Canon and Lucy

Puppy-Sitting for the Barrera Puppies--

Ladies Night

Lovely night with two of the most awesome ladies I know. Emily and Nicole!

My Baby Bear

As many of my friends and family know, we're cat people. We have three. Teddy, my oldest, turned 17 last week, September 17th. Spotty is the middle child, he'll be 15 next February, and the baby, Boomer will be 4 next May.

We came home the other day to find Teddy with one of his eyes kinds closed with the bottom eye lid protruding up. His eye looked as if it has sunk back into his head. He is seventeen, but he still loves to fight with his brothers, so at first thought, we determined it was possibly a war wound from play.

We made an appointment with the vet and did a little research and had a few ideas of possibilities. The vet determined that we needed to schedule an x-ray and go ahead and start a round of antibiotics and set an appointment for Tuesday 9/27 for the  x-ray.

We dropped off Ted this morning (9/27). I stopped by the vet this afternoon to pick him up and find out what the x-ray had found. Unfortunately the news confirmed that he does have Horner's Syndrome in his right eye. (Link to a page about Horner's Syndrome in Cats.) Basically it's a common neurological disorder of the eye and facial muscles that can be caused by a multitude of underlying problems. What we had discovered in the x-ray was that Teddy has a tumor behind his right eye. It's about the size of a dime right now.  I guess we missed a few signs over time. He has had a tic in his paw for a while which is a symptom of the tuner like the Horner's Syndrome.

N
o, maybe he's not a real child, but he's been my baby for almost 16 years. It would be difficult for anyone to deal with.  He's fine for now. He's happy, eating like a piggy, and still loves to cuddle with me on the couch and purr away. We may have him for 6 more months or a few more years. There's no guarantee.

I'll enjoy it as long as I can!

Cats and Fish, Oh My!

Hanging out with Mom

Mom had knee surgery- so I went for a week and a half to help..

(Gabriel the Cat thinks he's being so helpful!

A bird laid eggs the day I arrived.. these are the babies the morning that I left.

Appomattox, VA Trip

Over the weekend, we spend some time with our friends who live in Appomattox, VA. Since we all love history and there is so much of it out that way, we were able to see a lot of awesome things!

We arrived in Appomattox and went with Ron to the Visitors Center. If you need some gifts with confederate flags on them, I may have found the place for you!

Headed down the road a few miles to the location of the Battle of Appomattox Station. Battle occurred April 8, 1865 between 4 and 8 pm. Union led by General Custer and the Confederates were lead by Brig. Gen. Reuben Walker.

Another half mile down the road is a little cemetery and a plaque.

Confederate Cemetery

Appomattox Courthouse; Surrender Site.

McLean House- the house where the surrender was signed- This is a reconstruction with period construction items.

Headed to Bedford, VA to the National World War II Memorial. Bedford VA. Bedford provided a company of soldiers, Company A to the 29th Infantry Division when the National Guard's 116th Infantry Regiment was activated on 3 Feb 1941. 

D-Day, 6 June 1944, by the end of the day, 19 of the Bedford Boys were dead, two more in Normandy, and 2 more in the 116th infantry. In 1944, the population of Bedford was 3200, proportionately, the losses were the nation's most severe. Taking this information, Congress warranted the establishment of the National D-Day memorial here in Bedford.

SaveSave

Mariners Museum

Saturday, Terry and I decided that we would go over to the other side of the water and visit Newport News. It only takes about 25 minutes to get there, and the drive is at least pretty at this time of year.  

Right before you arrive at the museum, driving up the side of the James River, there is a little park with a few Lion Statues and a monument to Collis Potter Huntington, the founder of the Newport News Shipyard. We later found out that Lion Bridge is a dam that was built in the early 1920's. 

The Lions were added in 1932. 

There is also a 550 acre park on the grounds of the Museum.. Noland Trail is a five mile hike through the park that twists around Lake Maury in the middle. Maybe next time, we'll dress appropriately to walk down the path!  We stopped there for a few minute to take some pictures.  There was a tree on the inland side of the road that looked like it had been there since the Civil War.

