Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning I was very surprised to be woken up not by the girls and their uncontrollable excitement, but by Bear calling at 0800 to see what Santa had brought. I had to wake the girls up!!! I guess all the running around they have done up until this point has finally caught up with them! Bear was of course completely shocked that we were still sleeping. He is normally an early riser, but it gets worse with his excitement around Christmas morning. He said that he just couldn't wait any longer to call us. While the girls and I were getting around, he was able to talk to his mom and dad for a while, so that was wonderful! It's hard to share the phone time with others, but I know I'm not the only one who misses him. That darn leaky eye syndrome snuck up on us again, but we all talked through it and hugged bunches. Finally the girls made their way over to their stockings and gifts from Santa.
Allison loved her Elmo paper! She was very excited about her new baby stroller! And it didn't take her long to figure out how to spin very fast on her sit-n-spin.


Caitlyn figured out how to use her Leapster without any help and has had a hard time putting it down since! And she had to put on her Sleeping Beauty dress right away...she just couldn't decide what she wanted to play with more!

Eventually we all had to get around and head over to Brad & Judy's for the family party. The gift exchange was very entertaining with people stealing gifts and nearly fighting over a couple. Allison was having a bad hair day of sorts and kept throwing little fits, but she made good use of the pillow we got from the exchange by throwing her head into it to cry during each fit. Almost the whole family was there, so it was great to see everyone again!

Bear spent his evening packing since he is scheduled to leave for a short mission on the 26th. He will be staying in Djibouti somewhere and will be returning to the base on the 29th or 30th to spend New Year's with the rest of the Soldiers, and should leave out again some where around the 2nd of January. He was told he will spent the rest of January out on missions and return to Camp Lemonier on the 1st or 2nd of February. After that, the first rotation starts heading home on the 8th, and he should be out on that one! He was told by some other Soldiers that the redeployment process through Ft. Benning is a 24-48 hour process. Can't wait for him to come home!!!

Keeping Christ in Christmas,
Erin & munchkins

O Holy Night

O leaky eyes was more like it! It was so wonderful of course to hear from Bear, but probably some of the more difficult conversations we have had in our 8 years together. He is doing great and we are doing great, but it's still hard. Even writing about it now makes the tears start to flow...but we were all grateful to hear his voice! What a blessing for him to be able to call and talk to all of his family even when he's 8,000 miles away. The girls even managed to slow down for a little bit and talk to daddy, so that's awesome! I am truly grateful to be around family for the holidays so the girls can have somewhat a normal holiday.
This morning almost the whole crew was outside building a snowman and having fun in the snow! The rest were in the house making food, well okay, I was mostly snacking, but you get the point.

We exchanged the family gifts in the afternoon. And wow, there was paper and boxes everywhere!!! When all the little kids were done with their gifts, Caitlyn and Austin made it their job to help everyone else open their gifts. There was absolutely no stopping them when they found something still wrapped regardless of who it belonged to! And of course, Allison and Madison had to fight over all their new toys! Great Papaw brought over another bowl of grapes, which Allison immediately confiscated. Issac still hasn't been allowed to have one!

After eating way too much good food for dinner, it was time to get ready for church. That meant Erika and I had to hurry up and find the accompanist to practice with for the first time before everyone showed up expecting to hear us sing. Erika had a last second song change to Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire but still sang great! I still sang O Holy Night, and made it through it alright. I ended up not having to sing Silent Night in German because nothing was said to the congregation, so they just sang all the verses in English instead. Oh well. Erika has a video of me singing, but I guess I forgot to mention before hand that videos can be taken with my camera too, oops (he he!). All in all, it was a great day!

We made it to Kansas!

