Wow Don is coming home tomorrow!!! I absolutely can not believe they are sending him home! I was a little convinced they were going to just station him in Kuwait! haha :) So much has happened over the last year. It has been a very long year. I feel as though Don has been gone for 3 or 4 years! It is going to be nice to have him home to help with all the stressful situations that come along.
Over the last year I have overcome many struggles. Having Dakotah who somehow trouble seems to find tends to lead us down many stressful days. Having Dani who trips over air also leads to many stressful days. ...
On the day Don left Dakotah spent the night with a friend, whom we later found out was a recruiter for a gang, and they were out in the yard after curfew. This landed the police on my door and later landed me in the child protection office. UGH ... after a long process I was cleared and deemed a good mom and it was over. Later Dani was on the swing set at the park and the swing collapsed on her. The following day we went to the civilian ER and got her treated. The Army not seeing my visit to a civilian doctor once again had child protection services call me. UGH ... that was also cleared. Dani had a crazy friend with a crazy mom. When Dani decided she no longer wanted to be friends with this girl the mom went nuts and kept trying to start fights with me. Finally I was done when she cussed Dani out and threatened to hurt Dani. She stated that since I wouldn't deal with my daughter that she would have her husband come to deal with her. YIKES! Psycho, not to mention her daughter had been going around threatening to shoot Dani and her friends with her dad's gun. What do these parents teach their children??? So after my persistance and threatening to involve the inspector general the air force police dealt with the situation. Did I mention this went on for months? Did I mention that child protection got called when I called the police on the lady threatening Dani? Was a little confused on why child protection got called but everyone else refused to do anything til I threatened to go over their heads. UGH ... psycho neighbors and children! Dani is constantly falling off a horse! Thankfully she gets right back on. But one time she got thrown off and hit her head really hard on the cattle railing. She had 3 seizures. Yeah scary! She had tests done and it was concluded that she was going to be fine. Do you think she quit riding horses and falling off? NOPE she loves those horses and can't imagine her life without them. I got her some lessons and now she falls off a little less. :) Dakotah has an enlarged heart. It was so scary when I first found out. I didn't know what to do or if it was bad. He went and did the appropriate tests and we found out that he is going to be fine. He is on heart medication and doing great! :) We also struggled with his other medication. He quit taking his ADHD medication and we seem to be doing good. Dani quit taking her depression medication and her ADD medication. She is also doing good. I'm so proud of her and how she has handled her depression over this year. We were so worried about her since last deployment was horrible for her. Kinda really proud of this kid for handling this deployment so well! Dakotah tried bullriding and loved it! He is really good at it too, which is pretty cool. The first time he did it Dani was balling her eyes out and begging me not to let him do it. I was telling her to quit crying and cheering him on. Wow does that make me a bad mom? ha He got off and told me I was a bad mom... what kind of mom lets their kid get on a bull? Yeah that's me. He had so much fun and has been out to do it again. I thought I was going to die once this year. I was under so much stress that my diabetes went out of control. I couldn't see or walk or anything. I was so scared. Dakotah went with me to the ER where we found out that I needed to get rid of some of the stress in my life. ha OK deployed husband and two teenagers. Ummmmm yeah not sure what stress to get rid of. After a couple days I was fine but man was that scary. Now I am no longer a diabetic and no longer take the medication! YEAH ME!!! I had a daycare until April of this year. It was so stressful that I had to quit doing it. I kept one of the babies and everyone else had to hit the road. I also homeschooled the kids after the gang incident with Dakotah. Going to college fulltime, homeschooling 2 kids, running a daycare, and having a deployed hubby .... hmmmmm wonder why the ER docs thought I was stressed! :) So the daycare went and everything else stayed. I homeschooled the kids until a couple months ago when Dakotah decided that he could do better in public school AND would do his work. So I put him in. I realized how much easier life was without homeschooling him and asked Dani if she'd like to go back. She said yes she'd like to try so in she went. Now both kids are doing excellent! I'm so proud of them and it has calmed my life a little more. I was also homeschooling 2 other children but they both also went back to school. So now I'm homeschool free!!! I've been going to college fulltime this year. It is alot of work with all the other things I do but hey ... gotta get that schooling done! One of my downfalls is always putting myself last. It's okay if it's with Don or the kids but I tend to put others before me. So I have been working on that this year. I have come to realize that I am taken advantage of ALOT so I have been working on putting me first. I think I have finally gotten the hang of this situation and feel pretty good about myself! I still struggle sometimes but overall am doing good. I quit taking my depression medicine and it has helped me get back to myself.
We did some traveling over the last year. We went to Myrtle Beach a few times and had lots of fun. We went to GA a couple times too. We also went to Julie's a couple times. The most recent trip to Julie's was Christmas where we got to be in the hospital when Owen was born. WOW that was so awesome!
Now I look back on my year as I was writing and think it seems like these things happened so long ago. I have some really great friends. My friend, Hilary, has helped me through most of my "battles" and I am so thankful for her. I have made other great friends that I am so thankful for and am not sure some of my issues could have been resolved without them there to help me through.
The kids and I have changed so much over the last year. They have grown up alot. Dani has had her first boyfriend now for 3 months! WOW 3 months is a long time! He is so cute and they are so sweet together. awwwww Dakotah, of course, is Dakotah. When Don left Dani was just a little girl and now is a teenager. Dakotah was a little thug wanna be and now has changed into a great "little adult." I must say that I have to thank my friend, Hilary, for Dakotah's growing up. He fought me so much on going out to the barn and now he is the kid he is because of the people out there. THANKS GUYS!!! You know I wonder how Julie and I ever survived without a cell phone as teenagers because my kids take theirs with them EVERYWHERE. When I say everywhere I mean even to the bathroom. Ok, can't say much there because while Don has been deployed my cell phone is with me at all times.
When I started writing this I didn't realize I had so much to say! ha I have often reflected over the last year and wondered how it would have been different if Don was home. I wonder if the kids would have grown up into the awesome kids they are today if they didn't have to face some of the struggles they have had to go through. I do know that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I think I have 2 awesome kids and can't wait to add an awesome husband back into the mix.
Later guys!!!
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