"Its me, your Dad"

Sept 30, 2009: I received a message on my cell phone while I was at a night class, and when I was driving off post, I listened to it. "Hello Odessa, its me, your Dad. Call me as soon as you can so we can talk. I love you, honey". I burst into tears. I couldn't believe it was my Dad. It was like an out of body experience, my heart was in my throat. Three or so days prior I had called a number my Mom had given me, hoping it would finally be the right one.

I had to pull over into the Lyster Army Health Clinic parking lot where I called Dan, who was at work, then I called Heather who was at home and told me I could come over. :) I needed someone to talk to, before I called him back. So I did go to her house where we had a few beers and talked before I drove home by myself. Once I was home I called him back and we spoke for 30 minutes or so. I also talked to his wife briefly. I learned that he was still in Houston and had married Sheng Shi about four years prior. It was a little weird but I was on top of the world. Then only about ten minutes after we got off the phone my sister Gini called me, which I was not expecting. She was so excited and nice and it was such a thrill. I felt so happy and loved. I knew it would be the beginning of many conversations and new relationships.

catching up!

If my blog was a houseplant it definitely would have perished a long time ago..... Fortunately my blog requires no water, so I can revive it with some simple strokes of the keyboard. So much to catch up on. Life is busy for everyone, and our household is no exception. We're still in Enterprise, AL (just outside of Fort Rucker) and it looks like this will probably be our last year here. Dan was offered a job in Dallas with the Guard that would mean no (?) deployments and an opportunity to put down some roots. He's still working on the particulars and I won't get my hopes up, but its looking like it could be a go. It would be wonderful to have him home all the time and for him not to miss any of our baby's life! I'm hoping Dallas is as nice as I've heard, since neither one of us has ever even visited there. We shall see! It'll be great to finally leave Alabama since its not my favorite place and begin a new life somewhere else.

Today seems like a good day

To start blogging, that is :) There is so much going on in our lives right now. I hope that this will be a good way to stay connected to our friends and family, especially since they are so far away. We arrived here in Alabama on June 7th 2009 and moved right into Army Lodging on post here at Ft Rucker. We were so relieved to reach our (almost) final destination after moving back to the States from Germany, flying into Atlanta with our dog Reggie, then driving straight up to Chicago after and transatlantic flight and no sleep. Did I mention that I married a superhero? Dan drove just over 12 of the 14 hours it took to drive up to IL. It was a long trip but we made it and had a ton of fun visiting his parents and siblings. I got to have lunch with my Grandma and also visited with my friends Ali & Trent in DeKalb and also finally got to meet Wendy and Ed's sweet baby Aubrey. Staying with my inlaws is always fun and they are so loving that I feel lucky everytime we are together. Sounds sappy but if you know them, you'd know what I mean. Love them!
Now we're back and getting our new life all settled. We closed on our house yesterday~YAY~and we'll be moving in next week, on Friday. We are so excited!Stay tuned! :D