Today

Today is meaningful to me for 3 reasons.

1. On this day, exactly 1 year ago, Mat came home from his 4th deployment, this time, Afghanistan. We had a very eventful deployment, our twins were born while he was deployed, they were sick and in and out of the hospital for 3 months, starting when they were 7 weeks old. They developed bronchitis, RSV and pneumonia and just couldn't fight it. Jaxon stopped breathing on me twice and spent lots of time on oxygen. It was a rough year but we managed to get through it.

On homecoming day, we got all cute in our homecoming themed gear

We had our signs all ready...

We even had flags!

And then... We waited...

 

And then... The smoke started to fill the gym and "The Boys Are Back in Town" played! After attending several homecomings for this unit before our day, I knew what this meant!

They men filled the gym as screams and fingers pointed in excitement! "There he is! He's right there! Oh my God, he's so close I can almost touch him! I can't believe this day is finally here!"

After a short speech, everyone was released (And this is the part I hate. The photographer I booked, booked someone else so while the other person got first kiss photos, I got nothing... But anywho...)

We were re-united.

The next two photos I love. Even though Hayley had not seen Mat in 6 months (and the first time she saw him she was 11 days old and only spent 2 weeks with him) she knew who he was. 

She couldn't stop staring and trying to touch him.

Seeing her that way, I lost it. And I'm losing it now as I type this.

It was incredible.

 And just like that...

We were a family again. We went back to life as a family of 4 (+2!) and it was if he had never been gone.

#2: The Friday before Mother's day is known as Military Spouse Appreciation Day. While my husband is extremely thankful for the sacrifices that I make daily in support of his career choice, there is a day to honor those who, like me, have packed up and moved to other states and across oceans to foreign countries, to follow the service member of whom they love. I have done things that I can't imagine I would ever do in my lifetime. The life that I live on a daily basis is far from what I thought "normal" for me would entail. I don't toot my horn and brag, I don't say that I am stronger than someone else because I'm a military spouse. I am an Army wife, but it doesn't define who I am. I am just a girl, who happens to be married to a soldier, that lives in Europe. There are many activities that some posts do to honor us and I have never taken them up on it. Free spa days and such. I chose this life and I don't expect anyone to do anything special for a choice that I made. My husband honors and thanks me daily and that is enough.

BUT, if you do happen to see a military spouse today, say "thank you." Our lives aren't easy. As a matter of fact, if you were to see me on the street and buy me a drink, I wouldn't turn it away :)

#3: With today being Military Spouse Appreciation Day, Household6 Diva is hosting a blogswap! This excites me because I have been dying to find new military spouse blogs in hopes of motivating me to keep blogging!

So... A little bit about me...

My name is Amy and this is my blog... "And the Adventure Continues!"

If you couldn't tell from this post, I am married to a soldier, Mathew, who is a combat medic currently stationed in Vilseck, Germany. We are the parents of 17 month old boy and girl twins, Hayley and Jaxon and we also have Zaria and Dameon who are the children from Mat's first marriage and my stepchildren.

Mat and I met in 2006. I don't remember exactly when. It was either May or June. He was stationed at Fort Hood and I was living and working in San Antonio. He had to come to San Antonio (Ft. Sam) for a re-class and he added me on Myspace. Apparently I looked like I knew how to have a good time and that's what he was looking for.

We were inseparable...

(I promise that I do have a strapless shirt on! Contrary to popular belief, this was not a sexy-time photo!(

Well... Almost inseparable.

Mat graduated about 6 weeks later...

And shipped off to Korea for 53 LONG weeks...

At the airport the day he left...

Little did we know when we first met, we would decide to spend the rest of our lives together.

We married on September 29, 2007, just two weeks after he came home from Korea. He had received orders to Fort Gordon, GA so I followed him there. Early in our marriage, we suffered a miscarriage. This led to another year of trying to conceive unsuccessfully and then finding out that I have fertility issues connected with PCOS.

After continuing to try, Mat decided to re-enlist. When you re-enlist, you are given a few options to choose from, one of them being choice of station. He decided he wanted to go back to Germany. When Mat and I married, I made him the promise that wherever the Army took him, I would follow, no questions asked. After some soul-searching, I decided that moving to another country would be stressful enough and I didn't want the stress that trying to conceive brings, so we decided to stop trying.

Fast forward a few months... In order to move overseas, you have to be screened. In this screening, if you are being seen by someone other than your primary care doctor, then you have to have paperwork filled out by your specialist.

I took my paperwork to my doctor, Dr. Homeyer, and he told me that he had no idea what to put down as the kind of treatment that I need (this paperwork is to ensure that wherever we are sent, there is someone who can take care of the medical issues). After talking with him, he told me that he didn't want me to stop trying. Even if we did stop trying, that I needed to continue to medicate myself for the PCOS. He asked for one more try before I gave up. I went home that night, talked to Mat, and called my doctor the next day. We had decided to go ahead and try one more time.

And the rest is history.

Jaxon and Hayley were born at 37 weeks gestation on Nov 17, 2010 in Amberg, Germany.

And our lives have never been the same since!

I could go on and on about who I am. But in the end, I am just me. I'm the wife of a soldier, a mother of multiples, I live in Germany... But in the end, I am just me.