182 Days...

It has been 182 days since I married my best friend. 182 days since we were married on a beach (on Sam's birthday). 182 since our parents and children joined us while celebrated in Florida. 182 since Memphis went to the beach and tried to "eat" the water/waves.

A lot has happened in 182 days.

Recently, Sam and I had an anniversary...now this anniversary is much different from the ones I mentioned in a previous post. This anniversary was for our engagement.

Here's the story.

Some of our dear friends own a restaurant in St. Louis (Soulard to be exact). We registered to run in the St. Louis Hot Chocolate 5K (without much training or prep), so we drove up the day before the race. As usual, we didn't have any set plans for our mini road trip/weekend getaway...or so I thought.

We went to Twisted RAnCH, had a delicious meal, and after picking up our race packets, we decided to go to IKEA. Exciting, right?  What I didn't know is while we were having dinner, Sam asked our friend Jim if he could propose to me on the rooftop of their loft (without me knowing anything about it).

Yep. We got engaged on the rooftop of a loft in St. Louis.

I just thought we were going to IKEA. I didn't realize that stopping by the loft to "drop off our bags" was code for "I'm going to propose to you."

So, we decided to go up to the rooftop to look at the various Christmas lights around the city because, hello, the view! And then I turned around and Sam was down on one knee.

I said yes. 💗

And the next day we celebrated by running a 5K. I thought I was going to die a couple of times, but I ran a race with my soon-to-be-husband. That was pretty awesome.

And how did we celebrate running a race together as future Mr. and Mrs.? We went to Twisted RAnCh to eat.

So many things have happened in 2016 for us. We were married on June 14 (did I mention on the beach?). We were engaged on a rooftop in St. Louis overlooking the city. We took a few road trips. We went to some softball tournaments for Kirsten's travel team. I graduated with my Master's degree. Sam was able to travel for his job to Palo Alto. I was able to travel for a conference to Denver. And Sam went through the trauma resiliency program and graduated with Memphis, his beautiful service dog from This Able Veteran. We have three dogs in our house, and we stay busy. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Yes, we have three dogs. In addition to Memphis we have Kip, a Chihuahua/Pug mix, and Archie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Do they all get along? Yes. They play, share toys, and I think the little dogs often wonder why and how the big dog always gets to leave the house...

I think of all of the good that has come to us in 2016, and it makes me eager for 2017. I can't wait to see what this journey has in store for all of us. I think of all the challenging times, and am thankful we had those opportunities to learn something, grow stronger together, and love each other even more than we thought possible.

I hope you can think of the good that came to you, and your family in 2016. You may even remember some challenges and you may long for a new start in 2017. I hope you are excited about what can come for you in a new year...I know we are.

We are blessed beyond measure. 

Our first "family" photo taken on June 14 in Navarre Beach, Florida.

Traveling with Memphis

One day while we were out and about (probably heading to Target) someone (read random stranger) asked "does that dog really go everywhere he goes?" And the answer to that is,"yes, yes that dog goes everywhere he (Sam) goes."

How does that work? Well, Memphis sleeps in our room. Sometimes he sleeps on the bed, or he will cuddle for a bit then lay down in his bed. Yes,  Memphis has his own bed, with a platform that Sam built. In case Sam has a nightmare, Memphis can alert him.

Memphis goes to work with Sam. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Sam works for the VA in Marion. Memphis has some "office space" with Sam, and if Sam has a meeting, Memphis has a meeting. If Sam has to see a Veteran, Memphis sees the Veteran.

When our kids have school activities, Memphis comes with us. He's been to numerous softball games, choral concerts, and has even helped with drop off and pick up at school for the kids.

If we take a road trip, Memphis comes with us. We've been able to visit a lot of neat places with Memphis, our favorite restaurant, Twisted RAnCh in Soulard, IKEA in St. Louis, Fort Campbell, Scott AFB, and Memphis has even been to travel softball tournaments!

I think the best part of traveling with Memphis was when we went to Florida this summer. You see, Memphis had two very important jobs on that trip---he had to "work," but he was also the ring bearer at our wedding. We were married at Navarre Beach on June 14 (Flag Day and Sam's birthday).

So, to answer the question of if "that dog" really goes everywhere, yes...he really does. <3

 Memphis accompanied us to get our marriage license, and enjoyed the beach during our wedding.

This Able Veteran (part one)

www.thisableveteran.org

My husband Sam, Memphis, and I took a little road trip to St. Louis a few weeks ago. We decided to hit our favorite restaurant, Twisted Ranch http://twistedranch.com/index.html, and one of our favorite stores, IKEA.

While roaming through IKEA, a woman approached us and asked, "Excuse me, where did you get your dog?" Now, this was a first. Normally people are trying to touch, or stare, or even say things like, "that man has a dog so he can be comfortable!" We've never heard someone ask where Memphis is from...

So, we moved out of the aisle, and Sam began telling the woman and her husband about This Able Veteran. You see, this organization does tremendous work for our Veterans. Not only do they train service dogs for Veterans, but they also work with the Veterans to cope and process their trauma.

Our knowledge of TAV was pretty simple at first. Since they are a local organization to us (about 20 minutes from our house), we heard of the organization. We supported their fundraising events by purchasing t-shirts, going to paring ceremonies, and even making donations. Volunteers and trainers would be out and about with service dogs in training and we would stop by and see them.

When Sam decided to apply for a service dog we had a lot of conversations about it...we prayed about it. This was a major step in his life, and in his recovery from three deployments (2 to Iraq, 1 to Afghanistan). The military played a major role in Sam's life, and in his current position with the VA, that role was still a major player in the form of memories, setbacks, triggers, anxiety, the list could go on...

It got so uncomfortable for Sam to be in public, big crowd situations like sporting events, concerts, movies, he tried to fake being comfortable, but he was always sensitive to consider how we, his family, felt, and what we wanted to do. He wore a mask and he wore it well.

Back to that application, or moment to apply--we had a rough family vacation. Big crowd, loud noises, almost claustrophobic in a sense. That was it, it was a major wake up call that in order to function with family or friends, he had to be comfortable in his surroundings and even in his own skin. I remember going back to our hotel that night in tears because there was nothing I could do to make the situation better. Nothing to ease the pain of feeling overwhelmed, remembering missions, thinking of soldiers lost, who never came home. Nothing I could do to take that pain away. I felt helpless...and if I felt that way, well, I can only imagine how Sam felt.

Once we got home from our 4th of July vacation, we had a major talk. Therapy was okay, but was that enough? Breathing techniques were useful, but did they really help? Keeping a coin around to have in hand was nice, but a coin, really? I was not always with Sam 24/7, but surely we could consider a service dog and that would help? So, he dowloaded the application, we talked about it, and in just a few short weeks it was mailed off to the TAV facility...and this is just part one of the process.