While on your way to an Easter egg hint at church you stop at Publix to get orajel for your fussy, teething son. When Chris headed into Publix, he left a moderately fussy baby and an in control Mommy. When he came back he found a screaming baby and a Mommy who tried-to-nurse-baby-to-soothe-him-because-he-had-started-crying-harder-but-he-didn't-want-to-nurse-so-she-tried-to-give-him-Tylenol-but-he-spit-it-all-out-and-over-the-place-so-now-she-is-stressed-and-worried-that-something-worse-than-teething-is-wrong-and-milk-is-squirting-everywhere-and-she-is-starting-to-c-c-crryyyy!
Chris made the executive decision that a nap was needed badly by all and we should probably skip the egg hunt and head home - and the baby fell sound asleep as we drove home...
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Provisions Abound
$34,000. That was our original hospital bill. Not including the anesthesiologist, pediatrician or hearing tests and after we had already prepaid $1,000. $14,000 was the second, reduced, but still incorrect bill because insurance was being difficult. After some calls from Chris (and a lot of prayers) we discovered we did not have to pay this whole amount and needed to wait for yet another bill. That bill finally came this week. Wanna guess how cool our Lord is?
I don't think your ready for this...
$484 is our final correct amount!
Pre-natal care and all we have paid around $3,000 dollars to bring Eb into the world. I am beyond floored by God's abundant, tangible provisions. He is true to His word - where He leads, He will make a way.
I don't think your ready for this...
$484 is our final correct amount!
Pre-natal care and all we have paid around $3,000 dollars to bring Eb into the world. I am beyond floored by God's abundant, tangible provisions. He is true to His word - where He leads, He will make a way.
My Sweet Hubby
It has been a crazy week and I simply could not make it without Chris! He has helped me finish entering data, finished up the responsibilities with his work, started packing/painting and kept me fed. To top it all he brought me home some flowers to brighten up our increasingly bare apartment! Did I mention how happy I am that he's mine?
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Great is Thy Faithfulness!
Do you ever feel like God is in control of the big things, like moves, job choices and children, but leaves the details, the 'little things', up to us and chance? I do on occasion and I love it when God corrects me by showing how He wants to care for me through the 'little things' too!
We are going to be moving in about a week and as things pile up we try to prioritize and knock down what is absolutely necessary, saving what we can for after the move. Knowing what a planner I am it has been stressful not knowing exactly where all the tasks were going to get accomplished - then drama hit! (Que the dramatic music!) While chomping away on some Easter gum I felt an unusual crunch and then something came loose... that something was this...
... my crown I had done in Bowling Green probably five years ago.
Stress does not begin to cover the emotions that raced successively through me at that moment. The internal montage went something like this... "We do not have a dentist in Florida - for that matter we hadn't been to a dentist in YEARS. Where do we go? How much is this going to cost? When I got the crown originally it was quite expensive - and time consuming. We don't really have a week to repeat that process all over again. Do I wait until we are in Indiana? Can I get a temp here and finish up there? Its seven o'clock at night, I can't call any dentists to get these questions answered - and Chris made some wonderful lasagna, am I going to be able to eat it?"
I Facebook-ed some of my Gainesville friends and they came to the rescue with local dentist suggestions and called Mom to pray that this could be solved quickly and cheaply. Chris called the next morning and found a dentist that could see me in a few hours. They said as long as the crown wasn't cracked all they would have to do was re-cement it. Praise God it wasn't cracked! He cleaned out the old cement, dried off my tooth and cemented the crown back on! No needles, no waiting for a new crown and a bill we were able to pay without much stress!
How cool is it that we have a God who cares about the details - including our teeth?
We are going to be moving in about a week and as things pile up we try to prioritize and knock down what is absolutely necessary, saving what we can for after the move. Knowing what a planner I am it has been stressful not knowing exactly where all the tasks were going to get accomplished - then drama hit! (Que the dramatic music!) While chomping away on some Easter gum I felt an unusual crunch and then something came loose... that something was this...
