Wild and Wonderful

I find the title at the top of this page seems quite fitting at this stage of our lives right now.  Life is a whirlwind.. it is stressful, it is crazy, it is moving at 100mp.... and it is wonderful.  In the midst of all the chaos that surrounds us, there have been an enormous amount of blessings.  God is good.

Let me see if I can try to recall some of the madness:

• Monday, May 22nd - Steven is called in for an interview with Republic Airways in Kansas City, MO.  They have agreed to PAY for him to fly down (*Thank you Jesus!*)
• Wednesday, May 30th - He goes for the interview and is hired on the spot. (*Thank you Jesus!*)
• Thursday, May 31st - He receives his official job offer
• Friday, June 1st - We both put in our notices at work, letting them know that we are moving.  This is received well. (*Thank you Jesus!)
• Saturday, June 2nd - Steven has an accident at work.  He falls 4 feet and hits his elbow on a metal rack at work, which lacerates his elbow.  We go to urgent care, they give him 7 stitches and make us wait for an hour or so to keep watch on him.  There's a lot of swelling in his elbow.  We are so thankful to the Lord for watching over him.. this could have been much worse.
• During the week of June 4 - 9th we are frivolously searching for houses or a place to live in Kansas City.  My uncle, who is a long time resident, directs us to a town north of KC - Liberty.  This is where we have chosen to live. We check out rental property, but decide that buying is the better option. We contact a realtor, a bank, get pre-approval, the whole 9-yards.  We haven't owned a home in 3 years, so we are considered first time buyers, thus getting a loan that only requires 3.5% down (Thank you Jesus!) and we are approved for a fixed interest rate of 3.5%.  Yes.  That says 3.5 (**Thank you Jesus!!)  We also have our friends Ira and Melanie here who help us pack up our garage since neither of us are in any kind of condition  (me =pregnant, Steven = bummed arm)  to lift heavy boxes.  We praise God for the timing of their visit and their service to us!
• Friday, June 8th - Steven goes back to the doctor.  A week later and there is still a lot of swelling around his elbow.  The doctor thinks he may have ruptured the... something.... that lubricates the joints? maybe?  He does an X-Ray to make sure it isn't broken (and thank the Lord it isn't!!) and gives him some meds to help with the swelling
• Saturday, June 9th - Back to the doctor to see if the stitches are ready to come out.  They are not.
• Sunday, June 10th - a little more than a week later, Steven has to report for work/training.
• I take him to the airport and kiss him goodbye.  He will be away for three weeks.  THREE. WEEKS.  I cry like a baby several times throughout the day.  We've never been apart this long.  I am thankful for the opportunity, but I do not like this. 
• Republic Airways has agreed to pay for all flights and hotel accommodations over the 3-week period that he is in training, event though he should be responsible for hotel since he will be training (minus one day) at his "home base."  This is huge.  (*Thank you Jesus!)
• He arrives safely, and gets checked in no problem (*You know what goes here!)
• Monday, June 11th - Steven spends a day in Indianapolis -Great first day.  He leaves later that evening to fly to Kansas City.  Again, he arrives safely, gets checked in, all is well (*Thank you Jesus)
• Tuesday, June 12th - Steven has a great 1st day in Kansas City!  
• Some of our long-time friends, Jayme and Jonathan Lock (who we haven't seen or really talked to since our wedding) live nearby and offer to let Steven borrow one of their cars for the entire time he will be in training, since he has no transportation. No transportation = no way to get dinner (other than to walk for fast food) or to look at places for us to live, or to return to the doctor to get an exam on his elbow. This may very well be the biggest blessing by far.  (**Thank you Jesus!! And Jayme and Jonathan!!**)
• That evening Steven meets with the realtor to see a few of the houses we have chosen.  He falls in love with our first pick
• Wednesday, June 13th - I go to the doctor and find out that we will be welcoming a baby girl in November!  We name her Annie!  (*Thank you Jesus!)  Steven feels very far away right now.
• Steven meets once more with the realtor to have a second look at our top choice house... and they talk about a few of the other properties that we have our eye on (all which have an incredible amount of baggage attached to them.)  He decides to make an offer on our top choice.
• Thursday, June 14th - THE SELLERS ACCEPT OUR OFFER!!!! (this includes them paying the closing costs and allowing us to move in before possession!)  The house is currently unoccupied, which means we can move in anytime we want. This has been the biggest stressor of this move so far since we have 3-4 weeks before we move. And it is resolved. (**THANK YOU JESUS!**)
• Steven needs his stitches out.  He almost decided to call his mom (a nurse) and ask her if he could take the stitches out of his own self... but something in him (Holy Spirit?) tells him to go to the clinic. Steven goes to the doctor in Liberty, MO.  The clinic needs to check on his worker's comp claim before they will do any work on him.  However, the doctor takes a look.  There is still swelling in his elbow, but it doesn't hurt.  The doctor thinks something is ruptured.  He needs an MRI. (*Thank you, Holy Spirit - this situation could have gotten worse had he not gone to the doctor!)
• Friday, June 15th - That's today.  
• Today I need to scramble around to get paperwork to our loan officer.  
• We need to call the inspector and schedule an appointment for him to go check out our new place and get the insurance situation figured out.
• Steven is waiting on a call from the doctor to get information on his worker's comp claim and to get scheduled for his MRI - and then see where he goes from there....

Whew.  Yeah.  Now you understand.

AND I haven't even included all the little things -  like massive pregnancy headaches,  how I've been packing like a madman every evening, which exhausts me... and then there's the inability to sleep at night because my husband is away and how I miss him like crazy.  His being away has been hard on this pregnant girl.  BUT he'll be back in 14 days.  Yes, I'm counting them down.

I cannot complain.  I'm overwhelmed at how the Lord has worked out the details of the last month... and as crazy and chaotic as life is right now... Jesus is better.