Wow! It's been a while!

I've sat down to blog t least a dozen times and it seems like something come up!

I don't even know where to begin on the updates. Last I blogged I was about to run a 1/2 marathon in Spearfish which turned out really well. I didn't train very seriously and ended up doing better than I anticipated. In regards to running, I'm planning on running the Austin full marathon in February so I just started training for that.

During September Todd went to Las Vegas for about 3 weeks for Green Flab which is air to ground combat training for deployment (i.e practicing what they will actually be doing in Iraq and Afghanistan) I went out to visit the first weekend they were there for a few days and had a blast! Neither one of us had ever been to Vegas and we took in a Cirque du Solei show and had some great food and fun times.

When Todd got back from Green Flag we were looking forward to the crisp fall weather and getting in some nice early fall outdoor activities....and then Oct 1 came around and we had 30 degree weather with snow for over 2 weeks! The weather has been awful!! We've set record highs and lows for this time of year and have already had several inches of snow! CRAZY! I truly hope that it's not shade of things to come this winter

We're now in the middle of October and work is still going great for me. I just started training in outpatient therapy and will hopefully make the full transition come early November. Todd is just flying like crazy and getting ready for deployment. We have an unofficial date of January 20 being the deployment day with them coming home "sometime in the end of July" so everything between now and then will be getting ready for deployment.

I'm sure I've left out a lot of details over the past 2+ months since I updated last but that's where we are in a nutshell :)

Sturgis & Mountain Biking

July 31-Aug 9 marked the 69th Annual Sturgis Black Hills Motorcycle Rally. The anticipation of this event has been accumulating over the past several weeks. Stories of things that happen during the rally are just crazy-bad accidents, hospital census skyrocketing, thousands of motorcycles covering the streets, crazy weather... most of which happened. For those that don't know, Sturgis is a smaller city in the Black Hills about 40 min. away from Rapid City. Other than the annual rally, you pretty much pass through the town on I-90 without giving it a passing glance. Oh but when the rally comes to town... Sturgis Rally is Meca for motorcyclists, it's like their Christmas. Todd and I hope to get a motorcycle towards the end of his deployment to enjoy next summer and we can only imagine how awesome a leisurely ride through the winding roads of the Black Hills will be! We started our Sturgis experience last Sunday when we went to Hill City to mountain bike. (Insert where mountain biking goes into this blog post) Todd has had a mountain bike forever but broke it in college and has not gotten it fixed since. Pensacola and Abilene did not exactly serve as pristine mountain biking locations, nor did they have the means to fix a broken bike. The Black Hills on the other hand is a mountain bikers paradise-thousands of trails of all skill levels are hidden throughout the hills just waiting to be biked or hiked. You could seriously ride/hike a different trail and never repeat the same one! So last Saturday we went to one of the several local bike stores that specialized in mountain bikes to get his bike fixed and, of course, ended up walking out with a shiny new Kona mountain bike for me! After church we made our typical drive out to Hill City and took to a couple of trails to break in the new and newly repaired bikes. All of the surrounding cities to Sturgis are also taken over with bikers during the rally so being in Hill City sparked our desire to head to the rally. We took the scenic route from Hill City to Deadwood and into Sturgis with hundreds of bikers all around us taking in the beauty of the Black Hills via motorcycle. There are two distinct parts of the rally-the downtown "rally" and "the legendary Buffalo Chip". We decided to spend that Sunday afternoon at the rally and then the following weekend (this current weekend) at "the chip". The rally part was really cool. Thousands of bikes lined the 2 main downtown streets of Sturgis with hundreds of vendors set up selling food, shirts, bike stuff, etc. It was a great place to people watch and check out the many different motorcycles. There are many bars in Sturgis so the night life is really hopping during the rally (we didn't go to those). This Friday we made plans to go out to the chip and see Buckcherry in concert. The Buffalo Chip is a huge camp ground where they bikers camp out during the rally and enjoy concerts at night all week. We went with another couple and had a blast-again-another great people watching spot. The weather however was CRAZY! A huge hail storm came through just before we got their dropping golf ball and baseball size hail over Sturgis making it look like what can only be described as a war zone. Tents and cars where destroyed and one guy even got knocked unconscious! So we camped out, had some fun, got really muddy, didn't get much sleep and left the chip around 9am Saturday and decided we could now check that box.