... my crown I had done in Bowling Green probably five years ago.
Stress does not begin to cover the emotions that raced successively through me at that moment. The internal montage went something like this... "We do not have a dentist in Florida - for that matter we hadn't been to a dentist in YEARS. Where do we go? How much is this going to cost? When I got the crown originally it was quite expensive - and time consuming. We don't really have a week to repeat that process all over again. Do I wait until we are in Indiana? Can I get a temp here and finish up there? Its seven o'clock at night, I can't call any dentists to get these questions answered - and Chris made some wonderful lasagna, am I going to be able to eat it?"
I Facebook-ed some of my Gainesville friends and they came to the rescue with local dentist suggestions and called Mom to pray that this could be solved quickly and cheaply. Chris called the next morning and found a dentist that could see me in a few hours. They said as long as the crown wasn't cracked all they would have to do was re-cement it. Praise God it wasn't cracked! He cleaned out the old cement, dried off my tooth and cemented the crown back on! No needles, no waiting for a new crown and a bill we were able to pay without much stress!
How cool is it that we have a God who cares about the details - including our teeth?
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Second Sunday
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| 4/1/2012 |
Just strolling along...
Until it is time to leave for IN I have been watering on campus once a week. During this time Chris hangs out with Eb in the car, and if Eb is doing good we take a walk around Lake Alice. This last week (3/31) I got to play around with a new application my friend Adrienne gave me called Hipstamatic, and below are the fun results! Can you believe my baby is 10 weeks old!?!
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| Imprints in the side walk around the church... |
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| I didn't know Florida could grow these kinds of Irises! |
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| The beautiful chapel near Lake Alice. |
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| Walks make Eb sleepy... |
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| Trying to decide if we were going to get rained on... |
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| Yummy finger Mom! |
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| "Why do you keep pointing that at me?" |
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Time for a change...
When I got pregnant I really thought I could finish the PhD. I only would have two year left and only two classes, so most of that time would be research and writing - shouldn't be a problem, right? Well that plan hinged heavily on me being able to have Eb with me most of the time. I knew I couldn't have him in the lab because of policy and chemicals, but I thought I could have him in the field with me. Over the last few weeks it has become apparent that isn't technically allowed, and my adviser is not okay with it.
So a cross road presented itself to us. Start pumping and seek 'alternative care' for Ebenezer so I can spend the amount of time I would need to in the field and Chris can do his internship or... quit. It wasn't quite that straight forward at first, but that is what it came down to.
Chris and I have always felt passionately that it is our responsibility from God to train and raise our children - personally. We don't feel like we can fulfill that responsibility by placing our children under the care and authority of others. So daycare was out of the question, even if we could afford it. Chris needs to continue on to his internship if he is to graduate in a timely manner, so he would not be available for the amount of time I would need to be occupied.
So, we decided it was time to quit.
This isn't as traumatic for me as you might think. It has actually been an extreme relief. I have felt torn between the full time responsibility of the PhD and the full time responsibility of being a Mom and wife since I knew I was pregnant. There has been tension between these two for months and it multiplied exponentially after Eb was born. I wasn't keeping up with my one class and I wasn't getting the necessities done with the project. What little I was doing took time away from Eb that I didn't want to give, and the whole aura of the PhD tainted the time I did have with him with stress and guilt. I was beyond tired of that tension, and quite honestly my loyalties had moved from this program to Ebenezer long before I saw his face.
Some things that have further eased this decision are the conditions I came here under, the assumption I have always tried to have about the PhD and some things that just didn't go as planned with the project. This was a job to me, not something that I had to, or really wanted to, commit my whole life to. It was a blessing that God provided a way to provide for us that I found very interesting and gave Chris the time he needed to work on his Masters. I have always held it loosely while still trying to do an excellent job. I planned to complete it if nothing better came along - fortunately for me something better has come along! Some things in my project haven't gone as planned which has kept me from being as endeared to it as I could have been - I came on the assumption that I would at least be able to incorporate organic research into this and was never able to. Additionally, the load continues to get heavier and heavier as my adviser added things that were of interest to her and chucked my interests out the window. Finally, as you all know, my dream has always been to be a wife and Mom, and Chris and I agreed if the PhD interfered with that, it was disposable.
