Moving along...sorta

I have been sick most of the week, and today I am feeling a little better and wanted to write an update on all the things in our life. 

Jess, and her friend Tim, drove her stuff out here last weekend and we moved her in on Sunday. She has A LOT of stuff. Anyways, we are trying to organize and see where everything is going to fit. It is a little awkward as Tim stayed a week, and is leaving today; Jess has been sleeping on her couch. Tonight she will be able to shuffle around her room a bit, but most importantly, sleep on a bed.

Matt and I have been talking about the UK move pretty much nonstop. He had a meeting, just over a week ago, lasting 3hrs and containing the goals for the coming year. He says they seem pretty optimistic, and maybe not that realistic. Jan has been working for them for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, he has to drive 2.5 hrs each way to work. The drive, along with the unsettling feeling from the meeting, had put doubts in his head. Due to his lack of desire to work at H---- and the fact that him and Lou would have to move, making it a lot more difficult for him to stay on and he is going to quit soon.

We have struggled with this decision for awhile now. It would be a lot easier and less expensive to stay here. On the other hand, we would be embarking on a new adventure if we go. Pros/cons, cons/pros...back and forth for weeks now and we have come up with a step towards a decision. Matt is going to call H---- and tell them that he would like to come out for a couple/few weeks. At that time he can feel out the culture, the work, the area, etc. This time could be a trial for him as well as them, making sure that everyone that is involved is moving towards a direction that will benefit both ends.  Matt is going to call them tomorrow and i think they will be up for this without hesitation. I will post more as I know more.

Happy New Year!

I'm 10 days late, but better late than never. Here is an overview of what happened last year....

The beginning of 2012 was rough, to say the least. I had a knee injury, hardly any motivation to exercise, and horrific sinus issues and migraines. After going to a sinus specialist, I decided to get sinus surgery. The actual surgery went fine, but the recovery was unimaginably miserable. I worked from home for almost 2 weeks and was on massive painkillers that seemed to not even make a dent. My sinuses are still healing, but are doing a lot better (and I can smell things better too).

We have been trying to get pregnant since May 2010, and have not had any success so we decided to talk to "the professionals". I figured, since we had so many other medical bills from my sinus work, I might as well rack up some more bills! We started the talk in late June. Our first procedure was pretty basic, I took Clomid and then went in for Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). The procedure was uneventful, and we were not successful. The second time around is another story. I took the Clomid, just like the 1st time, but this time I ended up having horrific pelvic pain. I went in for my ultrasound (u/s) and found that I had a ginormous cyst, brought on my 3 over sized follicles, inside of my right ovary. I received pain meds and we were sent on our way. The next day, though, we were back in the Dr's office as I was doubled over in pain. We had another u/s and found that the cyst had shrunk a tiny bit was still very present. The plan was to get more pain meds, rest, and wait at least one cycle before trying IUI again. Our last visit was in late November and we have decided to wait a little longer as we have more pressing matters to tend to.

All my life, this year being no exception, I have been struggling with Depression. This is the first year that I have been consistently on medications that seemed to be working. As the fall wore on, I found that I grew more and more depressive until about a week before Xmas  when I had a complete mental breakdown. I woke up that morning and didn't want to eat, get dressed, get up, feed the animals, anything. I called my Dr and made an appointment for later that afternoon. I thought I was OK enough to go to work so I got ready and left. As I was driving, I was noticing that I was really distracted so I tried to pay attention more to the instructions I was receiving from my GPS navigator on my phone, which didn't turn out to be the best idea. The navigation started to get messed up and telling me to turn into places which were obviously the wrong direction, or didn't have a street to begin with. As I was slowly coming up to a red light, it said something else which I couldn't understand and glanced down for just long enough to rear end the car in front of me. Luckily, I was going like 1 mph and there wasn't any damage to my car, but since it was cold his bumper cracked, and so did I. I started crying...no sobbing. The poor guy that I hit didn't speak English well and thought I got hurt, which I was trying to tell him I didn't through the massive amount of tears that were pouring out of my eyes. I gave him all the information I had, as I didn't have my proof of insurance in the car either, and then we finally went our separate ways. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to continue to work (at a new job that I had started about 3 wks prior). Once I got there and walked in the door, I realized this wasn't a good idea and the tears began again, along with the inability to speak without sobbing. They were very concerned for me and had me sit down, got me some water, and made me wait until I was more composed before they let me drive home. I got home and told Matt what was going on. We both went to my Dr's appointment, where he gave me a new script and instructions on how to ramp up quickly on it, since I was in such a state.

Jess flew in the day after my appointment, and I was still highly volatile. She began a friendship with one of my friends from work, so he picked her up at the airport she hung out with him most of the time she was here. This was fine for me as I was still dealing with a lot of things. Mom and Dad drove in a couple of days later, and we all shared Xmas together, which was nice. While she was here, Jess decided it was time to leave Grand Rapids and made plans on moving out to Denver. She is leaving Michigan in 10 days!

She will be living at our house, and with us for about 3 months, as Matt has received and accepted a job in the UK, and we plan to move out there around March. We have begun the planning of what to ship, how to ship our zoo, getting visas, and finding housing. I am doing a lot better now, mentally, and think this will be a good move for us. I am not sure how long we will be there, but am looking forward to a new adventure in this new year.