Then we went to was the Mariners Museum. We'd been there a few times before when they had a Traveling Titanic exhibit, but that was nearly 10 years ago.

After the Mariners Museum, we took a drive to Dutch Village Apartments... When Terry and I first got married like 200 years ago, he and his friend Doug lived here. (In the first pic with the tree in front of the apartment) After we got married, Doug, Terry and I.. and Teddy... moved to another apartment in Dutch Village..

It was fun to see the old place and we left kinds quick before we got shot. It was not a nice neighborhood!

We headed over to Patrick Henry Mall... It was nicer and had been added onto A LOT! After about 20 minutes there, we decided that we'd had enough..

We had heard that the Colosseum Mall had been town down and there was a new Town Center type area added.. Peninsula Town Center.. It was very nice, crowded, but nice!

That was it for our little Saturday. We headed back to Virginia Beach. :)

37th Birthday

I had a birthday party with my friends at work at Cheeseburger in Paradise...

And lunch with my friend Nicole the next afternoon at a mexican place around the corner from the house..

Sisters and Brothers

When I was in 8th grade, my Mom saw an add in a local paper asking for families to host foreign exchange students in their homes for one year. The add was sponsored by a program called YFU. We called the number and an older man named Mr. Giles came to the house to talk to us. I remember the process being semi-short but there were a ton of questions.  My family sat down and talked about all of the benefits from hosting a student.. The ability to see the world through the eyes of someone from another culture.. Learning more about the world.. Seemed like a really great idea.

In August of 1988, we went to the airport to pick up our Foreign Exchange Student, Masanori from Japan. He seemed a little frightened of us, but we attempted to make him feel at home. That night for dinner, being from Texas, we made Tacos. We asked him to join us and he seemed less interested in eating.  We carried on.. A little while later, he came out of his room and saw what we were eating.  Seems like "taco" means octopus in Japanese.  That was one of the many funny misunderstandings that we would have that year!

After Masanori left, we thought about it, and decided that we would go ahead and do it one more time! That summer, we picked up Sabine from Germany. We had a rough start, but all in all, we did have a good time. She and I finally became good
friends closer to the end of the year.  She played on the high school basketball team and tried to get involved with some other

school activities.

Well, the time came where we decided, that wall, maybe, we'd host just one more. We saw the biography pages and saw a boy from Spain from a big family with all sisters. We picked him. Miguel arrived that summer. Let's just say that Miguel and I never quite got along when he lived with us, but as time went by, we are friends. He's married with an adorable wife and daughter! He's a published author, although, since I can't read Spanish, I haven't read any. Might be a good reason to learn.  I am glad though, that I did get to be his little sister for a while.

That would not be the last, it was decided, in the summer of 1991, Adriana from Colombia arrived to become a part of the family. What made it special was that Adriana and I would be Seniors in High School together. {The picture to the right is my brother Michael and cousin Dallas at the Mall in Mesquite buying Adriana some cowboy boots for school} It was really like having a sister with her, we shared clothes, shoes, jewelry, and secrets.  We really enjoyed our time together going to school more than any other exchange student. I think it's because we got to be seniors together!  She was amazing and I miss her.  She's married now and has an amazing family of her own!

Ok, I think it's safe to assume that we had became addicted to Hosting exchange students at this point!! Mom and dad decided that since I was leaving for college, they would host another daughter, Sandra from Germany. I wasn't home much that year, so I only have a few memories.  She played on the High School basketball team and was a bit of a tomboy. She did enjoy traveling with my parents, who loved to just hop in the car on a Saturday morning and go, anywhere.

 In 1993, again, my family decided to host another student. This time, it was Little Miss Sally from Australia. She came with a years supply of vegemite and and a seriously hilarious personality. Sally was basically a ball of energy wrapped in an awesome personality. She could make you laugh without trying and most of the times you'd laugh until you cried! I do miss my Sal!!

