being a former student at Texas A&M. The 2007-2008 Texas A&M parents of the year, Roger & Teresa Lane, were there with their Bus 12. I became a member and got my former student association vehicle decal. It’s the only sticker I will put on my car. Roger put it on for me the same night.

Graduation the next morning was interesting. I was excited and a little nervous but at the same time a little annoyed. I wore the dress I made in January and heels, wore my gown down stairs to line up and was carrying my cap, lipstick and a breakfast bar and as I walked into the room I was handed a survey to fill out including a pencil, a program and instructions to read for lining up, walking the stage, smiling at the stage photographer and another reminder to stay during the whole ceremony. I was like do I really need more stuff to carry. We stood for one hour in somewhat alphabetical order waiting to go in. There were no chairs or anything. Some people just sat down on the floor. I was like, I’m in my dress and heels, there’s no way I’m getting on the floor. So I stood and chatted with my fellow classmates griping about the whole ordeal we were about to have to sit through for another 2-3 hours. As we were all talking, complaining and laughing about it all, I joked about how ungrateful we all were for all our complaining. I had already talked to my parents about staying through the whole ceremony to the end to which we decided since I was probably going to be close to the end, we might as well stay for the whole thing. At 9:15 a.m. we saw the line start moving across the gym we were waiting in and we finally started to make our way onto the floor.

As I approached the entrance to the floor, it was getting louder and louder in the arena. And when I entered the arena, I saw why. The family and friends gathered to watch the ceremony were going wild. It felt like we were the home team entering the arena for a major sporting event. I was shocked, but it did feel us up with excitement. That helped make the situation a lot better. Once we were seated and all the introductions were done, the speaker began and I honestly tuned him out. He was some political science professor and I really didn’t care what he had to say. It was all about political regimes and presidents and the war. I was dreading his speech once I found out who our speaker was going to be a few weeks ago. So I read the program and that’s when I realized I wasn’t near the end but almost exactly in the middle. It was finally my row’s time to stand and cross the stage. It was exciting, but nerve racking as we got closer and started to ascend the stairs. I pronounced my name and it was recited almost immediately. I stepped toward President Murano and said thank you to her congratulations, shook her hand with my right hand, accepted my diploma with my left hand, smiled at the stage photographer and walked on. It was over. There were four history professors near the end of the stage shaking hands and congratulating, but it went by so fast. It was like, all that preparation and waiting for what seemed like four maybe five seconds. As I approached my seat I saw everyone else opening the tubes to read their diplomas or check that it was the real thing. So I did the same even though I knew it was going to be there and not some piece of paper that said sorry you didn’t graduate. I sat there for about ten minutes as people around me were getting up and walking out. It didn’t matter to me that they were leaving. I wasn’t offended or anything. When everyone in line around me was discussing whether they were going to leave or not, I mentioned that my family had already decided to stay. There was the whole other side of the arena to go, maybe about 500 more students. So I looked back to see what my family was doing and my mom and sister were looking right at me. They started motioning for me to leave. I was like, for real? I mouthed, “Did you ask Dad? Did you check with everyone else?” But they couldn’t understand me. When they waved good bye at me, I realized they really wanted to leave. So I mustered up some courage to stand up and walk down the row and out. I felt weird at first, but after I opened the door from the stairwell into the concourse, there were gowns everywhere so I didn’t feel bad anymore. We took some pictures with my family and headed over to the Memorial Student Center to drop off my diploma for framing. We were there about three and a half hours total with waiting before hand and my family waiting to get good seats, but it would have probably been four to five if we had stayed for the whole thing. Then we headed home to change clothes and get ready for the party the next day.

The party was a lot of fun. Stressful and exhausting from all the work, but lots of fun and everyone really had a great time. Seeing family and friends who I haven’t seen in a long time was great. The food was good. The music was great. The cake was delicious. We all had a lot of fun. Everyone there was instrumental in me obtaining my degree over all these years. There are lots of pictures on our Flickr site from the whole weekend. After cleaning up a little more Sunday morning, we headed home to Austin to unload and unpack so we could get ready to pack again to leave Tuesday morning for O´ahu. We are excited about this trip. Roger and I were talking last night during dinner and he told me again how proud he was of me. I told him thanks but that it didn’t feel like that big a deal to me. I think I feel this way because it’s taken me so long to graduate because of my own stubbornness and stupidity. I am glad to have my degree and look forward to what doors it opens up for me. As I was telling my sister-in-law Cathy, I hope to find a job that will allow me to be creative and not stagnate my intellect. I’m excited to see what I can find in the Austin area. I will let you know what the search turns up. Okay, I need to cut Roger’s hair so we can finish packing and try to get to bed early tonight. We have a long day of flying tomorrow. I want to thank everyone for praying for me over these years and especially the last year of school while being separated from Roger. I really appreciate all the support and prayer. Now it’s Roger’s turn to finish school. :)

Final Exam Tomorrow!