Now that there is a conflict between the two the time has come to cut our losses and dispose of what isn't necessary - me becoming a doctor.
I had a lot of fear in this decision (Surprised?). Not for my personal goals or desires, I am thrilled that I finally get my heart's desire! No my fear involved much more tangible things, anger from my adviser, disapproval and misunderstanding from other and finances. There was the possibility that I would have to pay back all of the aid I had received so far (well over $60,000 including tuition waivers). But God has been faithful and tangibly confirmed to us that this is a good path (why am I surprised?)! Not only will I not have to pay anything back (except loans of course) but I will continue to get paid to the end of term, with less responsibility, my adviser took the news beautifully, so has everyone else, we already have a place lined up to live back in Indiana and Chris found a new internship within a week of calling around!
While I am going to miss the church family and friends we have made here, I am beyond excited to move back to familiar ground and start this new chapter of life!
So a cross road presented itself to us. Start pumping and seek 'alternative care' for Ebenezer so I can spend the amount of time I would need to in the field and Chris can do his internship or... quit. It wasn't quite that straight forward at first, but that is what it came down to.
Chris and I have always felt passionately that it is our responsibility from God to train and raise our children - personally. We don't feel like we can fulfill that responsibility by placing our children under the care and authority of others. So daycare was out of the question, even if we could afford it. Chris needs to continue on to his internship if he is to graduate in a timely manner, so he would not be available for the amount of time I would need to be occupied.
So, we decided it was time to quit.
This isn't as traumatic for me as you might think. It has actually been an extreme relief. I have felt torn between the full time responsibility of the PhD and the full time responsibility of being a Mom and wife since I knew I was pregnant. There has been tension between these two for months and it multiplied exponentially after Eb was born. I wasn't keeping up with my one class and I wasn't getting the necessities done with the project. What little I was doing took time away from Eb that I didn't want to give, and the whole aura of the PhD tainted the time I did have with him with stress and guilt. I was beyond tired of that tension, and quite honestly my loyalties had moved from this program to Ebenezer long before I saw his face.
Some things that have further eased this decision are the conditions I came here under, the assumption I have always tried to have about the PhD and some things that just didn't go as planned with the project. This was a job to me, not something that I had to, or really wanted to, commit my whole life to. It was a blessing that God provided a way to provide for us that I found very interesting and gave Chris the time he needed to work on his Masters. I have always held it loosely while still trying to do an excellent job. I planned to complete it if nothing better came along - fortunately for me something better has come along! Some things in my project haven't gone as planned which has kept me from being as endeared to it as I could have been - I came on the assumption that I would at least be able to incorporate organic research into this and was never able to. Additionally, the load continues to get heavier and heavier as my adviser added things that were of interest to her and chucked my interests out the window. Finally, as you all know, my dream has always been to be a wife and Mom, and Chris and I agreed if the PhD interfered with that, it was disposable.
Now that there is a conflict between the two the time has come to cut our losses and dispose of what isn't necessary - me becoming a doctor.
I had a lot of fear in this decision (Surprised?). Not for my personal goals or desires, I am thrilled that I finally get my heart's desire! No my fear involved much more tangible things, anger from my adviser, disapproval and misunderstanding from other and finances. There was the possibility that I would have to pay back all of the aid I had received so far (well over $60,000 including tuition waivers). But God has been faithful and tangibly confirmed to us that this is a good path (why am I surprised?)! Not only will I not have to pay anything back (except loans of course) but I will continue to get paid to the end of term, with less responsibility, my adviser took the news beautifully, so has everyone else, we already have a place lined up to live back in Indiana and Chris found a new internship within a week of calling around!
While I am going to miss the church family and friends we have made here, I am beyond excited to move back to familiar ground and start this new chapter of life!
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