Renovations

Today is the 90 day mark from our move date!

We are finally starting to make decisions for the renovations!  The contractor will likely start in about 2 weeks, and has us choosing the shower and door this week.  We only have space for a stand up shower, which is fine...and have decided on a sliding door as well...for the sake of space.  Decisions, decisions!
I also enrolled the kids in school last week, and reserved a moving truck.  Things are really becoming real...a little scary to be honest.  But we are still excited!

Tony started a new job on Feb 2 with Sherwin Williams, and has already been asked to make a position change.  He was hired as a delivery driver, but when the district and city manger met him and his amazing personality, they told the store manager that "this guy needs to be in the store helping customers!"  So they created a posting for him to apply, and that just happened late last week...so it's in process.  God is so good in providing our every need.  This location is the commercial store, so they are closed on Sundays, and only have abbreviated hours on Saturdays.  Working weekends was the main downfall of working in the store, but he felt like he'd honestly like the work a lot better.  Hopefully, he will be able to make a transfer to a Sherwin Williams near our new home in Roselle, IL.  He has regular hours and great insurance...and much less stress!

Please continue to pray for us as we make this transition.  My health has continued to be decent, so that's a good thing!

New Year!

Wow, it's been SO long since I've written! We are moving right along with plans for the big move.  It keeps getting closer and closer...only 3 1/2 more months!

We've chosen an official move date of May 29.  The kids last day of school is Friday, May 27, and it's only to pick up their report cards, not a "real" school day.  We will take that day and the next to pack and load our U-Haul, and then leave out Sunday morning.  My sister Meri will be sharing the U-Haul with us, so we'll coordinate getting her things packed on Saturday as well.

It's kind of overwhelming to think of all that will happen between now and then!  First, the home improvements/renovations.  We were officially approved in late December for a line of credit that will cover the cost of upgrading the basement to add 2 bedrooms and a bathroom.  Yay!  We will also start the process of widening the driveway, as well as purchase a larger, tankless water heater to accomodate the number of people living in one home.  Mom is calling this week to get the ball rolling on those things.
In approximately 90 days, Meri will graduate with her Masters in Social Work on May 6!!  We are SO proud of her!  Her internship is proving to be an incredible resource, and the company that owns the hospital she's working for also owns hospitals in the Chicagoland area.  Her supervisor has already contacted the HR rep there and will be giving a great reference so that she may land a position before we even move!!  Wouldn't that be awesome??  Tony officially closed his business, Cann-Do Interior Painting, after 3 successful years, on 12/31/15.  It just made sense to do then rather that adding that to our to-do list before we move.  He easily landed a full-time job as a delivery driver for Sherwin Williams, delivering paint.  That gives him consistent income with benefits for our family, which is a good thing right now.  He doesn't love the job, and this probably won't be what he continues once we move, but it's for a season, and has a purpose right now.  Please keep him in your prayers, and anyone who may have connections for job opportunities in the Roselle area, let us know!  Lastly, Mom will retire officially at the beginning of June when school ends!  Exciting stuff.

We are all looking forward to the next few months, and can't wait to celebrate all these positive changes!

How to Make Multi-Generational Living Work!

I searched "Multi Generational Living" on Google today to see if my blog shows up, and it's the very last link on page 1!  Not to shabby for only being 2 months into this.
I also found a great article today on Multi-Generational Living, and wanted to share!  I think we're on the right track so far!  Planned for Christmas Vacation is a whole family discussion and update about where we are in the process, and future goals prior to May. =)  It will be in a neutral location, now that I've read this article...good point!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bethbraverman/2015/06/18/how-to-make-multi-generational-housing-work-for-your-family/

Hope you enjoy!

