We got a new birdie!

Okay. Now I know normal people take a few weeks to get over the death of a pet and contemplate the thought of buying a new pet.

JB and I decided not to take that long. We took all of 24 hours.

Honestly, we had no thoughts of getting a new bird. However, this morning we went to brunch for Lesley's birthday with both Dave & Lesley and the Philips (Christo, Melissa, and baby Karuna who we found out loves syrup!) We went to Panookeken (sp?) OUR FAVORITE! We had ridden our bikes to breakfast and so we rode over to the pet shop and saw a beautiful hand fed Lutino lovebird! And we bought her! I must say that for once, I actually insisted we spend the money. She was so pretty and we were so sad about Chaucer.

We actually do not know if the new bird is a girl or a boy. We can send his/her feather into a company and find out if it is a boy or girl or we can just let them bond whether they are two boys or opposite sex. We will see.

So we need to name him/her but we need a unisex name. We haven't named him/her yet but have a few thoughts. The finalists are: Gershwin, Dante, Mozart, Rembrandt, and Monet. If you want to post a comment and let us know which you like best we will gladly take suggestions. We want to stay with our "artist" theme as our previous birds have been Chaucer and Twaine (for Geoffrey and Mark).
Also, I am going to attach a picture of JB's fish tank. He has been doing a great job with it and it is basically ready for fish maybe this week.
Also, you will notice that this post is in yellow. It is in honor of our new yellow birdie! YAY!

One of our Birdies Died

Today after work, JB and I talked for a few minutes and then he ran out to the pet shop to get some nesting materials for Chaucer (our female bird) and Twainey (male bird). While he was gone, I was cleaning up in the office and noticed Twainey was acting funny. I walked over to the cage and Chaucer was dead!!!! We have had Chaucer for over 5 years. She was our first bird and then we got Twainey to keep her company.

We aren't sure why she died. JB put a nesting box in their cage about a week ago, and they both started acting strange when this happened. Our best guess is, Chaucer refused to leave the nesting box in order to protect her nest which is a very usual thing for female birds to do. However, Twainey didn't help get her food and she became very weak. At this point, either Twainey attacked her or she simply was too sick and died.

I have never had a pet before so I have never had one die. It's not like a dog or anything but both JB and I are pretty sad. The birds were a lot of fun for us. Chaucer hated my guts but she was fun to watch and listen to as she talked a lot for a lovebird saying "Gimme kiss" and "step up". It stinks!

I am attaching a few pictures of the birds. Chaucer is the bird on the left in the two pictures of them on the perch. In the picture where JB is holding them, Chaucer is on the right. I think that when pets die, it really stinks. I also am sad I won't hear my mom call her "Chowser" anymore. Oh well.

We aren't sure if we will get another bird. Lovebirds need a pair or they get ill and will die, but they can be a pair with a member of the family as Chaucer was with JB. Male birds are a lot nicer so we may just keep Twainey, may get him a female partner, or you can even get them a male as they just need a buddy. Oh well. Sad news.

Little Logan Rae

Today I wanted to post some pictures of my goddaughter in New Mexico, Logan Rae. Most of you know my bud Kristi Hartley Hunt! She and I were roommates, thrown together our first year at WKU in 1995 (HOLY COW 10 YEARS AGO!) Kristi and I were night and day and really had NOTHING in common except for basketball, however, I can honeslty say that 10 years later, she is one of my very dearest friends!

Our third year of college (I think it was third year -- I really can't remember), Kristi met Lee Hunt and they were married a year after JB and I. Last September they had their first daughter, a gorgeous little girl named Logan Rae. I was so blessed to be asked to be Logan's godmother and flew out for her baptism in November.

I am very excited that Kris and baby Logan are coming out to see me NEXT month -- September. I canNOT wait. Kristi keeps me updated via pictures, but I haven't seen Logan since she was 3 months old.

So here are a few pictures of Logan. You will notice a common theme that cracks JB and I up -- the open mouth! How cute!!!

In our lives, work is very busy for me right now so I am a little stressed out. We just got back from Thursday night Christian Medical Association Bible Study. It's a good Bible Study with a good meal every Thursday.

