No longer homeless, and surprises for the boys!

We are no longer homeless! We finally moved into a house on Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. I was very lucky to receive so much support and help from our ward and the squadron with moving our stuff out of storage and into our new house. We had the moving truck loaded in just over an hour! I have to admit that I was pretty scared that we wouldn't have enough people show up. We had so much help that some of the guys were standing around waitng for a turn to put something in the truck or out of it. I even had several friends stop by afterwards and help me set up beds and unpack a bit. Amazing! Thanks to everyone who helped!

A few hours after turning the truck back in that day, I surprised the boys by taking them to the airport to pick up their daddy! The boys had no idea that their daddy was coming home until right before they got into the car to pick him up. They were so excited! I wasn't going to tell them at all, but Jamesy figured it out when he saw the flags that were in our front yard to welcome James home.

Here is a picture of the boys with their daddy and the poster that they helped me make. We always make James a poster before he comes home. Usually we do it two to three weeks before with the squadron, so the poster making didn't tip off the boys at all.



A nice lady at the airport took this picture for us. As you can see I didn't have a lot of time to freshen up after the move. James didn't seem to mind though.

A few days after James got home we surprised the boys with new ATVs. The one Jamesy is on is a little Kawasaki 50. The one Alex is riding on is a little battery powered power wheels ATV. The boys went nuts and enjoyed tearing it up at Farmingdale, SD.

Here's a picture of Alex crashing his into our trailer. We were able to go four wheeling twice last week in between unpacking our house. Right now we are out in Utah again house sitting for family. It has been great being a "whole" family again.

Not the greatest news in the world...

For the most part I have tried to stay positive on this blog. Unfortunately I got some bad news this week. Some of you are aware that James and I have been trying to have another child for nearly three years now. Between James being deployed three times and a couple of miscarriages we obviously haven't been too successful. I decided to take advantage of my time here in Utah to see a specialist to see if there is anything that might be causing me to miscarry. After about a million tests I finally got some answers. I was diagnosed with Lupus. For those of you who are not familiar with Lupus (like I wasn't) I'll tell you a little bit about what I have found out about it. I copied this next paragraph off an article on the internet:

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus) is a chronic autoimmune disease that can be fatal, though with recent medical advances, fatalities are becoming increasingly rare. As with other autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body’s cells and tissue, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage. SLE can affect any part of the body, but most often harms the heart, joints, skin, lungs, blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and nervous system. The course of the disease is unpredictable, with periods of illness (called flares) alternating with remission. Lupus can occur at any age, and is most common in women, particularly of non-European descent.[1] Lupus is treatable symptomatically, mainly with corticosteroids and immunosuppressants, though there is currently no cure. Survival in patients with SLE in the United States, Canada, and Europe is approximately 95% at 5 years, 90% at 10 years, and 78% at 20 years.[2]

I also found out that 40% of pregnancies end in a miscarriage for women with Lupus. This explains a lot. The doctor also asked me if I had been experiencing joint or muscle pain and fatigue. I have been for over a year, but I just chalked that up to being a mom and going through a lot of stress. Lately it has been pretty bad though. With my body attacking healthy cells it also leaves a greater chance of me getting other illnesses. From here I'll be sent to two other specialists to decide what to do for care and to prevent further tissue damage. I guess one good thing about this is that James might ( a really doubtful might) get to come home early. Also, I will have good days too that I won't have any symptoms.
Thanks for "listening". Sorry to be such a downer this post. It feels good to get it out though. I know I will be seeing some of you who might read this soon, so maybe this will help you to understand if I'm not feeling very well. Now that I have had a chance to vent a little I do hope to take a more positive view on this in the future. I'm not going to let it get me down and I'll try to keep life as normal as possible.

We are finally to the paper chain stage!!!

Well it is that time again. James is coming home in less than two months! When we get down to two months we make a paper chain to count down the days. The boys helped me make this beautiful chain. We put it up on the ceiling fan (that is never turned on!) because my boys can't reach it on their own to ruin it. My boys are careful with things, but we have had them tear off links in the past early to try to get Dad home sooner. This way, hopefully that won't happen. Alex is really good at counting now so this has been especially helpful for him so he can visualize how long until his dad comes home. It won't be long now!