Move from WI????

I never thought I would contemplate moving from WI again, but it seems as I look daily for work for Joseph I get more and mor frustrated with the outlook. Graduation is looking us in the face in 18 days and some odd hours. What to do after that? Do we stay in WI and Joseph does something temporary totally unrelated to his degree until something better comes along? Do we venture out of WI for him to do his dream job for a while? What does the Lord want from us? So many questions, so many decisions to make. Joseph said to go ahead and apply for the jobs out of state and we will see what the happens. The Lord never shuts a door with out opening another one right? Alabama holds Joseph's dream job at Uchee Pines Lifestyle center. Colorado holds a very good position in his field to give him the experience he needs in an Adventist hospital. I guess we will see what the Lord has in store for us, maybe a small move and maybe a large move!

First storms of Spring

I am watching the first storms of spring. There are huge bolts of lightening streaking the sky and the thunder is so loud. I love storms when they don't bring distruction. 

I had a busy weekend. I took my aunt to the dr on Thursday and they decided to put her in the hospital on Friday. She has a mass in her colon area and they needed to do a colonoscopy. She was admitted so they could do the procedure and possibly surgery to remove it. At the last minute today they decided not to do the surgery because she is on a blood thinner that stays in your system for up to 14 days. They will do the surgery in two weeks instead. The good thing is the scope today showed her colon is clean and there is no cancer. They are thinking the mass is nothing serious.

We are down to the last two weeks of Joseph's school and the countdown is less than three weeks til graduation. I am scared, excited, nervous and excited- oh did I say that twice. I am scared and nervous because of the job outlook but I am excited that this five year journey is almost done. We have known nothing but school since we got married. Not a good way to start a marriage. Then add in a Hannah, infertility, family issues and normal life stress. Right now I am trying not to stress completely out as our outlook looks so bleak. I know God will provide the right job for Joseph, He will provide the right home for us if we need to move and He will provide for our needs. I just need to learn to let go and let God. I have not done that in a long time. I lost so much during this infertily journey and it is slowly coming back as I see the greater picture. There is a part of me that longs to carry another baby but maybe we are meant to adopt. I guess we will see what the Lord has in store for us.

Spa Night

I had a great time tonight at our MOPS spa night. My group helped plan it and it turned out great. It was so relaxing. I will really miss MOPS now that I am graduating out. Hannah starts kindergarten so she will be too old. I am hoping to find a homeschool group to get involved with once we know where we will be living. I sent out another resume for Joseph this week but there is just not a lot out there in his field. I am hoping for one that got back to him, Interra Health. They are located by Milwauke but he would be in a contracted position as a health screener. He would travel to companies in WI and put on health screenings for employees. I think we can live anywhere since he will travel to the company. We will find out more in June, that is when they will call for an interview. Then training begins in August. We might have to find a temp job to get us by if nothing else comes through before they call back.

Well, I don't have much to post. I have had a migraine for two days and I need to get some sleep, if I can. 

End of a stressful week and weekend...

Well I picked my dad up from the hospital on Friday, they told him he could be released around noon. He got dressed and we sat there until 2:30 waiting for discharge paperwork. I drove him home and stayed the weekend with him. My sister came up Saturday morning. It was nice to spend family time withouth our kids. Dad slept most of the weekend so Sam and I got some good bonding time. Dad has two long marks on the top of his head that are stapled shut. He will get the staples out in two weeks and that is when he gets the batteries installed in his device in his chest. I am so thankful that God brought him through this and that he is healing so fast.

My sister was telling me that my nephew is getting hit daily in his private area and they school won't do anything about it. It is supposedly not sexual harrassment because the boys are his age. WHAT? That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. I will be making some contacts to put this to and end. This so reaffirms us homeschooling Hannah. I am so glad I won't have to deal with the issues of public school, the bad influences and the horrible mean kids now days.

That is about it for now, have a great week.

Surgery was a success, so far

Well, I was up bright and early to get to the hospital an hour away. I got to sit with dad until they took him to get his "halo" put on, his MRI and then into the OR. I think he finally got into surgery around 9:30am and he was done around noon. I got to go up to his room around 1:45 and he looked great. His head was shaved and he had large gauze bandages covering the two holes on top of his head where they drilled into his brain. He also had two regular band-aids on his forehead where the "halo" was pinned. He seemed in good spirits and not in much pain other than a headache that he rated at a 5 on the pain scale. Understandable he would have a headache. The nurse forgot to bring his meds for his headache so two hours later I reminder her. She brought in some vicodin and he tried to rest. His headache was getting worse and he was not able to get any sleep. I went back to the nurses station and they came back to give him morphine by IV. They then took him for a CT scan to make sure he did not have any bleeding in his brain. I left after I ordered him dinner. I will go back tomorrow and they plan to discharge him early in the afternoon. I will drive him home and stay with him over the weekend. My sister is supposed to come up after work and stay the weekend too. I am so thankful for all the prayers and support from family and friends. Dad will go back in two weeks to get the device implanted in his chest to control the probes they put in today. Then hopefully we will see the full results from the surgery. Thank you Lord for you guidance today, we know you were watching over dad today and guided the hands of the physicians.

