Things I Forgot

So I forgot a few things yesterday. I had so many things to try to remember. At least it kept my post "short and sweet". :) Roger got a promotion at work two weeks ago. We are very happy about that. It's nice to know you are appreciated and to be compensated for it. His work is also starting a 10,000 steps a day program. They all received their pedometers yesterday. We went for a walk last night after dinner to see how many steps my typical cool down from race walking might be and it was sad. Roger is going to have to walk a lot, all day long to get 10,000 steps. I'll walk with him in the evenings to help. At least he's getting some exercise. He starts physical therapy again soon so that will add a little more exercise. And I made a new friend at the pool last Friday morning. He's a biology teacher and curriculum developer at Texas School for the Deaf. Yes, he's Deaf, but reads lips very well. Which is good because I think I used the wrong, but close, sign for "interesting". But he could read my lips and knew what I was saying instead of signing. And he was super excited to know I knew a lot of sign language plus I swim regularly because he tried talking me into swimming with him and his wife and three other teammates in a 12 mile open water swim relay this Saturday at Lake Travis. I had to decline because of previous engagements but it sounded really interesting. Remember we're not adding anything new to October so we have time to get the house ready for the market. He asked me if I might be interested in doing it next year and I am. So that will be three athletic events next year I already have planned. And this one I'll have to join the American Swimming Association. I had to join USA Triathlon to participate in triathlons. I don't think I'll be adding any more other athletic associations after this.

42 Days of Hell

Yes, we are now on the 42nd straight day of 100 degree or greater temperatures. It's freakin' hot here. I went for a bike ride Sunday morning and decided it was too hot to continue so I only rode 8 miles. But hopefully Tropical Storm Edouard will bring us some much needed cooler temperatures and rain starting tomorrow evening. But knowing Texas summers, it will probably end up being a dud just like Dolly. We need more rain! We were at our friend Cynthia's birthday party last night at Eddie V's and the conversation turned to the heat and we were all saying how last summer none of us had to water our yards at all. But this summer our yards just can't win against the heat and drought.

Roger had to work all day Saturday. But he came home to some really great mail which was his Meritorious Service Medal that he was told he was put in for many months ago. What they had to say about him and his service in the recommendation for the award was very nice. Everything I already knew about him. It's his last military award and now he can finally take a last official photograph in his uniform with all his awards, medals, etc. As soon as we get the picture taken, we'll post it on Flickr. Here are some pictures of his award.

Conversion

Okay, it's driving Roger crazy, so I figured it might be driving others crazy as well. So I converted the Sprint triathlon distances to miles for anyone who wants to know but is too lazy to convert it themselves.

Sprint Distance: 750 meter Swim, 16.9K Bike and 5K Run
Sprint Distance: .46 mile Swim, 10.5 miles Bike and 3.1 miles Run

There you have it, all standardized for you.

I met a 70 year old woman yesterday who did her first triathlon last Sunday and at the same place as the triathlon I'm doing in September. She works a couple days a week at my local Jo-Ann's which is next door to my H-E-B therefore I stop in there a lot. I wanted to ask her more technical questions about the course especially if the bike course was flat or hilly, how many times we have to loop, what kind of bike she used, road or mountain, and what was the temperature of the water, but she was busy checking people out at the register and I didn't want to bother her. She looked great and didn't seem like most 70 year olds I know who have an excuse for not being active or every ailment in the book. I hope I'm still doing triathlons at 70 years old. I was really surprised she was 70 years old. I would have guessed 50, at the top 60. And she won her division and received a trophy! Mainly because she was the only person in her division. That's the way to go. Keep competing until there's no one left in your age group!

Roger's working today. I know, on a Saturday. And this is his 13th day in a row to work since last weekend they had the server meltdown. Today they tested their emergency back-up generator and some kind of cabling/wiring project. He had to be there at 4:15 a.m. So he's going to be tired again. Another weekend pretty much ruined. I'm still hoping we can get a ride in tomorrow morning. I'm spending the day working on some sewing projects. I'll have to fill you all in on a major sewing project I have going on right now. It's a sewing project that I hope will last for years and years. Details to come...

MRI Results

Sorry this is so late, but we had good intentions of posting this last week. Obviously we got distracted and forgot. Roger received the official results from his radiation-oncologist at BAMC last week that the MRI looked good, pretty much the same as the others. And they are going to switch him to every six months so his next MRI will be at the beginning of next year. Great news when you can go from an MRI every 3-4 months to every 6 months. Thanks for all your prayers! God bless.