Also, as a P.S. on this, I will NOT be going in for my blood test tomorrow. We have postponed it until next Tuesday. Please continue to pray that my body is doing the right things when we go in for the test.

The Nuts and Bolts

It is Tuesday evening. Karuna is over while her parents celebrate their anniversary, and it is pouring rain. There was a huge thunderstorm. One bolt hit so hard I literally jumped up, ran across the room and squealed (I ordinarily do NOT squeal.) Even JB jumped and said his heart had started beating faster which is a huge thing for him to admit. He never gets scared.

Right now, JB is cooking some meatload and broccoli while Karuna makes deals with him to get up on the couch next to him while he is working on his computer. They are talking back and forth about this, (Karuna mostly says "hi" and they make horsie noises a lot as well) but JB has put up a bunch of pillows to block her. She, however, doesn't seem like this will stop her from trying. The only distractions in favor of JB are some cheerios on the table. He is also tossing the remote from her repeatedly and she is "fetching". This seems to be distracting her as well.

What is going on in our lives right now? Well, JB, as always, continues to be my renaissance man. Here are his current interests:

• Selling items on e-bay. It started with his fish tank as he decided on a fresh water tank instead of salt water but has branched into his old textbooks. So far he has made over $300.
• His new fish tank. He is now doing a freshwater tank. It has water in it now and he assures me this means that the fish are not far behind.
• Breeding the birds. He finally put a breeding box in the birds' cage as Chaucer (female) has been laying eggs all over the place. We haven't actually seen them mating but are pretty sure that they have. The problem with this is, Chaucer gets in the box but won't let Twainey (male) in it. He has responded by not allowing Chaucer to get OUT of the box. Both of their beaks are bloody from this battle.
• Endocrine -- this is his current rotation
• Fixing up our house -- this is more my hope for his renaissance nature instead of his own desire but he is doing a lot of work around the house
• Reading -- as always
• Cooking -- as always

That's the top of the list for right now. My list is always fairly small. I enjoy exercise, internet spades, and emailing. That's about it. I am pretty simple.

Our week is pretty simple. We have Karuna tonite and will go to Bible Study on Thursday nite for a new year of "Out of Eden" the medical school Bible Study.

If you think of it, say a prayer for my blood test on Friday. It is to rule out one other condition the endocrinologist is worried about and to check and see if the Met is working again. Thanks!

Packed weekend

This was a packed weekend but pretty fun. Saturday morning JB and I woke up early as usual. We met the Rays at 9:15 and went and picked Ronnie up from his job at Caribou coffee and then headed back to good ol' Welch village to tube. This is the 3rd time we have been tubing this year. This was also the lowest the river has been. The first time we went with a large group (I am enclosing a picture of our "first time" group here too) it took about 3 hours. The second time, when we took Keith, it took about 4 hours. Yesterday, the river was at 5 hours! We also had to stop a few times and actually walk because the water was too low. I can't include any photos from our time on the water because you can't bring a camera or it will go wet. Everything gets wet. This time we did bring a cooler and rented a tube for it as well which was a good idea. You just ride and tube. Cole was not very comfortable with the whole idea but he looosened up as we went along.

After we were done tubing, JB and I went back, showered, bought some ice cream and went back over to the Rays to watch Miss Congeniality 2. Please don't bother watching that movie. It was terible. It was our last hurrah of summer sweets! We begin our sweet fast today!

This morning we got up, had bacon egg and cheese english muffins for breakfast, greeted at church, came home and napped, and then biked to the county fair. We just spent an hour looking at the animals and then headed home. I played a few games of spades, JB ordered tickets for his parents and us (we are going to D.C. with my work at RLS in November) and now we are doing some work around the house.

Ice cream -- U scream!

It is Thursday nite and JB and I just got back from an ice cream social for the OUT OF EDEN Bible Study. OUT OF EDEN is a Bible Study for medical students / graduate students / nurses / doctors and wives -- basically anyone associated with Mayo who wants to come. They meet every Thursday nite from 6:00-7:30. We have a Bible Study and a local church sponsors a meal each week! And they are very good meals -- homecooked by women of a church here. We start each year attending regularly and something always sidetracks us. Last year, it was JB's class of Board Prep. However, we hope to attend regularly.

