I'm Still Here!

Don't worry folks. I'm still here! These past 5 months have been cra.zy. I had travel with work from September through October, then life just took off! (imagine that, huh.).  We are doing great. Eric loves his job. He has exactly a year of seminary left (hallelujah!), then it looks like more school will be in his future. Since he enjoys his job so much, he is currently trying to decide of he wants to pursue another Master's or PhD (both theology related), or if he wants to pursue a Library Science degree.  Both options are very exciting! 
As for me. The past month has been a doozy! I have been having severe abdominal pain since March and was told I had Ovarian Cysts that were rupturing. After the last "episode" I spoke with a new doctor at my clinic and she suggested exploratory surgery to see if there were any deeper issues. She suspected I might have Endometriosis, and once I told her my mother had it as well, she was even more convinced that it was the likely cause of all my issues. So in mid-December I had that procedure, where she did indeed find Endometriosis that she treated by burning it off (unfortunately, it will come back. Bummer). It was also on some other organs she didn't feel comfortable treating without talking with me first, so that is something we will deal with in the future. But for now, I'm recovering well and hoping this helps with all of the issues I have been having.
Also, I got a new job!! This was such a blessing. As some of you know, I have worked in Admissions at Ouachita since I graduated in 2009. I loved the job. Working with high school seniors was SO much fun! Unfortunately, a huge part of that job is traveling throughout the fall and January, and it was getting to be too much. I have been married for all 4 of my travel seasons at Ouachita. That's rough. Rough on me, and rough on Eric. This year I hit a wall. During one of my final weeks of travel, Eric's boss called me to check on Eric. Eric had emailed her that morning letting her know his blood sugar was 500+ and wouldn't be in until the afternoon. She tried to reach him to check on him and couldn't, so she called me. Eric had neglected to tell me this that morning since he knows I already worried about him when I was gone. He didn't answer my call until about the 3rd try. By this point, I was a crying mess. (He eventually answered, and was eventually fine. Don't you fret!). But, the damage was already done. I realized I couldn't do it anymore. I needed to be home to take care of my husband. And what if something bad ever happened, and I happened to be traveling, or what if we have a baby and his blood sugar is high/low and he can't care for himself, much less another person? The stress was just too much. I immediately told my boss I couldn't handle another year of travel, but I wasn't going to start looking for jobs until the next year. Then right before Thanksgiving (and our WONDERFUL trip to Chicago!), I heard of an opening in Student Services. This position was held by Sandy Atkins for any OBU folks out there, and I immediately contacted Dr. Kluck about the position. Today is my first "official" day, though I split my last couple of weeks of December between jobs. It is great to be back under Dr. Kluck again, and to be on this side of things. I am looking forward to working with a new batch of people and getting to see current students more. This is going to be a great move. I am looking forward to seeing what 2013 has in store for us! So far, I'm liking what I see :)

worldwide respect

I just turned 25. Which is a big age to me. Something about it feels... different. I feel it is a universal age of respect. So what if I'm a college graduate, employed, and been married for 3 years. I feel like the world doesn't take anything but my age in to effect. And I feel as though 25 is when World says "Katie, you are now a woman." Or at least that's what I thought until I heard an article say that it is now thought that 30 is the worldwide age of adulthood. Shucks.
I do think 25 is going to be good to me. Maybe changes will come in my life, maybe they won't. Maybe in a year I'll be so thankful 25 is gone and 26 is here- (one more year closer to universal respect and maturity). But for now, I'm going to soak in 25 for all it's worth. After all, my birthday and the Olympics fell in the same week. That's got to be a good sign for something, right?
Couple of my favorite birthday gifts? Glad you asked. My parents got me a Chi Hairdryer. This thing is heavenly. (I can dry my hair in under 3 minutes, y'all. And I have a LOT of hair). The in-laws got me a Pandora bracelet. I am in love. Husband got me gorgeous flowers. And I will be using my cash to purchase Direct TV Sunday Ticket so I can watch the Steelers every move... Don't judge.

Soooo

It's been a while. My apologies.  Here are a few updates.  First, I bailed on gluten free. I did it for about 3 weeks and things just got crazy.  I traveled a lot during the month of July and could not figure out how to do gluten free while traveling. I'm about to hit the road for 2 months for work, so I was incredibly overwhelmed.  I plan to try again around January when all of my work travel is over and I would have months to figure it out before I get thrown into a bunch of craziness. We will see.


