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!