As of today, there was only one fatal motorcycle accident (the lowest ever), only one really nasty storm (but it did rain everyday), and a really busy emergency room at Rapid City Regional (but overall hospital census is still pretty low). Pretty successful rally in my opinion.

Coming up next weekend will be the Leading Ladies 1/2 marathon in Spearfish, SD about an hour away where we will spend the weekend. We are very excited to finally make it up to Spearfish because it is in a canyon and is supposed to be a beautiful part of the Black Hills. And in case I don't blog next weekend about it, Todd verifies in the B1 the week of August 17.

More fun times in the Black Hills... to bad summer is coming to an end and the snow is just around the corner :(

Fasten your safety belts...

It's going to be a long one! Not really, hopefully.

I'm not really even sure where we left off...I think it's been over a month since I last updated! The last trip we took was to Minnesota to see Todd's family for a mini Saksa family reunion. It ended up being a horrible weekend for us to go and we actually only spent about 27 hours in Minnesota! But it was good to see family, especially Teresa since she lives in Russia and only makes it to the states about once a year. Todd also made a trip out to St. Louis in June for John Strube's wedding (Corps buddy/roomate for those that don't know the name). I wasn't able to attend because it was a Friday wedding and I had just started my job and didn't need to ask for the time off yet AND it would have been REALLY expensive for us to both go. Other than that we've been here in Rapid City... so I guess I'll make my headings again =)

Todd's Work
Only one word can describe work for Todd... BUSY! He has a new job in the squadron "Life Support Officer". I'm not 100% sure of what all that entails but in a nut shell he is the liaison between the squadron and the enlisted guys that take care of all the life support equipment, etc for flights. So he has to sit in on the occasional meeting and give an occasional brief. When he's not doing that he's probably flying... at night. It seems scheduling likes to make his week as off as they can as he usually flies at least once during the night often in the middle of the week so it's practically impossible to have a normal schedule at that point. As I type this Todd is actually at an air show at Minot AFB in Minot, ND. Over the next few weeks he'll make some trips to swap planes and go to other air shows. The rest of the squadron will be going to "Red Flag" next week for "war training exercises". Todd's not going because while he is now "mission qualified" in the B1, he is not "verified". Verification will take place in mid August and it's basically a week long, 12+ hour days "final exam" if you will for the B1. After that the Air Force will be 100% OK with letting Todd fly in the B1 without an instructor and let me actually drop bombs that kill people and blow things up. Shortly after he verifies he will also get his call sign which is a pretty big deal. September will find Todd at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, NV for "Green Flag", a mini version of Red Flag for about 3 weeks. We're really hoping that October will be a slower month so we can actually spend some time together and see more of what this part of the country has to offer because November will begin "spinning up" for deployment where the squadron will begin some intense training/planning to get ready for deployment in early January 2010 which will likely include another "surge week" where they will fly missions 24 hours a day for 7 straight days (because thats how they fly air support in the Middle East). The other big thing coming up before deployment will be Todd's promotion to Captain in mid December!

I think that's about all for Todd's work... that was A LOT of use of quotation marks by the way!

Michelle's Work
There hasn't been much change in work for me but that won't last long. I've been working in the main hospital in what we call Acute care. I basically see patients who are 1-2 days out of hip,knee or back surgery most commonly or other surgeries secondary to car accidents of something like that. I also see patients right after they've had a stroke or other medical incident that has resulted in decreased function. This is not my ideal setting for OT but I've enjoyed it for the most part. I really like my co workers and my supervisor and have had some great (and not so great) patients. In about 2 weeks we have another new OT starting and she will be training in acute and I will move to the Rehab hospital (which is attached to the main hospital) and will be in inpatient therapy which is quintessential occupational therapy. Patients go there once they are medically stable post stroke or surgery and are capable of participating in and tolerating 3 hours of therapy a day (between OT, PT and Speech). These patients are those who are trying to get back to independent living. I am excited to get to this part of the hospital because you truly are getting a person their independence back. I'll be in the Rehab hospital until probably October-ish and then I will FINALLY move to Outpatient therapy which is where my heart really is! I'll be taken under the wing of our Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) on staff and will begin a mentorship with her to start working toward my own CHT (which takes 5 years of practice + 2,000 hours in hands+ one REALLY hard exam). I'll still work in the other areas from time to time but I should stay in outpatient for a while once I get there. I really can't complain about my job. I absolutely love it and feel blessed that I get to wake up and do something I absolutely love every day. My days and weeks fly by because it's a job that always keeps you moving. Oh, and finally getting paid to work ain't too bad either ;)

