A chapter about to end and so another will begin...

Moving always seems to pounce on me like a rabid cat (like that analogy?), but it's always like that with the Army. You know you are getting orders, but when they do come they give you next to no time to pack and get out. It would be somewhat pleasant to have had a couple months to prepare, but what can you do.

The girls and I will be departing GA for good on December 19th and going back to Clarksville. We will be staying with my parents over Christmas. Unfortunately, Ryan cannot be with us for Christmas because he is not permitted leave since he is being medically retired from the Army. He will have 45 terminal leave which basically means he will receive a paycheck from the Army for that much longer even after he is done and gone. Ryan has told me to not worry because he can use the time to finish packing and getting our house ready for the move out inspection and hopefully we'll get a nice chunk of our security deposit back (fingers crossed!) We will just have to celebrate Christmas together a few days late. Or early. Haven't decided yet. :)

I will drive back down to GA on Dec. 29th to meet up with Ryan to help with moving all of our stuff to TN. I will be driving our truck while he drives the UHaul. :) I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to it since it will be minus the children. Kind of like a weekend getaway but with a big truck full of furniture.

While we have made some new friends here, have a great church, and Hannah has wonderful teachers, we are all looking forward to being back in TN. God is good, all the time.

So very thankful

I could not even begin to go into how very thankful I am for all the blessings in my life...my girls and wonderful husband just to name a few! :)

We were not able to go to TN this year for Thanksgiving, but we still had a lovely holiday. Ryan made our dinner and this was the first time he made a turkey. I never made a turkey myself either, so we did not know what to expect. Praise the Lord, everything went swimmingly. The turkey was perfect and we had plenty of carb-loaded side dishes to go along with it. And we did show some control by only having one pie (pumpkin) which was gone by the next day. :) This year Autumn had her first Thanksgiving meal, since last year she dined on Similac Advance. While we had a lovely turkey day at home, we most definitely look forward to spending Christmas in TN with the girls' spoiling grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousin!

Retired at 26?

The Army has decided to medically retired Ryan! We are so very excited! What that means is we keep our medical benefits plus get retirement pay for the rest of our lives! We have been praying and praying just for the Lord's will to be done. Ryan could be officially done with the Army anywhere between 30 and 90 days. We just have to wait for orders saying when. Ryan is in Fort Sam Houston, TX right now because the medical board wanted to see him in person, and they had an informal hearing and told Ryan what their decision was. It was that quick! We are just relieved that the Army has paid for all the travel expenses. :P

We are still waiting to hear back from Savannah PD to see if Ryan is going to be accepted into the academy. They wanted Ryan's Army file, so he's feeling a little unsure. Again, what ever happens, happens. All will be well. Ryan knows that, too, but it's been his dream to be a police officer ever since I have known him so he would be really disappointed. He would make such a great officer!

Back to the medical retirement--I think I'm going to get Ryan one of those really cheesy "i'm retired" tshirts or hats. :P He would never wear it but I think it would be funny anyway. :)

I will try to do better

Halloween was two weeks, and I'm just now getting pictures up? I suppose I should be a little better about updating this thing. :) At least I'm getting them up before another major holiday has come and gone. This year we went to the fall festival at church and "trunk or treat" on post. Overall, my black kitty and little angel had a great time. :D

Oy, the frustrations of parenthood

Surprisingly I am not referring to this strange form of puberty that only 4-year olds are privy to (more on that later I'm sure), but I am talking about developmental milestones happening faster than you can possibly process them! For the past few weeks Autumn would take a few steps here and there, but now she's a woman on a mission! Just taking off as she pleases as if mobility is a right rather than a priviledge! :p The past 13 (almost 14!) months have gone by way too fast. So she'll go to college and get married and then her in-laws will be way more fun than me and Ryan so she won't ever want to come see us for Christmas....it's too much to think about right now. I'll focus on getting her to eat with a spoon first.

Halloween Tests

Since we became parents we've had a bumblebee, a cheerleader, Uniqua from The Backyardigans, a ladybug, a cow, and this year we will have a kitty and an angel! We have performed the necessary costume tests to make sure everything will go accordingly.



