Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Today's "Life Adventure"
So I am sitting here in my living room, trying to figure out what the heck to do with myself. It's pouring rain outside, and I am just not in the mood to be all cold and wet right now. It's Wednesday, no job call back, I have applied to several other job positions and no bites. Oh I wish I had a job. I want to feel needed again, I want to feel successful, I want to have money :), but most of all, I just want to have something to do!! For the first month of moving here and having time to get setteled and being able to cook all these awesome meals for my husband, it was way fun and nice to have a break from work. I am now going on my 3rd month of being jobless, we have both gotten fat with all those delicious meals, and I am starting to get stir crazy!! What does one do with all of this time?? Someone with no money, no kids, no pets, and no friends in town? I guess the scrapbooking is coming out! That will just have to occupy my time for now. At least yesterday and the day before I got to help a women out by taking her kids for a while so she could finish moving into her new home, and I went to try to help clean her house the next day. Service truly is a wonderful instrament to get your mind out of self pitty, but now what? I have served, the job is over and here I am again wondering, What next?! As I am typing, John calls me from work and says he is going to swing by home for some lunch today! Yay!! It will be the highlight of my afternoon, having someone to talk to. hahaha, ok I'm just being rediculous, Things will get better, my days will be more interesting I'm sure. So until then... on to the scrapbooking.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Our first year's journey together...
So to the newest news in our life, we are living in Juneau Alaska, and so far so good. But I will have to say that our journey to end up in Juneau was quite the crazy experience. And our life of growing together during the first year was a growing experience indeed.
When we first got married we moved into some apartments in Fairview, in downtown Anchorage. My parents owned them and they lovingly let us live there with a little cheaper rent then what other apartments would have us pay. At first, I was a little reluctant because I wanted to show that I was responsible and not having to rely on a "hand out" from my parents, so we vowed to only live there a few months. It turned out being a huge blessing! A few weeks into our marriage I started having stomach problems. I would have constant diarrhea, I thought it was a number of things, I thought it was because I started birth control pills, so I immediately stopped using them, the symptoms slowed down for a week, and then picked up again. So finally, I went to the Dr. and I was referred to the same Gastroenterologist that my dad saw for Colitis. He performed a bunch of tests. I was diagnosed to have Giardia! Another common name for it is "Beaver Fever" Don't ask me how I got it, I promise that I wasn't drinking from any streams in the middle of winter!! So I had to go through treatment to destroy all the bacteria in my bowels to destroy the bad bacteria. I was so so sick. I was vomiting constantly, and having continuous diarrhea, I was so ill. I laid in bed for 10 days. Then started to feel better. We tested again, and the Giardia was gone!! I thought my problems were over. The Dr. told me that I would start feeling better in about 3weeks to 3 months after the good bacteria started to develop in my bowels again. So I still had bowel issues but thought they would come to an end after I recovered. I finally was able to work, searched for jobs and started working at a very busy eye surgeons office. I didn't see my problems go away after 3 weeks, so I decided to wait it out, because he did say up to three months... 2 1/2 months go by, its August, and my energy levels deteriorated. All I wanted to do was come home from work and sleep, because that was all the energy that I had. Finally, I had a huge break down and just couldn't take the stomach pain and constant trips to the bathroom anymore. So I finally called my Dr. He told me that we needed to do a colonoscopy asap. He scheduled me for the following week. When it was done, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. A sister disease of Colitis. Its an auto-immune disease, that attacks the small intestine. Basically, my immune system doesn't think it needs my small intestine anymore and wants to destroy it! So it was very inflamed and what ever I ate, wasn't getting processed, so I got very little nutrients for a very long time. My Dr. said he thinks it could have been activated by having so much stress come to my body to fight the Giardia, and it put my immune system into high gear, and it just never went out of the attack. He started me on medication, it didn't work, he upped my medication and put me on steroids. They worked, in the sense that they gave me energy. I still had weird bowel problems but they were more manageable then before. I continued to lose a ton of weight, which if there was any upside, it was the fact that I was fitting loosely in size 10 jeans and feeling so sexy... but it really was bad because I got there not in a healthy way.
