Spring Pictures!

Date Night!

My how life has changed for us in the last year and a half. I was supposed to take a continuing education course this weekend, which I bailed on since I am changing jobs. So, since Todd had a tournament this weekend we lined up Todd's parents to keep Reed for the weekend. Nana and Papa Hackleman don't get to see Reed enough as it is, let alone all by himself, so you can bet they weren't giving him up when I decided to bail on the course. This worked out well for me as I have about 5 file boxes of discharges to do. Needless to say, Todd and I worked all day and Reed played with Nana and Papa in Missouri! Boy, is it quiet at our house! Jack is a nervous wreck! She can't find her boy! I wasn't busy enough not to just miss the heck out of him, either. I know that he is having a GREAT time and getting spoiled rotten, though. That fact made it a little easier to enjoy a night out with my husband, thanks to the rain! It has been so long since we have taken a date night. We swear we are going to do it more everytime we have one too, but we never do it. That is one of the goals with this new job is to have more time together as a family so that we don't feel guilty getting a babysitter to have a date! The stress just seems to be lifting daily the closer this new job gets. I feel 1000 pounds lighter, even though I'm probably about 10 pounds heavier in reality! LOL! I think I'll sign off for the evening and enjoy the rest of the night with my wonderful husband!!!

Changes Are In The Wind!

Last week was very tumultous for me and my family. After many weeks, maybe even months of discussion and deliberation with not only Todd, my nearest and dearest friends but also the good Lord above I came to a very tough decision. On Wednesday I had a discussion with my friend and employer, Lynn regarding my departure from NovaCare. My last day there will be May 14th. That's right I did it! I gave my 30 day notice.

Many of you know that I have been there for nearly 9 years, it has been my first and only physical therapy job. My heart and soul has been with my job and clinic in Derby, but after this last year with the loss of my dad and never really finding a good balance between being a wife, mother, PT, and clinic manager Todd and I decided something had to give. I begin praying about it daily and talking it to death to anyone who would listen. It has been during this process that I really have missed my dad. He was great with this kind of advice. I tried very hard to remember every conversation that I had ever had with him about something of this magnitude. I just kept hearing him say to trust my gut, and to trust God to lead me in the right direction. The night before my final meeting with Total Home Care, I prayed for a passage to give me some insight into what path may life was to take. I was lead to the last chapter of Proverbs and the Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character. In my bible there was a devotion about a woman feeling conflicted about loving her career and conflicted when life brought changes to her work and her family. It was very uplifting and put things into perspective for me. It is in God's hands to help me find the balance that I seek. It made realize that I need to be thankful for the talents that he has given me to wear all the hats that I do. It also calmed my guilt that my focus can shift from career to family and that I am not a lesser woman for it. I have always wanted to have it ALL! Career, husband, children, church, activities, etc. I realized that I do, and I always have. I still will, it just won't be how I pictured or planned it. My dad told me once that it isn't mine to plan...and as usual he was right.

I am very excited to start my new endeavor as a Home Health PT. It will allow me to practice PT, be with my family and still provide for them emotionally and financially. I am so excited for our life to slow down and for us to have an improved focus!

Thanks to all who have listened and prayed for me and for our family. I appreciate it greatly as we embark on these new and changing times.

Dinner with KAY Friends

Tuesday night last week we (Reed and I) had dinner with some of my KAY friends. In attendance were Luke, Grace, Randa and Nolan, and Reed and myself. It was great to catch up with Luke after his basic training and hear about his new job. It was also wonderful to hear about Grace and her nearing end of her school journey. Oh, the young folks of KAY! It seems like only yesterday that Randa, Tim, Libby, and I were having dinner and getting together and sharing these times in our lives! It was fun to watch Nolan and Reed play in Cici's. Reed has such a little personality developing. He was imitating everything that Nolan was doing, it was so cute. Nolan as showing us how he could run, jump and then slide! Reed would toddle, reach, and plop! Then they would both clap and grin like they were the biggest, best thing ever...and don't you all know they are!