I can't believe it's already Monday night before my final. My last final exam at that. And I graduate Friday morning. It's all happening too fast. I don't have time to enjoy it. I want time to slow down. I need more time to spend with Roger before we both go back to work full time. I'm excited about graduating, but the semester flew by so fast. I loved every minute of what I learned. I wish I had another semester of this class again. Our little vacation in Oahu is going to be over before we know it. But of course, I'll try very hard to get on island time once we get there.

We finished the patio electricity project. Don't worry, I studied one to two hours every day while I helped Roger. See pictures here. It is so nice. It's going to make our backyard even more pleasant. Roger did a great job. I knew we could do it by ourselves. And he only got shocked once and at the very end. It was kind of weird. The one time we slipped and didn't cut off the power. But we thought we were okay since we were just straightening an outlet cover. Guess not. We ended up cutting off the power and taking it out to check for nicks or cuts in the wires, but nothing. So we closed it up and it works fine. Roger thinks he might have slid his finger toward the back of the outlet as he was holding the outlet steady it to turn the center screw. But it's all done and done to code and works great. We already sat under the patio and enjoyed the breeze from the ceiling fan while the ceiling fan light was dimmed low enough to keep the bugs away but give us enough light to see. It's really nice. I'm so proud of Roger. It took a little longer than he wanted, but this was our first electrical project completely on our own. And I'm glad we did it right instead of rushed and cutting corners.

Now I just have to get the grass growing in part of my flower bed under control. I finally gave up on pulling it and used Round-up to kill it. It's dying and will make it easier to remove. Then one of these days we'll get around to painting all the pipes and electrical outlets on the house the exterior house color to help it blend into the house. Like I said, one of these days. We'll just add that to our to do list with all the other things we hope to finish one of these days.

Another great accomplishment, Roger has been seizure free for over a year now. Yeah! We went to Brook Army Medical Center (BAMC) last Friday to get him established with doctors and specialists here. You know the military, it wasn't an easy process, but it was easier than WRAMC. And his PCM, LTC G-G, is awesome. She was great. Roger is going to "retire" at the end of May and will be switching to a PCM here in Austin. Hopefully he can get my PCM, Dr. Smith, but right now she's not accepting new Tricare patients. I have no idea why not?! So I've put in the call to beg her to take Roger. Please pray for the Lord's will to be done with that. You know how the Lord works. He might have someone better for Roger to be his PCM, but we'll let him lead us.

Okay, I'm off to bed. Need all the sleep I can get to be ready for my exam. Please pray for me to retain everything I read and study. I'd like to make an A on this exam. Of course, I'll let you know what I make as soon as I find out.

Triathlon Turned Aquathlon

Due to the severe weather Texas got this weekend, my triathlon on Sunday morning turned into an aquathlon. Not just because we got soaked by rain during the whole event, but the cycling leg of the event was canceled due to very wet roads which caused hazardous conditions. We ran on the hazardous conditions, but I guess our footing is safer than wheels. The race was also delayed two hours because of the severe weather. Roger and I waited at home during the hail and torrential downpour before we left the house for the race downtown at the Texas School for the Deaf. I was a little disappointed about the cycling leg being eliminated but completely understood the safety issue. This was the first Ranger Triathlon and therefore it was a tad unorganized. There wasn’t much direction and communication was difficult at times. Thank goodness I know American Sign Language and could understand what was trying to be communicated. There were many lull periods when no one knew what was going on. But overall it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it. The kids were so much fun to watch. Many deaf kids from the school who couldn’t or don’t go home over the weekend participated. And there were lots of families. I was only able to watch the kids swim because we were swimming while they were running. And by the time I got out to run, the kids were done. My transition wasn’t bad and since the cycling leg was canceled I completely turned the event into a fun, non-competitive, socializing gathering. My official chip time was 00:33:55. Not bad, but not great. I enjoyed it and plan to participate next year. Hopefully I can get Roger to do it also. Check out the pictures Roger took here.

