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I figured I should also write a quick blurb about how we are doing and what's going on with us right now, since my kids are being good and everything. Ha. Yeah right. Josh is sitting here screaming, so it'll be quick.

We are still in Bagdad, obviously, Dave is still working in the same job, and not much is new, but I'll go youngest to oldest...

Josh is growing like a weed and is chubby and wonderful and cuddly. He is almost 9 months old now, but still doesn't sleep through the night. :) Fun for me. He loves his older brother and they have so much fun together. He is a total mama's boy, by every explanation. I leave the room, he cries. I put him down, he cries. But it's okay because I love him. :) He is so cheerful and happy and fun and probably the most photogenic baby I've ever seen. He has his first tooth on the bottom, which has been fun for me dealing with his extra grumpiness. He has his next checkup in a week, so I'll report stats then.

Sam is doing new things every day and is becoming so grown up. He is very smart and defiant and starting to get a sarcastic sense of humor. :) He is also very stubborn and can be a REAL pain in my butt, but then a second later he can turn around and be the sweetest boy I've ever seen. He started "preschool" with Christa a couple months ago and is LOVING it (though it will probably not continue anymore). He loves learning and interacting with other kids and is GREAT for other people. :)

The only new thing with me is that I finally finished my book--the final edit and everything! Woo hoo! So, I'm working on my grueling query letters and synopsis, mini synopsis, etc. etc. etc. so I can start researching agents to send it in to. Writing the book was definitely the fun, easy part. This part feels like homework--homework that I actually care about and want to be perfect. LOL. Anyway, thanks to those of who who currently have copies of my final manuscript and are reading them. I started reading it to Dave the other day, feeling SOOO lame because he isn't in to romances, but I have been very very pleasantly surprised that he actually really likes it so far and is anxious to know what happens to the characters.

Anyway, Dave had a health fair a few weeks ago here in Bagdad that he ran, and in that process, he had his blood taken and it was high. He always new it was high, but this time worried him more. Thinking about his dad and seeing his life go in that same path gave him a brutal wake-up call, so for the past few weeks he has been EXTREMELY strict with his diet, determined not to end up that way. I have been sooo proud of him. He is eating smaller portions (and still always starving), eliminating as much carbs and refined sugar as possible, and he is working out every single day--even when we are out of town on the weekends, he'll get up early enough to run. Anyway, he's been taking his blood every morning and the results have been extremely depressing. He finally has an appointment today to see what the deal is, though the numbers we see scream diabetes. We are still hoping for something more positive, and praying, but we wont know till we go in and get checked for sure. We will keep everyone updated.

Our prayers go out to everyone in our family (and outside of it) who are struggling. It seems there is a lot of that going on right now and the list of people to pray for just grows each day. I just thank the Lord for our blessings and hope everyone else can receive the same kind of blessings we get.

We are excited to be going to Colorado for Christmas! And we were excited that Braxton and Cindi might be coming for Thanksgiving, but Brax lost his job and we aren't too sure it's gonna happen anymore. :( We are praying for you guys and hopefully you still can come!!

Halloween was great. We spent it with the Stewarts in the valley and went trick-or-treating with the kids, had a little shin-dig, the usual. Unfortunately, Brand was sick, but still made an appearance as Darth Maul so that their Star Wars family could be complete. They all looked so amazing! Tiff did an amazing job sewing the costumes and they found killer masks. Dave still didn't know until that day what he would be but through together a last minute viking costume that actually looked pretty amazing. I was a witch, thanks to Tiff having the things on hand, Sam was a cowboy, and Josh was a monkey. It was lots of fun, but now Sam wont stop asking for candy. He will randomly say things to me like, "Mom, I love candy."