We made it to Kansas safely and I still have the majority of my hair! Woo-hoo! Traveling with just the girls and I really went well. We even had great weather for traveling! Well, we did. Bear's mom and brothers weren't so lucky. They drove through snow, sleet, rain, and finally sunshine as they approached the hotel. But they too made it safely. Bear called while we were just getting into Indiana, and was very nervous about us traveling on our own. Papaw was tied up helping recover NE Kansas from their ice storm, so he couldn't make the trip, but I had orders to call him and keep him informed of how we were doing nonetheless. We left St. Louis Sunday morning and as we were nearly home, received the sad news that Bear's childhood dog Tippy died. She had become deaf a couple years ago. Tippy had a terrible habit of digging holes, then falling asleep in them. Bad habit considering she couldn't hear when a vehicle was approaching to get out of the way. She will be terribly missed, especially by Calamity, but she lived a long life and was loved by many! Anywho, shortly after arriving and unpacking a little bit, we decided to go to Sweeny's hill to do some sledding before it got too dark. Caitlyn was a little nervous, but excited to go since this was her first time sledding on a really big hill. She and Elijah went down together and had an excellent ride!

Next was Allison and Issac's turn. She was kind of scared to go, but she clung onto Issac tightly! They made it to the bottom, but ended up hitting a huge snow drift and Allison got a face full of powdery snow. Not the most pleasant experience for a first time sledder! After the boys got her up to the top, she decided she had enough of this sledding business! All she wanted was to take her Papaw and go home! Well, okay, so Papaw carried her to the truck to warm up while everyone else finished up sledding...that was okay too.

Caitlyn went down again, and even I took a turn. Thank goodness there are no trees on this hill as I have been known to hit them head on! Caitlyn was very tired trying to get up the hill a second time and her boots kept slipping and she would slide down the hill a little, so I ended up giving her a piggy-back up this enormous hill. Closer to the top, I too was having trouble walking up the hill and ended up crawling, literally crawling, up the rest of the way with Caitlyn on my back. Eventually Papaw saw us struggling up the hill and came to my knees rescue! The moon was gorgeous as night was aproaching and we all finally made it back in the truck to head home.

Oh what a day!!!

There be whale sharks here!

Bear had an incredible opportunity, not jut to see whale sharks from a boat, but to jump in the water and swim right next to them and touch them! He said initially everyone was really cautious about getting in the water, but eventually got use to swimming by a mammal that can eat the whole! Bear said that one of the guides was pointing out to him where one of the whale sharks was, and he jumped in and was swimming as fast as possible to try to find it so he could swim with it, but wasn't seeing it. The way he put it was that "he was molested by a whale shark". It came up from below and behind him, and he got a dorsal fin a little too close to his assets! He spent quite a while with the whale sharks, then got to go snorkeling at one of the local reefs where he saw all kinds of neat tropical fish. We have cichlids in our tanks at home, but he got to see many different varieties of them in their natural habitat. Someone along on the trip was able to take videos under water, so as soon as he sends them to me, I will post a link for everyone to see! At least he didn't get eaten and had the experience of a lifetime. And the private survived too!




Bear will be changing to another unit, and with that comes yet another address change. As soon as I get that, I will be sure to send it out to everyone. The reason for the change is that he still hasn't gotten his government passport, and this other unit is going somewhere that doesn't require a passport. Their missions too won't start until the end of December or early January. His 1SG has said that he will be sure to send Bear out with the first rotation leaving in February, so that is wonderful. And, if for whatever reason he has to stay with the unit until they leave, he will be coming home in early March. Caitlyn told him that he has to be home for her next birthday, so we'll see if that can really happen.

We were so relieved to hear that power has been restored to our family in Kansas! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! They are still in our prayers to recover from everything and that hopefully no more bad weather comes their way (even though they are supposed to get more snow tomorrow).

We truly appreciate all the support and prayers we have received!
Erin, Bear & munchkins

Ringworm :(

Over the weekend, I noticed that Maggie had some dry spots of skin on her. While trying to remove the "dry skin", the patches of fur came off with it. That immediately sent up red flags. I did some research online and determined from what I read that it was either a form of mange or ringworm. I was able to get Maggie in the vet today, and they confirmed it is ringworm. The treatment isn't too bad, but can take a while to clear. She has to have a bath twice a week with an anti fungal shampoo (ringworm is a fungus, not a worm), and topical anti fungal cream applied daily. Unfortunately ringworm is contagious to other animals and humans as well, so until she makes some progress healing, I am quarantining her from everyone. She looks so pitiful in the kennel...those brown eyes look so sad! The girls were a little upset that they can't play with her for a while, but understand that they don't want to get owies like Maggie has. Ringworm is a rather resilient fungus that can be picked up virtually anywhere that other infected dogs have been, and it can survive for 18 months in most environments (even in fall and winter climates). Hopefully this will pass quickly so she can join our family again and get tormented by the girls on a regular basis!