The rest of Sunday we spent working on the patio electrical project, doing laundry and other household chores and I finished sewing my niece Elizabeth a dress with a matching purse and headband. I was able to finish it because I got a new sewing machine on Friday. I am so excited. I love it! I got a Baby Lock Crafter's Choice. And I practically stole it from the dealer, Sew Much More. They were having a 50% off sale. This sewing machine is great. It has sparked a lot of creativity and motivation in me. I was a little nervous about getting an electronic sewing machine compared to the mechanical machines I grew up using. But after a quick demonstration at the dealer, I was sold. While I was sitting there I was literally thinking of forty million different things I could do with it. I really like my sewing machine. I can’t wait until after I graduate and we get back from our vacation so I don’t have to study, or feel bad about not studying when I’m sewing. I have enough material left over to sew my other niece Ariana the same dress with a matching purse and headband. I have another project I want to start this week but I need to see what patterns are available for what I want to make and find the right material.

Roger got back last Thursday evening. I’m glad. I was starting to miss him around the house. He had a great visit to Los Angeles. I’m so glad he had the opportunity to go. He posted more pictures in the set LA 2008 but hasn’t had a chance to blog. So you can check them out there. It turns out I don’t have class at all this week so I will be catching up on reading and studying for my final next Tuesday and helping Roger with the patio project. It’s actually not a final exam but the last test for the semester. And it’s my last exam ever! I can’t wait. I graduate the following Friday. Whew-hoo! Then we’re off to O´ahu for a vacation. More details about that later. Oh, by the way, I also got my ring back last Wednesday. I love it!!! I’m so glad to have it back, but I seriously love it. And yes, Kezia, I want to marry it! Oh wait, I already have. :)

David & Solomon

I am enjoying my archaeology class so much! We finished the beginning of the Iron Age, the period of the united monarchy in Israel and shot through 500 years of the divided monarchy to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in the matter of about 45 minutes because my professor wanted to make sure we got into the time of Jesus. You think he might be a believer? We finished last week with King Herod’s rebuilding of the Temple Mount. It has been awesome. I am learning so much. The readings have been amazing. And next Tuesday (April 29th) is the last day of classes. I’m so sad. I really want to take this class again. If it weren’t for the drive to College Station and the fact that I’ll have graduated and won’t be a student at the university, I would. I am going to have to look into Concordia and see what classes they teach. I know they have an Old Testament class. Of course it won’t be the same as Archaeology of the Bible, because I really like the archaeological evidence that proves it. But I would still be learning about the Bible.

This weekend I read about the closest parallel to Solomon’s Temple found to date and a third reference to King David found on a pharaonic mortuary relief in Egypt. It’s just amazing! And these articles, written by scholars, archaeologists, trusted experts in their fields, state over and over again how the archaeological evidence corroborates the Biblical record. My professor was exactly right when he told us a few weeks ago when we started this new section that we could use the Bible as a guide from here on out. It was so cool last Thursday when he got so excited explaining to us three separate extra-Biblical sources found in the archaeological record regarding the measures King Hezekiah took to strengthen and protect the city of Jerusalem from attack by the Assyrian Sennacherib. We thought he was going to jump up and down. It was exciting. Find after find illustrating the same stories we can read in the Bible. It’s just unbelievably exciting. This class has made archaeology so much more for me and higher learning well worth it. I really want to go to Jerusalem now.

Catching Up With Friends in LA

We had a pretty darn-near perfect day yesterday! I’ve got a head cold thing going on here, so it took me a while to get started, but we eventually did. Greg and I motored down to Norwalk to pick up Cassie and we ate lunch at Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine in downtown LA. Greg has always wanted to try it and since we’ll be headed to Hawaii soon, it was a good idea. In my younger years I never ventured into downtown and walked around! I remember there not being a whole lot down there. I understand that over the past few years they have been trying to revitalize the area with housing, shops and restaurants. It was nice to see things from a different perspective after all these years. I had mostly seen downtown only from the freeway and never on foot. So, after lunch we walked around downtown and checked out the kinda’ new Walt Disney Music Center. It is a structure covered with wavy curly sheets of metal. Check out the pics to see what I mean. Then we ventured over to the San Antonio Winery for a little wine tasting. With the cold my taste buds are way off and it wasn’t that great of an experience. But some wine was bought and we were on our way back into the traffic.

