2015 Adventures!

We are setting off to a new adventure! As most of you know (but some may not), we will be starting off the new your in a new state; Arizona.

To explain from the beginning, I need to go back to August; this is when we first started thinking about change. Our initial thought was to move towards the Joplin Missouri area to be closer to Josh's sister Rachel (but mostly her two kids, Scout and Rhuey, who are around Eli's age). We love you Rachel and Vance, but we love your kids just a little bit more. Not even gonna try to deny it.

Anyway, in thinking about trying to find a new job, in a new city, in a new state (for me, Sara), I contacted a travel nurse agency (see below for more details on travel nursing), thinking they would be able to help me with getting a Missouri license and finding a job. They can, but as we began going down that road, we started thinking, "why move NOW? What's stopping us from [nurse] traveling for a while before we settle down in a new place?" We would both be quitting the jobs we have now, selling our house and packing up everything anyway. Why not? Eli is not in school and he's young and generally more flexible now than he would be later.

We decided to try this travel nursing and spend time with some family we don't get to see as much; first stop, Arizona! Most of Josh's mom's family is in the Mesa area, so that is where we are headed. I start work at a children's hospital in Mesa on January 5th and my contract ends April 4th. For now, that's what we know. If we don't hate the travel nurse life, we would like to visit the Seattle area next, but that is not official in any way; just an idea right now.

FAQ:

How long will we do travel nursing? Will we go to other places after this? We don't know yet.

Are we still going to Joplin after travel nursing? No. For several reasons, we have decided against that idea. I think it was more of a stepping stone idea God used to get us to where we are now. Funny how He works sometimes, isn't it?

What WILL we do after travel nursing? Not really sure right now. (You love my answers, don't you?) :)

A lot of things are in the 'wait and see' file. We feel this is where God has brought us for now, and what He does next or where He leads us is up to Him!

Pray for us, email us, text us, keep up with our adventures on the blog and Facebook; we would love to hear from you! We are already missing the people we are used to seeing most often, and I know we will miss other people along the way, but we will also be making stronger relationships with family and friends we would otherwise not see or be around. What opportunities! What adventures!

**A note about travel nursing:

for those of you who might be wondering "what in the world is that?" or, "how does that work?"... I am employed by an agency that hospitals contact to say they need specific help for a specific period (i.e. a pediatric nurse from January to April), the agency then sends applications from the nurses they employ that fit the requirements set by the hospital. The hospital will conduct phone interviews with applicants to determine who they would like to hire, if they like me and I like them, we sign a contract saying I will work for them for the specified period. Technically, I am not 'moving' every time we go to a new hospital, the government sees it as 'business travel' (as long as I don't stay in one place for more than 52 weeks) and I get reimbursements for mileage, housing and meals, along with regular pay. The agency helps me find the jobs themselves, but they also support me every step of the way; they help get paperwork lined up (trust me, it's a lot of paperwork!), my nursing license for the state I'm going to, housing, etc. as well as moral support. :) They do this all the time!

Now, some very,very late BIRTHDAY pictures!

I made this cake for his birthday; two layer chocolate with cream cheese and oreo filling, with chocolate ganashe and 'dirt' on top. It was good, let me tell you. Even those who may not love chocolate would like this.

You would think Eli is reaching for the cake, wouldn't you? But, no! He loves his tractors! That's all he wanted. I had managed to hide the fact that I borrowed his tractors for the cake, but as soon as he saw them, it was, "oh, my TRACTOR!"

On his birthday, he also got the special treat of riding in the car at the Walmart entrance. He doesn't look too thrilled in the picture, but trust me, it was greatly enjoyed and not soon (ever) forgotten.

Bragging Rights

Alright peeps, I need a minute to brag, and if you don't want to hear one more momma braggin' on her 'genius child', then move along. I'm not usually one to go on about how great my kid is, even though I think it all the time (and doesn't every parent think their kids are the smartest, greatest, etc.?), but I'm going to for just a minute.

Some of you may have seen this painting on Facebook, but what you don't know is how Eli would say the colors while he was painting. Okay, so he got them wrong sometimes, but brown and yellow were pretty consistent (that day, anyway). Genius, right? I'm just getting started.

Just yesterday, while he was helping me 'dump' ingredients for biscuits, he started counting (I was counting 'dumps') and he went from one up to six before he skipped and went back to four. He's not even 2 years old yet and he counted from one to six without help or prompting.

He can name barnyard animals by sight and make all their sounds, or he can name the animals from just the sound, including (but not limited to); cow, chicken, rooster, cat, sheep, dog, horse, pig, duck, frog, fish, rabbit/bunny, and bug (the last three not making sounds).

Lately, he has really be into playing with cars. I say 'cars' in general, because he has more than just 'cars' and he knows it. He will correctly identify jeep, hummer (not to be confused with jeep), tractor, truck, plane, train, and car. 

