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!