Everything Else
So when Todd and I aren't super busy with work we try to get out in the hills as much as possible and bike, run, hike or just see one of the many state and national parks up here. This area has SO MUCH to offer! It's kind of interesting because this part of the country truly only gets about 3-4 months of good summer weather so when the weather is nice (and it has been AMAZING!) on the weekend people just flock out to the hills to go camping, fishing, hiking, biking, running, WHATEVER! as long as it's outdoors! I honestly kind of dread the fall/winter and being stuck indoors so much. Todd and I do have plans to get into some winter outdoor activities (like cross country skiing) so we don't go crazy! We recently purchased new Specialized road bikes and have been getting out on long rides quite frequently. We actually started attending an Evangelical Free church out in the hills called Rimrock Church and we take our bikes with us to church and go riding afterwards.
On the subject of church... we had been attending a grass roots kind of church that met at a local coffee house and we really enjoyed it but felt that there wasn't much room for spiritual growth so we started visiting Rimrock and LOVE it! The teaching is solid, the worship is awesome, they have a young marrieds Sunday school class we go to and they will be starting several Bible studies this fall we hope to get involved in. If you want to check it out the website is: www.rimrockchurch.com

We still have a long list of places we'd like to see/things we want to do so we'll see if we get them all in this summer!

That is all the happenings in the Saksa household (I think). We're just taking everything week by week right now and hoping to get some travel plans laid down as the holidays will be here before we know it and then deployment will quickly follow! I'll do my best to keep the blog updated!

Love to all!

Sorry for neglecting the blog!

I'm really not trying to neglect the blog but I feel like if I'm not working my free time is spent doing the other 100 things I need to do plus the 1000 other things that I want to do! There's nothing new really going on in South Dakota but I will try my bestest to update soon!

SO MUCH to update on!

I've almost made it a month without blogging and realized that much has happened! Where do I begin.... I suppose I'll make categories :)

Michelle's Work
First and MOST importantly, I PASSED MY BOARDS!!! That was VERY exciting news to get! As far as jobs, when I last blogged I had accepted a PRN position at Children's Care. In a nut shell some things occurred with the manager of that facility, some things changed and the job description was made a little more apparent to me and I decided that it was just not a place that I really wanted to work for full time. So I am staying on as PRN and hopefully will see some kids out there but who knows. However, I ended up accepting a job at the hospital and am very excited about this position. I'll be mostly doing outpatient (hands) which I love and will have a really great supervisor and co-workers. I feel really good about this placement and feel that it is the best job for me right now. I actually start training tomorrow! I finally have my certification and my state license so I am FINALLY a registered and licensed occupational therapist!

Todd's Work
Todd has been planning and flying like crazy! His weeks have been very busy and he has flown at least 2 times a week. This week he is flying 3 times and as long as he actually gets his flight in tomorrow he should be "Mission Qualified". He really likes the squadron and knowing that he is now preparing to actually "do his job" when he deploys in january.

The past few weekends
The weekend of May 15 and 16 we finally stopped working on the house and made a trip out to the Black Hills and visited Mt. Rushmore and went hiking in Custer State Park. The hills are absolutely beautiful and we can't wait for things to slow down a little more this summer so that we can make some more day trips out to the hills.

Memorial Day weekend we traveled to San Antonio where I FINALLY graduated from OT school! It was so great to see family and friends and of course, eat some good Mexican food :) In my opinion, the trip was not long enough but it was great.

This past weekend was Dakota Thunder, the major airshow that they do here every other year. Todd and I both worked different areas to help out the squadron so it was fun being involved with it and get to enjoy the planes and the awesome Thunderbirds (the air demo group, not our squadron).

This past weekend was also our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! I can NOT believe that it has already been a year! Moving twice and buying a house I guess make time go a little faster. We had a wonderful anniversary! We ate at a cute downtown restaurant on Saturday night and Sunday we made breakfast, went to church and just hung out all day being lazy. It was great. Todd got me some earrings and a bracelet that I had seen months ago and wanted and I got him a cigar humidor and ash tray. (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em).