Secondly, and way more importantly, Eric got a job!!  A full-time job, which happens to start on my Birthday. August 1 will be a great day for many reasons in our household! We are so thankful for this opportunity.  He will be working in the library at Ouachita. If you know my husband, you know this makes him excited as all get out! I am excited for us to finally be on the same schedule. How wonderful will this be! We can ride to work together, eat lunch together, it's going to be great for our relationship, for our finances, and for Eric as he will now feel better about his contributions to our family.  This for sure seals the deal that we will be in Arkadelphia for at least 2 more years.  Now that Eric has a full time job, he will back off on his B.H. Carroll load. He should graduate May 2014 as of now. Then, who knows. But it is nice to finally sort of understand the way our life might be headed. Because we all know the Lord has a crazy way of shacking our plans. But for now, we have a direction. And it is good.

More unknown

Eric had always planned on graduating next May. He pushed through his first year of seminary like a champ taking more classes than anyone would dream of taking in order to graduate "on time" with our grand plan.  All of that was well and great until the seminary broke his thesis class in to two terms so it is impossible for him to graduate next May.  Which is sort of a blessing in disguise. This past year was hard on him and on our marriage, so it is nice that he can slow down his pace and spread it out over two years. 
He has worked part-time this past year in order to have more time to focus on his studies. Now that he is spreading things out, we are looking in to some full-time positions. He really enjoys his job at the church, but he only works 19 hours a week. Now that he has the time to dedicate to a full-time position, it is definitely a better option for us. Now on to the nerve wrecking part of finding jobs to apply for and getting interviews :)

Future?

When Eric graduated last year, moving away for seminary was never even discussed.  We never looked or talked about any other options than B.H. Carroll.  He is now half way through that program so it's time to start doing something. I have never been open to the thought of moving away. I like Arkadelphia, I like my job, I like our friends, and I refuse to live any further away from home.  Well, that was until this week. Something...switched.  We began discussing what his options are after finishing Carroll and I found myself excited. Excited? Did I just say that? (deep breath). Yes, yes I did.  I never thought I would look forward to moving and starting a new adventure. I do not accept change well. Never have.  But maybe that is changing.  I don't think there is any way we could have moved last year when Eric graduated and me still have been okay.  It would have been too much of a change, a shock, for me.  But I feel that I am finally ready. I'm excited for us to research, discuss, and visit new potential homes. I'm excited to continue watching my husband grow into the amazing teacher/pastor/? that he will be.  Wherever God leads him (us), I know Eric will do great things.  And I am so excited. 

Gluten Free For Me

I am probably one of the pickiest eaters you will ever know.  Since college, I have had my first orange, grape, grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the list goes on.  It's pretty safe to say I survive off meat-mainly chicken, cheese, and bread.  My senior year of college I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (my mother was convinced I had the Bird Flu upon my trip home from Israel!).  I've never really found much in terms of relief, but I've learned to just deal with it.  I have had a gluten free diet suggested to me by a doctor and several friends, but never felt like I could make the commitment. Its just such a change from what I'm used to. I want a guarantee that this will help before I do this. I don't want to spend 2/4/6 weeks doing this and not feel any better.  But friends, now is the best a time than any so I've buckled down and am trying this thing out.  I'm also not having caffeine. whew! You should just be glad you are not my husband right now, because I am all sorts of grumpy/whiny/tired. And I'm only 6 days in. Lord help us all! 

Does Time Really Fly?

I've had enough conversations with Dr. Wight about time these past few years to know that time doesn't really fly by, but it's a saying I can't seem to kick.  We celebrated our 3 year anniversary Monday.  I've never really been one to have yearly expectations.  I didn't grow up saying "I will be married by __ age, and have kids by __ age, and have ___ career by __ age", but somehow I'm not where I secretly thought I'd be after 3 years of marriage. And I'm pretty okay with that.  We have had struggles these past three years.  Year 1 was so exciting, so full of new adventures and adjustments.  We would both say year 2 was the hardest. All those adjustments of year 1 sort of blew up and we had a lot of family struggles.  But year 3 was pretty awesome.  And to say I'm excited to see what year 4 has in store would be an understatement.