Genius, right? I told you! :)

Monkey

Eli has a few stuffed animals of his own, but the one he really likes is Josh's monkey. Josh had this monkey when he was little; he tells stories of when Beth decided the monkey needed some lipstick... Josh was not thrilled about this addition. Anyway, Eli has claimed it as his own now and plays with it all the time! He will 'feed' Monkey, give Monkey medicine (see below), have Monkey blow bubbles (he's not very good at it), read books with Monkey, and just generally tote him around.

In the video, Monkey is sitting in the chair next to Eli (he put Monkey there himself); he gave Monkey a book and he has a book, and they are 'reading' together. Eli's book has a silly turkey in it that keeps putting clothes on wrong (socks on his nose, pants on his head, that kind of thing), and when he gets it wrong he says "oops!" so Eli is saying "oops" near the end of the video as he is reading his book. Sorry the video is tiny, but I didn't want him to see me and stop!

I took this picture one morning; Eli was walking around, drinking his milk, and he decided Monkey needed some milk... and he was playing with his cars, so Monkey needed cars too. And then Monkey needed a hat.

There is a little story to this hat. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but this is the oldest, ratty, black felt hat. Eli 'found' it at the thrift store downtown and proceed to wear it around the store, so I was going to buy it for him (at $0.25 it was a good deal!), but the ladies running the store said he could just have it for free! I guess they thought he was really cute.... or they were just excited to get rid of the old hat. So we took the hat home, and after sterilizing it, he wore it around for a few days.

This one is from when we had a few days of cool weather (one morning was in the 40's!). He was riding his little car outside, with his boots and hat. He loves to be outside, no matter the weather. Everyday, he asks to 'go' or 'bye-bye' or 'shoes' or 'ouside'. I think he just likes to get out of the house. :) So we go to the store, or the park, or just run around outside. And he loves it!

Outside Play

Eli loves to be outside. Hot. Cold. Windy. Sunny. Rainy. Well, actually he's not really sure about the rain, he seems confused... why is he getting wet when he's not playing in water? Speaking of playing in water, he loves to play in water! As long as it is small amounts and he is in control... large pools, not so much; puddles, yes!

Last weekend we made an overnight trip to Tulsa and stayed with GG and Grandpa. Eli loved playing in their big fenced yard, checking out the garden with Grandpa (eating blackberries!), 'playing' with the dog and cat (they are a little too fast for him), and since it was a little warm, playing in a bucket of water!

This morning, we played outside since it was still rather cool from the rain last night. He found the puddles, as I knew he would. Boys don't care about dirt, I don't think they even see it most of the time, they care about what they are doing; playing in the puddle, throwing rocks, working, getting things done. It's what boys do.

Workin'

Throwing rocks in a puddle

That rock apparently didn't land right, have to throw it again.

"Get some leaves!"

Just kidding, getting sticks to throw in the puddle :)

Maybe this one?

No, we're gonna need more than that.

Oh, yeah, this should be enough!

This puddle is looking better already!

Lookin' at his work

Maybe some more rocks will do it.

Stomp 'em down a little bit.

They have to be arranged just right

Poke it with a stick

I love that face!

I don't know what he sees, but he likes it!

Lookin' tired

Dirty and tired, but happy!

Arizona

Arizona!

We visited family in Arizona near the end of May and were able to celebrate some birthdays and a graduation while we were there. Josh and I traveled with Josh's sister Rachel and her two children, Scout (2 years old) and Rhuey (2 1/2 months old). I wasn't sure how the airport and plane ride would go, but all the kids did really well overall.

We stayed with Josh's aunt and uncle, they have a pool and Scout thought it was the greatest thing ever! While we were driving to their house from the airport it was already bedtime, but Scout kept asking about the pool and wanted to go swimming; thankfully he was somehow satisfied with just looking at it that evening, with promises to swim the next day. Eli wasn't so sure about the swimming thing. He doesn't like getting water in his face even in the bathtub, but he loves baths. When he first got in the pool he just acted like he wasn't really sure about this... and was just starting to be more comfortable with it, when he got water in his face and cried until we let him out! It took some persuading, but finally he was okay with sitting in the inner tube with Scout while Uncle Bill pushed them around.

Sour face!

This isn't so bad

He likes being out of the water better!

Playing with Daddy

Last year when we were here, we went to In-N-Out and Eli was just old enough to have a few fries... we went again and he still thinks they have the best fries! He would have been happy eating all of our fries and nothing else, but he ate a burger too (just the patty).

Last year (7 months old)

This year! (19 months old)

Playing with cousins... (sorry, most of my inside pictures didn't come out well!)

Rhuey sleeping away with a guard dog close by.

Eli finally asleep on the plane ride home.

We got in so late the day we came home, and we were all so exhausted, Rachel spent the night with us before driving back to her house. It was fun because we had just a little more time to hang out with them! Rhuey is serious about her food, at 'breakfast' she had her arm wrapped around her bottle like someone was going to take it away!