Tunde, who is a first year, and his wife Deola were there. They are from Palm Beach and now, actually, Deola and I both have something else in common. We both work for Dr. K. Last Saturday we attended the Medical School Opening Picnic and I met Deola. Then on Sunday, Dr. K emailed me and told me he was looking for a nanny -- I thought of Deola for some reason and today, Dr. K told me they were hiring her! And now I found out tonite that they are very strong Christians.

JB is getting ready to do an internet chat with his Aerospace Medicine committee. He has an officer in the National Aerospace Medicine Association for students and residents and so they are chatting online tonite. So we are now home and getting ready to kick back for the day.

In other news, I have been wearing a pedometer and I am happy to announce that I hit the goal of 10,000 steps today. I have only hit it one other time so I am happy about this.

I will write again soon and hopefully add some pics. I love you all!

Wonderful Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend! We decided just to relax and hang out together. Friday night we watched the movie City of Joy, Saturday we did go to the all-school picinic by our house but other than that and church on Sunday, we didn't do anything else! Yesterday we also watched the movie Phantom of the Opera which was fantastic! I really loved it. Also, our buildling was getting rid of some of the bikes that have found a permanent home in our bike racks but the owners no longer live here! John got a hold of two more good bikes. So, we were able to go for a long bike ride yesterday around the many trails in Rochester. We have been wanting to do this but have only ever had one bike! This was a wonderful time yesterday.

This week, JB has to take his SAR class (Sexual Attitude Readjustment) with the class below him. He was supposed to take this last year but had to be gone for the military in Alabama. So, he will take it this year instead. My boss is out of town at Mayo so I will be at RLS more than usual to make up for the heavy Mayo week I had last week.

Off to another work week!

Lots of Leftovers

Well after our dinner on Tuesday night, we had quite a bit of leftovers. Sam came over to help on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, we left to take Keith back to the airport in Minneapolis at 3 A.M! I can't make him feel too bad about that because the poor guy was still in Orlando at 9:00 that night! Yikes! However, we also had a ton of people over for leftovers on Thursday evening -- Tia, Christo, Melissa, and Karuna, Dave & Lesley, Ajit & Patty, and Sam. Hopefully I am not missing anyone there. Last night (Friday), JB rented the movie City of Joy with Patrick Swayze -- very good. He also had English make him one of the biggest and best dairy queen double oreo and fudge blizzards with chocloate ice creams I have ever seen!!! He actually owes English more money for it because it cost a lot more than he was expecting. We had a really nice night! We woke up early, and we are doing a bunch of things around the house before the medical school picinic this afternoon. Actually, JB snagged 2 used bikes for us and is cleaning them up at Ron & Ebbys -- they were cleaning house in our bike racks in the condo and we are friends with the head-of-the-bike-committee! Christo took some great pictures at the dinner the other night and loaded them onto our computer during leftover-night so I thought I would share those.

Kit. $5 Dinner

Last nite we had our Kit. Dinner. I have no idea how many people were here -- somewhere close to 40. It was a great time and Keith got to meet all of our friends. Thought I would share some pictures of our fun nite! Keith leave tomorrow morning very early which is dissapointing. We have had a great time. Took him to our favorite restaurants and showed him around Mayo. Wish he could stay longer!

Keith is visiting!!!

So excited! Yesterday, Keith came into town. So wonderful to see him.

We left our house at 6 a.m. to go down to Minneapolis. Some friends from our church who were in our bible study were moving and so we offered to help until we had to leave to pick up Keith at 11 a.m. About 10:30 a TERRIBLE rain storm developed and we got stuck in the garage for quite some time before we could run through it. We shouldn't have been in such a hurry. Keith's flight was delayed in the air for almost 45 minutes because of the rain. They almost diverted him to Rochester! :) That would have been hilarious!

Afterwards, we took Keith to a hole-in-the-wall thai restaurant and then went to the Mall of America for a couple of hours. Afterwards, we came back to our place, and Ben Sanderfur, a now second year medical student who also went to WKU came over and we all went to our favorite Dutch restaurant Pannokoken (sp?)

