The New Year started out pretty rough, with Andee and I participating in a seemingly endless pattern of getting each other sick in the midst of a pretty bad year for colds and flus. We ended up with three lengthy sicknesses each that culminated with a trip to the ER for Andee in the middle of one of his night shifts for a very high fever that we couldn't get down. He ended up okay, thank goodness, but not without a dictated week off from work for some much needed recovery! Vera took it upon herself to take care of the 'boy human' while I was at work. Good kitty!
In the middle of all the sicknesses, we somehow managed to squeeze in some opportunities for Worship, including a Worship Night! This is the first Worship Night at PLC that Andee and I have been in Iowa for, and it was a lot of fun! Unfortunately, Andee was only able to be a spectator for this event since he was still recovering from his ER stay. It was a very impactful night where the congregation really stepped up in surrendering their lives to the amazing and good Father that loves us so much. It was wonderful to be a part of, and I hope we get to be a part of another one soon!
And, it's official - we will be staying in Iowa for at least the next three years! Back in the Fall, Andee accepted a position with Covenant to work as a Family Physician in an outpatient setting! He is finally graduating to having a 'real' job as a 'real' Doctor - Haha! The job will be 5 days a week, no weekends, and regular office hours! After all the crazy work and study schedules with both Medical School and Residency, it will be such a wonderful change to move to a more regular schedule with only 40 hours a week! Andee will be finishing up Residency at the end of June, and will be starting this new job in August! PTL! Along with the acceptance of this new job, Andee and I started the subsequent and lengthy visa paperwork to be able to stay in the United States for this work position. There are only 30 spots available for each State with the particular visa that we applied for, and praise God, we received one of the spots! We also just received news that our new visas have come through, and so we are all set to come home for a visit to Canada in July! Hooray!
We are Homeowners! This year Andee and I purchased out very first house, and it is a beauty! Houses here in Iowa are about 3-4 time cheaper than back where we are from in Ontario, and so buying a house was actually a lot of fun! We shopped around for a few weeks, and just knew instantly that this was the house for us! There are even a couple bedrooms in the basement for when we have our families come to visit us, which will be happening soon when both sets of our parents come to visit in June for Andee's Graduation from Residency! We will have a good couple of months to get their bedrooms and the rest of the house ready for guests to visit from Canada! Andee and I had a lot of help from our Small Group moving into our house, which we desperately needed! If any of you are currently trying to picture me attempting to move a large piece of furniture, you can understand why the help was needed! Everyone was so strong and efficient, that I would look away for a minute and stacks of boxes would already be in the moving truck! We are so grateful to our amazing friends for helping us out whenever we need it! We also ordered some new furniture for the first time ever, and are slowly getting everything where it needs to go! We are very very happy with this new house that we can call our own!
So there you have it - New Job, New House, New.....did I forget something? As a matter of fact, I did!
In November 2017 we will welcome the arrival of Baby Luke to our family! That's right - we're pregnant!!! Somehow in the midst of all the business of this Winter, we managed to grow our little family by one! Andee and I are very excited to fill up our house with a new addition this Fall!
New Job, New House, NEW BABY! 2017 will certainly be a year to remember!!
