FAMILY UPDATE!!

Hello everyone!!

we hope that everyone is doing GREAT!!! as for all of us, well, we are just doing fine...trucking right along over 10 months into the deployment!! hard to believe, huh?? i know that it seems soooo much more!! i can't believe that almost YEAR has gone by!!! wowowowow....

well, we are doing well....we are all just anxious for james to COME HOME!! we are sooo hapy and just so excited that in less than 2 months, GOD WILLING he will be home!! i am pretty sure that ya'll remembered that email i sent out about a year ago letting ya'll know that he was about to be deployed and here we are, almost a year later...wowow....just hard to believe...

well, the boy are all doing well....alex is just about finished with his kinderbooks....i am now looking around for hi 1st grade curriculum!! and there are MANY TO CHOSE FROM!!! i am just so happy there are so many options, now i have to find the right one!!! i am excited especially finding out what everyone thinks of every type of curriculum out there....anyway, he is doing really well...reading WONDERFUL and just a little sponge that is taking everything in....i can't wait to really get into the HOMESCHOOL area where he can learn about science and such...i know it will be FUN!! i can't wait! and he is starting to get really anxious about daddy coming home SOON...he knows it is not much longer now...he always says, "june is almost here!!' i sure hope it is BEFORE june!! we can't wait!!

onto matthew, matthew is doing ok....has many of you know he has been sick since JUNE and it just continues on....well, he was admitted into the hospital the first week of MARCH for 5 day due to all his congestion and since then, he cleared up for a bit...well, we continued on for 30 days + of antibiotics to try to keep him CLEAR until the 25th for his CT SCAN...well, he came off his antibiotic on the 24th, had his CT on the 25th (which showed that his lungs are REALLY scared and show CHRONIC LUNG DISEASE and instead of being mainly BLACK on the scan, they are mainly WHITE which is all the scarring!! and his sinus right side looked FINE but the left one showed a bit of swelling)...she said that if he got sick again 7- 10 days later, then we could probably say that it was his SINUS....well, by THURSDAY morning, he woke up at 4am with a FEVER 102.5 AND CONGESTED!! it didn't even take him more than 2 days for him to get SICK AGAIN....i didn't know if should LAUGH, SCREAM OR CRY so i started to laugh! i bet he thought something was wrong with ME! i am just so fustrated with this...i can only imagine what he must be feeling!! so, i called the pulmologist and she started us up AGAIN on a 10 day dose of OMNICEPH and then to have him continuing on AMOXICIL until we find out what the problem is...we are going to go to an ENT to see what he can do for us!! i have an INTERESTING theory but i won't bore you with it here...you can read about it on my blog (3/31/08)..ANYWAY, he is doing well on eating...he has slowed down a TON since he got sick again....*sigh* he was doing AMAZING, it just hurts so bad that he is back down to very little.....anyway, he is also working really hard on standing and walking...we just keep TRUCKING ALONG! and he is doing WONDERFUL on his school!! he can sort correctly at about 90% of the time and he recognizes so many things now and can POINT with his pointer!! wowowowow! he is also so funny! just crack me UP!! oh, and yesterday, he ate CHOCOLATE CANDY and he loved it sooo much he was trying to climb all over his nurse to GET TO IT!!! YUM!

well, joshua is getting so big! he is now 7 months old and he is sitting on his own and just so darn CUTE!! he has the best smile and laugh and he loves to EAT!! either me or his food he loves it all. i got some GREAT video of him eating his first watermellon...OMG, i am tempted to send it to funny videos! he was just adorable! i will download it and put it up on my BLOG today so ya'll can check it out! he is also getting long and big! he is just such a good little boy! is reaching and wanting EVERYTHING and he loves to give me big open mouth kisses and hugs....awww...he melts my heart! and he LOVES his brother ALEX!! as soon as he sees him he start to scream and laugh and just smile....can't keep his eyes off him! and with matthew, it is a WHOLE OTHER STORY!!! it is too funny! he sees matthew coming and boy, he doesn't know what to do! matthew wants to just LOVE on him...so he ends up knocking him over or just holding josh soooo tight! it is so cute to watch! matthew loves to give him love and kisses!! awwwww.....

as for james, he is ALMOST HOME!!!! he said on midnight on the 1st of april, he was SOOOOO HAPPY cause he could finally say, 'NEXT MONTH I SHOULD BE COMING HOME!!" he has waited such a long time to say that! he is anxious to come home and be with his family!! we can't WAIT to get him home!!! he is doing well...he says he is just sooooo tired! he has been working 13+ hour shifts 6 days a week!! this weekend and last weekend were the FIRST time in a VERY long time that he had 2 days off!! when he would call to say hi, he always sounded sooooo tired and he was JUST GETTING INTO WORK! poor guy! but he can't wait to get home...he told me how much he weighs and i am a bit jealous cause he weighs about what i weigh!! he says he hasn't weighed that much since high school!!!! he says he will probably put it all back on when he gets home...awww...he wants to get the boat checked out BEFORE he comes home cause he want's it READY AND WAITING so he can go out on the water!!! he is so excited!!

as for me, i am doing fine...just TIRED and my fibro has been kicking my booty! it is very painful and just annoying...i don't like to feel this way!! one day, i actually had to take something for it because i couldn't stand it any longer!!! i am getting excted to get my man home....sooooo close!!! but other than that, i am SOOO READY to get him HERE!! i am excited!!

and a quick update for those that heard about my friend DIXIE'S mom....WONDERFUL NEWS....after many scans, NO CANCER WAS FOUND ANYWHERE ELSE IN HER BODY, THANK YOU GOD! sooo, now, after being told she DID have cancer in the liver, they think that it might be just a FLUID FILLED SAC in the liver and although they are going to take the fluid in for testing, they don't THINK it is CANCER after ALL!! WHAT A RELIEF!! and what a SCARE for that family!!! soooo, PRAYERS DO WORK!!! i thank GOD that that is the case...i am so happy for them....the family thanks all those that said prayers for her!!

well, that is it!! i have posted some pictures of the boys on the BLOG (www.blessingsinmylife.blogspot.com) if you want to check them out...i will also upload the cute VIDEO of my little guy!! he is eating his watermellon!! AWWW.....if new pics are not done TODAY, please check back with us.,...

well, tons of love from our family to yours!! thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for our family during this deployment....we are ALMOST THRU!!! THANK YOU GOD!

GOD BLESS and TAKE CARE....
love to all,
JAMES, MARIA, ALEX, MATTHEW, & JOSHUA