We headed back to Norwalk to drop Cassie off and then we drove back out to West LA to meet a few friends for dinner at Guido’s Italian Restaurant. We met up with some friends from High School, Joanna, Irene and Quynh. The weather was so nice that we sat outside and had a nice time catching up on all our adventures over the past fifteen years (eeeek!) Dinner was tasty and it sure was nice to see them again.

This morning my nose isn't as bad, but I'm coughing a lot and I'm looking forward to a hot shower and some meds. Tonight I am going to hang out with and also stay with my cousins in the valley. I'm looking forward to spending some more time with them.

Nobody walks in LA...

Anyone remember that song? I forgot how much you ave to drive out here. Gas is up to $3.80 a gallon too! I'm having a great time... the weather is fantasic... and it is soooo good to see my friends and family again. From the airport Tuesday I went over to Yoki's house to pick her up for lunch. We also picked up Cassie along the way and went to a fabulous hole in the wall mexican joint in Hawaiian Gardens. In the afternoon I spent time with Cassie's family at her aunt's house. Yesterday I spent most of the day with my cousins and aunt in the valley. They've grown quite a bit in the past five years since I saw them last! We ate dinner together and are planning to spend Friday evening and Saturday hanging out. I'm going to to spend some time with friend Greg and Cassie today and then have dinner with friends Irene and Joanna this evening. And I seem to have caught a cold too... so I'm not running at 100% Darn public spaces like trains and shuttle buses. I need to remember to be more careful in the future. Please pray that I feel better as the week goes on. Click the pic below to see more pics.

No Ring Yet

After an awesome weekend in Bryan-College Station with my parents for Parent’s Weekend at Texas A&M and Houston with our friends, the McPherson family for their children’s dedication, I was excited about picking up my ring on Monday. Although my ring was ready, the appraisal was not so we couldn’t pick it up. I was a little disappointed because you know I wanted my ring back but especially since I dropped Roger off at the airport this morning he won’t get to pick it up with me or see it until he gets home next week. He’s off to Los Angeles to visit friends and family. He’s got a whirlwind trip planned. And although I’d love to see everyone, L.A. is too much for me plus I can’t because of school anyway. I’m always exhausted when I get back from L.A. Hopefully I get to pick up my ring Wednesday.

We really did have a blast all weekend. Parent’s Weekend was great. This is my last one. We wished we could have stayed with the McPherson family longer, but Roger had to pack and we had a lot of chores to do and errands to run before he left me again. Sigh… It was great meeting the extended McPherson & Tsui family and hanging out with Kezia again. I miss the Asian Sensation. We’ll post pictures soon.

You know I’ve got a list of things to do while Roger’s gone. I have a lot of reading to do. Surprise, surprise. And house work. I’d like to paint over some samples with primer now that I’ve changed my mind on paint color again. But if I don’t get to it, that can wait. And I have some extra exercise I’d like to do this week in preparation for the triathlon next weekend. I timed my 200m swim again today and I’ve gotten faster. My last time was 5:23 and today it was 4:41. I didn’t even swim fast just normal. I was stoked. I also swam a full mile today. I was tired and starving afterward. Actually I was hungry all day. Another surprise, surprise. I think I’ll turn in 5:00 even for the race so I don’t get in any fast swimmers way. This weekend I will be riding my bike to make sure it’s ready and doing a little race walking since I don’t run anymore. Got to take care of my old joints. I also plan to just chill out as much as I can. I need it. I'm so tired from this weekend.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Well, another week has almost gone by. Time is flying by fast. I want it to slow down. Roger is going to L.A. next week to visit friends and I know that time is going to fly by fast and then we'll be at the end of April. That only leaves a month for us to hang out together until he has to go back to work full time at the end of May. Oh, if only we could keep living like this. Yeah, I'll stop dreaming now.

So we had a great anniversary weekend. Sorry, we forgot our camera Saturday night. So we don't have any pictures of us dancing the night away. But the benefit was great. We had a lot of fun dancing and socializing and the benefit raised a lot of money for Ty. He was there which was a real treat. He's so little because of his health. It's quite sad. He's almost seven and he's smaller than my nephew who is going to be five in May. Ty is going back to the Mayo Clinic for more testing and such. They still don't know what's causing all his health problems. He brought a tear to our eyes when he said in his tiny, whispery voice after the live auction and raffle, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." It's so sad that children that young and innocent have to deal with such things. It's just not fair.

