New Addition to the Family...

So we have a new addition to our little family.  A friend of ours moved closer to his school after getting out of the military and to his kids, but could only keep on of his dogs.  So there was no decision, he kept his dog Boon, who he has had for almost three years.  Cutest thing you have ever seen, Boon is a well behaved boy.  But he wanted a good home for his little female, who is six months.  Gerry and I agreed we would take her, ensuring that she would go to a loving family, who loves dogs.  She is just a lover!  She cuddles, handles our beastly puppy Legend well when they play, he is a bit of a rough houser!  She is just gorgeous and fits right in!  Legend is a character as well.  Smart and funny, we have had him for three years.  His tricks are numerous: Bow, Sit, Lay Down, Shake (both paw, or hands as we call them), Up, Stand Up, Whisper and Speak.  Baby Girl (her name was Faith, but she didn't answer to it), is learning from him is a character in her own right.  She loves her belly to be rubbed and when meeting you that is the first thing she offers you.  She loves to sleep on her back with her head stretched out, when she wants you to play with her or give her attention she slaps at you with her paws, cute, cute.  She has the biggest doe eyes, beautiful!  Her and Legend both sleep with me when I need to lay down to sleep off a migraine (Legend senses when they are coming on and refuses to leave my side, what a dog!).  They both just love!  Legend is Gerry's dog in his own right and Baby Girl has become mine in her own right, they pick their person.  On another note, Silver had to go, she was doing things in the house that we could not tolerate (like using the bathroom outside of her litter box and in our bed), so we asked a friend to find her a good home.  He has some friends that love cats and need them to control the mouse issues that they have in their barn.  She is healthy and happy.   Here are some pictures of our babies:

Baby Girl: Pretty In Pink

Legend Getting Some Sun

  Legend Waiting for Us to Come Home

Legend and Baby Girl Cuddling

Baby Girl Stretching Out On The Bed

Home Again...

Dean came home last month.  After all his visits outside of the hospital went so well, they released him from the hospital.  He is doing great.  We have had a few problems, but we expect them.  The major problems have been almost one month in between each other, which is much better than it was before.  Since he has come home, he has received the Aaronic Priesthood, his first assignment (which was to pass the sacrament for a small group that cannot make it to church Sunday's and he did this by himself).  He also has gone on his first hike for scouts as a twelve year old.  He was gone for three days, and had a blast, even though his pack was too heavy and he had been sunburned from not listening to mom and put on sunscreen like he was supposed to.  School got out a few weeks ago, and he he did very well for the last few quarters, he pulled his grades up tremendously from what they were in fifth grade and before he left for the hospital.  He will be participating in a summer tutoring program that the school runs every summer for extra help with language arts and math per recommendations of the teacher he had at the hospital (she was an excellent teacher, so we really took this to heart).  He will be doing this for four weeks and will be gone for half days.  I wish I could help him, but I am no good at math.  He also needs the socialization that is offered by public schools with his peers.  We are very proud of how he is doing!
Gerry is working on his retirement and is now seeing a doctor for his back.  Thank goodness, it has gotten to where he is in constant pain and the TMC just wants to put him on pain medication and really do nothing to treat or figure out what is truly going on with it to help relieve the pain.  There needs to be some serious changes to the way soldiers are taken care of by the Army, instead of throw them on pills and say they are fit for duty.  He has turned in his retirement packet and to my relief, people higher up are looking into the mission he helped successfully lead as NCOIC as MSP to help others be successful in theirs who got medals, they deserved one as well, but his then chain of command did nothing to follow through.  I also found out the paperwork will go to his General, who could look into it further.  This has been a major thorn in my side concerning his service here, Gerry is an exemplary soldier but has failed to be recognized for this while we have been here.  He has a clean service record, takes care of his soldiers, is a good NCO, takes the NCO creed, soldiers creed and all that seriously, he is very old school Army.  Almost twenty years in the military will do that, he has seen changes come about  that he is not to thrilled about.  He is ready for retirement, and I think we are, too.  I am ready for a home of my own, and Dean is ready to stop moving around, and for his friends to stop moving around.
I am doing much better as well.  I am finally seeing a neurologist for my migraines.  The medication he has me on is really helping.  Not only that, but the preventative is helping me loose weight, something that has been alluding me here.  Since moving here, my health problems have caused my weight to balloon up.  I have now lost weight enough that I do not have to twist my wedding rights off anymore and my pants are getting loose.  I love it!  Hopefully I can start loosing enough to start feeling well enough to exercise.  My house is starting to come to order again, not that it was bad and horrible, but it was not up to my usual standard of organization.  My kitchen is immaculate once again, all the time, not just when I do not have a migraine and I am baking more frequently once again, something I had stopped doing almost altogether.  As far as the food changes with the medication, I just hate food right now.  If it is cooked in grease or it's own fat, I cannot stand it, it tastes like grease, YUCK!  Sweets are just not that appealing, so if I am craving something sweet, I only get a few bites then I am done, and I only eat about 1/4 of my previous servings which was never that big in the first place, unless I was at a church function, then I indulged myself a bit too much, lol.  I love fruit and vegetables even more and they are about the only things I can really eat right now.  I am loving fruit salads!  Mayonnaise is particularly disgusting to me, as well, so no tuna sandwiches, and I am struggling with finding ways that I can just eat meat period.  I am no longer drinking soda, it tastes like carbonated cough syrup, so gross, so water for me please.  Dairy is yummy as well.  Cheese, milk, eggs, yum!  I think I am getting all my protein from peanut butter and eggs.
That is all for now!  Enjoy!

