July-August Catch-up

Where should I start? Most anyone that reads this is probably fairly caught up on the Alvey happenings, but I'll give a quick recap. Rudi took leave from working in the Naval Hosp. Guam emergency dept for most of July to get ready for deployment. I continued working part-time, but 3 days a week instead of 2. So, Rudi spent a lot of time caring for Samuel at home while I worked...our roles were reversed for a little bit.
We flew out of Guam on July 29 in the early AM. Samuel (then 13 months) hardly slept AT ALL during the entire 21 hour flight. Yikes!
We arrived in Charlotte, NC and I have been staying at my sister's (Charis) place the entire time. Rudi reported to Camp Lejeune (Jacksonville, NC--a 5 hour drive from Charlotte) at the beginning of August for his pre-deployment training. The best part about August is that Rudi got to come back to where Samuel and I are staying every weekend this month. We were able to spend some really sweet family time together that we would not have had if Samuel and I stayed behind on Guam during this time.
The other nice thing about August is that we got to see tons of extended family!! Charis, Mick, and Candace (3 of my siblings) all live in Charlotte and we have spent lots of time together. Charis and her husband Bobby (and daughter Keely, 4-1/2) have been gracious enough to host not only multiple nights of visits from local family, but also MANY out-of-town guests. The first weekend of August, Rudi's father and brother Eugene came in from Nebraska, and Rudi's brother Bevan & family came up from Atlanta. The next weekend, Rudi's mom and stepdad came in from Minneapolis, and again Rudi's brother Bevan came up from Atlanta. Then, this past week, my mom came in from Pennsylvania to spend the week! All of this visiting has kept me busy and my mind off of the upcoming separation.
Speaking of separation, here are the details on the deployment (the details we have, at least, which are surprisingly sparse!). Rudi is leaving TONIGHT to fly to Iraq. Not flying directly there...I'm sure he's stopping somewhere in Europe or Kuwait or something first. He's arriving at a base in Iraq, then supposedly going to the base where he'll be stationed for the next 7 months (he's due back in early April). However, it's not all that simple...Since the US's involvement in Iraq is ramping down, they are closing down bases so Rudi thinks that no one really knows where he and his team (a shock/trauma platoon) will be needed. So while he was given the name of a base where he's headed, he's not sure that's where he'll end up.
Hopefully, wherever he ends up, he is SAFE. Also, a bonus would be Skype capabilities so we can stay in touch and Samuel can see his Daddy.
I have posted a BUNCH of pictures below. As an aside: Samuel is now almost 15 months and says about 30 words! He still does not sleep through the night, but otherwise he is growing and developing really well. He is very social, but has quite an attachment to his mommy. He loves being outside, playing with balls, and playing with his Uncle Bobby and Cousin Keely.
Oh yes, one more thing: Keely and Samuel are so adorable together. Their age difference is 3-1/2 years. Keely is used to playing with cousins her own age and is working on understanding how Samuel is different (I am sure it is hard to understand why she gets in trouble for taking his toys, but he can take hers and not get in trouble. However, he is old enough to walk around, destroy things, and play peek-a-boo, or chase with her). It is so sweet to watch Keely make Samuel laugh by tickling him. One day she says she is his "Aunt" because she is so much older, but the next she'll say he's her best friend.

Chronologically, below are a bunch of pix, starting from right before we left Guam.


On Guam: Samuel hiding in the shower curtains from me. He gets so much joy out of playing peek-a-boo and will hide anywhere there's a curtain.

On Guam: Samuel smiling at Daddy. 13 months old.

On Guam: Samuel with Daddy, who has on his prescription gas-mask glasses.

A few days after arriving in Charlotte: Bobby, Samuel, me. I included this pic because Samuel LOVES to be carried around in the sling you see here. Sometimes if he's fussy, I'll pull out the sling and he gets giddy with joy.

At Monkey Joe's in Charlotte: Natalia (Mick's girlfriend), Charis (38 weeks pregnant), Candace, Andrew (Candace's boyfriend). We all met up there and let Keely and Samuel run around and play.

