needsalt

Three months since my last post and even longer since I actually wrote anything. Truthfully there have been many times I've fully intended to post something as simple as a picture or right what was on my mind, but instead I easily found better uses for the time. I want to continue to write because its the best way I know how to progress and develop ideas as well as express whatever creativity make be lurking inside.

Right now, I'm sitting on the floor with my adorable one-year-old as my beautiful wife naps in the other room getting some well deserved rest. I just finished putting a basket on my head that Nora thought would be a good idea, then helped her walk across the room (holding my hands, no quite on her own yet!) to help her find another distraction rather than the computer on my lap.

Since about the time of my last post (November) life has been hectic, but in very good ways. We were supposed to close on our first house at the end of November, but due to a few set backs ended up closing just before Christmas. The problem was that we subleased our apartment starting December 1. So for the month of December we shacked up with Anna's parents who graciously offered us several rooms and a bathroom in their basement which was a HUGE blessing to us. Our month living with them passed so fast that I can barely still believe we were there for a whole month which was also ten percent or Nora's total life at the time! Our time with them was filled with snow, holidays, closing and doing projects on our new house, and snow.

We moved into our new house on January 2, which happened to be one of the coldest days of the winter but we had plenty of help from our parents and church family that helped make the move go smoothly. We love our new house and have enjoyed embarking on small projects and enhancements as well as hosting get togethers with friends and family.

In November we also started new treatment for the chronic abdominal pain that Anna has been suffering with for as long as ten years now. My mom found an interesting article about abdominal wall pain which piqued our interest. In the article there were listed roughly eight symptoms, of which Anna had them all. We visited a local pain clinic and ended up more discouraged, but were resolved to pursue this more. We ended up getting an appointment at the pain clinic in Iowa City with an Anesthesiologist for mid-November. From day one they listened tentatively and instilled the hope in us that we needed. This past Friday we returned to Iowa City for our third visit and second round of Trigger Point injections of a local anesthetic. Anna is also on a light muscle relaxant and visits a physical therapist several times a week. All of which are having a great impact and have succeeded in lowering Anna's pain level to a more manageable level, but we still have a fairly long road ahead of us, but we are encouraged and have great hope.

Work for me was growing in intensity starting in the fall and culminating with a month of craziness in January. At the beginning of January the president of the University mandated that all faculty and staff would consolidate to a central email system for budgetary reasons rather than departments doing their own thing. I happened to be one of several administrators of the email system that was selected and in a matter of a month we migrated over 6,500 people to a fairly new email system. We had many bumps along the way and I ended up working quite a few late nights, but in the end we basically accomplished what all of us said couldn't be done.

Our church is also on the crux of a very large transition. Several years ago we begun going through a few processes as a church and our leadership has recently decided to change our format from one meeting in a community center to meetings throughout a city in homes around a meal similar to what is seen in the first century church. This kind of a transition is more complicated that my initial perception. I hope to write more about this and my thoughts regarding it soon.

Lastly is our little doll, Nora. As you can see in the pictures I posted earlier today, she just turned one. She has been so much fun and I've enjoyed being a father to her immensely. I never tire of her. She has more facial expressions than a pack of wild mimes. And noises cuter than a herd of puppies. I love her so.

So that is a very brief recap on what has been happening and I'd love to expound even more but none of you would read it then. Hoping to write much much more.