Time flies

Yikes two months almost since an update. I had every intention of posting a holiday update but things have gone upside down. Our world suddenly changed in ways we had never thought possible. The last time I updated was the last time our family was together and seemingly whole. This update we are apart and broken. I did however manage to pull us through the holidays unscathed it seems so for now that is all that matters.

To list off all the changes as to make it easier I will do it this way:
1. On November 23rd Chris left for the hospital for PTSD treatment. It has been 40 plus days, lots of battles but the VA was finally able to get involved and hopefully by mid month he will be at a full fledged VA hospital here in Texas receiving the treatment he needs
2. Our beloved German Shepherd, B, had to be re homed to a wonderful family friend due to an issue with him and another dog. This issue has resulted in me paying a 600.00 vet bill and devastating my children on the loss of our beloved family family member.
3. We have tried to launch a CPS investigation for abuse towards H after finding hand print bruises on his rib cage and back of his thigh. Since this happened right at the holidays this has sort of stalled out so there is not much of an update to post at this time.
4. Twice in the month of December our house nearly caught fire due to cooking appliances. One due to the faulty stove display over cooking food by at least 100 degrees. The other was due to a frantic Hannah trying to make her brother oatmeal and forgetting the key ingredient (milk) and proceeding to cook the oatmeal for 2 minutes!
5. Two of our four Guinea Pigs died right before our eyes and it was heartbreaking to my daughters to see this happen. However the silver lining was they learned how important pet care and health is and have been very diligent with the GP since then.
6. We spent the holidays without Chris and survived, barely, but we made it. It might have been a nightmare for me but I think the kids enjoyed it and were just glad to be all together.
7. I started blogging about the things that have been going on with Chris. The other side of marriage, dealing with a spouse who has a psychological disorder due to his 14 years of service.  http://ptsdandmarriage.blogspot.com/ it is written with my own thoughts and emotions as we have navigated these new unchartered waters of getting help for his PTSD.

This has been our life for the past almost two months. It has indeed been action packed. Tomorrow we resume our normal schedule, the kids are back in school and extra curriculars are back in session. I have never been so excited to see a Monday in all my life! I can't wait to get those kids on the bus and just go back to how things were before the chaos of the holidays. The only part not normal is Chris is still gone. He will more than likely be gone until around March.

H has had a hard time adjusting to all the changes but he is doing better. We have had so many things he has had to deal with so I believe it is more than understandable that he struggle like he has, throw in a two week break from school and it just adds to it. We however found an amazing support team through all this and are so very thankful for each of them. While I pride myself on doing it all on my own I glad to know I have people I can always call on in a pinch. I can never thank them enough for all they have done. I am so honored to have such wonderful people in my life.