Monday, June 25, 2012

Well, I definitely got too busy and forgot to post all last week. There wasn't too much exciting to tell. Orientation for both of us, and they already started working Nolan to the bone. I think it will be better once he passes his exams, but last week was eat sleep study work repeat for poor Nolan.

Friday while he was at work a very  nice couple from church invited me over for dinner and games. We played a serious game of pictionary and I had lots of fun. Also, it meant I had to drive the stick shift on the interstate. I MADE IT! I was really scared, and I probably scared a bunch of Texan drivers too, but I survived.

Saturday the residency team had a party for the old and new residents. Actually they both are staying on at the hospital to work. I guess 5/7 residents have stayed there for jobs. Interesting... I guess you just never know. Well, It was a Luau at one of the pharmacists beautiful homes. It was nice to meet the people Nolan will be working with but intimidating being around so many smart, rich people. eeek, I sure felt out of place!  From what everyone says it will be a hard year, but they all seemed happy to be there, and not at all regretful for doing a residency, which is a good thing. It seems like a great hospital.

Sunday,Nolan just studied. I  made homemade ice cream. Vanilla malt. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself. McAfee's you should be proud as I have kept Sunday pizza night tradition here in Fort Worth. It makes me feel at home.

Please email or call us. We both work this week, but would love to hear from everyone in the evenings. Well, I guess I should clarify. Don't call Nolan yet as he is busy studying. :)

Love, Abby
PS. Below, First: Portia's true nature
Second: Lion King Portia


Monday, June 18, 2012

I am not sure if anyone is reading this, but I thought I would provide an update of the weekend. We actually didn't just stay home and unpack! unlike the last two weeks. What this  means for you is..,A. Less cat pictures and B. Gulf coast pictures.

We drove to Galveston on Thursday. I pricelined us a room, and it was directly in front of the beach.
The water isn't very clean, well I guess it just has more seaweed gunk in it, but it was wonderful warm and there were waves, so we were happy. We played in the water on Friday morning.

 I just thought this picture was funny. We found these tiny baby shells on the pier and we all know I'm a sucker for babies.

This is the ferry from Galveston to Texas mainland. We had to wait a while, but from rough calculations, it probably saves people on the peninsula an hour to drive to Houston through Galveston instead of all the way around. I don't think I explained that very well. The ferry was free and we seen dolphins. I fed the birds again. I guess you didn't see that, pictures below. Along with pictures of a pirate. Which one's the pirate is my question? :)



I'm glad my mommy taught me to feed the birds.
And No, I didn't get pooped on. Although Nolan did that night just walking under a tree. I know I'm just lucky.  
Next up: The Houston Nerd Center:
   Wait, I didn't say that. The Houston Space Center that is. We paid 3 dollars to upgrade so Nolan can come back and read every single fact about the space program. I will admit, it was much better than I expected. I liked learning about the older programs. One of the coolest things we seen was that on the first broadcast from space, they read the book of Genesis. They made many references to God and the Bible in the history section of the museum. I was happy to see that, but sadly doubt many believe in the present. Maybe they do, that would be cool to know.




Well, you can imagine, we got home to a very lonely kitty. She was a bit hard to handle for a while, but I can't blame her. I get crazy after one day alone.
Tomorrrow or Wednesday stay tuned for kitties first underwear!!!!!! Its so cute!

Love,
Abby

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Hello From Fort Worth

Thanks for checking in. We haven't done anything super exciting lately, so I have been hesitant to post. The apartment does look like home now. ( Especially since it is messy!)

Sunday: church. Two very nice services.  We ate at Jack in the Box after morning service and the check out guy told Nolan he needed to get a case for "the baby" aka IPAD. That made me feel pretty good since I have been trying to get him to buy a case for a long time now. :)

Monday: We made chicken on the George Foreman Grill. Fascinating, I  know :) Well, it is for us, because it took us 3 years to open the silly thing!

Tuesday: I got yogurt on sale at the grocery, and made chocolate frozen yogurt.  It definitely has the twang of yogurt, but with Nolan's xantham gum, has a great texture, and is definitely worth eating. We have been "churning" out the ice cream. Vanilla chocolate chip cookie dough, vanilla chai malt gelato, and vanilla ( mom ) It is a good reason for you all to come visit!

