My brother (around 45yo) has been having a numbness going down his right arm and hand, and it has progressed into severe pain. It got so bad today that medicine didn't help, so he went to the doctor. They said his spine where it connects to the neck and shoulders, has a vein like thing that goes out to the arm, and its evidently closing off. I'm sure I'm not fully explaining things right, but this is third person explanation now. Anyway, they gave him a shot, told him to try not to move it much until Tuesday, so he's off of work until then. And if it gets better by then, they'll try another shot, if not, they will probably have to do surgery. Obviously any surgery in that area, around the spine, is not a welcomed thing. So these are the specifics of prayer, whenever you think about it. First and foremost, I ask for prayer for my brother's salvation. He does not know the Lord, and I so want him to walk with the Lord. Obviously second, is that no surgery will be needed and that this shot will have fixed the problem. I also ask for prayers for my father. He is older, in his eighties, and this has really shaken him up. He also does not know the Lord. So please keep him in prayer too when you think about it. I'll update you when I know more, which probably won't be until Tuesday. Thank you so much everyone.
I've been thinking about what I should blog about, and truly unless it's about the whole job and house thing, I'm at a blank. So if you are tired of reading about it, just stop reading now, I won't be offended. Otherwise, if you want to know how things are going, keep reading.
We had a great day at church today. It's just such a confirmation that we were suppose to leave our old church and start going here. They are so sweet and kind and I found a homeschool mom veteran there today. You don't know how excited I am. She homeschooled her children all the way through highschool. She says there are quite a few homeschoolers out that way. It was so nice talking to her and just bouncing ideas around. I would love to move out there so we could get together more and chat. That's the only homeschool person I've found at the church. But it is a young church, and who knows. Plus, there's a women's get together in a few weeks, and the men are starting to get together too. It just makes me long to move out there sooner.
Nothing really new on the job front. Paul just finished looking through the paper, and nothing new out there. He has so many resumes out, we are praying for some responses tomorrow, and then if not, that one he interviewed for on Friday. It is a good job, the only two things I think of is it's farther north than we planned and a little less pay than we wanted to start with. It's a lot less than what he was making, so no matter what, things will be tighter than they've been. But we were hoping to start about .50 cents higher than what they are offering. But, it does sound like a good company, and they said they'll be increases in 90 days, so there are many good things too. Also, nothing much new in the house situation. The good thing is, both of the houses we've looked at, the neighborhood one and the sand dune one, are still in the paper, so that means they are still available. There is one more long shot we heard about today. It's a house in the town the church is in, next to the pastor's house. It is truly a long shot though. Their neighbor's had been trying to sell their house, then when that wasn't working, thought about renting it out. Then, nothing much happened. So the pastor talked to them last week, and they are thinking about it. So who knows. It would be the Lord though if these people all of a sudden decide to rent, and the rent is in our range. But the Lord is all about doing things that seem impossible. I'm trying to focus on that. I am getting a little down in some areas. I try to keep my focus on the Lord, and know He's in control. But I will admit, there are times I am downright mad and throwing a tantrum at the Lord. I'm not always good at waiting. And I'm not always good at believing He would give us that 'impossible' house or job, if you know what I mean. But I know He still loves me. I keep giving my feelings to Him, asking Him to help me through this time, and to keep trusting Him. So if you've made it this far through this entry, as much as we need prayers for a job and house, I would appreciate a prayer for me too. That I would learn to trust Him more, and quit throwing mental tantrums, stomping my feet and wanting my way. And learn to believe that the Lord could bless us with the impossible. And even if He doesn't that He still loves us. Thanks.
Paul's last doctor's appointment went fine. The doctor agreed with what we think is happening, and he told Paul to continue with his physical therapy. So that all went good, except we were literally in the doctor's office for an hour. I know that is normal in big cities, but out here it is very rare. So that was very tiring.