That's about all the updates. Our house guest of 3 weeks has FINALLY moved into his own place and we have our house to ourselves again. We will be heading to Minnesota for a Saksa family reunion this weekend then I will actually be home indefinitely. Todd is in a friend's wedding in St. Louis in a few weeks but I won't be going with him to it.

Until next time...

Quick Update

Though most people that actually read this blog I also email or talk to on the phone regularly but I just thought I'd take a few minutes to give a brief update of our first 2 weeks in South Dakota. We were welcomed to the frigid north on Friday April 24 with SNOW, yes SNOW! It was crazy to leave a state where it was already hitting the 90's and flip flops were mandatory to arrive in a state where a light jacket is STILL needed for any outing. We stayed with our friends the Erkens for 2 days before we were able to close on our new house! It is very exciting to be a home owner! While it was nerve racking to buy a house "sight unseen" it ended up being exactly what we wanted and more. The location is great, the space is great and it suites our needs perfect. Of course, there are some minor cosmetic things that we intend to change and updates we plan to make but what house comes perfect? Unpacking still has not been completed as i spent the first week and a half studying for my NBCOT exam which I took on Wednesday May 6. I'm very glad to have it over with but will be relieved when I find out if I passed. As far as work, I was offered 2 jobs last week, one of which I declined and one I accepted! The one I accepted is not a full time position yet but the manager thinks that by the end of the summer I will be full time. It's at the pediatric facility here called Children's Care. It's an amazing facility with great therapists and would actually be exactly what I was doing during my last clinical rotation. I figure I'd rather work PRN (as needed)/part time and do the job I really want than work full time in a position I'm not very crazy about. The hospital has also contacted me about 2 positions they have opening and I'm trying to maybe work it out to work part time there but we'll see. Todd has gotten all "in processed" and is getting settled into his new squadron. He likes it a lot so far and will start flying next week. We have our first squadron function tomorrow so we'll get to meet a lot of new people which we are very excited about. I'm very excited about the fact that there are 2 wives in our new squadron who are OTs!! One works at Children's Care and the other works at the hospital. Other than that we haven't gotten to do a whole lot yet due to unpacking, in-processing and of course my board exams but that will soon change with the warming weather and getting more settled. Overall, Rapid City is A LOT better than Abilene! There is lots to do and the scenery is A LOT prettier. Some observations to date:
-The black hills are called the black hills because they are covered in trees and look black from a distant.
-Gambling is legal in South Dakota so there are casinos EVERYWHERE!
-If you're from Wyoming you refer to people from South Dakota as a "rabbit choker".
-There is a big difference if you're from "east of the river" or "west of the river"... the river being the Missouri river.

That's all I got for now! Hopefully we'll have the house put together with our new furniture soon and I'll get pictures up on here or emailed!

Judgement Day

I have officially scheduled my National Board of Certification in Occupational Therapy Exam (NBCOTE)! Wednesday, May 6 at 12:00 pm in Rapid City I will take the 4 hour test that will officially qualify me as an OT and give me credentials of OTR. I have been studying diligently and will continue to do so over the next 3 weeks but as you can imagine I am very nervous/anxious to take this very important test so PLEASE PRAY! Hopefully, I'll have good news about a week after I take it!

A thought to ponder

As many of you know, when I run by myself I generally do one of 3 things; listen to music on my ipod, listen to sermon podcasts on my ipod, or pray. Today I was listening to my usual Wednesday running podcast, Matt Chandler of The Village Church's previous Sunday sermon. (FYI-my sister attends The Village). He was talking about modern day Christianity and the continuation of extremist groups that still believe in evolution and natural selection and he said:

"If modern day evolution and natural selection really exists, then why do we spend trillions of dollars and time trying to cure and prevent disease.?"

I found that deeply profound and a true testament to the fact that God has His hands in everything, whether we know it or not and whether we believe in Him or not. Why would an evolutionist protest the need for increased spending for stem cell research to find cures for diseases if there core beliefs say that people should just die and let evolution continue?

Hmmmm

South Dakota, Here We Come!