On to the next topic, I had to give up my ring Monday. We went to see John so he could solder my rings together and do a new appraisal for our insurance. I know "giving it up" sounds so harsh, but I just got it. And I don't get it back until next Monday. We're going to College Station this Friday and Saturday for Parent's Weekend at A&M. Then Saturday evening we're going to Houston for an Astros game with Kezia's family and Sunday Kezia's sister's children are being dedicated at their church. It's been hard without my ring so far, so I'm sure this weekend will be tough. I keep checking my finger for it and feeling for it because I'm so used to it being there. I keep feeling like I've forgotten it or lost it. I can't wait to get it back on Monday. We'll take some pictures then.

Roger's spending this week working on electrical stuff on our back patio. He's adding a ceiling fan, track lighting for his grill, an outlet for the rotisserie motor on his grill, a motion sensor light for the yard, a new light fixture at the back door and installing GFCI outlets where they should be in the kitchen and bathrooms. We made a new friend at Home Depot on Monday in the electrical section who happens to be a retired electrician and volunteered to come over and help us. Talk about a blessing. I can't wait for them to be done so we can have them over for dinner and use the grill so they can see all their handy work. It's going to be so nice out there. We'll actually be able to use our entire backyard now. They bought all the materials today and will do the work tomorrow. So I won't be here to take any pictures since I'll be in class.

Speaking of class, I made an 80 (B) on my test last week! Yeah. Not great, but better than I thought I did. That gives me an 87 in the class so far. I am going to try hard to make a high A on the last exam to hopefully pull my grade up to an A for the class. In class we are entering the Iron Age which has even more references to the Bible than before. We ended our last section of material at the Late Bronze Age with a highly debated topic in the field of Biblical Archaeology as to the dates of the Genesis patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc). We read an article by Kenneth Kitchen in Biblical Archaeology Review (1995: 21/2) illustrating with archaeological, internal and external Biblical evidence why he believes the dates of the patriarchs to be the Middle Bronze Age. It was a really interesting article and I loved reading how he compared so many aspects of the Bible to external sources that establish reliability of the Biblical time periods. If anyone is interested in reading it, let me know and I'll email the article to you if you can't get access to it through their website. There are always interesting articles in this journal.

Lastly, I've entered a USAT sanctioned triathlon the last Sunday of April. It's called the Ranger Triathlon and it's being held at and benefits the Texas School for the Deaf and I'm really excited about it. I haven't done a triathlon in over five years. But I'm pretty sure I'm ready for it. It's basically a mini-triathlon with a 200m swim, 6 mile bike and 2 mile run. I had to time my 200m swim for lining up purposes of the triathlon. Since the swim portion will be in a pool and not open water, you're lined up by time so faster swimmers aren't swimming over slower swimmers. I was quite surprised by my time which was 5:23 and that was two weeks ago. I have lengthened by swims since so I'm pretty sure I'll be faster by the actual race day. Now I've got to start working on training for the bike portion and transitions. I have to be able to fix a flat or any other incident that might come up by myself with no help from anyone so I need Roger to show me how to do all that bike stuff again. Since it's a USAT sanctioned event, they are pretty strict with the rules. I had to become a member of USAT to be able to participate. Since I had to pay for a year membership, I'm going to try to do some other mini or half triathlons during the year. I'm not ready for a full triathlon and I don't know if I will ever be ready for that. But I am planning to add another day of swimming each week starting next week. We'll see how it goes.

Okay, that's it for now. This is too long as it is. Check out more pictures of Roger grilling and other house pictures on the right. Chao!

Real Love

I just have to tell you that I’m married to the most wonderful husband in the world. Roger & I had a wonderful time at dinner last night. It was just amazing. We strolled around the Warehouse District holding hands after dinner. During dinner he completely surprised me with a beautiful platinum and diamond anniversary band. I was so shocked by it I started to cry. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I had kind of forgotten about it with all that’s been going on lately. And since he didn’t mention anything to me since he’s been home about getting it I figured he hadn’t gotten a chance to think about trying to get it. But all this time he’s been secretly meeting with our friend John the gemologist. He’s so good. I really love being married and especially being married to Roger. Check out some pictures below.

Today is our fifth anniversary. So far this morning we’ve laid in bed holding each other and talking. It’s been a really special morning. Now we're off to have some breakfast. I can’t wait for the rest of the day. We’re going to dance the night away tonight at a benefit concert by my favorite local country musician Jason Allen.

