It's been a really long time since my last post. Over 4 months, to be exact. Which is so sad, because I truly enjoy blogging and sharing my life, thoughts, and insights. And because I really don't journal, this is kind of my way of keeping track of those kinds of things.
At any rate, lots has changed since May 1st.
For starters, my boss, my mentor, my friend, and my work husband sold his half of the practice and left as of May 15th. So there was this big gaping hole in our clinic and everything was so strange for a while, some days it still is. We had already hired a new grad (who was supposed to be our 4th vet) and she started June 1st, but I went back to work full time until the middle of June to fill in and ease the transition. And of course, we were slammed. But we had some great vet students come through this summer, so it was kind of fun.
The biggest difficulty, as always, was juggling our schedule around again. We had just gotten Coleman used to being home a lot with me and then we had to throw him back into daycare full time for a few weeks until Nana was done with school for the year and she kept him part time. Scott was gone a lot and I was on call every other night and every other weekend for a while while we got the new vet up to speed. It was kind of crazy, but this difference this time was there was a HUGE light at the end of the tunnel come July, so there was a lot of motivation to finish each day strong.
Then towards the end of June, my mother- and sister-in-law both resigned from teaching high school here and took jobs out in a very small town in West Texas. Like, suddenly. As in, we found out from other people (via the local paper....) it happened so fast. My in-laws own the land and house that my husband's great-grandparents had, so they moved there because they needed to fix up the house and decide if they want to sell or permanently move there. Meanwhile, my FIL is going back and forth between the two places taking care of the bred heifers they are calving out and the bumper hay crop from this summer.
Our church is also going through a transition period. My father-in-law was an elder, but felt he needed to resign because he wasn't going to be here full time and didn't feel he could carry out his responsibilities well. Our preacher resigned and moved within a month. Another elder was involved in an accident with a horse and sustained major head trauma, so he has been absent as well. And our youth minister and close friend has been on sabbatical, learning what is effective at other churches our size and taking some time to slow down and seek God as he grieves the loss of his children to his ex-wife. See, not great order. But I've been impressed at our remaining two elders and deacons for stepping up. Scott is also the coordinator of fellowship and has some great ideas to bring union to our church family- so in love with that man!
As if that wasn't enough, we lost a baby on May 27th. I was seven weeks, 4 days along. In fact, we found out the day after my last post that I was expecting, and I have 4 or 5 posts written about how excited we were about our new family member that I was going to post after we told the world. I am truly at peace with the whole thing, but I don't feel that I need or want to share my feelings with the world- it's still a very personal thing, you know? I know that God was definitely with me (even though I was by myself at the time) and that He has protected me from what could have been a very negative experience. I hope that one day, I'll be able to influence another family in pain, but on an intimate, one-on-one basis.
So, besides all that, there have been a few other things thrown into the mix. Everything at work is being re-aligned (like e-medical records, ugh), my other boss's family recently experienced a loss, it's a busy time of year and we've all been gone to CE at various times, just general craziness. Scott had several trips this summer and was gone a few weeks here and there.
I'm hoping that in the next week, the madness dies down and we can get back into a normal kind of groove. I've started a few blog posts that I am excited to finish and share. I'm ready for cooler, perfect (running!) weather. I'm looking forward to the excitement of FALL- my all time favorite season. And maybe somewhere in there, I'll find time to relax. And blog. :)