Today, Keith wanted to go tubing so we took him tubing in Welch village. Now we are waiting for our pizza to arrive and watching Sneakers. Going to join them. I'll try to post pics tomorrow.

Hangin' with friends

Well, yesterday was a beautiful Minnesota day. My office manager at RLS had us sign up for the contest through K-ROCK Radio to win free lunch at Panera. I won it! So they brought lunch for five people which was really nice. After work, JB and I came home and cleaned up for a bit as Keith comes in tomorrow. Then Christo, Melissa and Karuna came over around 6:15 to hang out for a bit. We hadn't seen them in over a month as it was Christo's summer break and they did some traveling. Then we all went upstairs where Ajit and his girlfriend Patti joined us for sloppy joes at the Jones'. Very good. Later that evening we watched Billy Edison with the Jones, first at our place, and then when JB's computer got overheated, we continued it in their place upstairs.

Two bits of information going on in our lives right now: (1) Valvoline is going to pay for all the damages to our car and get us a new compressor! Awesome! The old manager who was there when this happened just got fired so the new manager agreed to clean up his "mess". (2) Please pray for Mrs. Rome, our upstairs neighbor who I help with her compression hose in the evening. She isn't doing very well, and we are really concerned about her. She is 86 or so.

Well, it's Saturday morning. Going to help some friends in Minneapolis move and then pick up Keithy from the airport! Yipeeeee!!!!!

Stuck in the rain

This morning, JB and I woke up at 6:00. For the past three weeks he has been on a neurology rotation that has required him to be at St. Mary's Hospital everyday by 7:00. If we have wanted to run we have had to go in the evenings. But today he didn't need to be in until 8:00 so we decided to run.

There has been very little rain in southeastern Minnesota but this morning that all changed. The sky looked a little dark when we left our house, but we thought a 30 minute trek would beat the storms. That thought process was incorrect.

Halfway out, the sky started to let loose. To make things worse, last night I upped my medication to 3 1/2 pills (1/2 more to go before I am back at 4 again) so I started feeling sick midway through my run and had to stop and walk. So the two of us walked the more than a mile back to our house is the pouring rain. This was not a light rain mind you. It was absolutely POURING! We were worried it was turning into hail because of how hard it was hitting our faces.

By the time we got home, we couldn't have been wetter had we jumped into the pool. So we took a picture of each of us to share with our fam! Not sure if you can tell how wet we are but we thought we would share them anyhow.

In other news: OUR CAR!

After work today, we went to pick our car up from the Saturn dealership. About two weeks ago, the air wasn't work so Valvoline filled it with freon (is that how you spell that?) Apparently, they filled it two-times as full as they were supposed to and our compressor broke. Saturn said it would cost $1000 for a new compressor! We decided NOT to get it fixed. After all, we only need the air in our car a few days a year! But Saturn told us when we went in and paid the $150 for labor that Valvoline should pay for this. So if you think of it, shout a prayer out that we will have favor when we go by there and try to convince them that they broke our compressor. Yikes.

We finished off the night with Chipotle (LOVE IT!) and JB is now studying for his neurology "shelf" exam. At the end of every rotation, you take a test on what you learned. He should do fine. Then Monday he has a week of rotation time. This is good timing because my brother is coming in on Saturday! YAY!!!!

Aaaaah to be a kid!

Last Thursday I decided to send a card to my niece Grace. When I visited her in Florida this summer, I noticed she loved "mail". She would draw pictures and pretend they were delivered and then deliver them to me and then take them back.

So I sent her a card with some stickers and a picture in it. But I made a mistake. I TOLD Grace the letter was coming. I didn't think ahead to the struggle her mother would have when she tried to explain why the letter did not come THAT day. Grace was only thinking about one day at a time.

I talked to Grace the other day. She talked to me for a number of minutes. I have no idea what we talked about, but I know it was frivolous. Her whole life is frivilous! How wonderful to be three again. To be three and have your clothes changed, your meals made, your hair brushed, your teeth brushed, your nose picked, your bed made ... Wow to be three.

Gracie was upset because I sent her a letter, told her I sent her a letter, and then the letter didn't come right away. She only thought of the moment.