Mick and Samuel at Monkey Joe's. Samuel has a lot of "stranger anxiety" and is pretty slow to warm up to new people. However, he warms up to men much faster than women. Mick was able to hold Samuel (just a few days after arriving in Charlotte), while Candace and Charis are still trying to win Samuel's trust.

Random picture of Bobby and Rudi. I think Bobby's making the funniest face, and Rudi is just smiling...

3 generation picture. Rudi's dad, Rudi & Samuel

Family pic at Charis's house

Eugene and Samuel playing with a mini laundry basket--how fun! Eugene (almost 15) was wonderful with his nephew

Samuel and Daddy

Playing ball in Charis's backyard. I love this picture, even though Rudi's eyes are closed. Couldn't get a picture of them both with their eyes open & looking at the camera.

Samuel & me in Charis's backyard

Again, Samuel has been bonding with men so much more easily. Here he is naked with his Uncle Bobby (who he calls "Bahbob")

Samuel allowed Rudi's mom (Grossmama) to hold him on her 3rd and final day visiting. Here is their breakthrough moment, when Samuel decided to brush her hair.

Again, Samuel LOVES to hid in any curtain and play peek-a-boo.

Had to include this one.

Samuel, me, Sally (Grossmama)

Samuel crying because someone other than mommy/daddy is holding him.

Charis, me, Samuel

Samuel and Grossmama on her last night here. He allows her to hold him now!

Samuel, Dave, Sally being goofy

Samuel and Daddy before a walk

Samuel and Mommy before that same walk....The pictures below are also from the same walk. I had to include them because I think they are so sweet.

Samuel will often find the largest thing around and try to pick it up and walk around with it. He is often see walking with enormous push-brooms, etc. This night, he found a large bag of recycling.

A very pregnant Charis reading bedtime stories to Samuel and Keely.

Sorry, I have no pictures of my mom's visit yet. I have had problems uploading pics from my camera onto Charis's computer. Something with the software. So, I have been unable to upload pictures from this past week. The visit was fun--always awesome to see my parents!

Deployment....and reflections on a year on Guam

Plumeria flowers that are everywhere here. They smell sooo good!
Hibiscus, also everywhere, but they don't smell like anything
Samuel cuddling with Daddy
Thanks for the outfit Uncle Aaron & Aunt Marina
Not sure what this flower is
trying to keep his balance while going downhill
on an evening walk
getting ready for bed

Our little guy, 12 months.

It is hard to believe, but we are approaching the 1 year mark of being here on Guam. I have enjoyed it very much: the slower pace of life here, the close-knit community, the warm, genuine church we've been attending, perpetual summer, outdoor activities, and a part-time job as a community pediatrician that has actually been going well. Rudi has been enjoying all of the things about Guam that I have, including my job, but he does get a little "island fever" from time to time. This island fever recently has been compounded by the fact that he broke his right wrist and separated his left shoulder about 7 weeks ago in a mountain biking accident (thank God he didn't get hurt worse). This has kept him from, surprise, mountain biking, but also weight lifting and running (though he's running again now). One thing that has been frustrating is the bureaucracy of the navy. It is very frustrating at times,

and feels very anonymous, but he is grateful for where he is and what he is doing. He feels especially grateful for the enlisted young men and women-particularly the corpsmen with whom he works every day-and is glad to serve those who are sacrificing so much at a young age.

So what's the deal with deployment? Well, we knew when we came out here to Guam that Rudi would pretty much 100% be deploying once during our three years of service that he owes. With the US involved in Iraq still (well, at least they still need docs over there to support the troops that remain), and now Afghanistan, the rate of doctors deploying to support Army and Marine troops has increased over the last year. We have known that Rudi's turn to deploy would be sometime this coming fall, winter, or spring. But with several colleagues of Rudi's in line to deploy before him, we figured it was several months off still. However, due to a couple of changes, Rudi is now up to go in AUGUST.

Rudi is scheduled to go to Iraq with the Marines sometime in August/September. His training starts at the beginning of August at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where we expect him to be for around a month. His deployment is scheduled to extend to March/April of 2010. We're not sure where in Iraq he's going yet--not sure when we'll find that out.