On another happy note Joseph is down to 30 days until graduation. I also got a lot of searching done at the hospital today and I think I have found a homeschool program for Hannah. It is called Five in a Row. I am excited to get started this fall. I am exausted after 12 hours at the hospital, so I am off for now.

Great Easter

Well we had a great Easter. I had Joseph's parents and my friend Jennifer over Friday evening for the Good Friday celebration. Jennifer had her two kids with her and it was a lot of fun. After we ate we went for a walk and then we watched a video on the Last Supper. After church on Sabbath we went to my dad's and spent the night. My sister and the boys came too. We went out for pizza and the place had games too. The kids had a good time earning tickets to redeem. After dinner we went to Walmart to get snacks and a movie. We put the kids to bed and watched Ironman. It was pretty good. Easter morning we did an egg hunt for the little kids and they seemed to have a good time. We went out for an Easter brunch and it was delicious. After we ate we parted ways and I went to see my mom. Sam and the boys had gone the day before. I guess mom loves seeing baby Dakokta and she even held him. When we showed up she had the blanket over her head and Hannah pulled it back. Mom was so excited to see us and she kept saying baby over and over. I think she thought we were bringing the baby back. We had a great visit. Mom was in such good spirits, she was laughing and holding a converstation. We took her for walk around the garden because it was a beautiful day outside. I had to video tape the conversation because it was unbelievable. I left with such a great feeling about that day. I was so glad I got to see a little of my old mom and so glad we got to capture it on video.

On Tuesday I went to Madison to visit Whole Foods. My friend Jennifer came with and brought her daughter. I took Hannah so Joseph could get caught up on school work. He is still behind from dealing with the effects of his thyroid issue. It was so great to find almost everything I needed in one place and at such good prices. I plan to go once a month to stock on items for the month.  We stopped at Panera Bread for lunch, it was so good. Joseph was a little jealous because he loves that place. I was excited to find out there is a Trader Joes in Madison too so next month I will hit both places.

My dad is having Deep Brain Stimulation surgery tomorrow. I am still trying to find out when. I am a little scared and I am hoping it goes well. I will stay the weekend with him after he goes home to make sure he is doing well. 

First Post

Hi, welcome to my blog. I figured since we have a lot going on in our lives right now I would start this blog. We started the job search for Joseph this week now that we heard we did not get the property in Portage. He sent out 3 resumes to positions in Wisconsin, all health promotion related. We will wait to see if we hear back on any of the resumes. There is not a lot out there and this economy is a little scary. We still don't know if our house is selling, but we have been told that the people who buy it will probably let us keep renting. I also have a huge dilema that I am trying to figure out. We have plans to go to Kansas in May for Joseph's graduation and we were going to leave on Wednesday so we can take our time getting there and spend some time visiting the area. Plus Joseph has some events to attend prior to Saturday. Well, Hannah has a ballet recital the day after his graduation and we planned to drive through the night and get back Sunday morning in time for her to get to her recital. I took her to ballet last night and they had the information for the recital in the new newsletter. I found out Hannah needs to be at a final rehearsal on Friday. That is going to be hard to do from Kansas. I am trying to figure out if we leave her with someone so she can be at her final rehearsal and then she misses her daddy's graduation OR we take her with as planned, she misses final rehearsal and possibly won't be allowed to to her recital. It is the only practice at the PAC where she will perform and if she misses it she won't know where to stand and such at the actual theatre. Ughhhh, why does it have to be so difficult. I wish I didn't have to chose.

On a good note, I am excited it is Easter weekend. I have everything all ready for Friday night. We always do a little agape feast at our home. We do a traditional foot washing and communion type service. We then do some readings and light some candles along with tasting some different types of foods that go along with the readings. We have horseradish that represents the bitterness of sin and applesauce that represents God's sweet love. It is a lot of fun. I then put out bible tpe foods, we will have dried fruit, grapes, hard boiled eggs, unleavened breads, olives, tapenade, grape juice, nuts, salmon and I make a braided bread that is so pretty. We have Joseph's parents and my friend Jennifer and her family coming. It should be a good time. I have a video that documents the last supper that I will show too. Then Saturday after church we are heading to dad's house and spending the night. My sister Sam and her boys will be coming too. We will go out to brunch on Sunday and then go visit my mom. On our way back home we are stopping to have dinner with my aunt Judy. A very full and fun weekend.