Archive for the ‘in rewind’ Category

2009+

April 27, 2010

This is from an update email that I sent out to family and friends earlier today. I thought I would post is here too.

 

As it appears, life never slows down. Occasionally I’d like to ask God for a time out, but it just doesn’t work that way. I’ve been working on this update for a few weeks now and finally decided to just buckle down and get it finished today. Be forewarned though, it is long since I didn’t manage to get my annual Christmas letter out and am covering a large span of time.

2009 was an exciting, crazy, busy, life changing year for us and 2010 is proving to be much of the same.

We started out 2009 in Ohio, visiting Grandma and Grandpa Pease (Bryan’s grandparents) who we hadn’t seen since before we moved to the UK in 2002. That quickly rolled into a weekend visit from my Mom where Bryan and I took advantage of a weekend getaway, gall bladder removal surgery for me, car shopping, a MercyMe concert and a 3 week TDY to Savannah for Bryan. In May, we participated in our 2nd year of Relay For Life, my 1st as a steering committee member and later that month, I ran our base’s annual 4.4 mile Gate to Gate race (my finish time was not pretty, but I finished AND I ran the entire thing, quite a feat for the girl that used to forge notes to get out of PE). Soon thereafter, we hit the road for a weeklong road trip to Texas to see family. Jacey stayed behind and spent several weeks between my Mom and Bryan’s Mom’s house. During that time, Bryan and I got a huge dose of the no child lifestyle and let me tell you, the first week is great and then it gets boring fast :). 2009 also brought our 10th wedding anniversary, my 30th birthday, Jacey’s 8th birthday, another road trip to Texas for Thanksgiving to see Bryan (he was TDY again) and then Christmas with my Mom and brother here in Florida.

The biggest event of 2009 though has also spread into 2010. In September of 2009, we found out that my oncologist would be deploying in January and then separating from the Air Force once she got back. I was going to be losing my favorite doctor and one of the main reasons we had not pursued any job/location changes. With that no longer holding us back, Bryan decided to look at the retraining list. Bryan has disliked being a maintainer for a long LONG time, but did what he felt was necessary for the best stability for our family and medical care for me. When we looked at the retraining lit, imagine what was there, Bryan’s dream job, UAV (or RPA, the AF can’t make up its mind) Sensor Operator! The next few weeks were spent getting all the necessary paperwork and medical forms together to submit a package. On October 21, 2009 we submitted the package and on October 26, 2009 he was approved and had class dates. So much for the 21 duty day wait to hear something. That sent life into a crazy spin that hasn’t stopped yet. Bryan left for his first 4 week class on November 18, 2009, another 4+4 week class on January 13, 2010 and left for his final 12 week class this past Sunday (April 25, 2010). On February 12, 2010, Bryan graduated BSOC (basic sensor operator course) and is now an official RPA sensor operator. Jacey and I flew out for the week of graduation and had a great time. Let’s not discuss the flight in though; we flew in on the one day in a blue moon that DFW got numerous inches of snow. Let’s just say that Jacey and I now know DFW airport like the backs of our hands and Bryan can pass a test on less than 2 hours of sleep. Bryan also reenlisted last week for another 5 years, so the Air Force has us until 2015. I can’t figure out if that is a good thing or a bad thing!

With this new job, also comes a move. We will be heading to Creech AFB, NV (outside of Las Vegas) at the end of July once Bryan is back from this final class. There, Bryan will be working on the MQ-1 Predator. We plan to live on Nellis AFB (Creech does not offer housing) for the first year while we learn the area, where good schools are, etc and then plan to buy. Hopefully housing will stay as affordable as it is there now or get even better. While we are sad to be leaving here, we are excited about the move as well. We will have been here in Florida for 5 years by the time we move and that is an eternity in the military and to this girl with gypsy blood.

As for Jacey, Jacey is bored out of her mind in 2nd grade, but there isn’t much we can do at this point with only 7 weeks left of school. She has gotten 1 B thus far this year, with the rest being A’s. Jacey finally found an extracurricular activity that she loves and that is baton twirling. They had their end of season recital today and then she will have a twirling day camp in May. Hopefully we will find twirling on the Vegas end, since this is the first out of many activity attempts that she has loved. Otherwise, she spends her time going to H20 (her Wednesday night church group), reading, playing the Wii and having an unhealthy obsession with the old 90’s show “Full House”. I can’t complain too much, it is better than most shows they have out nowadays. She has really sprouted in height this year, but is still just as slender as ever. Built like her Daddy, she has that long, lanky figure that most would love to have. She on the other hand, thinks she is too skinny, while we tell her she is just perfect the way God made her. It sure does start early. She is ready for school to be out and summer to start. She flies to Texas to spend 2 weeks with my Mom right after school ends and then has her first weeklong overnight camp as soon as she gets back. She is thrilled about both, especially getting to fly by herself (she’s only been flying since she was 7 months old, Miss Frequent Flier :).

And me, I’m doing okay. Tired is the new normal I guess, but we as humans have this insane ability to adapt and when I can’t, I give in and take a nap :). Work still remains the largest item outside of Jacey that keeps me busy, but my last day will be July 1st in anticipation for the move. As if that wasn’t enough though, we are gearing up for Relay For Life which is this Friday, April 30th (there is still time to donate, if you feel so compelled – http://www.buchorn.com/blog/2010/03/20/relay-for-life-2010/). Being event co-chair this year has been an interesting ride, we have a fabulous steering committee and the event chair is my partner in crime, but I am ready for it to be over so I can shift my attention more towards the move prep and have one less thing on my plate. I had my last “official” oncology appointment here at Eglin back in March and she gave me the all clear to wait until we get settled in Vegas to go back. My white blood cell count is now 29, higher than it was when I was diagnosed (it dropped quite a bit from diagnosis levels after I lost weight) but, Dr. G is not worried because it is not jumping at alarming levels and I am doing okay otherwise. I still battle the night sweats and chills but those will be here at different intensities for probably the rest of my life. Dr. G knows the oncologist that I will be seeing on base in Nellis and has already contacted him to pass on information. I am really going to miss Dr. G, but if she trusts the new doctor, I will too. Anyway, I need to get this wrapped up, so enough about me.

Some of you may have noticed, but we have changed out email addresses and website url. The old digital-drama.com accounts will not be valid much longer, so please update your address books (please leave a comment if you want our new email addresses and don’t already have them…leaving them off of the blog for spam reasons). These addresses will travel with us to Vegas and beyond. Bryan and I are also on facebook if you haven’t already friended us and want to.

  • Website with blog and photo/video album links – http://www.buchorn.com (the photos and videos are also completely up to date now if you would like to take a peek)

So, with that I will close this already way too long update. Hopefully I won’t wait another year+ to get one out.

Lacey