Well it's unofficially official. The movers will be here to pack our stuff on April 20 and they will pick it up on April 21. We will start the 2 day trip to Rapid City on April 22. We plan to take a little westwardly trip and spend the night in Denver for several reasons. 1. The trip is more scenic, 2. The trip is on more major highways, 3. There is and Air Force base outside of Denver that we can stay at with the dogs, 4. There is supposedly a great local pizza place that serves a whole line of gluten free pizzas and calzones! YUM!

So here is the drama we have encountered with this move. Todd finished training on March 20 so we went ahead and put in our 30 day notice on our house here meaning that we would be scheduled to be out of here on April 19. We entered contract on the house we are purchasing on March 21 scheduled for a closing date of April 22. So if you read the first paragraph then you understand the drama. We've been waiting for official orders since Todd got finished with training and, of course, nothing can get rolling without official orders. We got orders yesterday and were able to FINALLY get something moving. We were afraid that we were going to have to move ourselves but fortunately our current house has not been rented yet so our landlord is letting us stay until the 22nd and the sellers of our new house agreed to move the closing date to April 27. So... it's not really our "ideal" plan but it's all working out.

I've interviewed with a few more jobs but since I can't start working until after May 23 and am not actually in South Dakota yet I haven't been offered anything... yet. I'm very hopeful that the perfect job is out there for me. I'm currently spending my days studying for my national board exams. I am waiting on one piece of paper called an "Authorization to Test" so that i can schedule my test date but I'm hoping to take it around May 11. I'll post an official date when I know it because prayer will be needed!

I guess that is about all the news I have. Todd and I have been rather lazy lately with us both being done with work for now so we have been "taking in the sights" of Abilene... or at least the ones we haven't seen in the last 9 months.

Until next time!

I'm not neglecting the blog

I'm not neglecting the blog.. .we're just waiting on more "official" dates of our move before I send it out for the world to see!

BUT, I am DONE with my masters and Todd is DONE with B1 training. We will be moving SOON and we close on our new house April 22.

That is all I know for now :)

Spring Break and the Rattlesnake Roundup

This past week was Spring Break here in Abilene. Since I work in the schools I actually got the week off from my school kids. I did have to work on Monday and Friday seeing Early Childhood and clinic kids and I went up north to see some school kids who were not on Spring Break with my other CI, Todd. Having the three days off was nice but I had A LOT of paperwork to do and I had to put together my portfolio that is due next Friday to my CI.

One of the things that I did get to do was go to Austin and meet up with my best friend Liz and FINALLY meet her baby, Will. Liz had Will 6 months ago and I was determined to meet him and see Liz before we move up north. It was well worth the trip!

This weekend we went to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. We moved here just after it finished last year and were asked several times if we made it out to it so we figured it MUST be a big deal. WRONG! It was basically your average county fair with flea markets, carnival rides and all the fried food you can eat... with a building full of rattlesnakes thrown in. On the inside of the Roundup you could watch them milk the snakes for venom, skin the snakes, measure the snakes and listen to "snake handling safety" (Like I really want to handle a rattle snake!) It was hardly worth the 30 minute drive and $7 we paid to get in. Oh well, we can say we went. Here are some pictures from the Roundup. Be aware, some are graphic.







Isn't West Texas fun??

As far as the move, we're still expecting to be out of Abilene in early April, Todd has 3 flights left and should finish next week. We're currently looking into buying our first home which is scary and exciting all at the same time and looking from thousands of miles away makes no exception. We're not worried, God will provide the perfect place wether it's buying a house or living on base.

That's about all the excitement in the Saksa household. Only 10 days stand between me and my master's degree!