Day Pass and More...

We are in Savannah once again, and thanks goes out the wonderful LDS Family that have opened their home to us once again.  It is wonderful that we have a roof over our heads and the relief of the potential finical strain that we thought we were going to face.  This time our trip consisted of taking Dean out for the day (Friday).  We realized this trip needed to have some clothes and shoes shopping done to provide Dean with some better fitting clothes.  He is getting tall, and needed new shoes after the ones that we brought for him when we admitted him fell apart about two weeks ago.  We had a wonderful day.  It started with lunch at the Macaroni Grill, Dean is a huge fan of pasta of all kinds.  We all had an Italian Soda, mine was Black Berry, Dean's Peach, and Gerry had Raspberry.  When the waitress brought them to us, we each tried ours, then passed them around so we could each take a drink to taste the others.  They were all really good.  After lunch, we went inside the mall and did some clothes shopping.  Dean got some really cool Iron Man shoes (red and gold for his latest movie).  He also got a really nice Superman sweatshirt, among several other items.  Gerry and I got a few things, as well.  I needed a new shirt, since I got marina sauce on mine during lunch, the white shirt is still being treated as we speak, needless to say, I was not happy about this little mishap.  We had already dropped off our bags, so I had no clean shirt that I could just grab out of the car and change into in the store.  After shopping we headed to Regal Cinemas for a movie.  I Am Number Four just came out yesterday and it is the type of movie that Dean enjoys.  We all enjoyed it very much, and continued to talk about it tonight at our visit over dinner of Chik-Fil-A.  By the by, best strawberry shakes EVER!  We had a very good visit overall and Dean got to make some phone calls to his grandma's and some of his aunties.
I have started a new class, barely passed my last one, but passed none the less.  This new instructor is demanding, she has a doctorates.  But I did well in my first week, just have to work harder than I usually do, which is a lot.  I have my GACE testing this upcoming Wednesday.  I am a bit nervous, but I am getting tutoring for my math portion, and I have actually retained some of what she taught me last time.  I must drive to Albany and Gerry cannot come with me.  He was just made Section SGT of water company, and they are already demanding more of his time than usual.  This of course makes me unhappy, he is a grouch at the end of the day and usually has a migraine because he had to skip lunch to get everything done that they want him to.  My feelings on the matter are if they think it is important enough for them to take time out of their day for lunch, then he should be allowed to eat as well, ridiculous!  No one deserves to be treated this way.  I have a feeling it will be a long year, since he retires next year.  I am looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel already!

Church callings, grades and more....