So that started me thinking. What was I doing when I was three? I pulled out a few photo albums that my mother passed along to me a few years back and found a few pictures that reminded me of what I was doing when I was three.

Today, I look back on being three! The pictures say it all -- I am only concerned about that one moment ... and I want to strive to do that everyday.

The great outdoors

I thought today would be a good day to share with you my experiences in the Minnesota wildnerness. I had the pleasure of spending 5 days and 4 nights in the boundary waters in Minnesota ... right near the Candian border. John, his youngest sibling, Robbie (who is now 16) and myself went up to Orr Minnesota and took a canoe trip through the boundary waters.

It was absolutely one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had. It was also one of the coldest experiences I have ever had. Apparently it was an unseasonably cold snap that left us with some forty degree nights and fifty degree days. I basically wore my long johns, sweat pants, and rain pants (at the same time) and long john shirt, fleece, and rain jacket over the top of that. I told John before we left that I didn't need a rain jacket or rain pants. They were very expensive, and well, if it rained, no biggie. I just want to say now that that rain "outfit" was my best friend on this trip.

We fished, played lots of cards and yhatzee, and after Robbie and I got stuck in the middle of the lake one time, didn't go out without John in the back streering us. John brought amazing food (no surprise there) and packed everything we could possibly need for the trip. We had an absolutely fabulous time even though I am not in a hurry to get back!

On the way back, we got stuck in a rain storm and Robbie and John -- they are the MEN! They paddled AGAINST THE CURRENT for over 12 miles back to where we started our trip. WOW! I sat on the bottom of the canoe to keep it balanced, and froze my toosh off! Here are a few other pictures of us to share our canoeing adventure :)

Erica Van Zuidam

I know some of you have been following the story of Erica Van Zuidam. To recap, Erica is my cousin Josh's wife Sarah's cousin. (Did you get all that?) She was diagnosed with bacterial meningtis about 2 months ago. She has had to have one foot amputated and will have both her hands amputated today! Her family is in need of our support (financial and emotional). You can follow her progress at:

http://www2.caringbridge.org/il/ericavz/index.htm

I also wanted to share a new song that my cousin Josh wrote for Erica. You can actually listen to the song at:

http://www.heismanmusic.com/prayingforyou.html

Busy Weekend recap

It WAS a busy weekend. Friday was Summer's birthday dinner, Saturday was a day at Hans' house, and today, after church, we went over to our friend's Calvin & Karen for some dinner. Dave and Lesley and some other people we didn't know were there and we had a great time. It is now 7:00, and JB and I are planning to sit down and watch Out of Africa upon recommendation from Roy VanWyck before jumping in to another week. He has call tomorrow evening so I wanted to spend a little time together before we moved into the real world.

When Karuna Comes to Visit

We have some very great friends here. One of those couples includes Christo and Melissa Philip. I was browsing through my pictures and came across some pictures from when we babysat for their daughter, Karuna (supposed to be pronounced with a rolled "R" but good luck!).

Christo is a first year medical student. We were put in touch with Melissa and him before they came to Mayo. They were a little nervous about coming so far from family and wanted to "hear it out" from a couple who had done it.

John started emailing Christo, I started emailing Melissa. Melissa was due to have Karuna only weeks before they would arrive. She was also a school teacher, and they were fantastic Christians. We ended up picking out and doing all the walk throughs for them on their new condo. We took digital pictures of every nook and cranny. When they got here, we became instant friends.

Christo and Melissa definitely win the award for bite off so much I don't know how they don't go out of their minds! Last year they decided to become foster parents. This meant that after Christo sat in class from 8-5 each day, on Thursday nights, they would go to 4 hour parenting classes. I, however, loved Thursdays, because Karuna came to visit.

Karuna, only really likes to do one thing when she comes to visit and that is, sit on the couch next to JB and hit his computer. This doesn't work well when you are studying for boards. But JB and Karuna came up with a good plan to comprimise. She could try to hit all she wanted. He, however, could block as much as he wanted. This realationship went on for hours. These pictures were taken over the course of a few hours on one on the nights. Well, maybe not that long. After a certain period, JB's right arm gets cramped and he says I must find something else that Karuna likes to do. I haven't found it yet.

