What the heck are we doing? Not sure if we can answer that question sometimes, so I'm open to suggestions! As things sit we are a family in two states, soon to be three. We knew going in that it would be an unusual year, but I don't know that we predicted this!
Hard to argue with that smile!
You'll forgive me if some of this sounds like a summary, because it is. There are two reasons for that. First it's to make sure that the actual plan is out there. We might be using the word "plan" a bit loosely as it is more of a direction with options than a set plan. The format of our transition looks (and sometimes feels) messy. I can only imagine what this can look like to someone not involved in the process. Sorry about all that! The second reason is much more selfish. Logistically speaking, it's just easier to put it out there in this format so that we (primarily Autumn at this point because I've been gone for three months now!) don't have to rehash the story over and over. It's not that we mind talking to people, but the reality of trying to tell the extended version to everyone individually is not logistically possible, even if we wanted to.
It sort of sounds coarse when I type that out, but the truth is always better and the truth is that I want as many people as possible to know what we're doing and why. What that does is allow for better conversations since everyone is more or less on the same page. I hope that makes sense.
The story up to now is this:
Ornaments on display!
Autumn and I have found two schools that we think make sense for Trinity. One is in Bozeman, Montana and the other is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I probably didn't have to put the states in there, but I am bad a geography and I assume that I'm not the only one. So you're welcome! By the way, why couldn't any of the schools been somewhere warm? Seriously!
We visited both places (a third possibility in Wisconsin as well) and did not a small amount of research into jobs and housing as well. While Trin's education has taken the lead on this journey, the rest of us have to be there too. So why are we in two (maybe three) states again? For unification! Okay, maybe not. Don't worry though, I'm getting to that soon.
My girls, so beautiful!
Autumn has a great job in Baker. Jobs in Bozeman are not as great. Jobs in Minneapolis are almost as great. My friend Mike jokes about the "Bozeman Tax". You see, there are pretty decent jobs in Montana, but the vast majority are everywhere except Bozeman. There are lots of folks that seem to be moving here for the lifestyle, not the paycheck (or private elementary schools)! So it goes. It's more expensive to live in Bozeman (housing) than Minneapolis, but the jobs pay a lot less. I checked into employment at Montana State University and the same job I had at Blue Mountain Community College in Baker payed 30% more than the same job at the university here. Ouch.
Wait, where was I? Oh yeah, I'm in Bozeman. With Trinity. Autumn and Teagan, as of right now, are in Baker. No, that's not true. Teagan is in Baker right now. Autumn is on her way to Minneapolis for a conference by way of Bozeman. Update: Autumn is here in Bozeman and by Friday afternoon should be in North Dakota.
Miss Mel is so awesome!
So why all of kerfuffle? The long and short of it is that we don't know where the best fit is going to be. So in the meantime, Autumn has a great job waiting for her in Minneapolis early next year that will allow us to be together about half the time. That may not sound like much, but it's a step in the right direction! Are we going to stay in Bozeman beyond this school year? We don't know. Are we moving to Minneapolis? I don't know. That's what this year is all about: transition. So bear with us while we confuse everyone else!
In the meantime, enjoy these nuggets from Trinity's art walk and Holiday program at Cottonwood Day School here in Bozeman:
Best family picture in a while, well, partial family!
As many of you know, Trinity is in the pediatric ICU at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. She's been having seizures but as yet there is no diagnosis aas to what the underlying problem might be. Autumn and I are learning a great deal and I am getting a crash course in ICU medicine. Trinity has been sedated since Monday morning about 2am Mountian Time. She is on a ventilator, so the sedative is to keep her from fighting all the tubes. One thing we have learned is that we don't have control of this situation. It's hard because I don't want my daughter to suffer. I don't want her to have permanent damage from this. I want my daughter back because I miss her terribly. But I have to let all of that go and trust that God has our best in mind. I have to because I can't do a single thing to help her right now. So I pray and cry a little and sing to my baby. Autumn is doing the same. We have been incredibly blessed to have support from all over the ...
Okay, I am a fan of breastfeeding. That sounded weird. I don't like it for me, but for my kids. Autumn worked very hard at it, with wonderful results for Teagan and Trinity both. She was so successful that we are just now, 9 months after weaning Teagan, running out of frozen stores of breast milk for his bottles. Now, we haven't been giving it to him exclusively. He has been on cow's milk ever since he was a year old. It's been mostly for night time bottles. Unfortunately now that's over too. Here's our memorial service for breast milk: Proud mommy...and she should be! Yep, he loves him some breast milk! And now, since that chapter is over and a new one is started, we'll talk about the grieving process. Poor little Teagan will likely be going through an extensive emotional adjustment. Let's see one scenario of how it might go: The first reaction will be typical crying. He doesn't get what he wants, so he cries. Hey, don't we all? At th...
I get bored pretty easy. I get tired of the same old thing. But I discovered something. I don't get tired of my wife or daughter. Do they get on my nerves sometimes? Sure, but I never get tired of them. We went to Boise last week (or was it the week before?) for follow-up appointments for Trinity. We were there for two days because Trinity was scheduled for a follow-up MRI and they won't see her at the neurologist's office the same day as the MRI. I can see why; she has to be put to sleep for the MRI because it takes over 45 minutes and she has to stay still. Trinity can't stay still for 45 seconds, much less 45 minutes! Here are some photos from the trip: Here's Miss Smiley-Bug waiting for her turn in the MRI machine. She was having fun crawling around and trying to pull on as many dangling cords as possible. She's so much fun to be around. She barely even cried when they put the IV in her arm. She did fight a little, just because she doesn't like being hel...
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