Well, a couple of months ago, Gerry was called to be the Elders Quorum. The only Sunday he does not teach is the one where we visit Dean, and I think Fast Sundays, not really sure what his schedule is. Last month, I was called and asked to sub for the Relief Society, my lesson, Fasting. I had fun planning it and searching for information on the topic and really felt inspired as to the direction of the topic. I found a great talk called Fasting: A Principle of Power by Elder Bowen of the Seventy, and a lesson in the Relief Society manuals (I believe it was A). I was soooo nervous, teaching adults is nerve wracking, I prefer teaching children, hence being a teacher in the near future if I can keep my grades up. Well, I guess my lesson went better than I expected, because the Sunday following our trip to Savannah, I was asked to be a Relief Society Teacher. My first official lesson will be next Sunday on Work and Personal Responsibility.

Dean got his grades this week, and I received his report card in the mail. He is doing great in school there! He got all 85's on it, all B's! We are so proud of him. He was receiving mostly A's right before Gerry deployed last, and had three B's, so the potential to bring them up to a better grade is there, he is a very smart child, just needs to apply himself to get there, which was part of our problem, he did not want to try for the grades. He is doing great, and we are seeing some of his usual behavior. He is beginning to argue with everything, normal, and has gotten mad a few times, but only to become upset enough to be upset, not angry. We will see.

I am doing well in school, do not like this instructor. I have been unable to start my observations, and I am waiting for paperwork to go through on post. I have asked for a replacement assignments in lieu of this, but she just told me to get them in when I was able to get the observations done. I am on my last week, and not really sure what to do. I am going to send her another message and hope that my offer for a replacement paper will work. We shall see, I do not want a zero, but if she does not allow this, then I do not know what I will do. I have a C, and think I brought the grade up with week four. She is not an easy instructor and does not give credit for some things. I had some posts that met her word count for the initial discussion questions, but she did not give me credit. Do not like that. I have worked harder in this class than any of my classmates. I get frustrated when I do not see something as fair, but have no control over it.

Dean...

Well, I realized I was due for a post. Things have been interesting to say the least since Gerry returned home. We are in our final transition as a military family, unless he changes his mind, but I doubt it. Gerry will be retiring next year in March with 20 years under his belt in the Army. He has led a very proud, if you ask me anyway, military career. He has no article 15's, is all about taking care of his soldiers and be the best NCO that he can be. He wears his uniform with pride, and loves serving his country. During this transition he will be putting in paperwork for Arizona's Troops To Teachers, and work on becoming an Elementary School Teacher. From one proud career to another, he will do great. I am not really sure how I feel about his retirement, a little uncertain, I know this, but if it is what he wants, then I support him.

I have started school again, have many many deadlines ahead of me, hopefully I meet them without another leave of absence, but we shall see. The Bachelors of Science in Elementary Education is not an easy task, there is so much to be done, but with only one class, it makes my time easier to spread around for all those things. I am doing well, getting good grades, and look forward to the end, but it is far from site, for right now.

Now, on to our Littleman, who is not so little anymore. After long discussions and a difficult month or so after Gerry's homecoming, we prayed and prayed and prayed, we decided to admit Dean into a Rehabilitation Center to receive better help and treatment for his Bipolar disorder. He has been so angry, and just cannot cope with those upsetting feelings well. He took his admittance very well, which surprised and relieved us greatly. He is doing well, but has only had a few melt downs and not what we need. For him to cope and learn to recognize those feelings he needs to really melt down. After a tumultuous family session yesterday I was left drained and Dean left worried about mom. He knew I was upset, but we do our sessions over the phone due to the distance of this facility he is in. My family and Gerry's mom and step-dad have been wonderfully supportive. I do not know about his other siblings, but I do know that Dean's biological father found out sooner than we wanted him to, I wanted to wait until Dean was settled before they began to push him into going to live with them in Wyoming. Dean, however (again surprising us), took the news in stride that they were trying to reach him and put his foot down and said he would not talk to his dad. He is becoming very strong, and despite their rudeness to me and their placing blame on me, he is firm so far that he needs help and wants to stay with mom and daddy. Our visits are once a month due to the distance, but they are enjoyable and the facility allows so much. We get to take board games, food and drink in with us to visit and it helps pass the time away to be extremely enjoyable. Therapy is slow going, but hopefully after yesterday, they will push a bit harder for the desired results, a child that can cope and is much healthier. Our prayers a fervent in this direction.

Home At Last...