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Tired Lately

Not much new progress to report.  I've been feeling really exhausted lately, to the point where I cannot function normally, and my shortness of breath has increased as well.  Most of this blog is about our Multi-Generational living, but it's also about our lives in general...so I've decided to share that I have a major health condition that affects my daily living.  It's a genetic heart disease called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.  There is no cure or way to treat it, therefore I live with a lot of undesirable daily symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness, heart arrhythmias and chest tightness.  I cannot work because of my disease, and am permanently disabled.  Most days I can push through as long as I rest while the kids are in school, etc, but these past few weeks I've felt worse.  I've made my doctors aware, and we are keeping an eye on it.
The good news is that I finally got an appointment for a second opinion at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio!!  Tony and I will drive up there next month, and I have a day FULL of appointments (7 to be exact) and testing, as well as an office visit with the #1 doctor in the US for this disease, Dr. Harry Lever.  He has dedicated his entire career to treating and researching this disease, and called me PERSONALLY on his cell phone during his lunch to go over my medical records, etc and tell me how important it was for me to fight my insurance so he could see me.  We finally got it approved last week and I'm very excited!
Vanderbilt has me in their Advanced Heart Failure Clinic, but it is not specific to my disease, although I do have end stage heart failure because of it.  This makes treatment quite a bit different, and I'm not sure Vandy is making all the right decisions.  At this point, I get my heart retested every 3-6 months, and we are just waiting for it to get "sick" enough for me to qualify to be on the heart transplant waiting list.
When I see Dr. Lever, they will redo all testing and make advice about further treatment.  He may tell me that Vandy is on track, which is great.  Or, he may say that I qualify for an open heart surgery that will help my symptoms, which would be great, and would likely hold off transplant that much longer!  Either way, I think the appointment should be positive.  I'm a little anxious, but in a good way.
Because I haven't been feeling myself, Tony has picked up a lot of my daily activities with the kids, and I've been going to sleep by 7:30 each night.  My heart is just tired.  Vandy wanted to move up my testing to see what's going on...but if we do that, the insurance won't pay for the testing that I really want to have done up at Cleveland Clinic.  So, I am toughing it out and checking in with my doc here by phone weekly.  I'm feeling a little better over the past few days, and trying to just rest more in general.  With the recent move, I gained a few lbs and also had more activity than usual (which is not a good thing for me, as I'm exercise intolerant) and the combination of those two things may be what's making me feel bad.  My doc suggested I get my eating back on track (which I already had started) and take it easy physically.  She also said to keep a daily journal with my weight, blood pressure, and heart rate.  This will show if I'm having any fluid retention, and I'll also have it for Cleveland Clinic, which will be helpful for them to see.

Arahn's birthday was Saturday, he turned 10 years old!  We had a great party at Dave and Busters for 10 of his friends (mostly from school) and they had a blast!  It's the first time we've paid for an organized party like that, but I was so relieved to have everything done for me with the way I've been feeling.  All we had to do was show up with a cake! =)

This week is pretty relaxed, I will attend bible study and finish a book.  Then this weekend we will celebrate "Friendsgiving" on Saturday with our small group.  Tony is responsible for cooking and bringing the meat, and each couple is bringing either an appetizer, side dish, or dessert!  It should be fun.  Sunday is Alannah's first cheer competition.  It's here in Nashville, and should be fun.  Looking forward to a great week!

Progress

Our first cheer showcase in Gatlinburg this past weekend was great, but EXHAUSTING!  Today is the first day I feel like I am starting to feel like myself!  We also started to make some progress on the beginning stage of home improvements in Roselle this week.  We received the estimate from the contractor and plumber and are working together to make the decision about how we should fund the work, and when we should have it done.  It is really fun to think about the changes that will be made shortly.  I cannot BELIEVE that it's already November this weekend!  I know May will come really fast!

I did a google search this week and made a phone call to Dupage Cheer and Power Tumbling, and had a GREAT conversation with them regarding switching the kids there for tumbling lessons once we move.  Although we probably won't continue to do competitive cheer, they have a competitive power tumbling team, and that seems like it would be really fun, and isn't too demanding so that they couldn't participate in another sport, which has been a downfall with cheer.  Power tumbling consists of 3 events and is a recognized sport by the US Gymnastics Association.  Check it out on Google!  Anyways, you compete individually, which would challenge both kids, and can qualify for Nationals and Jr. Olympics, depending on how well you do!  Both kids seem interested, so we'll see.  They asked us to come do a trial practice when we visit at Christmas, so the kids can get a feel for the gym, and they can see how well they tumble.

Meri (my sis who lives here in Nashville) is in the heart of the most difficult part of her Master's degree program, and only has 6 months left!  She's working hard and has basically no life, but this will be DONE in May!  Tony has been VERY busy with his business, and also keeping his ears open for opportunities for work once we move.  His most recent thought is working part-time at Sherwin Williams, which would allow him to still do side jobs painting, and also work for my dad as a cab driver.  He's been talking with the SW manager here, who wants him to start in January at their store locally to train, and then he'd only have to transfer come May.  No decisions have been made, but options are starting to surface, which is all God making himself known.  We will continue to listen to the Holy Spirit and let Him guide each decision so that we know it's the right one. =)

Our new rental home is coming along, and we're having our first get together this Saturday for Halloween!  The kids each invited a friend and their family, and we have several friends from our small group coming as well!  I'm making chili and hot dogs, and PRAYING it doesn't rain the whole night, as the kids are really excited to go trick-or-treating!
Happy Halloween!

