Apologies to all of you who checked our blog for updates in the mean time! We've been very busy with a lot of different things in the past month and were not able to to update our site!
A lot has been happening...
The Car Situation...I guess the biggest thing is that we have FINALLY made a decision about what to do with my car... the little Sentra. It's 4 years old, and has had a number of problems - including the newest - the headgasket needs to be replaced (supposedly). The more places we've called about fixing it, the higher the price has gotten. And no one can tell us what is actually wrong with it and how much the actual cost will be until they take part of the engine apart to get to the head gasket. For all we know, there could be several things contributing to the car losing coolant like crazy.
After going back and forth on this issue - fixing or buying a new car - we've decided to get a new car and get what we can for my car by either trading it or selling it back to a dealer. We would feel horrible selling this car privately because it's had so many problems already. So we've determined we'll just let the dealer take care of it!
We're going to get a 2007 Camry in dark blue. We're aiming at the car lasting 10 years... I hope it does so we don't have to go through this huge headache again. We've been battling this for months, and in the mean time, hoping my car doesn't decide to poop out. Fortunately it's still running fine. We just need to ad coolant 2-3 times per week!
Another Hospital Trip...This time it was Noah's turn. And don't worry... no pictures! Noah had a growth on the underside of his right wrist that he went to the doctor for. The primary care physician referred him to a dermatologist, who referred him to an orthopedic surgeon (because the bump was near tendons and veins and the derm. refused to remove it). Whew! After 3 doctor appointments, Noah went in for minor surgery, and the bump was successfully removed and was just a tissue mass - nothing serious. He just got his stitches out last week and is almost completely healed up!
My finger is pretty much back to normal too. There is still scar tissue, and you can feel a little bump but I'm happy as long as it doesn't look goofy and I can feel it and use it! :)
Trip to NYWell, Noah is off once again! This time he's in Long Island, NY - supposedly in the middle of nowhere! Boeing sent him to do some different type of testing, and he's going to be doing a lot of observing and learning on this trip. Noah will return Friday (10/13) - or may stay until Sunday if he is able to get together with his friend Danny who lives near Manhattan.
Back to SchoolYep, it's back to school for both of us. Well, more for Noah and less for me. Noah is continuing his first lovely Master's class online and doing well.
I am studying for my first of two insurance license exams. The first is for a Property & Casualty license (Home & Auto). I will hopefully be taking the second exam in November for my Life & Health license. I will need these licenses to help resolve complaints from customers and to take training classes that deal with agent staff computer programs - and hopefully in the future help me to train agent staff. I take a class on Oct. 25-26 and my exam is Oct. 30. Wish me luck!
The Nelsons - Update!Many of you ask about how the Nelsons are doing, and here is an update. For those who don't know... this is the amazing story about our good friends from church who had a baby in December - Dave & Jessica Nelson. Jess found out she was pregnant early in 2005 (she was about to turn 40), and shortly thereafter found out that her brain tumor had started to return (after 10 years). The doctors needed to wait until after she had the baby to remove the tumor, which in the mean time, put her at risk for seizures. During her pregnancy (which was also high risk for several reasons), she needed to take meds to control the seizure risk. The meds put her on bedrest for the last 4 1/2 months of her pregnancy, which was very difficult.
But they made it!
The baby was a healthy girl, who they named Asa Isabelle, and who is just an incredible bundle of joy and a miracle. She's a very quick learner and is always smiling and a busy bee.
Post-birth Jess was weaned off her meds and needed to undergo surgery to remove the brain tumor. There was a lot of battling with doctors and a few seizures in between, which put a lot of stress on the family. Fortunately, Jess's father is a former neurosurgeon and possessed a lot of knowledge about what was going on and needed to be done. Jess had a successful surgery a few weeks ago up in Minnesota at the Mayo clinic and is recovering quickly. They were not able to remove 100% of the tumor, unfortunately, so she will have to go through chemo and radiation treatment to make sure the rest goes away.
Please pray for continued strength for them, and especially Jess as she undergoes treatment. They are a blessing to so many people and they are always in our hearts! (The picture was taken within the past week - Jess felt well enough to go out for a little while.)
AmFamI (Krista) started my new job (hopefully LAST new job for a while!) at the end of June and am loving it. My manager is wonderful, and I really enjoy what I do. I am an Assistant to District Manager (sort of exec. asst.) and do anything from reports and clerical stuff, to marketing for the agents in our district and recruiting for agents and agent staff, going to career fairs for recruiting, plan events (meetings, holiday parties, incentive trips for the district), resolving customer complaints with agents and their staff and helping my manager Jennifer with anything else she needs. Summed up, I'm pretty much her right arm. It's fun! I hope to stay here for a long time. American Family Insurance is a great company to work for - I haven't talked to one crabby person yet (and talked to a LOT of people!) - and my schedule is flexible and 9-5!
Homey ArtWell, we're finally going to paint something. The Master Bedroom is up next! That should be a blast since the character of the room includes a vaulted ceiling and a big plant shelf over the door. Break out the Little Giant!!!
We're going with a merlot color on one wall and a pretty, light yellowish coffee color on the others. We'll start there and see where we end up.
I'd love to do the kitchen in an Italian/Tuscan cracked plaster look. Someday... it would go wonderfully with the grapes and wine theme we have going on. But I think the great room is next...
Well, I that's it for this edition of the St. Louis Update!
Ya'll take care now, y'hear? :)
Hey Ya'll!
But for Christmas, we will be back in the New Berlin/Waukesha area from December 22-26. We'll be flying up, thank goodness, and avoid any bad weather and save some time. Just pray we don't hit Santa on the way up! Ha-ha!