We looked at a house before we went to the doctor's office. It was nice, actually we liked it a lot, but there were a few things that we are not sure about. There is no real yard, it's all sand and sage bushes. Yes, you read that right sand. It's like walking on a beach. Plus there's no storage there. No basement, no garage, no extra storage room, nothing. We can't really afford a storage unit, so we're not sure what to do. Yes, we will downsize, but there are some things in storage that we do use every year. Decorations, my crafts and material and my books. So those are the 'cons' of the house. But there was a lot of 'pros'. The house was in our price range and it was a very decent size. It's 3 bedroom, 2 bath, which is a huge plus. There is a master bathroom , separate closets in the master bedroom, a bathroom between the two other bedrooms, and place to put a fireplace if we wanted, a dishwasher and a beautiful view of the mountains. There are two other houses on the same property which one family lives in, plus a small machine shop they run as a business. But we met one of the women that lives there and she was very nice. She had a little boy who loved running around with the kids, and two more who were at school, that she said would love to play with our kids. She really wanted us to move there. So we are thinking and praying about it. We are thinking of it as a temporary solution to get us out there. Then in a 6 months or a year or so, find another place. Which is a thought. Paul hasn't gotten any responses yet from his resumes, well he had a couple of offers, but the pay was way to low. We did find out about another job tonight, but we are not sure about the pay. The position doesn't sound like it would pay what we need, but the owner of the business is desperate and needs help very bad, so maybe. Paul will check on it tomorrow.
Well, that was my day. I'm tired now and I'm going to get going. Thanks for all your continued prayers and encouragement.
So are you all tired of my constant talking of updates and what's going on with the job, moving etc...?
Well, here is the update anyway. I want to say, again, that truly the only way this move will work is the Lord doing it, He will get all the glory. We went to church today, which a couple of you asked, yes, the town we want to move to is the town where we are going to church right now. Though it was cold and raining and we were so completely tired we did get up and out of the house by 8:15am and made it to church. There was a potluck afterward, and we really wanted to fellowship with our new friends, so we pushed ourselves to go. The service was awesome and he was talking about taking things to the Lord in prayer, especially big huge things that seem impossible. Then, as we started talking to some of our friends about our situation, the Lord really started moving. First, they all prayed for us. A group of people, that we are just getting to know, laid their hands on us, enclosed us in their prayers, and it was such a touching time. Even if a move doesn't happen, I am blessed with how the Lord has brought us new and prayerful friends through all of this. Well, quite a few different possibilities came up during our fellowship/potluck time. One of the couples we are getting to know actually has a house they rent out to people. It's about $150 more than we can afford plus they have renters in there right now. But they are having trouble with their renters right now, and might have to ask them to leave. If that happens, they said they would consider lowering the rent. So that's one possibility. The second is the pastor's neighbor's house. They were thinking of renting it out, but haven't made a decision, he's going to check into it. Plus, there were a few houses for rent in the paper today (I still have to check some other papers). One I couldn't get a hold of, so that's still a possibility, the other was tentively rented, but he took our name and number just in case. We drove past it, and though it was a little run down, it looked cute. All great possibilities.
Now jobs. There is a huge food warehouse/distributor out here with warehouses in 3 different towns around here. Though they weren't there today, there are two people who go to the church who are managers there. Our friends at church are going to call those people, because they weren't at church today, and see what kinds of openings there are. Then, one of the guys called us when we got home. He had called this other guy that wasn't there today who manages a different warehouse, and they are hiring. So Paul is going to call him tomorrow and see what that job is about. Plus, a blogging friend emailed me and her BIL has some contacts at different warehouses in the areas we are looking at, she is going to check with him for us and see what he can find out.
So, all I can say is WOW, the Lord is awesome in His blessings to us. I know none of it is definite and things can change, but it's encouraging. It's a blessing to see how the Lord is using our new church family to help us, and truly, it's a refreshing feeling. We have so missed having such an awesome church family like this, and we are so totally blessed by their offers. One couple even offered for us to stay with them until we find a place, how much more blessed can we be.
I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging, it might get moved down to just evenings. We are going to see what happens with this possible warehouse job tomorrow. If things go good with it, even though we don't have a house yet, Paul will take it. That will mean I have to drive him the very long distance to and from work everyday while trying to do some school and packing up the house. Because when he gets a job, its then definite that we move. When that happens, we'll take a small break from school, and go into summer if we have to. So all this to say, if all of sudden I go 'quiet' you'll know why. I'll try to update as I can, which will probably be in the evenings. Thanks for all your continued prayers. And I prayer I will have a 'happy dance' praise report soon.
