Hello, again! It's been too long...

Well, Guys, I promised way back in February that I'd write another post.  It's been on my mind that I'm way overdue on an update for you.  The fact is, we've been extremely busy!

I'll put it all down in bullet form for you:

• The most important thing is that we are together as a family again, and will be for the next 3 years!
• I counted up the months, and since the beginning of 2010, Phillip has been away from us for a total of 20 months, and home for a total of 9 months.
• He returned to Fort Wainwright, Alaska from Afghanistan in late February.
• I spent a week in Alaska visiting him while the kids stayed with his parents, and then we came home to Louisiana to be together as a family for about 2 weeks.
• Then Phil went on to Pennsylvania to LUH (Light Utility Helicopter; the UH-72) training, so that...
• We could accept a new non-deployable assignment at Fort Polk, Louisiana.
• We bought a house just north of Deridder, LA.
• I had a full-scope done by a gastroenterologist, sometime in March, to try to figure out why I have IBS-C (ummm...look it up); nothing was found but a small polyp.
• I learned in early April that I had Carcinoma Insitu of the Cervix (cancer).
• A HIDA scan of my gallbladder was also done in April, and it determined that the gallbladder is useless; it only "dumps" at 7%, which is way below the norm of about 35%.
• Phil and I decided that it was best to go forth with a partial (cervix and uterus, the ovaries stayed) hysterectomy on April 10. 
• My Dad had a scan done to see if the hemorrhage/stroke that he suffered in December had been absorbed; his doctor told him that there was no sign that it even happened!  Great news!!!
• Gabe earned his orange belt in karate.
• Sarah is growing more and more into a beautiful little girl.  She no longer has the body of a toddler.  She is lean, muscular (she LOVES ballet), and petite; and is a graceful little ballerina.
• Phillip finished LUH school in late May.
• The four of us took a 5 night cruise to Mexico, and got back yesterday.
• The movers will be here on Monday to pack up the apartment, and move us to the new house in Deridder.
• I will have my gallbladder removed on Wednesday of next week, to hopefully alleviate those major gastro-intestinal problems.
• I will try to upload some new pictures for you to view in the "Our Story in Pictures" album in the next few days.

I'm sure there is something that I'm forgetting to tell you.  As I go through the pictures, something might come up that I think should have been added to this list.

As for the cancer, it was caught early.  There will be no further treatments, and there is only a 10% chance of it coming back (my doctor said that it has only happened to one other patient of his).

Things are looking up!  I feel blessed.

I hope that you are doing well too.

J~

More of somewhere in the middle...

Below are photos taken at Chankanaab National Park in Cozumel. We decided to spend a little more money to have fun playing with a dolphin. You could actually pay A LOT more money and swim with them; we thought that spending that kind of money would not be wise. We learned how to give hand signals to get a kiss and vice versa, etc. etc.

Our dolphin, Tatich, fetched Phillip's sunglasses out of the water and brought them back to him.

I sat here while Phillip snorkeled for a while. The view and the water was beautiful! I could have stayed right there with a book forever.

After we left Chankanaab, we went back to the boat to change into dry clothes and then we shopped.

Below are pictures of us leaving the Port of Cozumel...

and the Mexican military circling the ship.

Somewhere in the middle...Part Two

The following are pictures taken at Chichen Itza, which is about 2 1/2 hours from Progresso one way and about the same amount of drive time from Cancun another way; basically, it's somewhere out in the middle of nowhere.

Back in the year 1997, about two weeks before I met Phillip, I visited Chichen Itza and was able to climb El Castillo (above). You can't climb it anymore, since a woman from California fell off and died a couple of years ago. Let me tell you....it's very steep and it took me about 30 minutes to work up the nerve to climb back down on my bottom like toddlers sometimes do to get down stairs. I was sore for days after from all the walking and climbing I did that day. I was a bit relieved that I wouldn't have to climb it again (I knew Phillip would have wanted me to go with him), but a little disappointed at the same time; the view at the top is amazing!

It is now one of the new 7 Wonders of the World. I have better pictures of El Castillo, but I included this one because of the man in the right hand corner. I think it's kinda neat that he was carrying his stuff supported by his head. Hey, I am easily amused.

A skull on the mortuary.

I forgot how many people in Mexico are out selling stuff. It's ridiculous!

This is the ball court. The umpire would sit in the hut on top, and sometimes the King would sit there so he could listen to town gossip below. The ring you see was used like a basketball hoop.

This was our tour guide. His name was Ignatio, but likes to be called Nacho. He was very informative, and proud of his Mayan heritage; he had lots of cool stories to tell. And the little lady next to him was shorter than I am!

Us

I honestly don't remember what this was, but I remember that the throne lookin' thing in the middle (at the top of the stairs) would hold a human heart sacrifice to the gods.


The underside of an awning on a building; one of the few places that you can see the original painting and colors used by the Mayans to decorate their buildings and temples.

There's lots I that I could tell you about the place if I could remember the whole story of it all. The Mayans were some pretty cool people. Oh and if you ever get bored and feel like researching something, look up the date December 21, 2012. According to the very complex Mayan calendar, the world will end on that day.

Somewhere in the middle...

A couple of my friends really have a natural talent for photo-
graphy, and this picture is nowhere near what they could have done with the type of equipment they own.

This happened on the morning that we got to Progresso, Mexico; my lens fogged up going from the air conditioned ship to the somewhat warm and humid outdoors.

Kinda neat, eh?

On the left is the ship that we were on, the Carnival Fantasy and to the right is it's sister ship, the Ecstasy, which sails out of Galveston, Texas on the same itinerary.

Oh, and if you are active military, you can get a great discount by calling the cruise line directly to make your reservation. We were able to choose any cabin that we wanted on any deck of the ship (within our price class). It might be something to think about for
R & R...