I wrote the following in my electronic journal a while back, but thought today was a good day to share it, “I found real love at the same time I was starting to know God’s love. After many years of crazy relationships, I always knew they weren’t real love but didn’t really know what real love was. I knew what it wasn’t. You can’t have that many doubts about a person or your relationship with them, to not know what real love isn’t. But I think because I found real love as I was beginning to understand how God loved me, is how I knew it was real love. They were almost the same, sacrificial. God would do anything to show me and make me feel how much he loved me, as Roger and I would do for each other. And there were no doubts. It was like God put in my heart the knowledge and wisdom that it was the real thing. I can’t explain how I knew it, other than God told me Roger was the man he intended for me to marry.”

Learning To Be Married Again

So why would we have to learn to be married again? Roger and I were separated for the last nine months. While we were separated we could be and were very selfish. In marriage you have to be selfless. We are relearning to put the other first. Not an easy thing to do when you are human! Only the Lord can help with that. The other skill we are relearning is how to communicate. I know some people will think, “Well, you talk to each other so you are communicating.” Wrong. Communicating is not talking at someone else. Communicating is being honest about how you feel and telling the other person in a respectful way. You have to share things you wouldn’t normally share outside of a relationship. You also have to listen. My biggest advice to newlyweds has been and will always be: You can’t read their mind, so don’t expect them to read yours. Tell them exactly what you want them to know. How do you expect a man to know you need him to help with the dishes or laundry if you don’t tell him? We keep forgetting to share all the details of our plans or expectations. And both of us need to know. Two have become one. You have to enlist patience for both of these, selflessness and communication. Another request only the Lord can help with.

It’s kind of funny that the topic of learning to be married again has come up so close to our five year anniversary tomorrow. (I finally get to wear my little black dress tonight.) We’d like to think we have it down by now, but marriage isn’t constant. Thank goodness. Nothing worse than a stale marriage. We haven’t had a chance to be stale in the past five years. I don’t think stale is in our vocabulary.

The Grill Is Officially Open

Roger’s latest baby is his new five burner gas grill. It was delivered to his truck on a fork lift in five boxes and he drove it home last Thursday. He’s had it less than a week and he’s already used it three times. Friday night he went easy and grilled feta cheese and spinach stuffed chicken sausage. I have simmered this on the stove before, but grilled it was like night and day. Saturday he grilled rib-eye steaks, yellow squash, zucchini and pineapple slices. All was delicious. And Monday night he rotisseried a whole chicken stuffed with garlic and butter. It was amazing. I’m going to like this new gas grill as much as Roger. We have a whole grilling cook-book to go through. I can’t wait to try skewered asparagus, whole grilled cabbage and a whole fish. Yummy.

Check out some pictures of his adventures here. Don't hesitate to invite yourself over for dinner. Roger will be happy to oblige with his grill skills.

Two Weeks

It’s been two weeks since Roger returned home and we haven’t blogged because we have been so busy. (Sorry.) And so lazy at the same time. I don’t know what I’d do if I had a “real” job. It is truly a blessing that we get to spend so much time together right now. Although the majority of the time, it’s been a blessing, it has also been bad for my studying and homework habits. I lost my discipline, but I’m determined to get it back starting Thursday. I had a test today and was I not only behind on my reading, but started studying late. So I’m not sure how well I did on it. Thank goodness I know I got the bonus question right. With a 93 on the first exam and the plan to ace the last exam, it will help me make up for how bad I did on this exam. My only excuse, whether good or not, is that it’s been so hard to not hang out and sleep in late and stay up late and go do things with Roger. We have definitely been making up for lost time. I’d be in real trouble if I had a regular job. Thank you Lord I don’t. I’m sure my boss will not like reading this. But I am determined to get back to normal.

