it's been a while

Ahhhhh, I finally have a few minutes to myself. All of the kids are upstairs playing the Wii, so I figured I would post a short blog to let everyone know what has been going on in the world of Horne.
As most of you know Allen left for his 7th deployment in July. He took a team of 13 guys and has been keeping busy in the desert. For a while he had considered applying for a commission in the Army, but THANK GOD that was short lived. He decided that when he gets home he will apply for OTS and try to get a commission in the Air Force. Please keep him and his guys (and their families) in your prayers.
Since Allen was gone, the kids and I decided to go back home for a few months. I decided that I would home school them, and keep them on the same curriculum that they were on in DODDS. I think home schooling was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. Getting Ritza to do math was like pulling teeth. Martina has a hard time in math, so spent a lot of time on it. Ricky loves math! He would do his assignment in 15 minutes. But getting him to do anything else was a nightmare. I think I spent over $300 a Barnes and Noble trying to find a book that he would enjoy reading. It was nice Because school only took a couple of hours a day, but those 2 hours were HARD!
While we were in NM Ricky decided that he wanted to play tackle football. I was a little reluctant, but with a little persuasion he convinced me. Man, football is a HUGE commitment. We had practice 5 days a week for 2 hours a day and after games started we had practice 4 days a week and a game on Saturday. Thank GOD I had my dad there to help me. He would go to practice once or twice a week, so that I could get home before 8pm. I don't think I ever missed Allen more than I did during football season. It was hard, but we managed and Ricky had a great time.
Azariah turned a year old and started walking while we were in NM. He is a little terror. He got kicked out of nursery at church every Sunday that we went, because he is so rough. I don't think he was trying to be mean, but he doesn't know how to interact with kids his age. This deployment has been really hard on him. After Allen left he quit eating table food. All he wants to do is nurse and use me as his pacifier. Poor little guy!
The kids and I came back to England on Saturday and we had planned on staying until right before Thanksgiving. Then the girls went to Club Beyond (the youth group at the Chapel) and they saw all of their friends and they came home and told me that they don't want to go back to NM. I asked Ricky how he felt and he said that he wanted to stay here and go to school with his friends too, so yesterday I enrolled them back in school.
Now that I am home I am hoping to have more time to organized the house and maybe work on weaning Azariah. I can't believe he is 13 months old and has never slept in his bed. I used to be so good about keeping the kids on track. The girls and Ricky were sleeping through the night by the time they were 2 months old. I had them weaned by the time they were a year, they always took naps and stayed on schedule. Azariah has a mind of his own and he is just as stubborn as his daddy. I think I have finally met my match, with a 26 pound little man named Azariah Francisco Martina Horne! Wish me luck cause I think it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

MIA

It's been quite awhile since I have been on here. Seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day to keep up with everything that I need to do. I will post some pics as soon as I get some free time this weekend....

Update on Dad

I just wanted to write a quick update about my dad. I am not up to talking to anyone so PLEASE don’t call me today. Yesterday my dad had an Angiogram, and we fully expected them to schedule open heart surgery on him. My mom called me about three this morning and told me that the Dr. said that there is nothing else that can be done.
The Dr. found that all of my dad’s arteries are clogged he said that there is nothing that they can do about it. My dad has had 3 heart attacks and after the one he had last May, he just hasn’t been feeling like he normally does. My dad is a cowboy, a hard worker and he has never been one to sit around and do nothing. Since last year he has been feeling sluggish and not had the energy to do everything he normally does.
When I went home last month I took him to his cardiologist. I can honestly say that this is the worst experience I have ever had with a Dr. Dr. Massoud, was aloof, and condescending when spoke to my dad. He told my dad that even though he only has twenty percent of his heart functioning, he is fine, and that his heart sounded fine. My father asked about starting the paperwork so that he could retire, and the Dr. said that there is no need, he said that my father’s heart is fine. He listened to it no more than 10 seconds and this bastard had the nerve to say that my dad is fine. He made my dad feel like everything is all in his head. This dr. is a worthless piece of crap. He has no bedside manner and seems like he is only in the medical profession for the money, because he sure as hell doesn’t care about his patients.
I suppose a big part of the reason that I hate the UK so much is because of the fact that I am so far away from my family right now. Honestly I have never been more homesick, than I am right now. I am praying that Allen can get a humanitarian reassignment and we can get moved closer to home. Allen is torn about this right now, because he is set to deploy and he doesn’t want to be labeled a “dirt bag” who is trying to get out of a deployment. As of right now, the kids are going home as soon as Allen leaves and we will be in Tulie until Allen comes home next spring. When he gets home or towards the end of his deployment he will apply for a humanitarian and hopefully we can PCS to Albuquerque or Tucson.
I will keep everyone updated as to what is going on. Please keep all of my family in your prayers. I don’t think we have ever needed them as bad as we do right now.