OCTOBER!!!

, Wow, my last post was on the last day of September, and here we are, already at the end of October.   We spent the first week of October in Roselle, as I mentioned in my last post.  It was a great trip, and we made lots of progress!  Tony worked on the cabinets all week, and finished them Friday. They look GREAT!!  I'll post a few pics so everyone can see the before/after shots.
We arrived on Saturday evening, and Sunday morning we visited the church that is attached to the school we are considering for the kids.  It was not a fit for us.  VERY conservative, sung operatic style hymns, and pastor was extremely long winded, to the point where you start to lose interest.  The people were friendly, and as far as doctrine, it was on track, just not what we're looking for as far as worship.
Monday at 10 am we had a tour scheduled at Schaumburg Christian School with the admissions counselor, Amy.  We arrived a few minutes early, and the bell rung just after we sat down in the lobby.  This school is K-12, and apparently the high school chapel had just ended, so about 100 high schoolers rushed the halls, laughing, talking, etc.  My kid's eyes were HUGE.  We were a long way from their school in TN, with only 50 kids in the whole school, which is all elementary!  Shortly after that, a gentlemen came up to us and said hello, asked if we were visiting.  We introduced ourselves, and found out he was the Dean of Students, and just happened to be passing by.  He held a long conversation with us, asked a lot about the kids and where we were from and seemed genuinely interested in our family.  It was very nice.  Amy then arrived for our tour, and we had an AWESOME experience.  We think this school is a great fit for the kids!  She showed us around the whole school, we walked into both a 4th and 5th grade class (their grades for next year).  It is much larger than their current school, with about 1000 total students. Each of their grades have 3 classrooms with about 20 students in each class. A 5th grade teacher took about 10 minutes showing us the curriculum and basic overview of what is taught in that grade, how they do testing, homework, etc.  They really have a focus on what's best for the kids and work together as a team of teachers each year based on those students.  We then visited the cafeteria, and 3 gyms!  They have a great athletic program, and have actually moved out of the Christian league because they ended up undefeated in every sport, so now they play the smaller public school so it's more competitive!  This will be great for our kiddos!  Sports are available on a limited basis starting in 5th grade, so next year, Arahn will qualify for basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring!  He is so excited!!  They also allow kids to play up based on talent, so he can be skill level appropriate, based on the other kids skills, not just age.  Alannah will have a whole year to get acquainted, and then qualify for sports once she reaches 5th grade.  They have both girls cheer leading and volleyball, which are the two sports she's interested in. =)
We have to turn in the application and registration by March, and we feel very confident and comfortable with this decision.  The best part??  This school is less expensive than their school here in TN!  SCORE!
The rest of the week, we just hung low and relaxed...no cheer, no school, no responsibility.
We did meet with the contractors, but have not heard back with pricing or anything, so we're still waiting to make decisions about how to proceed.
We got to spend some great evenings with my parents and sister Jill, having dinner together (they had to work during the days) and also watching our Cubbies beat the Cardinals!  Highlight of my week! =)

We drove home to TN on Saturday, had a jam-packed day with church, cheer, and small group on Sunday, and MOVED to our new short term rental starting Monday!  We had several friends from small group help move the majority of our things Monday, then Tony and I made several trips Tues-Sat to get the rest of our stuff.  My life was in disarray for over a week, which drives me CRAZY...but it's coming together now.  My sister came over one day and helped unpack the kitchen, which made a huge difference.  We had to eat out for every meal for 3 days, I think, because I couldn't GET to the kitchen, we didn't have food yet, and I had no clue where any utensils were, LOL!  I really like the new place, and Arahn and Alannah having their own rooms is turning out to be a great thing.  Their attitudes are better, and I think just them having their own space makes a huge difference.  Gives them some extra peace.
Tony spent this past weekend painting our apartment back to the original color, and we finally turned in our keys Monday (10/19).  Most of the new place is put together, with the exception of a wall of boxes that have things we want to sell in a yard sale before moving to Chicago.  I think we'll put them in storage for now (Tony has a unit for the business already).
Right now, I'm taking a breath...because we leave Friday for our first cheer competition of the year!!  I've been extremely exhausted and not feeling well, but pushing through.  Yesterday was the first day I felt good in several week.  Today I'm resting, as well as tomorrow.  I know I need balance, but these things just HAD to be done.  Tony probably worked over 100 hours last week between jobs and moving/painting the apt.  So he could only do so much.  I'm thankful that we are past this move, and cannot BELIEVE October is almost here!