Running into the wind, not like the wind

Saturday was the big Fort Worth Cowtown Marathon! I'd be totally lying if I didn't say I wasn't REALLY glad that it is over with! I love running and will always run but I'm really tired of training! Training for a marathon is a 3 month COMMITMENT! You have to be dedicated and willing to work your weekends around the 2-3 hour long runs. Running 2 marathons 3 months apart became over 6 months of continuous training! Todd and I really started losing motivation toward the end but we had committed to the goal and needed to finish it. Unfortunately, it was a MUCH less than perfect event. There are pros and cons for Saturday races as well as Sunday races. The pros for this Saturday race was that we didn't have to finish the race and almost immediately get in the car and drive back to Abilene and we still had a fairly relaxing weekend. The big con for this Saturday race was that Todd didn't get off work until after 5 on Friday because of mission planning. That meant we were VERY rushed to get to Ft. Worth, eat and get in bed at a decent hour Friday night. Both of us have also been fighting some bad allergies for the last week or so mostly due to the ever changing weather and grass fires. I myself have also been having some asthma problems as well. Needless to say, the rush and the less than perfect health made us not looking very forward to the 26.2 mile feat. The weather all last week was in the upper 80s/low 90s so we were VERY grateful for the 40 degree weather that blew in Friday night. HOWEVER, it also came with 30-40 mph wind gusts out of the north! If you've never run into a strong head wind it's a lot like doing wind sprints with a parachute tied to your waist. It makes your muscles work twice as hard which, in turn, makes you tired faster. Bottom line... Saturday was in no way ideal running conditions for us. But, we finished (3:24 for Todd and 4:26 for me) and that's all that is ever important to me! Todd was disappointed with his time since he really wants to qualify for Boston but as far as I'm concerned, considering all, I'm just proud to have my finisher medal and that beautifully horrible soreness in my legs.

The rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing. Part of the weekend was about celebrating my upcoming 25th birthday so Saturday night we had a celebratory/post race indulgence at P.F Changs! We slept in this morning and eventually made our way back to Abilene.

And another week begins...4 more weeks for me, 5 more flights for Todd.

Run fast and carry a big stick

Yesterday marked a first for me in my many years of running...I was BITTEN BY A DOG!!
Saturday was our LAST 20 mile training run before the Cowtown marathon and the Abilene Runner's Club was going back out to Steamboat Mountain to run the 13 mile course so Todd and I thought it a perfect opportunity to run some great hills and finish the 20 miler on back country roads instead of the same neighborhoods that we always run in. Unfortunately, Todd had his running buddy and I was either not fast enough to run with some or too fast to run with others and therefore, I was left running alone. Around mile 14 (about 4 miles from where our cars where) out of nowhere 2 dogs started barking at me. I didn't really think anything of it because dogs bark at me all the time when running and have even run up and sniffed at me. But before I could even react one of them ran up and bit me really hard on my right calf! He even bit me so hard that I fell on my other knee and elbow! I didn't really have time to react and the other dog was growling so I just got up and kept running to get away! Once I got back on a main road I stopped to "assess the damage" I was wearing running tights which fortunately took some of the blow but my right calf has 4 decent sized cuts, a few scratches and one REALLY large bruise! It seriously was a traumatizing experience. I felt betrayed by my favorite animal on earth and when it happened I had an overwhelming feeling of being alone since I was miles from anyone I knew and didn't have my cell phone. I actually finished the run, with a lot of pain and tears, and vowed to never run long runs on country roads with out a stick or rock and when necessary to always carry my cell phone. Once Todd picked me up and we went home and showered we decided it was the right thing to do to report the bite. We had to file a report with the county Sheriff who met us at the hospital to take a report and the dog was picked up and taken in to be quarantined for 10 days. We ended up waiting for an hour and a half at the emergency room to find out they were only going to give me a tetnus shot (which I've had one in the past 3 years) so we left. Quite the eventful Valentine's Day :)

After all said and done, we did have a very enjoyable Valentine's Day evening at home and made lamb chops, grilled asparagus and polenta. We had some wine and finished the evening with homemade gluten free molten chocolate cake and ice cream :) YUM!

Work updates: Todd has 5 more flights and I have 6 more weeks of interning!

T minus 2 weeks until the Ft. Worth Cowtown Marathon...and then a nice long race break :)

Ice Day!

