Can't sleep

My excitment level is through the roof. I expect that I will have a hard time sleeping these next few weeks. I took a 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon, and I think I may skip those in hopes to sleep at night.

I've been following Minnesota Gal's blog for a couple of months. Her husband is a new FSO and they're heading out to Manilla, Philipines very soon (one month). I'm so excited for them. I may get a chance to meet her when we move into Oakwood - that would make me so happy.

There are a lot of FSO families living at Oakwood, it'll be great to finally be with people that understand what we're going through. They'll also understand all the abbreviations I use (FSO, DoS, EFM, FLO, CLO, FSI, etc...(btw I'm still a newb with abbreviations, I have a lot to learn)). There will also be a lot of kids there. There's a pool, playground, and sand box. We still have his sand toys from the grandparents so we'll get some use out of those this summer even when we're not at the beach!

I'm trying to catch up with my Esther class (I'm a week behind (this morning I was two weeks behind, so I'm working on it)). I'm going to give in and pay $5 to watch the video online that I missed on Monday.

It begins...

John took Mickey to the airport this morning and immediately after Malachi and I started working in the apartment. He helped me bag some clothes that are being thrown away (really old/holey - separate from the give away pile). Then I set him up with play doh and coloring/activity books and started in on our dining room closet. I've found a few things that we're going to give away, but most of it we're keeping. Does anyone need clear contact paper? How about a never used Memory Game? I also have a small deep fryer that I never used after a friend gave it to me. If you want any of these things, let me know!

Malachi's doing really well. I finally got a hold of Malachi's Dr.'s office today. John is faxing over the paperwork from the ER visit on Saturday to Malachi's Pediatrician's office. His Dr. can look it over and decide if she wants to see him or just write orders for a MRI and consult with a Pediatric Neurologist.

Memorial Day

This Memorial Day has been weird for me. As far as I know I have no family that has passed serving our country, so I don't have anyone to go pay honor to today. No one invited us to a bbq, and we're not hosting one, so that's very weird.

Mickey is in town today so this morning she took care of Malachi while John and I slept an hour and a half after he got up. Thank you Mickey!! After hanging out for a while Malachi made known his desire to go play outside. Since we don't have a yard or the fun toys he was used to playing with outside and grandma and grandpa's house we decided going somewhere would be a good time. Finally the Dallas Zoo is what we ended up doing because Malachi loves the stream they have in the Children's Zoo. He must have played there for 45 minutes before we took him out.


He wanted Chick-fil-A so that's where we headed for lunch. During his nap, I finished a craft project I was working on, and John worked on his new blog, I got a memebership at Palm Beach Tan (woo hoo, I wont be white!!!), and hung out with John for a bit. Mickey slept and did her nails (which I should do soon too).

Tonight we're going to do who knows what for dinner. Tomorrow is my Esther Bible Study! Only two more before I have to quit going.

Weekend Adventures

So yesterday we got a call from John's parents saying they were on the way to the hospital. Malachi had a seizure for a couple of minutes and afterward was lethargic/sleeping for a bit. After that he woke up and cried, he was pretty scared. The EMT's, ambulance, and police were there in mere minutes (2-5), and Malachi went in the ambulance with Grandma to the hospital and Grandpa followed in the car.

He was checked out in the ER (by a Christian Dr. - Thank you Lord!). Blood work and CT Scan were normal. He was sent home from the hospital and we asked Rick and Mickey to bring him home today. Ever since he went home from the hospital he's been fine. Today he's been running around playing outside, and tonight he was running around the gym at our church while we were at a church "family dinner." He was climbing the bleachers in the gym and acting like a normal 3 1/2 year old.

The Dr. at the ER said we should take him to a Pediatric Neurologist and have an MRI done. Hopefully we can have that done as soon as possible. I'd like to be able to get in on Wednesday. It's too bad that it's a holiday on Monday, I'd like to be in earlier than that.