After her first Miconazole bath.

What a sad puppy!!!

As for news with Bear, not a whole lot has changed. He still hasn't got his government passport back yet, and because of that is very limited on what he can do. His chain of command is trying to find something for him to do, somewhere to go that he will not need a passport. They have a couple places in mind, but if he isn't really needed, why not just send him home?!?! I know he doesn't need a passport for that! We're almost to the halfway point already. At least he isn't in Iraq!

Thank you all for your continued loving support and prayers!

Unbelievable!

Just a quick update about Bear. He called today and said the infamous, well, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news? I said to just lay it on me! So, his good news was that his orders to report for recruiting school in December have been completely deleted. The not so good news is that he now has to report for recruiting in June! Why is this bad, you may ask? He has absolutely no intention of reenlisting or extending for any reason. He just wants to get out of the Army and move on with our life. Because he is DA select for recruiting, he has two choices: 1) extend/reenlist for the service remaining required since recruiting is a 3 year tour, and he is supposed to get out in October, or 2) sign a DCSS, Declination of Continued Service Statement, get barred from reenlisting, forfeit eligibility for any type of award on his way out, and hopefully be able to get out without being screwed with too badly. Historically, Soldiers that have signed a dec. statement are labeled as "dirt bag Soldiers" and end up getting put through the wringer for no reason until the day they get out. Bear is at a rather critical point is his career in the eyes of the Army. He has been a great Soldier and is nearing his 10 year mark. After he has been in for 10 years, if he wishes to reenlist, his only choice is to reenlist for an indefinite amount of time. That way the Army figures you will stay in for at least 20 years and retire, so they can get their moneys worth out of a person. Bear is planning on signing a dec. statement when he comes home. No one is better at playing the game than those that invented it!

Please keep him in your prayers as yet another trial has been laid before him!

Our baby is 2!!!

It is so hard to believe that Allison is 2 years old already! She surely brought in her birthday in her own style. The poor thing woke up crying last night a little after 2300 having a major coughing fit. I went to go see if she was okay, and she had completely stripped down...not even her diaper was on this time! And of course she was absolutely freezing. I got her in warm jammies, rubbed some vicks on her, and cuddled her for a while. She ended up staying awake until after 0100! I think she just wanted to make sure she spent her last moments as a one year old with her mom! She finally settled down enough for me to get her back in bed and get some rest myself. Being the procrastinator that I am, I needed to make her cake (well, we did cup cakes), and wrap her presents today. Caitlyn helped with everything while Allison was napping. I think Caitlyn was more excited for everything since she is older and knows what goes on for a birthday. She was begging me to wake Allison up from her nap so we could celebrate her birthday. Allison got to open her presents before we ate dinner. She loved her princess crown that Caitlyn gave her and was having a hard time deciding what to play with first. That was until Caitlyn wanted to play with one of Allison's new toys of course. Both girls rushed through dinner because they really wanted to get to their cup cakes! Caitlyn and I just baked them...the girls got to decorate their own! Allison was eating hers more like an ice cream cone, licking off all the frosting. When she got down to the cake part, she didn't want to eat it, but rather crumbled it in her hands and rubbed it all over the table and on the floor. Thank goodness for our two little vacuum cleaners (Maggie & Roscoe)! Allison even got to talk to her daddy this morning so he could wish her happy birthday. She has really grown up so much lately it seems. She is doing wonderful with her potty training! She tries very hard to do everything her big sister does...sing the alphabet, counting, and of course improving her vocabulary! Her favorite thing lately is to call everyone goofballs! All in all, today was a great day. Enjoy the pics and make sure to see the new video I posted of us singing happy birthday!

Anywho, I am exhausted after being up late last night and Caitlyn getting up around 0600 this morning. Have a wonderful day!

Love to you all!

Deck the Halls!