The weather here in Abilene has been in true Texas form over the past 2 weeks. Last week we had quite the heat wave with the highs for 3 days well above 80! This week however an ice storm came into town dropping the temperature below freezing for about 48 hours and bringing LOTS of drizzle, freezing rain and last night some sleet. Since I'm working in the school systems right now I had an 'inclement weather day' yesterday and, naturally, all of our clinic kids cancelled as well. Todd's flight yesterday got cancelled but he was still supposed to go in at 10am and he got half way to base and got a call that they were closing the base to all "un-essential" personnel. It was fun just staying home in our pajamas, watching movies and hanging out all day. Of course, we got bored since we're such busy people but I don't think either one of us would complain about the free day off. The temperature today is supposed to get up to 50 but not until lunch time or later. I was fully expecting a delayed start to my day (Todd's had already been determined to be 9am today) but when I woke up I was shocked that all Abilene/Wylie schools were cancelled again! Fortunately, I have 5 kids to see this afternoon in the clinic after the ice melts so my day won't be a complete waste. So that's some fun times in Abilene. We usually get at least one nasty cold weather week in January in Texas and since it's January 28...I'm guessing that's it! Here are a few pictures of our ice day.

Shades of things to come??

View from the back porch

View from our front porch

Thunderbirds, here we come!

Today was "Squadron Night" for Todd, meaning he found out which squadron he will be going into at Ellsworth AFB. Todd got his first choice the 34th Bomb Squadron the Thunderbirds! We're very excited because all of our friends that we've been with since the beginning as well as new friends we've made in Abilene are all going to be apart of the 34th! This also means that we know Todd will be deploying in January 2010. We still won't know for about another month or so when we will be moving but it's nice to know where we're going :)


This is an actual Thunderbird B1 that had flown into Dyess recently.

Best Careers for 2009

According to US News & World Report Occupational Therapy is in the top 30 careers for 2009. There is also a good article about OT from the list http://www.usnews.com/sections/business/best-careers/

Looks like I made a good career choice :)

Holidays Update

Here we are in 2009! They always say when you're a kid that time flies as you get older... and it DOES! 2008 was quite the eventful year! I'm not going to lie- I hope 2009 is NOT as eventful. The 2 big things happening for sure in 2009 include FINALLY graduating from OT school and moving to Rapid City, South Dakota. Both of which I'm very excited about. After 7 years it will be so wonderful to finally be an occupational therapist and actually get paid or doing something that I love. I'm excited but also nervous about the move up north. I've never lived outside of Texas and I've never lived more than about 4 1/2 hours from my family so I imagine homesickness will happen on occasion. But I am very excited to see new places and experience new things with Todd as well as really experience Air Force life in an operational squadron since all we've ever known is training squadrons. As of Friday January 9 we will know which squadron we will be a part of at Ellsworth which will also tell us when Todd will deploy ( either January or July of 2010) so either way we still have some time to prepare for that but it will be nice to know.

Tomorrow officially starts the beginning of the end of my masters degree! 12 more weeks of free labor, 1 national board exam and graduation are all the stand between me and being a licensed occupational therapist. I'm really looking forward to the next 12 weeks. While I absolutely LOVED my hand therapy rotation, I did get into OT for kids so I'm excited to be working with them again. I have 2 clinical instructors (CI) this time, one of which I will be with all morning in the Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) centers with kiddos 0-3 and also in the Abilene and surrounding school districts with kiddos 3-18. In the afternoon I'll be with my other CI who I got to know quite well during my first rotation in the outpatient clinic seeing all sorts of kiddos. I think I'm really going to learn a lot and get to see a lot of different perspectives of pediatric OT.

Todd started flying last week. He's had 3 flights so far that all went really well. He hasn't had to plan for them yet but just show up and go so they haven't been a true test of his full knowledge of the B1 but those flights will be coming soon. We're actually praying right now that the rest of the flight don't occur as quickly since I have to be here until March 27 we'd really like to be able to move together.

Our holidays as a whole were very relaxing after we got back from the whirlwind trip to Minnesota. We spent Christmas with my parents in Austin and really didn't do a whole lot but run and eat and spend quality time with family. New Years Eve was spent here in Abilene at our friend's house where we successfully stayed up until 1:30am and then spent New Years Day lounging around the house and taking down Christmas decorations.

The only other news to officially share with everyone now is that over the past 3-4 weeks I've been pretty sick and in the past week I've found out that I also have Celiac Disease (www.celiac.org) like my mom which is an autoimmune disease where gluten essentially destroys the small intestines and I will now be living on a gluten free diet...which is no fun AT ALL but at least I feel 10 times better and healthier now that I'm not eating gluten. Major change but with the love and support of my friends and family it will all be ok. :)

As for New Year's Resolutions (which I never make)....to start studying for my OT board exam!