Words....

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  One immediately comes to mind whenever I see my girls:

Beautiful

Housing News

We will start with the exciting news that our home is now under contract for sale!

We received our first offer exactly two weeks after listing and feel extremely blessed that we had so much interest so fast.  We now are waiting to get a closing date and have all the accompanying disclosures / inspections completed.  Thanks to all who prayed on this for us...your support is appreciated.

We made a promise to Eden that once we did have the house sold we would break out her newest contraption, the excersaucer.  So, she reminded us of this Wednesday evening and as the accompanying pictures show...she seems to like it.

Another trip to Wakarusa and one more week closer to completion of our new home.  They finished framing the upstairs this week and began work on the roof.  They hope to have the basement framed during this next week as well.  Here is Eve welcoming me home for the first time:

The completed front of the house:

Looking from the entryway into Eden's bathroom:

Looking from the entryway into the living room with stairwell on the right:

If anyone needs any bent nails, four to six inch 2x4 scraps, or clay soil, let us know and we could work out a deal :)

And finally, Sherman wanted to let everyone know that he still loves his little sister and that there are pictures to prove it:

Have a great week and enjoy the warmer weather and sunshine!

Have you seen it????

WARNING

Local newscasters in the South Bend / Mishawaka area were informing the public this evening of an unforeseen danger.  It seems that the unusually warm and sunny weather of the past few days has been distorting the natural cycle of hibernation for some creatures.  Reports have been circulating of sightings of one of these creatures in locations their presence is not normally associated with including Meijer, Wabash Electric, and a home in Granger, IN.  One eyewitness reported seeing the creature riding in a gray SUV with Notre Dame plates.  It is not known if said creature is a danger to the general public at this stage of its early development.  Notre Dame biology professor Sherman McDizzle, PhD. is researching the possibility that this creature, which he describes as "a rare white Peepers bear,"  could be the offspring of a family that has lived in the Mishawaka area for approximately 8 years.  McDizzle heard that this family has been or is in the process of migrating south. McDizzle urges caution to any who may encounter this creature.  He warns: "you think it is harmless but then you find yourself talking in a high pitched voice, making funny faces at it, and wanting to bring it fun and colorful objects to play with.  Before you know it the creature is laughing and smiling at you and then, well then......" he trailed off.  Again, caution is urged for any who come in contact with the creature pictured below.  Please inform any and all you know if you encounter it.

Updates

We've been quite busy the past two weeks.  We started having house showings and it has been quite a whirlwind.  We had one two Sundays ago, one on Tuesday, two on Thursday, one each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!  Poor Sherm doesn't know if he is coming or going anymore with as much as he is in the car riding to and from his Aunt and Uncle's house.  We did our grocery shopping Saturday during the showing and of course took Eden with us.  We were a tad bit disappointed in her though...we gave her one job (to hold the coupons) and she fell asleep "on the job."

We will forgive her this time....

We had a great Valentine's day a few weeks ago as well.  I took my girls out for lunch and really spoiled my wife.  I told her since it was a special day she could have whatever she wanted for lunch....boy did she take me up on it:

Daddy's Little Valentine

We were very excited to see the recent progress on our new house.  They were able to get the foundation completed even with all of the snow the past few weeks.  Framing started last week and they are moving quickly on that.  It is awesome to finally see (not just imagine) what it looks like.  In about four weeks we went from this:

To this:

Eden is almost 4.5 months already.  We cannot believe how fast the time has gone.  She is really starting to babble now (when the mood hits her) and getting stronger everyday.  We have stolen an idea from some friends of taking a monthly picture of Eden next to an object so you can visualize her growth.  Here is her 4 month picture next to her first Build-A-Bear (I know it's a rabbit.):

Other signs of Eden growing up the past few weeks included her starting to help to hold her bottle:

And showing kindness to others...here she is helping Mommy with her words:

We haven't caught it on film yet but little E. also rolled over for the first time this week.  Due to this fact, we will end this blog post with a warning: Watch out world, she's becoming mobile! 

Moving on...

So there have been lots of changes for me the in last couple weeks. (Thanks to Bill for keeping up with the posting!). My last day in Cardiology was Feb. 9th. The transition into my new position in the Hematoloy/Oncology Dept.'s Infusion Center couldn't have worked any better; I started there Feb. 10th. It's hard to believe I've been there for 2 weeks already. I must be getting old, because time is sure starting to fly by!

I am really enjoying the new position. I'm continually amazed at how totally different two types of nursing can be....from the doses of drugs given (4mg of Zofran we gave to cardio patients....oncology patients get 32mg!) to the way IV pumps are set, it's a whole new world! It's very much a hospital-like pace, patient acuity, and environment but in a clinic setting with clinic hours. The days go so fast and I cannot get over how kind, patient, and optimistic this patient population is. I've had several of my previous cardio patients here in this dept.--one who even stopped up just to visit--and that's been a nice reminder of "home". I have sooooo much yet to learn, but after two weeks it doesn't totally seem like they're speaking a foreign language anymore! :)

Some of my cardiology friends on Dr. Slaven and my last day...

They got me these super cute and yummy cupcakes, and a Starbucks gift card as a going-away gift. So sweet! I am really going to miss my friends there.

Every experience God gives us, every person he puts in our life,

Is the perfect preparation for the future only he can see.

That's one of my favorite sayings, and it's been so neat to see it ring true in this work situation. I never would have left cardiology on my own doing....it was comfortable, my friends were there, I'd been a cardiac RN for 8 years, I knew about the drugs/doses/labs/testing, but for some reason God thought I was ready for a challenge. He sure does have a sense of humor! But I know His timing is perfect, and I cannot wait to see how He plans to use me with this patient population. I'm already growing attached to 3-4 people in paticular and I met a lady who lives in Westgate Crossing where we're building our house, so we'll be her neighbor!

We're also preparing for "moving on" by putting our house up for sale. We met with the realtor last Tuesday evening and had our first showing Sunday. The realtors had a company wide open house here today, too, and so far we've received positive feedback. So again, we're trusting in God's perfect timing, hoping we don't have to move twice and ideally that it sells by mid-summer.

Enough for my updates....I'm sure the next post will be something much cuter and more entertaining! :)

Stats

Height = 24.5 inches

Weight = 11 lbs, 8 oz

Cuteness Factor = OFF THE CHARTS

Rub a dub dub, having fun in the tub!

Sorry for the break in posting. We have heard that some of you are needing another Eden fix and needing it soon. Here is a a little something to take the edge off for all of you. We hope to have another post up shortly.





Things have been quite busy the last few weeks with us. We are kept busy with making decisions for the new house, getting the current house ready to list and meeting with the Realtor, attending a birthday party, helping J&E into their house, meeting Mr. Rocky Vinny Olson, work, and of course loving on our little girl who gets bigger every day. Until then.... Bill / Eve / Eden / Sherman