I am going to try to be 'up' about this, because I know the Lord is in control, it's just hard at times. We are officially unemployed. Paul tried to give his two week notice, but like any big corporation, since he was no longer of any 'use' to them they didn't want him to stay for two weeks. So, since this was the last day of the pay period, they said it was his last day. So we are truly walking by faith now. It seems like we have two options, stay here and try and find a job (which finding a job here is very remote), the other is to just 'jump' and move toward the bigger towns and get a job after we move. I know the Lord is in control, and has a plan for us, it's just in the midst of it, not knowing where to go and what to do, it's a little hard. We have been without jobs before, but here it's just different. Because we live so far away from any good employment, this job loss means we have to move too. That's what makes it so hard. It's not like we have the money laying around that it would cost to move. And even if we found a job here, which like I said is remote, it wouldn't ever really give us enough to start saving and pay off some debt. So, it is completely in the Lord's hands. We are praying for direction and guidance. I'm sure we'll have some answers in the next couple of days, and I'll keep you posted.
I have a few minutes of 'down time' and thought I would try to start an entry about the upcoming big decisions. The question is, where to begin. I guess at the beginning.
Though this issue with Paul started in earnest about 2 months after he started his delivery driving job, which was about 11 months ago, it truly has been there for years. We've been married 13 years, and he's had it since before then. He had a hard time driving for long periods, usually days. It only came up the few times we went on vacation and such. Usually by the 2nd day of driving home, his eyes would get tired and his head 'filled up', something like that. Just this feeling of his, that's hard to explain, so I would drive. Since we never drove for days or miles, it only came up once and a while. Then, last October, he started this propane delivery driver job. About 2 months after he started, he got his first real 'dizziness' episode. We were together, so he pulled over and I drove, again just thinking cold, ear infection, whatever. About 2 months after that, he was taking some of the youth group at the church we were attending to the 'big' town, and while he was driving it happened again. This time, all he could do was slow down a lot. He made it there and back, but it was difficult for him. He went to the doctor and was diagnosed with an ear infection. Then, it got so, whenever we went to the bigger towns, I would have to drive. This went on for about 4 or 5 months, then he had his next big dizziness episode in his work truck, that's when we started with all these doctors. All of that to let you know the history of what's been going on.
So, our decisions. First, if you want to know the update and our next step, you can go here. Once we know it's not MS, then we are back to an 'undiagnosed condition' and he'll have to keep up with the vestibular physical therapy. We have been talking and praying about this all weekend, and I spoke to the doctor today about it too, should he keep driving for a living? He is and was fine when he didn't drive for a living. But now he drives hours and sometimes hundreds of miles a day, and it seems that all that driving sets 'it' off. The doctor says he's not willing to put it down in his records that he can't drive, because truly he can, it's just this extended driving that gets him. So now we are trying to decide if he should stay at this job, which is looking more and more like he'll be leaving. For those of you who don't know, we live in the middle of no where. There are only about 5 jobs around here that we could live on, and all of them involve driving. So, not only is it a decision about whether to change careers, but also, that would involve moving. You know that I have talked about moving before, and yes, I would like to be closer to the bigger towns, but this isn't what I was thinking. It will be hard for it all to come together, and truly, it will be the Lord. To move to a new house, we need a job, to get a job, we need to move to a new house. The distance is so far, there is no easy way to job hunt, because he can't drive that far easy right now, he can't 'commute' to a new job while we look for a house. Please know I'm not exaggerating here. And, truly, unless you live in the country where it takes at least 45 minutes driving 65MPH to get to any kind of employment, shopping etc... it is hard to understand. I would never have understood this until we moved out here. Just know, to get a new job, we'll have to move, but to move, we need a new job. Plus, those of you up North can understand, the cold and snow will be coming soon, so if there is any moving that needs to be done, the sooner the better. So all in all, the Lord needs to guide us and show us exactly what He has for us. About the only thing that will change or slow this down, is the doctor's appointment tomorrow. If the doctor thinks MS is starting or needs some more tests, which I'm really praying he doesn't, that of course will change things. I truly want the chasing part of this done, then it will be onto the next decisions.
So, since I'm trying to truly seek the Lord in all of this, and know that He's in control, I'm ending this with the blessings I've seen through all of this. This has been an on again, off again issue for a while, and we are finally getting some answers. We would never have truly known about this unless he had started driving for a career, so I'm blessed he is driving. Also, through all these years that the Lord could have shown us this, it was at a time when we've had the best insurance and some of the best and easiest doctors. I am truly blessed by that.