I am dissapointed that foster-parenting classes are over, but Christo and Melissa assure us that they will find something to do on Thursdays nights that will allow me (and JB) to continue to bond with now one year old Karuna!

What the Weekend Holds

I am midway through my day right now. In the morning, I went to my job at the Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation (RLSF). Now I am home for lunch where John is watching Lord of the Rings on DVD. He usually watches something for 30 minutes or so during lunchtime. I need to leave in about 5 minutes to go to other job at Mayo. I enjoy having the two jobs, but sometimes it is difficult to shift gears. Depending on what time I get to RLS in the morning, I can get anywhere from an hour to two hours off at lunchtime. This helps me move into the other "persona". I do completely different things at both places.

At 5:00 we will head down to Cabella's about 30 minutes away. JB has a bunch of stuff to return there from our camping trip with Robbie last month. I will share about that experience soon. Then, we are going to go to a birthday dinner for Summer at her favorite restaurant "Whistle Binkies" (weird name I know but she likes it because that is where she met her boyfriend!). Tomorrow, I have a mystery shop at LensCrafters I need to do and then we are going to the Sviggums! This is a favorite event for a lot of people in John's class. It is a LOT of fun. We play all kinds of Minnesota games like trying to throw a beanbag in a hole for points (this game does not have a name -- I have asked) and "Bochi ball" which is another strange game where you throw balls around the whole yard and score points if your's are closest. We also play volleyball and sometimes go for a hayride and eat very good. The Sviggums ALWAYS have jello and usually a few different kinds.

Hans is a great friend of ours even though he sold us out and moved out of Rochester Towers and bought himself a house 5 blocks away. His dad is the Speaker of the House. Here is a link to his website:

http://ww3.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/members.asp?district=28B

So you can check out where we will be tomorrow for our picinic.

Okay, gotta go to work. That's my life today. I am enclosing the picture of my niece Grace simply because I love her so much.

JB was right (the first time!)

Today, since work was very routine and nothing too exciting happened except for a short lunch meeting with "Hearts Like Hannah" infertility support group, I thought I would write about the canoe trip we took with our friends Dave & Lesley, and my mom & Dad when they were here last week.

Kristi said that in order to have a good blog I had to have pictures. So, I am enclosing pictures from the canoe trip to Lanesboro. I wanted to talk to you about lessons. We learned a lesson that day. We learned that JB, is, unfortunately right fairly often.

Before the trip started he told us that he didn't think my mom, dad and him in one canoe was the way to go. Dave and Lesley are "little" people. When I say little, I mean not, Huisman-size. So putting the three smallest people in one canoe, was, according to JB, not a good idea.

But we talked him out of it and, as you can see from the picture with my dad, my mom, and JB in one canoe, we went forward with our plan.

Now you can take a look at the next picture if you will. You see that in that picture I am in the canoe with my mom and JB. I will let you use your imagination when considering the series of events that took place prior to that switch. But I will tell you that it involved a tipped canoe and a wet set of parents and husband.

That's all I will say about that. I will also not say JB is always right.

Nite all!

First Blog Entry

Well I am giving blogging a try. Just 10 years ago, I was getting on the internet for the first time, and now I am writing a blog. Just 10 days ago, I didn't even know what a blog was.

My main reason for starting to blog is for my mother and my mother-in-law. I also think of my grandmother (Medema) as I truly do not think Grama Huisman has ever been on a computer. I thought it would be nice to be able to document what I do every day.

John's first thought was that his mom wouldn't like this. "She'll be upset that we don't email or call as much." Well, truth be told, I am already bad at that.

The one thing I am fairly decent at is writing.

So at the moment, it is 6:50 p.m. and I am sitting in front of a VERY sunny window as it won't get dark here for nearly three more hours. You'll be happy to know, Mom, that John finally put the shade up in the bedroom so we aren't woken up at the crack of dawn and so it isn't light when we go to sleep. Summer days are so long here. But I am not complaining. No one around me is allowed to complain about the weather until there is white snow falling.

Okay, so Blog number 1 is here. I hope to update this everyday for you.

I love you all!

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.