As for Roger being home, it’s been wonderful having a husband again. I had hoped he would blog before now, but he is, and will be for a while, in “vacation” mode. He’s so much in a vacation state of mind, he hasn’t shaved since his last day in uniform. He was trying to grow a Buddy beard, but there’s no way he can compete with Papa Bear. But now he’s ready to shave it. I’m going to take a picture of him before he shaves so you can all see what two and half weeks worth of no shaving looks like on Roger. Now back to us being together again, we are really enjoying it. After being away from home for four years, separated from your wife for two of those and living at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for almost a year of it, Roger loves being home. He loves it so much he almost never leaves, or gets out of bed. We do have a nice bed. And buying a new HDTV and gas grill has made it even harder for him to get away. But I don’t mind him being around. As you can tell from my studying predicament, I don’t mind one bit. We have been having fun and laughing lots again. Doing things together around our house is fun to us. We’re simple people. We have had a few “AHA!” moments. We are learning how to be married, communicate and be patient again. Those aren’t too fun, but very necessary. Make-up is always good. And prayer helps. :)

Home

We arrived in Austin around 2:30am. We tallied up just over 22 hours and 1,562 miles. I reported for duty to deploy in support of Operation Noble Eagle on May 3, 2004.

3 years, 10 months and 14 days later, I am finally home for good.

Sure feels good.

Texas!

We just crossed the Texas state line! yeeeee haaawwww!!!! 1194 miles behind us, 370 more to Austin.

Sent from my AT&T Tilt mobile phone

Arkansas

We had a wonderful stay in Nashville with Kyla and her friend Duane. He cooked us breakfast and we were on our way before noon. I just capped off driving 300 miles straight. It's just before 5pm and we are about 40 miles east of Little Rock. We've decided to go all the way to Austin. It'll be a late night, but we got rest last night and Holly got about an hour of sleep thanks to my smooth driving. 555 miles to Austin!

-roger

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Safe in Nashville

Holly and I arrived safely in Nashville shortly after 10pm. After my last post we drove through another two hours of rain and mist. We are not staying at Kyla's but at a friend of hers in a beautiful house. She's staying with us here too though. I'm pretty pooped and so is Holly. We're gonna chat with them a bit and hit the sack. We're trying to decide if we want to drive all the way to Austin tomorrow or stop at her sister's. I kinda' just want to get home. It would be a 13 hour drive though, so we'll see.

-roger

Sent from my AT&T Tilt mobile phone

Rainy Drive

We had a really good time last night at our farewell get-together. So good, in fact, that we stayed longer than planned because we were just enjoying the fellowship of our best friends. We think that over 60 people came by to wish us well. Thanks all, we had a great time.

When we got back to Walter Reed we had to situate everything and we didn't get to bed until 4am. This morning we got up at 8:30, got ready and loaded the truck bed up. We really had to pack the bed well because we knew we were going to hit rain on the way and we wanted to protect the bags. We covered them with a tarp right behind the cab and then put two plastic bins at the end. We bought the bins, again, because we knew it would rain.

We checked out and got on our way stopping at a Cracker Barrel in Manassas to have breakfast with John and Tamra who wanted to meet us somewhere in the morning. We officially got underway around 1pm with full bellies.

After six hours we have covered about 430 miles and have 250 left to Nashville. With the time change we should arrive at our friend Kyla's home around 9:45pm. We're currently driving in rain and have been for about an hour now. I drove first for almost 300 miles and four hours and hit rain for maybe half an hour. Holly's at the helm now and she's doing great in the rain. We have both had a chance to get a little rest.

I'll post again when we get to Nashville.

-roger

Sent from my AT&T Tilt mobile phone

On Our Way!

I'm typing this on an iMac so it is going too suck. We were up later with our friends than planned. So, we're getting a later start than we planned, but it is ok... God must have wanted it that way. We're getting ready, will load up, maybe meet out good friends John and Tamra for breakfast and will be on our way. We anticipate hitting a few thunderstorms on the way to Nashville, but we should get there before 9pm. I might even blog along the way. Goodbye Walter Reed!!!

Done Out-Processing!! On to packing

I completed out-processing this morning at 10am!! After jumping through hoops to get through finance, we wrapped everything up fairly quickly. We're about to have lunch with the Stripe staff and then we'll pack up the rest of the afternoon. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers!! I am really relieved to put all this behind me.

One more day!..

