Here is what we did know:
- We would be moving to a new house (which we closed on in May)
- Elisha would be changing schools from the local public school to private school
- Mariah would be changing schools from the local public school to a home school
- I would officially begin my new position as a manager at my job
- Anne-Marie would try to figure out what in the world is going on with all the conflicting reports from the doctors
The list points out the obvious: Our family as a whole was facing a major change in buying a house and moving into it. At the same time, all four of us were facing individual challenges. This is the story of our attempt to connect all these dots.
 |
| The big move day. We had a whole new crew! Thanks everyone. |
The property market in Portland is absolutely bananas. By the time we would find a house we were interested in, the house would already be pending. With the help of Richard at Portland Digs, we found a house we wanted, put together a very strong offer and won a very short war for possession. The house went on the market on Friday. We found out it was ours by Monday. We were picking out decor by the time most people saw it on Zillow.
The move thing is always intimidating, but we had huge help from friends. The amazing thing about it is that it was a completely different group of friends we tortured with moving last time. I'm so grateful for all those poor people who helped us come back home in 2014 and am forever indebted to the people who helped us this June. Gatorade Flow on me any time, guys.
The kids love the house and the new neighborhood. I have all kinds of work to do making the 2 bed / 1 bath into something like a 4 bed / 2 bath with an office. I'm giving myself a decade.
 |
| New neighbors |
 |
| The sun vanished |
We tried for 3 years to do our best with Elisha in the local public school. He learned a lot there and was succeeding academically. We are grateful to the exceptional teachers he had for his success.
Yet there was nothing they could do to stop the bullying. I don't want to say a whole lot about it because I know Buddy might be reading this blog himself sometime in the next five years. Let's just say, the problem was so bad that early in the 2016-17 school year we decided it would be his last at the public school. Ultimately, it is our responsibility as parents to put our child in a healthy environment, not the government's.
 |
| First day at the new school |
The good news is that Elisha is now a student at Cornerstone Christian Academy. This doesn't guarantee a school year without issues, but it does put Elisha in an academic setting with similar values as he's taught at home and place him in the position where his education is a privilege and not a right.
3. Mariah's new school
This one was even more challenging. Mariah wasn't doing so well at school either, but her problems were just plan ol' academic. Whether it was the system not working or whatever, something needed to change in order for her to progress, so while we were changing everything, we came up with the solution to homeschool Mariah for at least one year.
We signed her up with the online version of a local Christian school with curriculum by Alpha Omega. In a totally different way, we are heading toward the same goals as we had for Elisha: values and accountability.
Starting out with the new setup has been a bit rough, but we are getting it figured out. Our hope is that each of our kids is a little jealous of the other for how cool their new school is. That is, until the day (hopefully) comes where they're back together in the same place on school days.
4. Eli's new position
After a month of negotiating in March/April of this year, I decided (agreed to if I'm honest) apply for the vacant Project Manager position at work. I've been a drafter my entire career and the opportunity to manage other drafters and represent our department to the client seemed a bit intimidating. But it was a salary increase and we needed the above three points to work, so--after counsel with a bunch of people--I applied and easily got the position.
Then our most experienced drafter died in a tragic accident. Then the head of our department resigned. Then the senior project manager (my trainer) resigned. Now, with five months experience, I have become the most junior senior project manager in the history of the industry. The first 3 weeks was really, really hard, but this week we started to turn stuff around a bit. I know that God knows and understands the entire situation and that something good can still come of it.
5. Anne-Marie's jumbled medical news
The last four were complicated. This one is so confusing, I can't even remember how everything happened over the last few months. Remember this? The oncologist cut us loose from the harsher treatments and put Anne-Marie on an injection every four weeks with periodic CT scans to check on anything concerning.
After a three months of treatment with the injections, Anne-Marie's scans came back with concerning areas near her sternum. We spent a day at the hospital waiting for the doctor's to get a tissue sample with a laparoscopic biopsy. They couldn't reach the area.
Rather than rushing to an "open heart" style situation, we elected to allow the pulmonologist to prescribe a series of antibiotics and steroids to see how the unwelcome growth responds. This may tell us what the growth is.
Last Friday, Anne-Marie went in for her follow-up CT scan to see what's changed under the antibiotic/steroid treatment. We expect results in the next couple of days and we're believing in faith that the results will be completely boring.
This Friday, Anne-Marie and I have been married for 16 years and we celebrated the accomplishment last weekend with a trip to Central Oregon. We know there's craziness going on all around us, but it doesn't keep us from celebrating the special days. And from celebrating every day, really. Not that it's all positive and happy, but whatever it is, we're thankful for this last three months and believe we'll read this in 10 years and laugh about how crazy everything was.
3. Mariah's new school
This one was even more challenging. Mariah wasn't doing so well at school either, but her problems were just plan ol' academic. Whether it was the system not working or whatever, something needed to change in order for her to progress, so while we were changing everything, we came up with the solution to homeschool Mariah for at least one year.
We signed her up with the online version of a local Christian school with curriculum by Alpha Omega. In a totally different way, we are heading toward the same goals as we had for Elisha: values and accountability.
Starting out with the new setup has been a bit rough, but we are getting it figured out. Our hope is that each of our kids is a little jealous of the other for how cool their new school is. That is, until the day (hopefully) comes where they're back together in the same place on school days.
4. Eli's new position
After a month of negotiating in March/April of this year, I decided (agreed to if I'm honest) apply for the vacant Project Manager position at work. I've been a drafter my entire career and the opportunity to manage other drafters and represent our department to the client seemed a bit intimidating. But it was a salary increase and we needed the above three points to work, so--after counsel with a bunch of people--I applied and easily got the position.
Then our most experienced drafter died in a tragic accident. Then the head of our department resigned. Then the senior project manager (my trainer) resigned. Now, with five months experience, I have become the most junior senior project manager in the history of the industry. The first 3 weeks was really, really hard, but this week we started to turn stuff around a bit. I know that God knows and understands the entire situation and that something good can still come of it.
5. Anne-Marie's jumbled medical news
The last four were complicated. This one is so confusing, I can't even remember how everything happened over the last few months. Remember this? The oncologist cut us loose from the harsher treatments and put Anne-Marie on an injection every four weeks with periodic CT scans to check on anything concerning.
After a three months of treatment with the injections, Anne-Marie's scans came back with concerning areas near her sternum. We spent a day at the hospital waiting for the doctor's to get a tissue sample with a laparoscopic biopsy. They couldn't reach the area.
Rather than rushing to an "open heart" style situation, we elected to allow the pulmonologist to prescribe a series of antibiotics and steroids to see how the unwelcome growth responds. This may tell us what the growth is.
Last Friday, Anne-Marie went in for her follow-up CT scan to see what's changed under the antibiotic/steroid treatment. We expect results in the next couple of days and we're believing in faith that the results will be completely boring.
 |
| 16 years |
No comments:
Post a Comment