Okay, so here are some pics of the girls putting up some Christmas decorations. Caitlyn had been begging me since the beginning of November to put up decorations. Folks around the base have been putting things up since the first weekend in November, and an unusually high number compared to last year! It was very odd, to say the least, to have to do the decorating without Bear. He was always the one to get out all the boxes, assemble our dinky tree, and put the lights on the house outside. But we accomplished everything we hoped to. The girls had so much fun decorating the tree! They took turns picking out ornaments and tried very hard to put them on the tree by themselves. I think Caitlyn was most excited about the deer, and Allison was just thrilled to find the two small boxes from the deer that I tried to put away so they wouldn't get demolished...yeah, that didn't work. Both boxes are now in the trash, in pieces! But hey, they were so much fun while they lasted! And now that the tree is up, my ornament supply has slowly been diminishing. Thank goodness I didn't let the girls put up any of the good glass ones, but curious fingers still find ways to get in trouble. That and I think Roscoe likes to chew on the tree...he's so goofy!

Today was another baby appointment. Everything is going well. We are 16 weeks along, and so far I have gained one whole entire pound! Woohoo! The heart rate was at 150, which is less than it was last time, but still well within a normal range. Allison was dancing to the heartbeat on the doppler...she's always good for a laugh! I ended up spending more time at the hospital than I anticipated because I forgot about the labs that needed to be done (triple screen to rule out down syndrome, spina bifida...and a cystic fibrosis screen), and I had to go to radiology to try and schedule our ultrasound (yes, it's the one where you can find out the sex if you want to...we still aren't sure we want to know early though). I have started to feel some movement already which is always a very exciting thing. I can't wait to see how the girls will react to being able to feel the baby move in my belly!

A couple things occurred while I was trying to leave that I found rather humorous. First, I was introduced to a new Soldier by an NCO who knows I'm not in the Army anymore as SGT Thomas. That made me kind of chuckle as I saw this PFC stand a little taller and look nervous about what I was going to say to him after being called SGT. But then I ran into an old co-worker who actually called me skinny! I just sort of burst out laughing at that one...skinny has never been in my vocabulary, especially during pregnancy! If nothing else, it gave me something to smile about!

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers for our family!

Bear's Pics

Bear was able to get a hold of some of his comrades cameras and sent some pictures so we could see what he was up to. He has finally decided to take advantage of some of the trips offered through the base and local areas, so that will be some good stress relief and a healthy way to take his mind off being away from home during this time of year. He has made at least one trip to a local orphanage to spend time with the kiddos there...he always was a sucker for kids! He found a church service that he likes pretty well, it's similar to the church we go to on post, and they have recruited him to sing with the praise team for services, and he will be going caroling with them around the base on the 18th! And here he thought he would get out of singing, ha!


He looks so serious, doesn't he?


The little boy he's holding's name is Hussein 3
because there are 3 Husseins at the orphanage.


This is the daytime playpen for some of the babies.


Goats are just wandering around in downtown Djibouti

Here are some camels hanging out near some of the locals houses.
Bear said he saw 2 grown men get in a fist fight over a cardboard box
to use as shelter for their home!

Trash is everywhere!!!
Sunset over Camp Lemonier; the tents shown are transient tents for when Soldiers first arrive or are preparing to leave.
I'm not entirely sure which body of water that is. Here soon he has the opportunity to go swimming with whale sharks and go snorkeling at one of the coral reefs close by. I can't wait to hear how that trip goes!!! He is a little nervous about big bodies of water and whatever lurks beneath the surface, so he was joking with the lowest ranking person there who is going on the trip, saying that he was going to throw her in first and if she didn't get eaten, then he would go in. RHIP (rank has it's privileges, just kidding!!!)! His 1SG is also making arrangements to go to a local beach again. Thank goodness they sell lots of sun screen there!

These pictures couldn't have come at a better time for Caitlyn. Yesterday she had her first major "I miss daddy/when is daddy coming home?" breakdown. It just kind of came out of nowhere when we putting up some Christmas decorations. We got through it with a lot of tears and the understanding that daddy misses her as much as she misses him, and that he would rather be at home too. She was asking for a picture of her daddy she can keep by her bed, and now I have something to give her! She even asked if I could mail her to him. If it was that easy, I would mail us all!!!

I will post some pics of our decorations hopefully tomorrow...this one is long enough already!

Love you all!!!