Update...the latest and greatest

It's been a while, I know...but for all I know this blog is nothing more than therapeutic for me as I don't know of anyone who is really following it. BUT, I still feel compelled to write down what the family has been up to...

I think my last post was after Jenny came to visit. We got some great news the following week...Ryan called his dad from Afghanistan to tell him he and Jenny are having a baby!!! YEAH!!! We are so happy for them! Not sure what the plans are in regards to the wedding in California next summer, still waiting to hear. In the meantime, Ryan is on deployment to Afghanistan until February...Efren left not too long ago and is in Iraq until March. It really hit home for me this past Friday, the 8th anniversary of 9/11. I tend not to think too much about the people who perished that day...not because I don't care because I do and my heart goes out to the friends and families of those who were killed...but I tend to dwell more on the many lives lost since then fighting the Global War on Terrorism...or whatever the current presidency is calling it now. Randy and I have lost several friends and currently have family over there. It didn't turn out that way, but Friday ended on a real downer.

Emily has started 1st grade and I recently was able to get Grace into the Voluntary Pre-K (VPK) program. She goes to school 5 days a week now from 9-noon. I feel that Grace is very immature for her age so I'm hoping that being around other kids will help that before she starts kindergarten next fall. Emily has asked to join the Girl Scouts so I have an e-mail in to the local coordinator to see about getting that started.

Grace ended up in the emergency room last week after taking a fall on the newly-mopped tile floor...with a little push from her sister. After 6 hours and a CT scan we found out she does not have a concussion. We did have a long talk with Emily about being so rough with her younger sister though.

Randy is still busy...and incredibly frustrated...with work. He's working multiple issues right now, working his butt off trying to get things lined up to move into the next phase of one contract in particular so that he doesn't have to lay anyone off. The stress is really wearing on him though and I see it in his face and the way his shoulder are lowered when he walks through the door every night. I really wish I could do something to help him, I feel so helpless. So I do what I can...I sit and listen to him vent every night and voice his frustrations just to be able to get them off his chest. I wish I could make it all go away for him.

I got tired of looking in the mirror and not recognizing myself anymore...got tired of wearing baggy t-shirts and sweat pants because my other clothes are too tight...got tired of being ashamed of my own physical self...so I joined a gym. So far it's going very well. As part of my membership, I purchased three sessions with a personal trainer...and she has worked me HARD! I'm enjoying it though but trying not to overdo it. She's aware of the problems with my neck so we work around that and do limited upper-body exercises in order to strenghthen and hopefully re-build the muscle strength I have lost. I needed to do something to better myself.

I've also decided to go back to school. I'm going to go online through the University of Phoenix and use my benefits from the Montgomery GI bill to pay for it. I have three years left to use the benefits before I lose them so I figured I'd better get moving. I'm hoping to be able to finish my bachelor's in that time. I already have 2 associate's degrees and all of the credits are transferable so I should be able to.

We decided to do something a little different for Christmas this year. Randy and I have talked for as long as we have been together about spending Christmas in the Smoky Mountains. So we decided this year...just the four of us...are going to rent a cabin in the mountains and spend the holidays there. Ryan is in Afghanistan and Jenny will be with her family in California...Katie has never spent Christmas with us since she became an adult and Efren's in Iraq (she'll be with us for Thanksgiving)...so Randy and I are going to take the two little girls and have a vacation just the four of us, something we have never done before. I'm really looking forward to a family vacation that is just us...nine days, eight nights in a log cabin in the mountains at Christmas-time. I cannot beGIN to say how much I am looking forward to having the four of us alone for some quality family- and down-time. Even Peyton is coming along!!! This is something that Randy definitely needs...not to mention something the four of us needs...to spend time away from it all...but together. We've rented a cabin called The Chocolate Moose and the woman who owns it decorates it for the holidays. I...can't...WAIT!

Until next time...