 I would say Eli likes Rhuey, but doesn't really know what to do with her. He would sometimes come up to her and try to 'pat' her, but inevitably end up whacking her instead. Rhuey would just close her eyes and cringe, Rachel says she's kind of used to it with Scout around. :) 

So, about the plane ride home... for those of you who don't know, it was more exciting that usual. Here is a picture I pulled from a news report about it. Scout was not a fan of the happenings, saying over and over, "I don't like airplanes." Eli really didn't seem to care one way or another, other than wanting to get down and play. I'm sure neither Scout or Eli will remember jumping from an airplane when they are older, so I wrote a letter to Eli for him to read when he's older and think how cool it was that he did that! Because I hope that is the most exciting planes will ever get for my family!

My Eli,

  What adventures we have together! A little over 24 hours ago, we when on the most exciting airplane ride I hope we ever have, and I want to tell you about it.

  We flew out to Arizona to visit family for a few days, with your Aunt Rachel and Scout and Rhuey, for birthdays and graduations; our flight back was Monday at 1:20. Let me tell you, it was no small thing to get through the airport and security with three small children and luggage. But we made it, finally we were in our seats on the plane; you and Daddy and I were on the last row of the plane, and Aunt Rachel and Scout and Rhuey were across the aisle from us. As we started to taxi to the runway, we noticed the stewardesses anxious about something. Then we heard someone say something about smoke, and your Daddy saw it first; smoke coming out of an overhead compartment about halfway up the plane. Later, Aunt Rachel said as soon as she heard about the smoke she unbuckled her and Scout and put things back in her bag, thinking they would have us all get off and switch to another plane.

  Two of the flight attendants grabbed fire extinguisher from the compartment above our heads and ran down to the smoke and started spraying. As this was happening, we heard one of the flight attendants yell to another, “call him!” One of them ran past us to the phone at the back and quickly called the captain to tell him about the smoke. We felt the plane jerk to a stop and then start back up and begin to turn. The captain yelled over the speakers, “Flight attendants stand by! Stand by! Stand by!” This all happened so fast, the flight attendants were still trying to stop the smoke using the fire extinguishers, but then one of them told the captain it was spreading…

  Immediately, the captain came on the speakers again, this time yelling, “Evacuate! Evacuate! Evacuate!” Things kicked into high gear. Almost all at once people jumped from their seats, someone opened the exit doors and the back door to the plane, the flight attendants were yelling at everyone to get off… I shoved things back into your backpack, grabbed it and then grabbed you from Daddy, then he took Scout from Aunt Rachel and she had Rhuey snuggled in a sling. We all ran to the back exit of the plane were the flight attendant was yelling, “Jump! Jump! Jump!” Later, Daddy said she was like a marine drill sergeant. J

  As I got closer to the exit, I could hear her yelling, but all I could see was the open door… no stairs. Just the door, open laying flat, and then… nothing. I was going to have to jump all the way to the runway with you in my arms? How would I not hurt you or me? But then Aunt Rachel jumped and I could see; a slide! We flew down the inflatable slide to the ground where your daddy was waiting to catch you! Then we all ran out away from the airplane as other people continued to get off. When we were far enough away, I looked around and saw your daddy wasn’t with us… he had gone back to the plane and was helping people off. Two of the exit doors were over the wings, so people had to climb out onto the wing and then jump all the way to the ground. Your daddy was so brave to go back and help.

  So, there we were, in the Arizona desert, middle of the afternoon in the blazing sun, with three small children. Thankfully, I happened to grab the best bag… the one with drinks and snacks! It also had a small tube of sunscreen, so I put some on you and Scout. You didn’t care in the least about the hot sun, you wanted down to explore! It was hard to keep you occupied for a few minutes, but it wasn’t very long until Daddy came back and held you. You love your daddy. Fire trucks, police cars, and several ambulances came so fast. Soon, flight attendants and staff came around asking if people were okay, and said shuttles were coming to get us and give us water. Aunt Rachel and I tried to make a song with “the sun never bothered me anyway,” but it wasn’t as good or convincing as the real song (your very favorite thing to watch right now is ‘Frozen’). We were out in the sun for about 20 or 30 minutes, but it felt sooooo much longer, before we were able to get on the third shuttle that took us back to the terminal.

  We found a place to sit, and we sat. And waited. We gave you boys a snack (pretzels!) and drinks, entertaining you for a short time. At 2:15 they told us the news; they had to bring our old plane over and unload our luggage, then they had to get a new plane to take us to Wichita… our new ‘estimated’ departure time was 4:00. Aunt Rachel and Daddy and I all looked at each other. Almost 2 hours of sitting… with two energetic boys and very little distractions or toys. We prayed. Not that we weren’t already, but we prayed more!

  You and Scout ran, and played, and ate snacks, and drank (you drank three or four cups of water!). Rhuey slept almost the whole time, all through jumping off the plane, standing in the hot sun and waiting in the terminal, only waking up about 30 or 40 minutes before we left. And when we finally sat down in our new seats on our new plane, you were exhausted. We took off a little after 5:00 (Arizona time, 7:00 Kansas time) and you were asleep shortly after.

  Oh, what adventures we have…

I love you,

Mommy