Grilled Pizza

Roger let me take him on a wild adventure for dinner tonight. We grilled pizza on our gas grill. I made whole wheat pizza dough Wednesday afternoon and divided it into six balls. I stored them individually in ziploc bags in the refrigerator until we were ready to grill them. We got quite a few toppings to put on our pizzas. We had two cheeses, shredded mozzarella and guyere, kalamata olives, sliced red onions, red bell pepper and mushrooms, browned italian sausage and pepperoni slices. I also made an easy tomato sauce with crushed red pepper flakes and a touch of lemon zest. We thought grilling pizza on the grill was going to be daunting at first but it turned out to be very easy. They were so good and very filling. We were only able to eat one and a quarter of another one. Thank goodness the dough was individually bagged so we have enough for dinner Sunday night and probably another dinner this week. Grilled pizza is the way to go and we think we'd like to try it with friends. The crust is super crispy with grill marks which makes every thing great. And the pizza was delicious. I took some pictures during the adventure and you can check them out in the set titled Adventures in Grilling on our Flickr page or click on the link to the right.

The Latest

Roger and I tried a new church this weekend, Austin New Church. Our friends Christian and Michelle and their children attend there. We really liked it and plan to check it out again. We especially like that it's only five minutes from our house at Akins High School.

Roger has his first MRI after coming home for good tonight at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio. Please keep him in your prayers for a clear MRI and safety in traffic. He has to leave at 4:30 p.m. to get there in time.

Roger & I had some revelations regarding my job search and his future work situation this weekend due to friends pointing some things out that we completely missed with our current life situation. It made a huge difference for us because we realized we don't really need to work for "the man" like we always have and thought we'd always have to. I love working from home and would love to continue doing that. I know I'll have to have interaction with people so I'm inquiring about volunteering at a local museum. We've got some ideas in the works and we'll be filling you in on the results in the future.

Just a note on what we're reading lately. Our friend Cynthia lent Walking with God by John Eldredge to me this weekend. I can't wait to start it. The cover says, "Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really." That's what I need right now. I also got Roger Quiet Strength, Tony Dungy's memoir. I'm sure he'll like it. It's written by a football coach! Anyone can tell he's a believer. I've always been impressed by his demeanor and leadership style.

Roger's New Doctors

Roger and I made it to Brook Army Medical Center this morning to meet his new radiation-oncologist and neurologist. We had very good appointments with both and learned a little more information from Roger's new neurologist who happens to be the chief of neurology and the TDRL neurologist. It was very peaceful to learn more about the temporary disabled retirement process which Roger will have to endure for another five years. Both are great doctors and we are very happy to have been assigned to them. Roger gave blood for his levels to be checked since his anti-seizure meds can affect liver enzymes and sodium greatly. He also scheduled his next MRI for July 1st. The labs and scans will establish a base line for his new doctors there even though they have access to all his previous records. Thank goodness military medical is all connected. It is kind of surprising though. We made a pit stop in San Marcos to wish Roger's sister Cathy happy birthday while she dined with Roger's parents. We had a good morning and Roger went back to work in the afternoon to ice cream sundaes and a going away happy hour. He's really liking his new job. :) As for Roger's physical therapy consultation on Monday, the therapist can tell he has more work to do. They figured some things out that he specifically needs to work on and will start doing physical therapy two days a week plus home exercises. And I'm going to help him work on his endurance with cardio like bicycling, walking and yoga. I'm trying to turn him into a yogi.

New Week

Well, I just got home from swimming at the neighborhood pool. Lap swimming is from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Monday through Friday. I'm going to try to swim at least three days a week. The neighborhood pool is less than a mile from our house. I drove this morning but plan to ride my bike from now on. I have to fix the flat I got at the triathlon last month which is funny since the cycling portion of the triathlon was canceled. Somehow I got a flat while my bike was in the back of the truck. Anyway, the neighborhood pool isn't great, but it's better than nothing or having to go farther. I was the only person there at 7:00 a.m. and no one else showed up until kid's started to gather around 8:00 a.m. for swim lessons. Hopefully the word doesn't get out since they only have one lap lane. And the lifeguards are really nice. My only experience at the neighborhood pool is during the summer full of kids and it's crazy. So it was really weird to have the pool all to myself. But I'll take it. I didn't do my whole workout, but close and it won't take me long to get back into shape. Now I'm off to shower, work a little and then run some errands. I love grocery shopping during the middle of the day during the week. Stores are empty. It's great. Oh wait, public school ended last week. Well, hopefully it won't be too bad. I bet Roger's commute this morning was really fast. He has a physical therapy consultation this afternoon. I'm very happy about that. Hopefully they give him a bunch of exercises to do. We planned to put regular pedals on his bike this weekend and go for a ride, but we got distracted with house stuff. But we'll get them on soon. And Wednesday he has his first appointments with his new neurologist and radiation-oncologist at Brooks Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio. Since we are so close to IH-35, it's a very easy drive to BAMC. Roger is going to keep those specialists in the Army so all his records are in the system and when he has his re-evaluation August of 2009 all his records of care are in the system for the board. I'll let you know how his physical therapy consult goes today.

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. :)

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. :)

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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

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