Samuel and I are planning to fly to NC with Rudi at the beginning of August and stay in Charlotte with family (can't wait to see you, Charis, Bobby, Keely, Candace, Mick, Natalia, Moses). That way, if Rudi gets a few days off here or there during his training, we'll get to see him! Some of Rudi's pals that have been through training at Lejeune said that they got multiple days off during training where they easily could have visited family if they were nearby. Hopefully, seeing him in August will help as it cuts off one month of our separation.

Obviously, I am sick about the upcoming separation that our family will have to endure. Part of me thinks it shouldn't be a big deal because thousands of Navy families deal with similar situations every year. Some go through deployments that are a year or even 15 months. Some are families of combat soldiers that are in more dangerous situations than our doctors. But the bottom line is that no matter what, this 9 month deployment will not be easy on Rudi, me or our families.

I am taking about 5 months leave from my job. It is a huge blessing that I have a job where I can say, "my husband is deploying and I need to take the baby and go to the States until January...will I have a job when I get back?" And get the response, "of course..." I guess there are no guarantees as I've signed no contracts, so we'll see. One thing that does stress me out, though is all the doctor-patient relationships that I've formed over the past several months that will be cut off for a while. I just feel bad for some of the families that decided to come to our clinic, counting on there being a pediatrician here. Hopefully they understand, I don't know what else to do because staying here the ENTIRE time Rudi is gone seems like too much.

My biggest hope (besides Rudi staying absolutely safe during his deployment and travels) is that Rudi and I will each grow in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Please be in prayer that this is the case. Because of our laziness and Samuel's poor sleeping (no excuses, though!), we are pretty irregular about our devotional time. And of course there is the never-ending problem of us falling asleep while praying and not praying enough. We're trying to work on that now, and hopefully we'll be able to work on that during deployment. We do believe that God is a good God and has a plan for us. This deployment is not beyond God and we need to focus on the fact that this is all within His purpose, and that at no point will we be out of His loving care.

I've included some Samuel pics and pics of flowers around where we live to brighten the post.

Reflections on smallpox

As part of getting ready for deployment, Rudi recently was vaccinated against smallpox. For those of you who haven't been vaccinated (I haven't either, so I have no first-hand experience) or who don't know about the vaccine, it is different than your standard "shot." The vaccine is administered by poking a vaccine-dipped, solid, two-prong needle in the upper arm 15 times in rapid succession. Afterwards, if you are appropriately developing immunity to smallpox, your arm will develop an itchy, fairly large, nasty blister at the vaccination site. This will eventually scab over and then leave a scar. If you're interested in details on the immunization, check the CDC site on it here.

I have posted pictures of Rudi's smallpox vaccination site below. His vaccination site has been so itchy that it wakes him up at night sometimes. He shows me the blister from time to time, and it is dramatic--oozing, pus-filled. This solitary spot on Rudi's arm serves as a reminder of the disease that covered its victims with hundreds of such disfiguring, painful, oozing wounds. And as if that wasn't enough, estimates are that 30-60% of the victims, as if they hadn't suffered enough, were killed outright from this virus. 

We googled smallpox and found gruesome images of children covered in the lesions. I am not being morbid for fun--I think it is important for us to remember that vaccines have rid the world of this disease! And also thanks to the smallpox vaccine, the general population doesn't even have to go through the discomfort of getting vaccinated against the disease anymore.

Vaccines have received a lot of negative press recently due to their supposed causal relationship with autism (however, a recent study again showed no link between MMR vaccine and autism), so I think it is important to remember that a terrible and painful pathogen has been eliminated from the planet thanks to vaccination! Sure, any medical treatment should be re-examined continually to ensure that it is not causing undue harm. However, I have heard too many people say, "what's so bad about the measles...." I won't go into the measles (or any of the other vaccine-preventable illnesses), but I would just like to highlight the smallpox vaccine as an example of how privileged we are to live in a post-vaccination era. 

Click here for a brief overview of how smallpox affected the world throughout known history.