Who we are

If you have wandered into my blog, please don't wander away! This is the blog of JB and Wendi. Most of the posts are by me (Wendi), however, occasionally, my dear husband will blog hijack. His posts normally related to nutrition, cooking, nature, or farming -- basically anything to do with food or nature.

I started this blog in 2005. We had made two big moves and were dealing with some health issues. I also love to write so this blog seemed like the perfect way to combine the need to share news with a lot of people and my love of words.

So who are we? Well to tell you that (and I update this often to keep up with changes in our life), I should go back to the very beginning.

I was born in 1977. That makes me 32. JB was born in 1976. Ouch! Now 33! JB was a family nickname mostly used by John's dad. However, somewhere, midway through our marriage, I picked it up and now very rarely call him John unless I am talking about him.

We both grew up in the suburbs of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and attended the same Christian school (Fort Lauderdale Christian School -- go Crusaders!) from the time we were in elementary school. When I was a junior in high school and JB was a senior, I finally talked him into falling in love with me. It was about time!

Here is a picture from the first year we were together. This would have been in 1994.

In 1994, JB graduated from high school and received a full scholarship to the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, a two year program. In 1995, I graduated and made my way to Bowling Green, Kentucky on a full basketball scholarship.

In 1997, John graduated from the Art Institute with an associates degree and, tired of long distance dating, decided to move to Kentucky. He got a job as a graphic designer and eventually started his own graphic design business, Kit. Design.

In June of 1998, the summer between my junior and senior years of college, we were married in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It seemed odd to some people that we didn't marry back in Florida, but we had made a lot of friends in Kentucky, and I also had a lot of family in Illinois, where both my parents grew up, so we opted for the central location.

In 1999 I graduated from Western Kentucky University and took a job teaching high school English and coaching basketball and volleyball in a town about 30 minutes south of Bowling Green. After one year of commuting, we decided to move to this town of 8,000. John had started taking some classes at Western Kentucky and was running his graphic design business out of our home. We thought we would save some money in this cheap little rural town for a few years before returning to south Florida.

However, John's few classes suddenly turned into the decision to become a doctor. In 2003 he graduated pre-med from Western. He was accepted at the prestigious Mayo Clinic, and we moved 12 hours north to Rochester, Minnesota.

Since we were in Minnesota when this blog began, I named it LIFE IN THE POLAR NORTH. The flakymn is for the three states we lived in, however, the fact that I only realized it spelled "flaky" after I created the address, probably tells you a bit more about my personality than I would like to share.

As John started medical school, I took a job at a public school about 30 miles from Rochester coaching and teaching yet again. Near the end of 2003, I was diagnosed with an ovulatory disorder, and we were told that in order to have children, we would need to begin intensive infertility treatments (more on that below).

This news led to me quitting teaching so that I could be closer to home with a job that was more flexible to make daily appointments. My search for a job actually led to multiple jobs for various locations. I began working at Mayo Clinic, the Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation, and for a few freelance organizations doing writing and editing including Rochester Women magazine.

In 2007, John completed his final year of medical school at Mayo Clinic and decided to be a family medicine doctor. He is also in the Air Force -- a reverse GI bill of sorts. They pay for medical school and he commits to be a doctor for them for four years when he graduates and finishes residency. On June 4, 2007, we moved to northern Florida where he will complete his residency at Eglin Air Force Base.

Upon moving to Eglin AFB, we suffered our fourth failed IVF attempt -- losing our 9th, 10th, and 11th little babies. We decided to put infertility treatments on hold and proceed with an adoption from China -- sure to bring us a daughter and not a disappointment. We officially got on the waiting list in China in April 2008, however, we would soon make the difficult decision to remove ourselves from that list.

The reason for the mind change with China began to unfold in late 2007 when we realized our family would grow sooner than we thought. Not only did we add a puppy: Scrubs, but we received a call from the junior bridesmaid from our wedding. Seventeen and pregnant, she wanted us to parent our son. Isaac John joined our family on May 7, 2008. He is the light of our lives.

And then, after ten years of marriage, God showed us He knows best. We found out, when Isaac was just six weeks old, that we were eight weeks pregnant. Elijah Luke entered our arms on January 31, 2009. Two years later we would find out that a third miracle was on the way. Isn't God just crazy?!

Okay, so that should be enough to orient you on who we are if you a just a random visitor. If you are a friend or family member, you probably know all this anyway and wouldn't bother to read it so I am not upset if I bored you.