Again, thank you all for your continued prayers. I will try to update tomorrow sometime after we get home. I am so blessed by how all of you keep checking in on us, and praying for us. You are a blessing to us. Thank you.
I spoke to the doctor this morning. He got the report from the radiologist, and there are no tumors. There is, what he called, non-specific white matter, which could, be the beginning of MS. That is a very remote possibility, and our doctor actually doesn't think it is. But to make sure, and since Paul does have dizziness issues, he's sending him to a neurologist. So on to another doctor we go. We have an appointment tomorrow at 1:45 MT. There may be lots things that can irritate me about small towns sometimes, but I have to admit, I am blessed by the fact that we can get into appointments so quick and easy. Thank you for your continued prayers. I might try to put another entry out to explain the other decisions we have to make, but again, right now I want to get this update out for you all. I am blessed to know it's not a tumor, and though I'm a little nervous, and obviously don't want it to be MS, I know that the Lord is in control. And as I read this thought in a devotional the other day, and the Lord showed me more about this line of thinking; I can not decide what God is like by looking at my circumstances, I will become disillusioned, confused and angry. I need to know who He is by His word.
First, sorry that it has taken me so long to get this out tonight, we've been a bit busy. But, no, we haven't heard anything yet. I waited until this afternoon to call the doctor, and the MRI place still hadn't sent the report in, so they were going to call to check on it. I never heard back. I'm going to call them first thing tomorrow and check on it. I truly felt to let it wait today. But first thing tomorrow, I will call.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and continuing to check with me. I had to wait until 5:00pm MT to make sure they didn't call, then dinner and Paul's vestibular physical therapy to do, so this was the first chance I got. We are still waiting on the Lord, and still need your prayers until we hear back from the doctor. Plus, it's way to long to get into now, as I want to get this out for everyone, but we have some other big decisions to make and need God's direction in those too.
OK, short but sweet, I want to get this out for everyone, thanks again for all your prayers. I'll get a post out tomorrow as soon as we know.
Thank you so much for all your prayers. I can't give the kind of report I want to give and say that the doctor called and we are 100% sure everything is fine. But here is what happened today. I called the doctor's office in the morning to see what the status was. The lady I spoke with said they hadn't received the film or report yet. So I just said something like, "It's hard when you use words like tumor or MS, and then tell us to wait." So she said she would look into it, and she would call me back. About an hour or so later, she calls me back to say the radiologist from the MRI place won't have the report done until Monday. And believe me, that's what I was doing, crying. I ended up hanging up quickly with her because I started crying. She felt bad, but there was nothing she could do. After a few minutes to calm down, and chatting with a friend of mine (who happens to be a nurse too), I decided to call back for further explanation. I got their voice mail saying they turn the phones off at noon on Friday's, but if I was a current patient, I could call the phone service. So I did, and explained that I had spoken to a lady a few minutes ago and had some questions about what she told me. She passed on the information. An hour or so went by, and I figured that's it, they weren't calling us back, and we would have to wait until Monday. Paul was home for lunch, and we were just chatting about things, when the phone rang and it was the doctor's office. I answered it, and it was the doctor himself! He knew how nervous we were, and he said over and over he's not a radiologist, and we would have to wait until Monday to get an exact report, but he saw the film and didn't see a tumor! He thought the film looked normal, but again, he said, we had to wait for a 100% definite answer. Of course this doctor is also a surgeon, so obviously he does know some things about it. He told us to have a good weekend. I know he was worried about us, well probably me mainly, since I had been crying with the lady from his office earlier. So we are more relaxed now. We won't feel 100% comfortable until Monday, and I do ask for your continued prayers until then.
There are still so many things up in the air right now, to much for me to go into right now. I am exhausted. I don't know how much I'll be blogging this weekend. We have to help my sister with some wood splitting and stacking, we have church and shopping on Sunday, and just plain family/normal stuff. Things I'm looking forward to doing. But I had to let you know what we know. Be on the lookout Monday for a more excited post saying 100% all is well. Until then, please continue to pray whenever you think about it. We can't thank you all enough for your prayers. You are truly a blessing to us.
