I'm Back!!!

Well, I guess I should apologize for just disappearing off the face of the earth but the last several months have been a little crazy. Blogging became the last thing that I thought about. Many of you know where I have been, but for those who don't, I'll try to give you a brief synopsis of the last few months. Then maybe I can do better about more frequent updates.

My last post was in May after Joshua's graduation and after that we spent time preparing for VBS at the church. During this time I was still actively pursuing a travel assignment in the nursing field. The week before VBS, I received a phone call from 2 hospitals and had two job offers for travel assignments. I ended up accepting the one for California because the pay was better :-) and also because I already had the California nursing license. Suddenly, I had a million things to do to get ready and within 2 weeks, I was on my way to one of the craziest experiences I have had in a long time.

I went to work in a moderate size hospital in Yuba City, California and worked in a level II NICU/Well Baby Nursery. While being away from family was difficult, it was a great experience. The people I worked with there were awesome and they treated me like family. We had a great time. I did get lonely after a while and decided to get a kitten. Cali was my companion and helped to keep me sane. She is home with me now and has adjusted very well to life with family and 2 large dogs. I do believe she rules the roost many days. :-)

Talking on the phone was great, but it just wasn't the same as being together with family. We decided to get web cams and that made communication really cool because we could actually feel like we were in the same room with each other from all the way across the country. Skpe is pretty amazing. We even got our parents in on the action so I could talk to pretty much all of my family while I was gone.

I spent 13 weeks there and got to come home for a week and then went back to complete another 8 week assignment. It was truly an amazing experience and I look forward to traveling again when God provides the right assignment, but I definitely don't want to be gone quite that long again. I missed my family, friends, and my church. While I was in California, I found a great little church that took me in even though I couldn't attend as regularly as I wanted and treated me as one of their own.

I got back home the Monday night before Thanksgiving and got to take the month of December off. I spent that time getting used to being in a house full of people again. :-) After 5 months alone it was definitely an adjustment again. Being home has been great. We spent time with each other, worked on getting school work caught up and grades done and all that good stuff.

After Christmas, we started trying to get back in the swing of things and yet we were all moving a little slowly because we just wanted to spend as much time as possible with Joshua before he left for boot camp. We learned to play Canasta over Christmas from Nana and have become Canasta maniacs. It is a fun game and can be played with lots of people. We have even come home and taught it to some of our friends.

'Joshua left here this past weekend, on January 25th. He went to Montgomery, AL and spent the night there. On Monday morning he got up and went through the processing and all that stuff. :-) We waited all day to know if he had actually left and spoke with his recruiter that afternoon and were told that there was nothing they saw that would have kept him from leaving.

So again the waiting...and that night, at 9:25 we received a phone call. It was the very scripted phone call that we were told to expect, but not at all what I expected. All I could do was listen as he told me in a very monotone voice that he had arrived safely at Parris Island and not to try to call him or write to him, that we would receive a letter in 7-10 days with his mailing address, and not to worry about him. I tried to tell him 'we love you' but have no clue if he even could hear me. When I got off the phone, I actually cried. I had not thought it would be so emotional but I guess it finally felt real.

Please be in prayer for him as he goes through the next 13 weeks. It is a very tough training and we are so very proud of him. I can't wait for his first letter and then to be able to write to him.

Well, thanks for listening to my ramblings and getting you caught up on my life. I will try to be better about writing more often. I'll also try to get some pics out here soon.

God bless and have a great day!!!!