This was really difficult on John, he didn't know what to do for me and we hardly went anywhere for very long because I got tired really fast. He was such a great love and support to me, and took really good care of me, I think during our first year of marriage, we learned what it meant to take care of each other, in sickness and in health!!
During all of this, John realized that he wants more from a job then what his current job had to offer so he started looking at further training opportunities for life careers. He found a job under the state troopers and decided he would apply and see what happens. John went through an extremely long process to get a job as a Court Service Officer with the State of Alaska. He started applying for this position back in July of 2009. He didn't hear anything from them until September! They then did a thorough background check, physical tests, psychological testing and interviewing. Then we didn't hear anything for 3 months!! As you can imagine the entire thing made both John and me very anxious. Not knowing if we would get the job or when! We had originally applied for a position in Homer. They told us that if we didn't get that location they were also hiring for Bethel and Nome... I was really turned off to both of those places and hoped that we got Homer, if I had to choose any of those places. In December right around Christmas Time, he finally got the call. I was at work, we were super busy with patients coming in and out, and I see my cell phone ringing, it was John. Obviously, I couldn't answer. Then he calls on the back line. I put him on hold and then finally got around to talking to him. He tells me that he got the job, but they want to place us in Juneau! I had never even thought about Juneau, because the option was not given to us at the beginning! I didn't know what to say or think. I told him that we would talk about it tonight, then he told me that he needed to give them the answer in a half hour!! So we decided that we would go. It was on a whim, and we relied completely on faith that all would work out and it did.
He then went to training in Sitka Alaska. He was only gone for a full week, but that was the longest time we had been apart in a long time, and right during the Christmas events! He made it home 2 days before Christmas thank goodness, I was so looking forward to sharing our first Christmas together as a married couple. Then he continued doing training in and out of Juneau. We moved out of our apartment in the month of February and lived with my parents. Until we moved made the move to Juneau in April. He was gone the month of February during my birthday and our Anniversary in Juneau for training at his post. I went down during Valentines Day to see him, and scope out places to live in Juneau. He came home and we started to prepare to leave. We sold John's big bad black truck, to only have one car payment and to get out of some debt. We were so blessed the entire way to Juneau. We were blessed with being able to sell his Diesel truck so quickly, a day before we left, we were blessed with safety the entire trip, people that extended fellowship in Haines, and fed us twice, and everything seemed to just fall into place so easily. I had wandered for quite a while if I was making the right choice to move here, and that prayer was answered so strongly as we took action and moved forward with our decision. My health has improved so much, I have been able to taper off all medication and not have a flare up for a month now. I've gained back all of my weight :( hahaha, it really is a good thing though, I just need to lose it the right way now. If my health continues the way it has been, for three months, then we can work on starting a family :) Time will tell, but as of right now, our future is looking bright and we are excited to see what life will hold.
So that sums up our first year, a long road filled with relying on faith and hope, learning how to battle life's challenges together, and to grow in many ways! And so the journey continues...
When we first got married we moved into some apartments in Fairview, in downtown Anchorage. My parents owned them and they lovingly let us live there with a little cheaper rent then what other apartments would have us pay. At first, I was a little reluctant because I wanted to show that I was responsible and not having to rely on a "hand out" from my parents, so we vowed to only live there a few months. It turned out being a huge blessing! A few weeks into our marriage I started having stomach problems. I would have constant diarrhea, I thought it was a number of things, I thought it was because I started birth control pills, so I immediately stopped using them, the symptoms slowed down for a week, and then picked up again. So finally, I went to the Dr. and I was referred to the same Gastroenterologist that my dad saw for Colitis. He performed a bunch of tests. I was diagnosed to have Giardia! Another common name for it is "Beaver Fever" Don't ask me how I got it, I promise that I wasn't drinking from any streams in the middle of winter!! So I had to go through treatment to destroy all the bacteria in my bowels to destroy the bad bacteria. I was so so sick. I was vomiting constantly, and having continuous diarrhea, I was so ill. I laid in bed for 10 days. Then started to feel better. We tested again, and the Giardia was gone!! I thought my problems were over. The Dr. told me that I would start feeling better in about 3weeks to 3 months after the good bacteria started to develop in my bowels again. So I still had bowel issues but thought they would come to an end after I recovered. I finally was able to work, searched for jobs and started working at a very busy eye surgeons office. I didn't see my problems go away after 3 weeks, so I decided to wait it out, because he did say up to three months... 2 1/2 months go by, its August, and my energy levels deteriorated. All I wanted to do was come home from work and sleep, because that was all the energy that I had. Finally, I had a huge break down and just couldn't take the stomach pain and constant trips to the bathroom anymore. So I finally called my Dr. He told me that we needed to do a colonoscopy asap. He scheduled me for the following week. When it was done, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. A sister disease of Colitis. Its an auto-immune disease, that attacks the small intestine. Basically, my immune system doesn't think it needs my small intestine anymore and wants to destroy it! So it was very inflamed and what ever I ate, wasn't getting processed, so I got very little nutrients for a very long time. My Dr. said he thinks it could have been activated by having so much stress come to my body to fight the Giardia, and it put my immune system into high gear, and it just never went out of the attack. He started me on medication, it didn't work, he upped my medication and put me on steroids. They worked, in the sense that they gave me energy. I still had weird bowel problems but they were more manageable then before. I continued to lose a ton of weight, which if there was any upside, it was the fact that I was fitting loosely in size 10 jeans and feeling so sexy... but it really was bad because I got there not in a healthy way.