On a less serious note, John seems to have been poisoned by a plant. His legs have developed red, itchy spots that get pretty big and open up/scab over pretty quickly. The bumps and itchiness has spread to his arms, but he's avoiding scrathing those to make sure they don't open up. He just bought some Calahist Lotion tonight and it really helped with his dad's case, so we're hoping that it'll help with his.

Mickey's staying over tonight through Wednesday to help take care of Malachi so that my friend and I can organize the apartment. I hope that we can get a lot of work done.

Have a great week everyone!

Surprise

I'm watching Family Feud right now and I've just been surprised and saddened at the same time. Round two: List Organizations that help people. Answers:

1. Red Cross
2. Salvation Army
3. AA
4. AAA
5. FEMA

How horrible is that, that the church isn't even on the list! We should be number one! I have such mixed emotions that I don't even know what else to say.

Bigger News!!

John got the call to duty yesterday! He's reporting for duty on June 22nd. We're leaving Dallas on the 17th. We'll be in MN for a few days from the 7th to the 12th. We're having our going away party down here on the 13th of June, open house style that afternoon. Sarah Roy and I are going to work together to figure out a going away party for the MSP area. That way we can make sure to see everyone!

Big News!!

John texted me yesterday morning with this: TS Clearance granted 5/15.

At first when I looked at this I was distracted by a friend, then when I figured it out I started yelling at the top of my lungs: JOHN GOT SECURITY CLEARANCE.

That's right people, his last hurddle is now done. I'm so happy for him! We're expecting a job offer for the June 22nd class any minute now. This is the hardest waiting John's had to go through, and it's very tough on him. Keep him in your prayers that he would have peace and patience.

Normal

Things are getting back to normal I think. That is to say that our best friends are on their way back into town. Brandon and Cassi went to Austin for the school year (Brandon's in Law at UT Austin). Brandon's actually in town now. Cassi's a nanny and has to work another couple of weeks. But yesterday Brandon was at church, afterwards a few of us went to Simply Asia our favorite after church lunch spot (and where Ival proposed to Sarah just 16 months ago). The rest of the day was filled with Settlers, knitting, cleaning :(, burger making, and Arrested Development. It was such a great, great day. I hate to think what we would have missed out on if we didn't go to church which was our original plan.

I'm considering joining 24 Hour Fitness this summer to go to the gym with Cassi. I really enjoyed going with her when we were in Austin in February, and I think I'd really be able to get in shape over the summer if we went. Also, hopefully it would build a habit that I could keep up when we moved. I really do like exercising. I especially like running. So I don't know why I don't do it more often.

I'm in an Esther Bible Study. I really like the book of Esther, I'm learning so much from it. Unfortunately I'm not caught up. This is the first week where I've been so far behind (I only did one day of the five that I should've). So today I'm going but I'm going to be at such a disadvantage because of my lack of discipline to do my studies over the week. I hope it's taught me a lesson.

I hear John waking up so I'm off to get ready for work/Esther.

Love to all!!

Recovering

Right now I'm feeling ok. It really depends on what part of the day you ask my how I feel. Yesterday I didn't feel well by 10 so I asked Melissa to come over early so I could go to work and hopefully not think about how sick to my stomach the anti-biotic was making me feel.

I stayed there for four hours instead of five. Today though, I am going to work 12-5.

Still Sick

This cold is really taking a toll on me. I haven't been able to fully train for my 5k which is on Thursday. I did finally make it to the track, but I just walked a bit over a mile.

My friend Melissa is coming over at noon to take care of Malachi. Then I'll work until 5. This way I get a bit more than five hours a day for three days this week. Friday I'm back to 8-12 because she's working that afternoon. I'm so blessed that she's going to help us out this week.

This morning I'm going to rest up before going to work.

Owie!

Cooking chili on the stove top today for the first time in a long, long time. I went to stir it and I think I tried to move the pot a bit with the spoon and then there was some splashing and I got some of the boiling hot juices on two of my fingers on my right hand. It was very painful, still is. And I was in the middle of doing dishes with Malachi and didn't get to stop. When I turned the water on for him in the shower and then checked the temperature I cried out in pain because I used my right hand and woo...it hurts!

