Another Move Down

Soon after we moved down to Enid and into our rental, we soon realized that living off base wasn't for us. All of our Air Force friends live on base, and Jordan and I both found ourselves driving to base multiple times a day for work, events & playdates. We contacted the housing office and we found out a house could be ours in the beginning of November. We didn't have to talk long to decide we had to take this chance to live on base. It wouldn't be easy leaving our great neighbors next door, but the base is just across the little town and we would still see each other. So our decision was made and almost as soon as we had everything un-packed, we had to pack it all back up to get ready for our next move. Three moves in four months makes for a lot of boxes and a lot of stress of not feeling like we have a real home!

So finally the time came a couple weeks back to sign on our new house! We signed our papers during the week, and had a few days to set up internet & slowly move a few things over. Over the weekend we go Jordan's classmates to help us move! Thank GOD for them! We had coffee & donuts in the morning & pizza in the evening, and they moved our stuff. We could not have done it without them. We had great help at the old house and even more help at the new house. 

We still have some settling to do in this new house. Going through our office stuff, organizing all our clothes, breaking down boxes in the garage, and hanging our decorations. Doesn't sound like to much, does it?

Our new house! 

It has been so wonderful being on base. We are close to our friends (minus or super neighbors we met at our first rental, but we still see them!), Jordan is super close to work and can sleep longer in the mornings, & we are right in the center of it all. When we found out we would be coming to UPT we really hoped to live on base. Some people would never live on base because of the 'restrictions' but we wanted to submerse ourselves in the Air Force life. We aren't in active duty, so we don't get the opportunities to move to new places and life Air Force all the time. This training is a short 14 months, and then we head back to our "real lives" as I like to call it. So knowing that this is not forever and we get to go back home to our family and the beautiful state of Michigan, we wanted to take full advantage of all the Air Force has to offer. Some in the active duty world may think we're crazy, but I think its a fun adventure.

For our active duty friends, I realize this is not necessarily an adventure for you, and its your real life. The ones who choose to sacrifice and serve through active duty, I tip my hat to you. It can be a difficult lifestyle and I applaud you for your choice. I like to say that we get the best of both worlds, as we straddle the civilian/military life. I feel so grateful for this life we get to live and all the opportunities that have came our way. We are enjoying being in Enid & we are taking advantage of all Vance AFB, Enid & Oklahoma have to offer.

Things in OK

I have the urge to give a little update today, so here it goes for all who are curious!

We have met some of the most amazing people since we've been here. It was easy for Jordan to meet people while he was at school, but for me I was a bit worried about meeting people in those first few days. Much to our surprise, we have FABULOUS neighbors! Evelyn and I were outside playing on the front patio and our neighbors walked by with their little girl who is the same age as Evelyn! It has been such a blessing to have them right next door. The nights when Evelyn is ansy, we can head on over and the girls can play for a bit. 

It has been so good for Evelyn to be around more kids her age down here. She is a little timid in social situations when there are a lot of kids (definitely more like her dad!) but she has slowly been getting better and more adventurous. We have been busy with hanging out with our friends and doing play-date activities. Enid surprisingly has a large number of stay-at-home moms and has quite a few {good} resources for us. Local churches have MOPS groups, our pilot group has a large mom group, & there are a ton of parks around! Our days are for now are filled with two naps for Evelyn (still!!!!), parks, homemade dinners & playing with our friends.

Somedays, well honestly most days, I miss working. But these days spending time with our ever-changing Evelyn have been priceless. I will head back into the workplace soon enough and I have to remind myself of that and to enjoy the time I have at home with our sweet girl.

We have been so blessed by everyone we have met so far, and can't wait to continue to meet new people and have new experiences in Oklahoma. I still can't always believe that we live in Oklahoma and are so far away from home. But what they say is true, "home is where the Air Force takes you!" 

Four Amazing Years

It has been four amazing years since Jordan and I said 'I Do' 

This year brings new changes to our family, as we have moved to Oklahoma for our newest journey with the United States Air Force. I look outside today and I don't see the beautiful fall landscape that is Michigan fall. Today's high will be around 90, and that fall crisp is missing from the air around us. Even though we are in an entirely different part of the country, and Jordan is very busy with pilot training, many things have remained the same. 