Not long after Sally came, my mom, who was now a full time volunteer for the Exchange Program, heard of a girl in a different town that was having some serious problems, without a bit of hesitation, our family asked if we could host her for the rest of the year. Vibeke from Denmark arrived and joined the family. The three of us were some kind of trouble! Always up to something! My little sister Vibeke was quiet at first, but with a a little prodding from Sally an I, she opened up in no time and we had a great year!  I was in college for the first half but I was home a lot at the end!

Miho from Japan and I had then become a volunteer, tutoring for students with English problems, which is where I met Maria. She was a student who was not happy in her home and her exchange family was not very nice to her. Miho and I had a discussion and we told mom that we needed Maria to be our new sister.
hose who would certainly not be the last! Mom had chosen

Shortly after, Maria from Colombia became my ninth new sibling! The three of us were inseparable! My favorite memory of them is when we went to a YFU event, and these two switched "home Countries" and Maria pretended to be from Japan, even wearing the traditional kimono. Miho pretended to be Colombian. It really baffled some of the other families, but that's something that we loved to do! They attended my bootcamp graduation in Chicago on Feb 4, 1995 (MY 21st BIRTHDAY). I'm glad they got to come up and see this very important day in my life.  It was also a really awesome day getting to spend some time sightseeing in Chicago before they had to leave and go back home and I had to move on to a new school.

The next year, my parents chose Olga from Russia.

She was absolutely beautiful and absolutely tall! I know she had to be at least 6'2"! I wasn't home to much that year since I was in the Navy stationed in Norfolk, but I came home for Christmas which is where we had the picture to the right taken. She was always very sweet to me and my family and I think my parents appreciated that! She just got married last year and I can only hope that she will be happy for the rest of her life!

Same goes for Aigul from Kazakhstan.. I wasn't home much but the few times that I was home, she made me laugh! Aigul was in my wedding in 1996. I remember that she used to eat bugles snack crackers and chocolate milk like cereal. Aigul is married with two very adorable babies!

I wasn't home at all the year that my parents hosted Geidre from Lithuania.  Mom had a lot of fun with Geirdre. I hear they cooked a lot and walked a lot of laps at the local high school after dinner.


I did come home when they hosted Gulzat from Kyrgyzstan. That little girl was very special! I

was only there for Christmas,

which is kinda the only time that we can get time off from the military for more than a few days.

Then there was Yenni from Argentina, my 14th new sibling! This was unfortunately another year that I was not able to come home. :( {I don't have any pictures of Yenni!}

New sister alert! Oksana from Ukraine! I came home for Christmas, again, and had a great time hanging out with Oksana. She and I went to the mall in Dallas and had some pictures taken with a creepy Santa! Oksana was very much like most of the other Eastern European girls we'd hosted as our family, they were all very polite and kind and helpful. I think this was something that the kids in the US could learn from! Shortly after that, Mom added a new sister, Ani from Argentina. Again, I wasn't home during that time to get to know Ani, but my mom and Dad really enjoyed having her there!

In 2001, my parents hosted one last student this one would be a special one. Giovanna {Elvira} from Colombia was the sister of Maria, he sister that we hosted in 1994-95. Maria's entire family visited that year from Colombia when Giovanna was about 9 years old.  Little did they know that in a few years, that she would be the final student that our family would host! Giovanna also visited me in Virginia Beach that year with our exchange daughter Anke. (see below)

This was also the same year that Terry and I hosted an exchange student of our own. Anke form Germany. This little girl will always be my daughter, even if she wasn't actually mine! We had a great time, dyed our hair, and shared secrets. We were alone most of the year since Terry was on a six month cruise! Her favorite thing to do was LOSE HER HOUSE KEY! I miss her every day, but glad that we got to visit when we lived in Europe and glad that we have Facebook! We do miss our little girl, even though she wasn't really ours!