2010 New Year

Well, It's February 1st and I should update this more often. Bad Me. I have been busy getting more people found on Justin's line. I have be able to locate a good deal of information and it is a great feeling. I have been able to find pictures of his Great Grandmother Belen and Uncle Jesus who is Belen's youngest brother. His Great Grandfather Roberto is the hard piece to the puzzle. We guestimate that he look his own life in May 1933 when Grandpa Raul was just 8 months old. I was able to locate them on a 1930 Mexico Census and it has given me a great picture of his siblings and parents. We keep saying prayers that more information will be opened to us to be able to get the work done for the family.

Last month I took training for Federal Tax Preparation here. I work with the AARP Foundation and IRS and we prepare Federal Tax Returns for low income and seniors as well as anyone else that needs out help. We turn away very few. Today was the first day of preparation and it was a little crazy. I was to be there for 5 hours because we wanted to have extra time for set up. That was ok until something went wrong and my computer crashed the served at the IRS in Georgia.

We never could get it back up and running. Everyone else was fine. I did get to prepare a few returns so that made the jitters go away.

This week will be a bit crazy as all of the centers in the county open this week. I am working 4 days this week instead of 2 but then it should settle down a little.

I am excited. It is fun. We have an appointment for Justin with an eye specialist in Seattle. They may need to do surgery to help his sight. This will happen on the 19th. Justin goes tomorrow to get his first crown completed and then the rest of the work can now be done as they finally have the authorization to do it.

Justin has had a cold the last few days but seems to be getting over it. I am trying very hard NOT to get it. Cross my fingers.

Smokey is due for some shots. It is hard to believe that he has been with us for a year. We love him to death. He is such a good companion for all of us. Slyvester and Shadow are doing well and being their snotty kitty selves.

Michael is growing and getting bigger. The Stake is doing the Pioneer Trek this year and he will be deoing it June 23 - 26. This will be an exciting time for him. We are going to be reading some pioneer stories in preparation for this. We know this will be a powerful experience for him.

Well I am sick in bed with a cough from you know where and am hating it. I decided that since I can't talk that this is the time to update the blog again.

We went to see the pulmonologist for Justin and once again he failed the pulmonary function testing. They know that he was exposed to so much but cannot pin point the actual cause of the dimished lung function. Just less than 48 hours later we had to take Justin to the ER as he has symptoms of bronchitis/bronchialitis. He is now isolated at home through Sunday. I am doing fine except for the cough, but I will live. At least I can sleep so that is a positive.

Smokey is my guard dog and follows me everywhere. Shadow is our sick nurse. He usually stays to himself but when you are sick he is right next to you. Kinda scary for us. We will get through this.

Justin is to go do a sleep study on the 10th then to have a fluroscopy done on the 16th. We will see what those results bring. All will support that the PTSD is worse than they thought. We will take it one step at a time.

I am hoping that I will be able to make some presents for Christmas. Justin and I want to go to the temple more often as well. I hope to have everything ordered by the end of the week. Now let's pray that everything is in stock. I am ahead of the game in getting Christmas cards ready.

We will update more as we know things. I think we are in for a long cold winter. We are trying to be prepared. I have to get back on my feet so I can get this done. TTFN!

Fall is here......

Fall is here and the colors are beautiful. Leaves are a pain but something has to give. Today one of Michael's friends came over with his dog (a female lab) to play a little with Smokey. They are so cute together. We had taken Smokey into the VA office at the request of Dawnell, Justin's service officer. She brought in Faith, her dalmation and they had a blast together. I wish that we had taken a picture of them together but we will have to do it again.

We received an email from Laura my MIL, telling us that Dave is hospitalized with H1N1, MRSA, and pneumonia. I think I overwhelmed Laura with questions. Evidentally he is coughing up blood but she said that they do not know what type of MRSA it is or where. With the pneumonia I hate to say it but it will attack his lungs and I am getting the impression that he does not have long. We will keep him in our prayers but I am not sure sometimes how much to believe.

I am sure that Laura will fall to pieces if anything happens to Dave. In some ways it would make her stand on her own feet. I know that it may sound a bit callous but there is a co-dependency factor involved. I doubt that the other kids have done anything other than call. Dave is in isolation. Laura is spending all of her time there even though she has a compromised immune system.