Giving Thanks

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow I just wanted to write a few things that I am thankful for.
~I am thankful for my Lord and savior.

~I am thankful for my mother.

~I am thankful for my father.

~I am thankful for my sister

~I am thankful for my nephew Andres.

~I am thankful for my niece Natalie.

~I am thankful for my sister in Law.

~I am thankful for my brother in law.

~I am thankful for BOTH of my parents in law, because without them I wouldn’t have my amazing husband!

~I am thankful that Baca came out of his accident alright and is doing so well.

~I am thankful that my Nana is alright after all of her kidney problems this year.

~I am thankful that my dad is still here with us.

~I am thankful that I got to live 4 amazing years in Florida.

~I am thankful that I got to know Allen’s family in Alabama during those 4 years.

~I am thankful for all of the friends that I left behind in Fl.

~I am thankful for having food, shelter, and clothes.

~I am thankful for the new friends that I have made here in England.

~I am thankful that the Lord answered my prayers and moved us to England before my
girls were in High School.

~I am thankful that I have a nice car to drive.

~I am thankful that Tabby went to a good home.

~I am thankful that I am an Air Force wife and I can show my children the world.

~I am thankful for all of our troops across the world and their families. They make sacrifices that most people will never understand.

~I am thankful for the internet. I had never really thought much about it until we moved here and didn’t have it for over a month.

~I am thankful that we had an entire year without a deployment. This has NEVER happened before.

~I am thankful that I have such well behaved children. They may have their moments,
but they are all such good kids and they all have a strong desire to serve God. For
that I am most thankful.

~I am thankful for Martina. She has the kindest heart I have ever seen. She lives for God, Anime and myspace.

~I am thankful that her Muscular Dystrophy is mild and she is able to live a normal life.

~I am thankful for Ritza. She is my biggest helper. She is so witty, and can bring a smile to my face anytime of day.

~I am thankful for Antonio. He is such a mama’s boy. He is so sweet and always ready to give a compliment. He is going to be an amazing man.

~I am thankful for Azariah. Even though having a new baby is hard work, he makes every second of it worth it. His smile makes me forget that I only had 3 hours of sleep.

~I am thankful for Allen. God almost reached perfection when he created my husband. He is my best friend. He is an amazing Airman, father and husband. I will forever be grateful to God for giving him to me.


Psalms 136:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.

Check out my Slide Show!

Azzie 11 days old

I just wanted to post a few pictures of our baby boy. I don't have much time right now, but I just wanted to share some pics. I will write more when I get a chance...

Happy Birthday Azariah!

Beep-beep. Beep-beep. Beep-beep. I grabbed the alarm clock to make it stop. Today was the day, the day we were all waiting for. September 28, 2007 was Azariah’s birthday! Theresa was supposed to be at the hospital by 7 am, but what were they going to do, tell her she couldn’t have the baby? So I wasn’t too worried about taking my time that morning. The kids came downstairs, ready to go. Everyone was showered, had shoes on. Everyone came together as a team to make the whole day run better. Cassie, the girl who graciously volunteered to help with the kids, came early as usual, about 6:20 to make sure they got off to school alright.

