spring is on its way! and other things too...

Life keeps rolling by.  

Our days seem to go quickly.  Whether we are on or off duty, there is always something to do. 

Gideon and Aurelia keep having more and more fun together.  

:)

Aurelia is talking more each day. And she's enjoying her ability to communicate. Her favorite word is still "No!" which she loves shouting at anyone and anything. 

we got a wonderful care package in the mail. :)

I love seeing our kids form attachments with the residents.  They love watching the residents walk to school in the morning and come home in the afternoon. They stand at the window and wave and shout to them. 

One morning, while the residents were away, we tested the alarm system.  The houses all have alarms on the windows, doors, and motion activated alarms for night.  Gideon had so much fun seeing if he could crawl away without the alarm going off.

"sneaking"

When we are on maintenance (not on duty but not off) we do a lot of running back and forth.  Running appointments, going to meetings, trainings,  helping the house out, etc.  We've had some pretty busy weeks.  Maintenance days can be harder than on duty days for the kids. There is so much coming and going and not much consistency.  When we are on duty, the days are structured, predictable, and they get to see both of us a whole lot more. Though, they get a whole lot less of our attention. It's kind of a toss up.

We got a weekend off in February and then happened to get a couple extra leading up. So, we took an extended weekend to Illinois.  

First stop: the Brakers. 
We spent the night at David and Jessica's and then went down the road to Nathan's parents for the day. 

reading books with Grandma

cocoa :)

Eva and Isaiah were there for the day too. :)

out in the barn

lambs!

Starting them young...

Second stop: The farm. 
We went to Washington church Wednesday night and then spent the rest of the time at the farm.  Well all of us but Nathan.  

The real reason for the trip was for The Kings Table Con.  A board game convention started by Nathan, Matt, Bob, and a few others.  Nathan spent all of Thursday planning and setting up with Bob.  Then spent all Friday and Saturday at the convention. 

Kirk came to visit

 Fourth stop: Kendra's
Of course I have no pictures to prove it, but Kendra had Wendi and I over for the afternoon.  I'm so thankful for technology because we've actually stayed pretty well connected and there wasn't much catching up to do. :)

Third stop: We went over to Tremont to visit the girls for a few hours and then stopped by the convention. 

:)

Quite the event...

But, back at the farm, on Wednesday night my mom went in to the doctor and found she has a blood clot in her leg. (oddly enough they did testing and the genetics show it didn't get passed to me from her) So, my poor mom spent the weekend with her leg up and I spent my time watching the kids and cooking for my dad. Ha. How times have changed. 

And then....
Since I have a history of blood clots. The potential for another is always on the back of my mind.  Saturday evening, I started getting chest pains.  I was having trouble breathing and getting pretty worried. Pulmonary Embolism is a serious concern. Every time I've been to a hematologist since my blood clot I've been told- if I have chest pain, go to the ER. So, we did.  They ran an EKG, had me on monitors, and did an MRI and thankfully found nothing.   

So we got back to the farm late and night and didn't get much sleep.  We left at noon from church Sunday, got the kids napping on the road, and had a relatively quick drive home. 

We had a good time. It was nice to be back in the area.  It was just a little more stressful and exhausting than expected. 


Monday morning we were back in to the work routine.  I ran a resident to the doctor and Nathan worked on his stuff. 

But, my chest pain hadn't gone away and it was getting worse. And, since we just moved and I'm still trying to get in to a doctor, after more stress, we ran in to the ER again. (these bills will be fun.)  There was a ridiculously long wait in the waiting room. Apparently a bunch of ambulances came in. There was also a lot of shouting coming through the doors and a few police officers walked through at one point...
Anyway. They checked me over. Did an ultrasound to rule out kidney, gallbladder, pancreas, appendix, and liver issues. And it all came back clean.  We were very thankful but frustrated. Pain with no explanation is annoying. 

my kind of bracelet I guess... sigh. 