We finally got word on whether my disability is temporary or permanent. I had to really jump rank pretty high to get an answer that was satisfactory but we got it. They are saying it was a typo the whole time and that my disability is Temporary. This is fine – we just needed an answer and it took 24 hours to get that answer and only because I fought to get someone to ask the questions to get the answers I needed. All I have left to clear tomorrow is finance and my final out-processing where they send me on my way. We are a day behind in packing everything up so Holly and I are going to split up tomorrow so that everything can be packed before our farewell get-together at 8pm, which we’re still not fully prepared for. I guess I figured things would go smoothly, but I should have known better. I’ll post tomorrow when we have everything done with the Army and have pretty much everything buttoned up. Keep praying for us!! We are aaallllmmmoooosst there. *sigh*

Two Days Left

“Two days left” has been our mantra all day. And it’s been a long day! It started at 8:30 a.m. as Roger was on his way to physical therapy and ended about 5:30 p.m. And we are exhausted. After we had lunch and the Stripe staff joined us in the lovely Walter Reed cafeteria, we headed to our first out-processing appointment. Thank goodness the ladies in this department were professional and cared about their work because the rest of the people we had to deal with the remainder of the day weren’t. It was at this appointment that we discovered Roger’s disability status had been changed from temporary disabled retired list (TDRL) to permanent. It’s better for Roger and us in the long run, but it wasn’t what Roger signed and agreed to and it would be worse for us in the long run if it was not right. So we spent the next hour or so trying to get proof of this change, with people from many departments and agencies saying it’s probably correct, but no one actually able to give us proof. And all these people were all supposedly trying to get an answer from the people who actually made the change but no one could. So we kept getting the “hopefully by tomorrow” response which is not what we needed to hear. Roger’s orders were cut then revoked and now are in limbo until tomorrow. Roger contemplated jumping chain to try to get something himself but decided it probably wasn’t smart. I don’t think he would have gotten any results either. So we rushed around the rest of the day getting signatures from everyone we could on his out-processing checklist for his unit. We couldn’t believe we got as many as we did before the close of business day, but we weren’t able to get them all without orders. Most of these steps are started four months before normal retirement and here we have two and a half days. At least we can start early tomorrow morning with only a few before we can go on to the next step of running around getting signatures for the post out-processing checklist. This all has to get done by tomorrow in order for any last minute things to be done on Friday so we can get out of here on Saturday. So every time we hit a little speed bump or hiccup, we had to remind ourselves there was only two days left of this BS and we’re done forever. We were so exhausted that we even declined free tickets to a Washington Capitals game tonight. That’s sad. We were really excited about seeing a professional ice hockey game, but we were too exhausted. We just woke up from a much needed nap and are about to eat some dinner so we can get to bed early in order to start all this over again tomorrow morning. I am so glad I’m here with Roger. Even though it’s been a sucky day, we did get a lot accomplished and I’m glad we are together to help each other through it. It’s so easy to get discouraged here. So please pray tomorrow is a better day. Thanks!

Holly here and news on the Leave Form

A quick update… Holly flew in last night and we’re happy to be together again. I got a call this morning from my squad leader and my leave form was finally signed by the Brigade Commander and was ready to be picked up. I went to Physical Therapy this morning and had my last appointment with them. I also cancelled my Aquatic Physical Therapy appointment for tomorrow so that I have enough time to get everything done. I haven’t really been able to work on anything in PT having to do with my right side because when I fell a month ago on the ice, I strained the AC in my right shoulder and then my back started acting up. So, instead of working on agility and such, they’ve been putting moist heat on my back and then working pressure points to try to get my back to stop hurting so much. It’s been painful, but I’ve been taking 800mg of Ibuprofen every eight hours to relieve the pain and reduce swelling.

On to today… I already turned my leave form in to the Transition Dept and we’re about to have lunch and then we have several meetings with Transition and we’re going to start out-processing today. We’ll let you know how far we get!

Satan's Working Overtime

You know, Roger's leaving Walter Reed Army Medical Center this week, coming home for good and you think there's nothing that could bring us down or mess up this week, but Satan is good at trying to make your good times not so good. I know how he works. I know it's him trying to bring us down, discourage us and pull us away from God. Thank the Lord we are able to recognize him and his lies and go straight to God for help and encouragement. And God always meets me where and when I need Him. I was thinking I need to read some scripture so I can change my focus back to Him and thought about what scripture I should read. I glanced over at my Bible Gateway Verse of the Day widget and as usual, the Lord put the scripture I needed there. Once again, He has led me where I need to go in His word.

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. Deuteronomy 7:9

After praying for the Lord to speak to me and lift me through His word, I studied the chapters surrounding this scripture. Peace and hope only the Lord can give has been found again. Thank you God. Please pray for Roger & I both. We are in the home stretch. Please pray for all of Roger's paperwork to be signed, approved and processed in a timely fashion and for us to make it through this last week with love, patience and peace. Thank you so much for praying for us. I'm sure you know how much we need it.

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