Gerry finally made it home. He beat his mom, we picked her up the day after he flew in, but all is well, we had a pretty good visit. The last bit of his deployment was not without its drama, however. The dryer broke, I had had some issues with the washer as well, so we decided to replace them and got a loan so I could buy me a beautiful front loader washer and dryer set. They are energy efficient, and I just love them, never had brand new before. In that time while waiting for approval for the loan, I got three weeks behind on laundry, so mom and I did laundry while Gerry was doing his half days at work. We went shopping a few times, and had some wonderful conversations. I was honest with her that I was jealous of Gerry's sisters-in-laws for getting to spend time with her where I had only talk to her on the phone. It was wonderful to get to know her better. She is a wonderful women, raised a good man, and I love her for that. Gerry has told me that I am the only daughter-in-law that she has ever liked that he has married, lol, guess it is true, third times the charm.

Dean is not really doing so well, however. He has made some improvements, the change in his medications has made a small difference. He is no longer out there like he was while on the Zoloft, but we are still having problems. We are taking steps to get him further help and after the last three weeks, have finally made some strides to that. Waiting on insurance is a pain in the butt, but we have heard from our therapist (Dean and I have the same one), and are just waiting on a final phone call to let us know when we take him in. It has been a difficult decision to make, and I am terrified of the outcome with his biological father, that part will most likely get ugly. Dean is still refusing to talk to him, which is good, he is always angry after those conversations and makes life more difficult for us afterwards. I do not know what he says to Dean, but it must trigger something or he says something to upset him or scare him in someway. Only one more month and Dean has the legal right to say no more, even though he has already said it anyway.

I am doing well in my classes, do not like the team work that we have to do. I hate giving someone complete control over my grade. The last few classes has been a nightmare for team work, and the new class seems to be no better. One classmate has already decided she is a martyr and she is the only doing her part, I cannot stand that kind of attitude, especially since the only reason I was not able to get into the class right away one morning was computer issues. I am waiting on a phone call from one of the schools on base to do an observation, hope I hear soon, we have an assignment due Monday and I want my part turned in early. We are moving this week!

Post housing has heard reason: that it is unacceptable for anyone to live in a home that is falling apart! We looked at two last week, got our pick and have a new home. It does have more room, a separate dinning room that is joined to the kitchen, two bathrooms, only one with a shower, but I am not complaining. The doors are much nicer than the ones that we have now, and they shut and open with no problems, yay! We have to fence in the yard ourselves, but oh well, Legend will still have a yard. I look forward to actually hanging things up, we have more wall space. The living room is huge, nice! It will be a nice change of pace compared to what we have now.

I forgot to add that we have a new edition to our family, over the summer I adopted a kitty, Silver is her new name. She is not a people person, but what cat is. She does, however, love Gerry and has taken to him much faster than she has to me and she really doesn't like Dean. The good thing is that Silver and Legend love each other. They play well, she cleans him, poor thing has serious hair ball issues from it, but it is cute to watch. And, after setting some boundaries, she has figured out he is the pooch in charge, not the other way around. It took her some adjusting to get used to him, but they do well now.

Starting over...

The last blog that I wrote was a while ago, after Christmas for that matter. Well, a lot has taken place. My husband is still deployed, but will be coming home soon. It has been a long year for all three of us, but one of growth, also. Dean has started the sixth grade, and is loving it. I talked to his teacher this week, who loves having him in class and said that Dean is always wanting to help him in class. Love hearing those words. We are reaching a point in his treatment for his bi-polar that will hopefully show some major changes. He is coming off of his Zoloft, which we found and have learned is not user friendly with his mood stabilizers. I have graduated with an associates in arts for elementary education and have moved on to my bachelors program. Only eleven years in the making, but I am happy to say that I am proud of my achievement. I got good grades and kept them up. I have finished my first class and have started out with an A-. Both my husband and I have decided that teaching is our calling, but he will be done before I am. I will be done after three and a half years, since I am working towards a masters degree.
For Gerry's home coming I have been working on a great surprise for my hero. I am flying his mother down to Georgia to hopefully be here in time for his homecoming flight, so she can be there when he comes off the plane. Eight years was the last time they saw each other and I am excited to have this homecoming to look forward to her being here, and giving them both a wonderful gift. I intend on recording it for their enjoyment, so I will post it when I get it done.
More later....