This was really difficult on John, he didn't know what to do for me and we hardly went anywhere for very long because I got tired really fast. He was such a great love and support to me, and took really good care of me, I think during our first year of marriage, we learned what it meant to take care of each other, in sickness and in health!!
During all of this, John realized that he wants more from a job then what his current job had to offer so he started looking at further training opportunities for life careers. He found a job under the state troopers and decided he would apply and see what happens. John went through an extremely long process to get a job as a Court Service Officer with the State of Alaska. He started applying for this position back in July of 2009. He didn't hear anything from them until September! They then did a thorough background check, physical tests, psychological testing and interviewing. Then we didn't hear anything for 3 months!! As you can imagine the entire thing made both John and me very anxious. Not knowing if we would get the job or when! We had originally applied for a position in Homer. They told us that if we didn't get that location they were also hiring for Bethel and Nome... I was really turned off to both of those places and hoped that we got Homer, if I had to choose any of those places. In December right around Christmas Time, he finally got the call. I was at work, we were super busy with patients coming in and out, and I see my cell phone ringing, it was John. Obviously, I couldn't answer. Then he calls on the back line. I put him on hold and then finally got around to talking to him. He tells me that he got the job, but they want to place us in Juneau! I had never even thought about Juneau, because the option was not given to us at the beginning! I didn't know what to say or think. I told him that we would talk about it tonight, then he told me that he needed to give them the answer in a half hour!! So we decided that we would go. It was on a whim, and we relied completely on faith that all would work out and it did.
He then went to training in Sitka Alaska. He was only gone for a full week, but that was the longest time we had been apart in a long time, and right during the Christmas events! He made it home 2 days before Christmas thank goodness, I was so looking forward to sharing our first Christmas together as a married couple. Then he continued doing training in and out of Juneau. We moved out of our apartment in the month of February and lived with my parents. Until we moved made the move to Juneau in April. He was gone the month of February during my birthday and our Anniversary in Juneau for training at his post. I went down during Valentines Day to see him, and scope out places to live in Juneau. He came home and we started to prepare to leave. We sold John's big bad black truck, to only have one car payment and to get out of some debt. We were so blessed the entire way to Juneau. We were blessed with being able to sell his Diesel truck so quickly, a day before we left, we were blessed with safety the entire trip, people that extended fellowship in Haines, and fed us twice, and everything seemed to just fall into place so easily. I had wandered for quite a while if I was making the right choice to move here, and that prayer was answered so strongly as we took action and moved forward with our decision. My health has improved so much, I have been able to taper off all medication and not have a flare up for a month now. I've gained back all of my weight :( hahaha, it really is a good thing though, I just need to lose it the right way now. If my health continues the way it has been, for three months, then we can work on starting a family :) Time will tell, but as of right now, our future is looking bright and we are excited to see what life will hold.
So that sums up our first year, a long road filled with relying on faith and hope, learning how to battle life's challenges together, and to grow in many ways! And so the journey continues...
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