Maritza had an appointment with the orthodontist at around 7:15, so she rode with Theresa and I to the hospital so I could kill two birds with one stone. I dropped off Theresa at the ER entrance, the shortest path to labor and delivery at around 7:05, as planned so she could get started. We rushed over to Maritza’s appointment so she could get her smile worked on. I dropped her back at the house with reliable Cassie at around 8:00 am so I didn’t have to take her all the way to Feltwell where she goes to school.

I got back to the hospital at around 8:15 where I found Theresa in the hospital bed, anxious to get started, anxious to be done with the entire pregnancy. She sure looked brave. I can’t say I would have been so calm and ready, even though I may seem that way at times. At around 10:00 am Nurse Satchell came in with the synthetic Oxytocin to try and jump start the natural process. From then it was just a waiting game.

Two hours rolled by. We listened to George Strait, Kenny Chesney and dozens of other songs on Theresa’s playlist. Theresa started feeling funny stuff in the girl parts.

We talked about what-ifs and maybes. The nurse checked the cervix and saw 3 cm. We talked about how Ritza’s new dental appliance prevented her from saying her “S’s.” We ran out of things to talk about and just held each other. The time was flying by, and anticipation continued to ramp up to immeasurable levels.

About 1:00 pm, the contractions started getting stronger. They weren’t unbearable but they were definitely contributing to some discomfort. Theresa did a very good job of letting the contractions do their job. She just breathed through them, focusing on any area of the body that wasn’t relaxed and forcefully relaxing it. Her eyebrows were a storage area for tension. Her hands are usually tense, but she was in control today.

Theresa started to feel some moisture down below around 3pm. The nurses were convinced this wasn’t her water breaking because is didn’t look right, but they labeled it as a “suspicious leak.” They wanted to check the progress any way and measured about 4 cm, which is not what Theresa wanted to hear after all of that work! Right as they were checking, guess what spilled everywhere! The suspicious leak actually was the water breaking! At the same time, The nurse continued to explain that the cervix hadn’t gotten much bigger, but the baby was all the way down, or “engaged.” The pain continued to feel far disproportionate from the assessment of the nurse.

The contractions came stronger and harder, but we still felt like it was going to be a long night, and it was only 4pm! Finally, I knew it was baby time. Theresa was starting to lose focus and half-way considered the use of powerful epidural drugs. She made up her mind that was not the way she wanted to do this, remembering from the past a bad experience with the drug. She was going to stick it out.

Theresa suddenly felt the urge to push, but resisted, just breathing through as usual. All of the staff ran in, doubting this could be the time, since they just checked at 4pm at only 4 cm. They checked the dilation again, this time at 6-7 cm, which is usually still pretty far away from a birthday. Then there was the urge to push again. Again Theresa didn’t push, just trying as hard as possible to relax and breathe through the contraction, letting the uterus do its job. The staff left us alone again, not expecting action for quite a while.

TEN MINUTES LATER, Theresa got the uncontrollable urge to push. The staff rushed in again, thinking there was some kind of problem, but Dr. Adams measured this time at 9cm plus. She still wanted Theresa to wait on pushing, but nature had other plans. All of a sudden, Theresa stopped breathing and started staring at me. Her eyes started glazing over and her face turned red, almost purple. Her chin sank into her face and her body was pulled down into the bed by the force of her hands on the bed rails. Just one push and his head was already visible!

Now the Doctor knew she wasn’t just dramatic. Without warning, Theresa reached over her head and grabbed my arm. She started pulling me forward. I braced my arm with my other one against the bed and it was still a major struggle to resist the power of push #2. There was definitely some progress on this one, but not at much as the third push, when after a deep breath, Theresa bore down with everything she had. At 5:09 pm, London time, on 28 September 2007 Azariah Francisco Martin Horne’s innocent little head crossed over into our crazy world. His world of quiet comfort and laziness was rudely interrupted when Dr. Adams grabbed onto his head, supporting him for the fourth push, which cleared his shoulders, arms, torso, legs and feet.

Theresa was relieved it was all over. Azzie was placed on her chest and we all had the biggest smiles in the world. The youngest person alive was all ours. Soon after the commotion, we thanked God for all our blessings, and the opportunity to raise another one of his children.