After Thanksgiving, we got a call for a hospital in St. Louis, which was desperate for NICU nurses.  It was another situation, where there was no place to park the RV, and the nearest suitable RV park was close to 40 miles away.  So, once again, the decision was made for Mike & the kids to stay in Texas, while I went off to St. Louis to work. 

The hospital was wonderful, and VERY desperate, they were short staffed, and then had a HUGE influx of babies.  I found myself working 6 or 7 days each week.  It was exhausting, but rewarding.  I had a few babies that I took care of every day.  The first group of babies that I "primaried" was a set of triplets.  They were just as cute as could be, and I just adored their parents and 3 year old sister.  After they were discharged, I took on two other primary babies, who I cared for the rest of the time I was there.  I fell in love with these babies, as well.  It's hard not to, when you care for them every day!  Caring for these babies helped, because I missed my own family desperately.  After 8 weeks, the hospital's staffing crisis had resolved, and I was able to rejoin my family in Texas.  We enjoyed some down-time, which I desperately needed, after working 8 crazy weeks, of 72 to 100+ hours!   We also decided, that it was too hard on the family to be separated like that, and that we would not accept any more assignments that we couldn't go to as a family.

One of the things I love about homeschooling my kids, is how creative they can be, and I get to experience that creativity.  One of the things that was sold off before we started traveling was the children's dress-up clothes.  There just wasn't room to bring along everything.  That hasn't stopped them!  One day, David decided he wanted to be Robin Hood, so Katie helped him fashion his costume from newspaper, complete with hat, vest, shoes and bow!