Today went good, for what we had to do. We dropped the kids off at my sisters house in the morning, then my dad would take them out to lunch in the afternoon, then my mom would watch them in the late afternoon. The kids, of course, had a blast. Paul and I made it in to the big town pretty early, so we had a light lunch. Then we went to a river in the town. They have a green belt there to walk on, and that's where we went for our first wedding anniversary we celebrated out here. It was a fun and touching time. We then went to the MRI office, filled out some paper work, was told how much we would have to pay today , then we were escorted to a room in the back. These people were very nice, and the place was very pleasant. I had my own waiting room, that had a love seat, a chair and a tv. We were pushed back by a half hour, so we sat and watched some tv together, and just had a pleasant time. It was an Open MRI, which we pushed for. There was other MRI offices we could have gone to, but we wanted the open one. They offered to give Paul some medication to calm him if needed. He decided against it. He did good. He said by the end it was getting hard, but he got through it. We still won't know anything until the doctor calls us. I'm praying that is tomorrow, but it might not be until Monday. So then we stopped by a new Starbucks in town, that had an outdoor cafe. We sat and relaxed and drank our coffee and enjoyed the town. We are tired, and trying not to focus on the waiting part, but we are blessed all went well. I have some pictures to share too.
This is us in the town by the river.
And here is Paul in his garb before the MRI.
Thanks again for all your prayers. I, of course, will update as soon as we know something.
I am a wife and mother of two. I started this blog to share the things the Lord shows me in my journey as a wife, mother, homeschool mom and His daughter. And in it all to "grow in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
II Peter 3:18
Anyway, they gave him a shot, told him to try not to move it much until Tuesday, so he's off of work until then. And if it gets better by then, they'll try another shot, if not, they will probably have to do surgery. Obviously any surgery in that area, around the spine, is not a welcomed thing. So these are the specifics of prayer, whenever you think about it. First and foremost, I ask for prayer for my brother's salvation. He does not know the Lord, and I so want him to walk with the Lord. Obviously second, is that no surgery will be needed and that this shot will have fixed the problem. I also ask for prayers for my father. He is older, in his eighties, and this has really shaken him up. He also does not know the Lord. So please keep him in prayer too when you think about it. I'll update you when I know more, which probably won't be until Tuesday. Thank you so much everyone.
You don't know how excited I am. She homeschooled her children all the way through highschool. She says there are quite a few homeschoolers out that way. It was so nice talking to her and just bouncing ideas around. I would love to move out there so we could get together more and chat. That's the only homeschool person I've found at the church. But it is a young church, and who knows. Plus, there's a women's get together in a few weeks, and the men are starting to get together too. It just makes me long to move out there sooner.
I'm not always good at waiting. And I'm not always good at believing He would give us that 'impossible' house or job, if you know what I mean. But I know He still loves me. I keep giving my feelings to Him, asking Him to help me through this time, and to keep trusting Him. So if you've made it this far through this entry, as much as we need prayers for a job and house, I would appreciate a prayer for me too. That I would learn to trust Him more, and quit throwing mental tantrums, stomping my feet and wanting my way. And learn to believe that the Lord could bless us with the impossible. And even if He doesn't that He still loves us. Thanks.
I know that is normal in big cities, but out here it is very rare. So that was very tiring.
Plus there's no storage there. No basement, no garage, no extra storage room, nothing. We can't really afford a storage unit, so we're not sure what to do. Yes, we will downsize, but there are some things in storage that we do use every year. Decorations, my crafts and material and my books. So those are the 'cons' of the house. But there was a lot of 'pros'. The house was in our price range and it was a very decent size. It's 3 bedroom, 2 bath, which is a huge plus. There is a master bathroom 
And believe me, that's what I was doing, crying. I ended up hanging up quickly with her because I started crying. She felt bad, but there was nothing she could do. After a few minutes to calm down, and chatting with a friend of mine (who happens to be a nurse too), I decided to call back for further explanation. I got their voice mail saying they turn the phones off at noon on Friday's, but if I was a current patient, I could call the phone service. So I did, and explained that I had spoken to a lady a few minutes ago and had some questions about what she told me. She passed on the information. An hour or so went by, and I figured that's it, they weren't calling us back, and we would have to wait until Monday. Paul was home for lunch, and we were just chatting about things, when the phone rang and it was the doctor's office. I answered it, and it was the doctor himself! 