Here is Hannah's make-up test. Ryan found some oil-based Army face paint which will work spendidly since it comes off to easy. Now we just need a black leotard to complete the look. :)



I went on faith alone when I ordered Autumn's costume from target.com. The size said "0-24 months." Hmmm... The dress fit perfectly!! She kept pulling at the wings but they are easily removed. I think considering how much cooler the weather has become we have other things to worry about!

No itch for us!

Ryan and I are not particularly interesting individuals but I like to think as a couple we're pretty alright. :) My mom once said that we are meant for each other because there's no one else that will put up with either one of us! On the 25th of this month we will celebrate 7 years of marriage and I am proud to say that neither one of us is itchy. (You know, 7-year itch, for those who weren't following) One thing that makes us a stronger couple all the time is making sure we look to God for whatever situations our family is going through. We both struggle of course, but we know if the good Lord can keep us married during the stuff we've been through then anything is possible!

Right now we are in the process of Ryan being medically retired from the Army due to injury to his back among other things. If the Army gives him at least 30% disability then we will retain all our medical benefits. Just this past week they came back saying they would only give 10%. We were both quite surprised by that, but Ryan has the option to appeal their decision. That's what will be going on next week--Ryan going all over post getting what he needs for this whole thing.

What are we going to do once the Army is behind us? Funny you should ask. Ryan is also towards the end of the application process for Savannah PD. He passed the background check which was the biggest thing we were worried about so now he's just waiting for word on when they want him to do the medical and psych evaluations. Hopefully if all goes well he will go to the academy in January. Being a police officer has always been a dream of his and I am so excited for him. Thinking about settling in Savannah just thrills me to pieces, but we are also trying to focus on the Lord's will for our lives. His will can seem to chance in an instant sometimes, so I don't want to say something will happen if it hasn't yet. Proverbs 27:1 says "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." Plenty of times I think a day is going to go a certain way and then it takes a turn I would never expected (usually not in a good way). We just go day to day and that seems to be working fairly well.

First Post!

I guess this would be post numero uno. I'm assuming if you have stumbled onto our little family blog you already know a little bit about us, but I'll fill in any holes you may have. I'll start off with the offspring since they tend to be more interesting than Ryan and myself. :)

The first of our spawn--Hannah--was born April 24, 2005, and we immediately knew she would be trouble since she gave me such a hard time insisted on staying in my womb to the point it was insisted she be surgically removed. She is a sweet girl, although I would bet my life that 4-year olds go through their own special form of puberty. She is obsessed with bears--stuffed bears, real bears, cartoon bears, any animal that looks similar to a bear. She loves the Snuggle Bear and the bears on the Charmin commericials. Her favorite toy bear is a big pink bear called Kracker Bear, only because he wears an Uncle Kracker t-shirt courtesy of my mom. My mom also makes sure everyone knows she is the one who purchased Kracker Bear. Hannah must sleep with him every night, no ifs ands or buts. She is also obsessed with Sponge Bob (has anyone but me noticed how gender neutral she is with what she attaches herself to?). For her 4th birthday she had a Sponge Bob party with Sponge Bob cake, and for presents she got a Sponge Bob bathing suit and a Sponge Bob bedding set. She also has two pairs of Sponge Bob shoes and two sets of Sponge Bob pajamas. Please tell me if you're tired of reading the words Sponge Bob. *insert Sponge Bob's crazy laugh here* Hannah also enjoys drawing the characters Plankton and Mr. Krabs, and she was thrilled to pieces when she learned her daddy's middle name is 'Patrick'.

Autumn was most definitely the missing piece to our foursome, and she joined us September 18, 2008--her wrinkled, chunky body as red as the sprout of hair on top of her head. With her red hair and big teeth, there is no doubt in our minds she was switched at the hospital. These days, having just turned a year old, she's a quick little mover. Not officially walking (just taking some steps here and there), she could probably outcrawl most her age. She loves her big sister and playing with any toys that are not meant for her (such as cell phones, remote controls, the lap top, and my unread magazines). Autumn loves going into Hannah's room, much to her chagrin, and playing with her bears. I have never been more thankful almost all of Hannah's toys are of a plushy material. Most of the time Hannah is very welcoming, but the rest of the time she's gets fairly annoyed. We are still trying to find a good balance since Hannah knows better than to be mean to her little sister, and that Autumn is still a baby and doesn't understand what's hers and what isn't.

And there's the first half of our family. Hope you enjoyed reading and that I'll have some entertaining and fun posts to come!