Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Well... the tree's not up yet, but that didn't stop the kids! The day after Thanksgiving we decorated the house for Christmas. Mira tied the tree skirt around her waist, donned the Santa hat, and danced around the house! Riley, of course, had to get in on some dancing with his sister, too! (Sorry they're so fuzzy.)

Thanksgiving pictures

Just thought I'd share a few pictures from Thanksgiving Day. Joey REALLY enjoyed helping MaMaw carve the turkey. He loved the electric knife.... a little too much, I think!!

We Gather Together...

Thanksgiving made for a fun and exhausting week at the Arnold House!!

My parents came in on Tuesday. Then my grandparents and my sister's clan came in on Thursday morning. We had 14 people for lunch that day. And throughout the course of the week, we managed to go through 13 lbs of flour, 3 lbs of Crisco, 3 dozen eggs, 5 gallons of milk and bake 34 lbs of turkey! It was a wonderful week!

The kids loved having their grandparents here and I enjoyed the help. Mom and I prepared the entire Thanksgiving meal. I don't think I've ever cooked so much in one week! My favorite new recipe is for Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie! Grandma even asked me for the recipe, so you know it's good!!

I was especially glad to have all of my mom's help because I wasn't feeling well most of the week. A few weeks ago I went to St Louis for blood work and it came back positive that I have the Epstein Barr Virus - the same virus that causes mono. So now on top of lupus flares, I can expect little "mini-mono" attacks as well, accompanied by lots of itching. It's pretty annoying, but it could be worse. I'm just glad that I know what it is.

I don't know if my life is just extra crazy right now or if the lupus is starting to affect my brain, which is usually does at some point, but I'm starting to forget alot of things - I get sidetracked very easily and I go to do something, but end up doing it slighty wrong. For example, I'll reach for something but end up picking up the item next to it on accident. On Wednesday, during all the baking and birthday cake making for Mom's birthday, I went to take a pain pill because I was hurting so much. For some reason, I took two. I know I'm only supposed to take one, but I forgot and took two. I had a hard time functioning the rest of the day after that. Please pray that these are just isolated incidents - too much stress, that kind of thing. I can't imagine how difficult life could get if this became a normal thing.

I'm feeling a little better this week. But it seems I've picked up a cold. It's not bad, but my chest is really hurting. Rick's afraid I may have bronchitis. But I love living with my own personal medic - he takes good care of me and he's watching me closely. We may go to St Louis if I don't get better soon.

Surgery??

Well, Rick did not have surgery the day before Thanksgiving. I kept waiting to find out the details of his surgery before I posted to the blog... and the Army kept dragging their feet... so the blog never got updated. I am so sorry for that! I thank each of you that take the time to read this to keep up with our crazy lives.

Rick is still trying to find out WHEN they can do the surgery. Hopefully that will happen soon. His unit is deploying in May, from what we hear. So, we'd like to have the surgery done ASAP so he has the most time to heal before shipping out. But we trust God has a plan for all this. The longer he's on orders, the better!

Halloween Pictures

I'm so sorry that I am so behind in updating this. Life never seems to slow down! Here are pictures of the kids from Halloween. Mira was a Barbie Doll. Riley was a cowboy. Joey was the cutest little duck in the world! He even quacked!! The kids went to Primrose Nursing Home in the morning to trick or treat there with the MOPS kids. The residents there absolutely loved seeing the kids in their costumes. Then that night they went to the Fall Festival at our church. Over 1,000 people came through our church in 2 hours! The kids came home with bags of candy and had fun playing over 20 games and bouncing in the bounce houses and the blow up obstacle courses. What a fun day!

More goof-ups... THANK YOU, GOD!

Well, the Army goofed again. Richard's "Line of Duty" or LOD paperwork has been a hassle for us for months, now. And once again, they messed it up. This is the paperwork that reports the incident of Rick's initial knee injury from January '05. Almost two years later and they STILL don't have it done right. Fort Leonard Wood finally got a copy of it this week... and it was filled out wrong. So, they sent in back to Walter Reed in Washington DC to be started all over. In light of this "goof-up", the Army has extended Richard's orders for here at Ft Wood through February '07. God is answering our prayers!! The longer we're on orders here, leading up to his deployment, the better. Keep praying! God's listening!!!

PS~ It amazes me when I think back about moving down here one year ago. The Army told us that Rick would be here 3-4 months... 6 at the most. But in all actuality, when we finally DO leave here, we will have been here at least 3 YEARS! Just another reminder that God's ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. I'm SO glad HE is in control!!

Kansas City

This past weekend I went to Kansas City with Tanya. She and I both belong to an online military spouse network. I'm there for the support... she's there to support me! lol We met up in KC with 2 other Army wives from the midwest. We had a great time! Here are some pictures from the trip!

The first picture is from L-R: Linda, Steph (army medics wife), Mo (army officer's wife), me and Tanya

The second picture is at PF Changs for lunch: Steph, me, Tanya and Mo.

We had a GREAT weekend!