Last night we reminisced about our rehearsal dinner and the nerves we felt before our big day. We had no idea that night how amazing our journey would be. Our wedding was a great day, but we had no idea that our amazing day would just be the start of all the beautiful things that have happened in our lives so far. Today I enjoyed time with Evelyn & new friends while Jordan was at work. Jordan has a big test tomorrow, so we weren't able to spend as much time as we would have liked together, but our moments together have counted. We exchanged our gifts & we will watch football together while he decompresses for a few moments before he gets back to studying. 

We have become used to spending time apart based on the nature of Jordan's two career choices, which has presented different challenges that many couples do not have to face. To us, its our reality. When you only get two days a week with your husband, you learn to cherish the moments you get. It sounds cheesy and I promise we aren't all happiness and sunshine every time we are together, but its how we live and it works for us. I've learned that he needs alone time, even when Evelyn and I want to take up all his time. I've learned that he is happy with simple things, like home-cooked meals, playing with Evelyn & simple gestures. I have stopped trying to make every moment perfect when we get time with him and just try and enjoy him being home and present. 

This new journey of living across the country from our family is a new challenge to us and we are trying to adapt everyday. Jordan's schedule will only get more busy, and we will have to adjust our expectations again. For now, we relish in the idea that the sacrifices we make during these years of training will allow us to enjoy many, many anniversaries in big ways. 

I couldn't imagine going through life without Jordan and our craziness - I wouldn't trade it for the world. These years of adventures and adjustments with new jobs & new states just adds to our story that we will someday share with our grandchildren. We will look back and smile at the craziness that we chose. We only live once, and whats life without a little adventure? We've had our fare share of adventures in our first four years of marriage, and I can't wait to see what new adventures come our way. 

I love you more today than yesterday, but far less than tomorrow

An Okie from Enid

We have been in Oklahoma for almost 3 weeks now. It sort of seems like we have been here for a long time already. We have met great people so far and are so excited to meet more!

Our girls "enjoying" our 14 hour car ride

Our ride was pretty uneventful. We started our journey on a Sunday, which made the traffic & ride super easy. We had perfect weather both days and it was a pretty easy ride! We were lucky to have our good friend Kevin ride down with us, so we could have an extra body to help with the baby & dog in the Explorer. The first day we made it all the way to Joplin, MO, about 5 miles from the Oklahoma border. We headed to Oklahoma City (OKC) the next day to drop Kevin off at the airport. We stayed in OKC that night, and headed to Enid the following morning. We got the keys to our house around 930 that morning, and we had the rest of the day to explore our new town!

Gateway to the West 

Oklahoma State Line!

We ended up getting a house off base because our house on base fell through. Basically, the people who live in the house we were getting had their orders extended and weren't leaving. The housing lady just offered her last house up to another family and there were literally no houses available for us. This happened about a week before we were leaving! Needless to say, we were panicked. But by God's grace, this house fell into our laps. Even with the unexpected expenses of renting off base (higher rent, security deposit, water, trash, etc), we are lucky to have found this house - with more space (by 300 sq.ft) to enhance our adventure out here in Enid.

Our home! 

One of the first things we did was change our license plates. So we really look like Okie's now. Except when we open our mouths and talk. It's pretty obvious we aren't from Oklahoma!

Happy girl!

Route 66 in Miami, OK 

...Wide open spaces...

Celebrating making it to our house! 

Just a few shots of our adventure down here, more updates & pictures to come of our stay down here in Oklahoma! 

Our First House

Today we closed on our first house. I know we moved out the other day, and honestly these last few days our stuff has been out of it has made me disconnect from it. But its still our first house. We put a lot of work & love into this house and we are sad to not finish all the projects we dreamt about. I love these pictures of the changing house now more than ever.

Moving In! May 2011

Fall 2012

Fall 2013

August 2014

 We went back today to drop off our garage door openers and to say goodbye one last time, and I was a little sad standing in Evelyn's room. I spent many late nights and early mornings in that room with our sweet girl. Jordan slaved away putting up the chair rail and we spent so much time in there. Our bedroom doesn't feel the same, and the house just seems like a shell for what it held -  which is really how it should be. But there are still so many memories in that house for us, and we will always cherish those.

Evleyn's Room After! 

Evelyn's Room Before

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After! 

We met the people buying our house today and they seemed like wonderful people. They are just pregnant and will love the house like we did. They were the first people to see the house and are very excited about it and said no other house compared to our house. That made me feel really good that they will enjoy it as much as we did. I guess thats all you really want when you say goodbye to your house and the hard work you put into it.  You want somebody else to appreciate what you did there. And I think they do, and will make it even better.

Walking up those steps today was familiar and comfortable, but now its time to step outside our comfort zone and take an adventure. Goodbye Wheatlands house.