I've asked John if he could finish the dishes. I didn't get an answer, but hopefully with my gimp hand and most of them already done he'll be willing to do it for me.

Tomorrow he's coming home early because I have to go to the Dr.'s office. This has nothing to do with Department of State, but rather an infection that apparently hasn't gone away with meds, but gotten worse. It's become painful and I just want it to go away. So for the first time (yes, another) in a long time I'm going to the Dr. for a reason not related to "women health" or the DoS.

I really like my Dr.'s medical assistant. She is so available to her patients. She gives out her email address and extention to patients in case they need to get a hold of her and she's been very patient with me during the whole medical clearance process. Thank you Sarah!

Silent

I've been pretty silent on my blog for a while. Maybe because I've been blogging a bit on our Biggest Loser blog (which isn't public so I'm not going to link it). Since I'm technically blogging, I forget about this one.

Very sorry to anyone who's missing out. So...some updates:

John told me this morning that he has Level 1 Medical Clearance. Yay!! Praise God! We're still praying for Security Clearance to go through, after that is Final Clearance which we're not worried about. We're not worried about any of it actually. I know that this is the Lord's will, and I know that His timing is perfect. So continue to pray that John's Security Clearance will get done and that there wont be any difficulties with final clerearance.

After final clearance we're hoping he'll get a job offer immediately. John was going to try to wait until August, but after reading some blogs from people in the same process he's going to take what ever is offered because some people are still having to wait over a year, and his desire (and mine) is to go NOW.

I bought a book called Realities of Foreign Service Life. It's a collection of essays from Foreign Service Officers and Eligable Family Members (EFM's (spouses, dependant children, dependant parents)). I've learned a great deal and now I'm completely dreading the moving process. I was talking to John yesterday about it and I said that like with children I know the good will outweigh the bad, but just from what I read this weekend it sounds like there's going to be a lot of bad! I'm two essays now into the "Living in the Foreign Service" section and it's a little happier.

Work is going well for John and for me. This is the last week of school at CFNI and that means this is the last week of school at the pre-school until summer school starts. Next week my girlfriend is going to take care of him Tuesday - Friday and on Saturday he's leaving us! My in-laws are going to take him on the 16th and they're keeping him until the 30th. The reasons are two fold. One - I don't have to pay a babysitter for those two weeks and I can work 8 hour days effectively completing four weeks of work in two. Two - my in laws love taking him. This will be his third two week trip and his fifth trip with out us. He's quite the traveler. We're going to miss him greatly but we know he'll be in good hands, and he wont be bothered by our absence at all. I need to figure out someone(s) to take care of Malachi the other two weeks before summer school starts. Or I'm going to stay home and bring work home, or I'm going to work at night. We'll figure it all out, I'm very glad that my boss is flexible. He understands though because his wife (and mother to their three kids) works from home.

John seems to be always busy at work, busy, busy, busy. He usually stays 30 minutes to an hour late now. I don't even expect him home until at least six. He's the only one in his department that does his job and his job requires a lot from him. He often is working from home when there's a crisis. I'm quite surprised that the company hasn't given him a BlackBerry yet since they call him a lot.

John's almost done with school. He has his final this week and that's it. He doesn't plan on doing anything this fall because even if he started at DoS in August he wouldn't be able to finish his semester. So I don't know when he's going to finish his Master's Certificate. He's discussed doing it this fall or next spring if his work isn't too demanding by then.

We've been trying hard to hang out with our friends as much as possible. I think it started happening subconcioiusly but became a conscious effort. Our friends that moved to Austin in the fall for Law School will be back up for the summer so he can do an internship in Dallas. We're so, so excited about that!

My training for the 5k is going well. Just a week and a half until we run it! I'm really enjoying the physical benefits from it. My muscles are tightening and growing and slowly (very slowly because I haven't changed eating habits) I'm losing fat.

Whew...I think that's a lot of updates. I think I'll post some pictures soon. I haven't done that forever!