I am so grateful the wonderful friends and the wonderful memories I have of my youth, but I wouldn't trade this moment in my life for the world! Everyday I try to pick a moment to make a memory. So you can guess, my camera is out a lot, but there are a lot of moments that are feelings and thoughts that a camera could not capture, only the heart. I am sure that some of this sentimentality comes from losing my dad this year, but I truly believe as I know he did that things in life (and death) happen for a reason and I think maybe this is part of my lesson. Slow down, life is short, enjoy the moments that we have...I hope this sentimentality is not fleeting and I can focus on these thoughts for a long, long, time!

Easter Weekend Pictures!

I know that I am a little late in the posting of this but it has been a week! You can hear about that in a later post. But I wanted to get some pictures up of Reed and Easter weekend. Somehow I missed a picture of him in his Easter clothes, but we got lots of the egg hunting and egg coloring if that is what you want to call it! Enjoy the pictures and video!!!

March Madness...A Little Late!

These pictures are from several weeks ago when we were at my mom's and we stopped at the Burlington park to play! Reed found a "babbaball" and had a blast. He then deligently watched Mommy and Daddy's favorite teams in the NCAA tournament...I think he just used us for the popcorn! We had fun anyway! Enjoy the pictures!!

March Snow Storm

We were snowed in last weekend, but I didn't get any of our snow playing pictures put up. So here they are and some video too...Enjoy!

Fun Filled Weekend!

This weekend has been a lot of fun, but very exhausting! It is 8:20 PM on Sunday night and I am contemplating going to bed. I have much admiration for mothers with 4 or more children, for mothers with multiples, and for mothers with children less than 1 year apart! We had the pleasure of having the Pore boys at our house this weekend. It was tons of fun for everyone, but boy are we tired. If you don't know the Pores...they are my sister's 3 boys. They are ages 4, 4, and 9 months. Then, you add Reed at 18 months to the mix and you are BUSY!!!! My mom came up to help since Todd was working all weekend and with those 4 motors it was great to have another adult around! We were thankful that it was 75 degrees out yesterday so we could play outside. It was windy, but we didn't care. We went to the playground at the school by my house that Connor now calls "Reed's school" (everyone in our family has a school, you know, because my parents and his mom teach. They are in pre-K so they have a school too.) We eventually had to come home to eat lunch but it is a big playground and I think Reed ran about 6 miles from one end to the other. After lunch we played football and chase in our backyard until everyone was just too tired! We had to come in and rest for a while. Then it was time for supper. The little boys were pretty worn out because they stayed up late the night with all the excitement of being together a playing. So I stayed home with the little guys and grandma took the big boys to the "other park". We have a city park about 4 blocks the other direction from the school playground that we played at in the morning. Caydan and Connor had taken turns pulling the wagon earlier in the day and they wanted to take the wagon to the "other park". So off they went and from the reports it was really fun!!! They found a bridge and a little river! They even found a different way to come home! It was very exciting! Among other things we ate banana splits and chocolate chip pancakes, and then Cresten took his first steps to his Daddy when they came to pick them up! Reed played so hard with all those boys that he crashed for a 2 hour nap, literally 2 minutes after they left. He was down for the count by 7:40pm tonight! We look forward to all getting together again, but maybe next time I'll take a half day off work to recover! :) LOL...Just kidding! I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Prayers for our dear friends and family

We have two prayer requests that we would like to lift up. One is our nephew Lance. He was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes last May and has been having challenges managing it. He most recently underwent an MRI to look for other things that could be causing some unexplained symptoms such as nausea, vomitting, dizziness and blacking out that they don't think are related to his diabetes. He is in the ER tonight for the 5th time in 6 weeks. He has also lost 27 pounds in the last 6 weeks. He is not a big guy, so he doesn't have 27 pounds to lose. Please pray for him and his family for strength to endure this process.

Our other prayer request is for your dear friend Lexy. She recently underwent surgery to remove a borderline tumor in ovary and fallopian tube. She had to have a major surgery to remove the mass, the ovary, tube, and some other tissue. She is at Kansas City at the KUMed center. She is up and moving around but is in a lot of pain per report from her sister. Lexy was our nanny for three months and really became a part of our family. There are more tests to run on her tissue to rule out further treatment so we pray that her surgery was curative and that she will not have to endure more.

We love you Lance and Lexy. We hope that you will get better soon! We can't wait to see you both again!