As a contingency plan, I had also scheduled a Chiropractor appointment. Now I'm definitely not in the  "chiropractors-are-quacks" camp but I fully believe that medicine, drugs, and doctors are great. (except I hate going to the doctor. ha.)  I digress. Basically... I go to the chiropractor with a grain of skepticism especially if they claim a cure-all.   

But, the chiropractor looked at my back, told me everything that was wrong- which I already knew, brought up things that I've been dealing with for years so I didn't even bother mentioning, and with one adjustment, my chest pain was gone. 

Baking is a little more stressful these days

Miss Aurelia LOVES to help

  

how she eats her cereal 

We went on duty for a few days following my hospital visit, and then things got busy. Gateway hosts all of the board members and representatives from all of the churches for a weekend.   We spent a lot of our time on duty cleaning to prepare. 

Gideon and Aurelia decided to help decorate with 

hundreds of stickers while we were otherwise occupied.

sigh. these kids. 

Warmer weather is slowing sneaking in

On Friday, Pine House hosted a lunch at noon for some board members. We had song practice, I did some baking for the weekend, got groceries, and then went to supper at Rita and Loren's for the evening. 

Chelsea making her amazing cinnamon rolls. 

Saturday morning, we PH hosted 30ish people for breakfast.  We stopped by  the Klops again because some cousins were in town. :)  Then back to Gateway for singing and lunch with the Reps.  Supper was at Pine again with a couple Reps who were staying in town.

Tiffany!!!!!

Gideon was so happy to see his long lost love again.

hahaha

Quiet at last. 

snuggles with my buddy and my girl

:)

Sunday morning...

"Tractor Tractor" is a perfect song...hehe

Sunday was a wonderful Spring day.  We went to the park after church and let the kids play. 

:)

chalk.

Its a fire truck spraying a fire. 

 I just love the teases of Spring. I can't wait for warmer weather and more time for playing outside. 

when the neighbor girl escapes her nap and house ...

hahahah...

Tara loves Aurelia. Aurelia tolerates Tara. :)

After supper one evening, we went to the Library and stopped for some ice cream.  

I love little ice cream places. 

We have one scarily close.

 And then all of the murmurings turned in to reality. The Corona Virus is in the States and things started shutting down. Schools canceled, libraries shut down, and church canceled. We had to confirm families were healthy before we sent residents on passes and confirm they were healthy before they came back. Our residents got worried.  I dealt with a toilet paper crisis on campus. (Yay me. haha) I took on the job of buying bulk paper goods for campus the year we get a toilet paper shortage.  

We had another busy week and then went on duty. We were on duty for the best holiday ever. Pi day. :)

I made two wonderful pies. 

Because church was canceled, we got to improvise. We did a coffee and donut breakfast - we let the residents sit quietly for an hour and read or color. 

Gideon enjoyed the donuts

little sneaky Aurelia enjoyed the quiet...

Salt all over. 

We did an impromptu church service in the gym with the rest of campus.  After church, some of the residents asked Nathan to read the Bible with them. 

They read and discussed for a half hour

Some of us rode bikes around campus and visited the barn. 

They have chicks!

:)

and goats

:)

 It was a wonderful relaxed day.  The kids loved being able to go outside in this warmer weather.  The residents were in good moods. And, they were drinking in any bit of scripture we could give them. At bedtime, I read them a devotion and they asked questions and talked way longer than I expected.  It's been such a blessing to be a part of their spiritual questioning and growth. 

Monday, we had to tell our residents that campus was closing to all visitors due to the virus and they wouldn't be able to see family. It was hard. They were rightfully angry.  And as more things have closed down, we all feel pretty much on lock down. They are frustrated and scared. We will all need prayers in the coming weeks. 

I'm trying to not let fear overtake me. I'm mostly calm, until I think of Gideon. His poor lungs take a beating from the common cold. It terrifies me to think what could happen. And, I can't begin to think about the chaos it would cause if campus was exposed.  But, daily, hourly I leave it to God. I pray for protection and I pray for toilet paper and paper towels. seriously though. Some people actually need to buy in bulk.

In Christ
~Michelle