Justin may go into the hospital next week but everything is still tentative. They changed his medication and he is now on Thorazine. We were told to keep the Risperidone as they may change him back to it again. He got the Thorazine on Saturday and he ended up sleeping until after 1:30PM yesterday. He seems to have slept better last night but that is only my perception.

We did get a nice surprize a couple of weeks ago as we were told that we were entitled to Disabled Veterans Plates for our car. We received the plate and we no longer have to pay registration on the car. That is such a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. We are so very grateful for his care.

We are excited as we have cards for Halloween and Thanksgiving. We are getting ready to send them out. We found some really cute return address labels for the Holiday's. This year it is fun trying to plan for the holidays.

Michael has been doing well at school and he seems more settled this year. We are pleased to see the progress he is making.

Cannery Assignment Today

This morning Justin and I had the opportunity to work at our dry pack cannery here in Bremerton. It was a great deal of fun. Justin could not work directly with the food because of Smokey but he was able to do other things. I went in and filled cans to be sealed. There were 4 of us doing packing and one sealer. They were shocked as we did over 200 cans and cleaned up in just about an hour. We did rice, red wheat, white wheat, sugar and flour. We look forward to being able to go back and do more.

Yesterday afternoon, Justin went to see his psychologist and they have decided that he will go into 7 East at the VA in Seattle after the fifth of October or so. I know that he decided then so that he would be able to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday. I am deeply concerned about him as the P.T.S.D. is getting worse. That is the hard part. He grinds his teeth at night and was fitted for a mouth guard at the dentist. We have to get some paper work done and together so that all is in place for the hospitalization. I do not know how long he will be there as he could be in for as short as 5 days or for 5 weeks or longer. I am very nervous about all of this but do not dare show anything to him or Michael. I guess I just have to put it in the Lords hands.

Our Sealing

We went to Los Angeles and San Diego for a planned vacation from August 18th to 25th. On the 20th (my mom's birthday) we went to San Diego to be sealed. We were joined by Bonnie, her daughter Cheryl, as well as Tony and Susan Vargas. We had such an amazing experience being able to be sealed together for time and all eternity.

Justin gave me a beautiful new ring for the sealing and had the date engraved on the inside of the ring. He also gave me a matching set of earrings and a beautiful watch as well. What a great husband do I have?
Once we came out, we were with our friends and our sealer came out. We were able to have our picture taken with him. Brother Vance was very gracious and posed with us for pictures.

On Vacation

We are on vacation in Idaho. We went to the temple yesterday and it was amazing! I took the kids the day before to Roaring Springs and am a bit sun burnt. Jolene was able to make it to the temple and we had such a good time. We will get together again and spend more time.

We kidnapped Keven and took him to Donn's Hilltop Kodiak Grill. It was all that we expected and more. It was as good as it looked on TV and exceeded it. The owner is sooooo sweet she came to the table 3 times during the dinner. I must admit she has a winner of a place.

Justin and Keven are having a great time. I know that Keven really needs this guy time. Monique had a visit from her sister just before we got here and she seems a bit frazzled. Not sure what happened but all I know is that Keven is really upset about the whole thing too.

We have been worried about our animals as it is very hot back home and we miss them. Smokey is in good hands with Jacqui and the kitties are boarded.

This morning we are headed up in the mountains for the day. This will be lots of fun with the family. Hmmmm.....on the way home we will pass Kodiak Grill. Wonder if we might stop there again. I will post a bigger blog when we are home. Having a blast!

Child Support Hearing

Oh Wow! Today we left on vacation but not until after I had a Child Support Hearing with Orange County. It was so nice to have a no nonsense judge. He just asked the Orange County Child Support Attorney to give the information. He did and stated that Glen has -0- custodial time and the facts. I just basically sat there and answered what I was asked. At first he was ordered to pay over $600 per month. They lowered it a bit in pity as times are hard and OT is hard to comeby. The final amount was $461 per month. He did nothing but whine that he can't pay that much for one kid. I had thought it would be about an hour and it was 15 minutes. He was ordered to pay back from May so he is close to $2000 in arears and they have yet to add 18% interest. He is really going to bug now for the adoption so he does not have to pay. No okay for change of venue, no adoption. Simple.

Then, yesterday we realized that the washing machine had konked out. I called the complex and they installed a new one by noon. We were off on vacation to Idaho by 3PM. We are worried about the kitties and Smokey as the temperature is close to 100 and pretty bad humidity. We hope they are okay.