The most exciting thing we did was more kitty photographs. The blurry ones are when she discovered a stuff pig. We are convinced that she is convinced it is alive. She wrestles with it on the ground like a  ninja kitty. It is so funny, I will have to take a video for later.













Love, Abby

Friday, June 8, 2012

Back from Africa... On to Texas

Well, I guess I kind of left everyone hanging. We are back from Africa. I am so glad we didn't take that extra trip to Rome, because as it was, it was one of the busiest months of my life. We were blessed to attend a wedding of dear friends in Minnesota. It was one of the nicest weddings I have been too... after my own of course! hahaha

A lot of other things happened too. I worked. It was actually a very rough few weeks. It was wonderful to be back with my girls, but the last week almost killed me. We had "baby boom", and it made for a little extra stress.

We went to Fort Worth with Nolan's beautiful sisters to find an apartment. Mission accomplished. We are living at AMLI: Upper West Side.  It is beautiful and the poshest place I have ever lived. I am not sure if poshest is a word, but I think you get my drift. Simply lovely!

Other things we did in May...
NOLAN GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enough said.
Nolan's graduation party at his parents.  We had tons of people and even more fun... although I am pretty sure our mother's had less fun trying to feed the group with silly Abby there to forget the lunchmeat. Oooops!
Memorial Day in Brown County. I got to meet all of Leana's family finally. It was a beautiful day.
Wedding in Lawrence County of JW and Stephanie. Another beautiful wedding.
We got a cat. Portia. And yes, I have turned into one of those annoying people who post pet pictures. :)
Nolan built a storage shed with help from his dad, Trevor, Drew, Elliot, and me ( maybe a little?)

The 2nd worst part of May was moving. I love living new places, but detest moving. I could go on and on about its horrors, but well, I think everyone agrees moving is horrible.

The worst part of May though was a bit more serious. I feel like if you care enough to read this, you should know. I am not asking for sympathy, and this may be selfish, but just letting it out makes me feel better.  I will just spit it out.. I had a miscarriage. It was very early, but it hurt so bad. I cried all one day, most of the next, and then it has progressively gotten better. God was my strength with Nolan right behind. I am not mad as I know God has his reasons, but simply sad.
Nolan and I found out on a Monday and less than a week later it was gone. It was one of the best weeks of my life though, despite the horrors of work. I was so good, I did everything right. We were so excited. Nolan had already talked about getting a minivan and we had so much fun planning how we would tell our families. Sadly, the day before we were going to tell them, we found out the worst. Instead of telling them they would be grandparents, we told them they were grandparents to a baby that would never be. MacNugget, that's what we named him. I am glad we did as now I know he was real and someday maybe I can meet him. It took 3 home tests and a serum blood test for me to believe he was real, and by the time I truly had accepted it, it was already probably too late for him.

Several good things have come out of the situation. I have to focus on the good, because life isn't fair. God didn't every say it would be, but Americans seem to think that they are guaranteed fairness. God only said that he would never give us more than we could handle. That is my comfort.
It confirmed to Nolan and I that we are as ready as we will ever be, which is one good thing that came out of the situation. 
It proved that I can get pregnant, which is a good thing. I haven't been the greatest to my body, and while I know that God has all power, I know actions have consequences, and I feared the worst.
It brought our families closer together.
While I know losing a baby this early is nothing like losing a child or an infant, I think it can help me to better help mother's in my job. I would never say I understand, but I can say that I have been through something similar. I know how much it hurt after only one week of knowing, I can't imagine having known my baby for a month, or a year, or more.  Making it through something like that is hard to imagine, but I know many have had to go through that experience, and I truly a little better able to understand.  
Oddly enough, it got us a cat. We weren't going to pay the extra fee for pets and such at our new apartment, but after the miscarriage, Nolan realized we both needed someone to take care of while we were hurting. Needless to say, Portia is one very spoiled cat and probably will be until we can have something more substantial than a kitten. She's cute and all, but well, I am a human baby person!

Ok, well, sorry to make this so heavy. I promise they won't all be this way.  I appreciate you listening/reading. I feel truly honored that individuals would care to hear about Nolan and I's adventures. We are blessed to have you!

Abby