Moving on

The first part of our three legged journey from Kalamazoo to Enid and back again is upon us.

Yesterday the movers came and packed up our house, and today they loaded up the truck and take the majority of our things. We have three weeks to spend with our family as we wait for our house to be ready in Enid.

But the biggest change is that last night was our last REAL night in our house. The last night in our first house. The house we updated and put so much work into. The house we learned more about how to be married and co-exist with each other. The house we brought Evelyn home to. So much has happened here in our three short years we've spent loving this house.

Its weird, I'm kind of not very sad right now. Maybe that part comes later? I thought maybe when I saw the moving truck and they are pulling away and we are left with a mostly empty house I'll be sad? My stomach did drop when I came down the road and could see the huge semi in front of our house with all of our things. Its not that I don't love this house, because I do. I'm just getting excited about whats next in the next chapter of our lives. Maybe I'm just suppressing how I really feel, but for now I'm okay with that. I've cried a lot this past week over leaving my job, so its okay if I don't cry any more at this point.

I'm sure I will miss this place once we are gone. I will miss our amazing neighbors. Seriously, we could not have asked for better neighbors. And some really sweet neighbors just moved in. Hopefully the people who bought our house will fit in nicely with the neighborhood crew. We will be blessed in our next house if our neighbors are half as good as they are here.

So many changes are happening so fast that maybe all these goodbye's are blending together and they won't sink in until we are just the three of us in Enid. The excitement of all three of us being together for at least the next year is trumping any of my sad feelings at this point, and I'm okay with that.

I'm okay with this fun, new adventure. Even through all these sad changes and leaving behind our first house, my job, our friends & family, I am ready for this new chapter in our lives.

I am a NICU Nurse

I love my job

I loved  my job 

Notice the difference? Past tense. I loved my job. Today turned out to be one of the hardest days of my life, I left my job. I left my second home for the last 4.5 years. I left my friends, co-workers and babies that I love(d) to take care of. I left a wonderful unit and hospital for bigger & better things. {or so they say} 

I honestly didn't expect to be so taken by sadness today. At least I think it was sadness, I sure did cry a lot in these last few days. I guess I loved my job a whole lot more than I imagined. I've been so excited about our move and all the new changes coming to our family, that I didn't really think about how I would feel to leave my job and my career behind (for now). I realize now how much my job played a role in my life. Waking up at 530 in the morning, driving 15  minutes & going through my 12.5 hour shift in the NICU has been apart of my life at least 3 days a week for the last 4.5 years. Thats a lot of time in one place. 

Honestly, I've been excited about this move because I've felt like I've hit a "wall" at work and have started to feel a little stuck and ready to go back to school, take on new responsibilities or something along those lines. And sometimes I had felt in a rut. But during my last 2 weeks of work I've been feeling refreshed and have fallen back in love with my unit and my little babies. 

The difference is with being a NICU nurse is that I become apart of people's families for weeks (and months sometimes). I know nurses on other units make bonds with families, and I've worked other places so I don't want to take away anything away from other nurses, because we all do special work. But there is something a little different about being a NICU nurse. New parents are suppose to be having the best day of their lives, and they find themselves in our unit, with a sick baby. Its terrifying for them. We bond with our babies and our families while they are with us and we try to make the best out of a stinky situation with a new baby. We partner with parents to educate them and help them learn how to take care of a premie or otherwise sick baby. We spend a lot of time with our families. And as much as I may have impacted their lives, they impact me just as much. It sounds so cheesy, but its true. 

I have learned so much about myself personally and professionally over the lat 4.5 years in the NICU. I have grown in ways I could have never imagined and gained in every way possible. I participated in committees, I earned my certification in neonatology, I met amazing families with beautiful babies and I made great friends along the way. 

I will never forget all the crazy names I've seen parents give their kids, the parent drama (baby's dad blocking mom on facebook....how rude!) & everything inbetween. 

The joys of sending babies home after 150+ days in the unit, 

and the tears that came with the challenges of illness and death. 

This is not an easy thing to pack it up and leave this job I love so much. Maybe someday I will return to the NICU, or maybe this chapter in my life is over and I'll move on to something else, carrying all those lessons I learned in the rooms and halls in the NICU. 

Either way, I will never be the same person I was when I started in the unit. 

I feel like I piece of me is missing, but for now I will relish in my memories. I am thankful for what I had. I am changed forever, and will never forget the impact the NICU had in my life. 

I am a NICU Nurse. Always.