Birthday Fun

So Nathan finally turned the big 25 last Sunday! We had a nice quiet day up at my mom's house, where she cooked a big meal for us including grilled steak! Per Nathan's request. He was well-fed that day: homemade belgium waffles with fresh fruit and real whipped cream on them and bacon for breakfast, the steak dinner and homemade french silk pie for dessert. It was definitely a yummy day!

Also to celebrate, my mom's boyfriend took some pregnancy photos for us! It was a lot of fun, and after seeing them hard to believe I was only 32 weeks when these were taken. I'm up to 33 weeks now and am already bigger than when these were taken, but it's all worth it... and though uncomfortable, still fun. :-)

Enjoy the photos!

The Schnauzer of Steel

So apparently, a week or so ago, our miniature schnauzer puppy was out on our deck and decided to or slipped and made the plunge to the ground below when I wasn't home. Now, I have no idea how far down the deck is but the deck is really the roof of the lower level of the house, just fenced off. It's a very nice deck! Just so you can get some perspective, he essentially fell off the roof.

Now my dear husband, who knew in my rather large and pregnant state that I would promptly freak out if he told me right away didn't tell me until a week later when he was sure he was okay. Apparently, Nathan was downstairs and he'd left Asher out on the deck. When he came back up he couldn't find him, went out on the deck and saw him sniffing around downstairs. He said when he went down there to get him he wasn't hurt... not even scratched, just really scared and freaked out. Understandably so!

So it's been at least a week since he took the plunge and I've not noticed ANY difference in him whatsoever... which is very hard to believe. In fact, had Nathan not told me I never would've known. I don't know if he's made of steel or what, but I do NOT know how he could've survived that fall let alone not be hurt in the slightest. Our vet told us when we brought him in for his first appointment that schnauzers were "sturdy" animals. Guess, I didn't really fathom the degree to which she meant!!

Spanish Praises!

Well, thankfully (for all parties involved) I'm feeling much better since my last blog post. Boy was that frustrating though. We did finally get through to the unemployment office and get his file reopened, but only after I used some of the spanish I still remember and went through the spanish line! Boy, they were NOT happy with us, but they did help us. They told us it was like cutting in line, and given how upset they were I didn't argue with them, but I was thinking, "Line? What line? We weren't even given the chance to get IN a line on the english speaking side to begin with." I actually would've been happier if either Nathan or I got the chance to sit on hold on the other line, but that was never an option. On the spanish line, there was actually an option that said, "If you'd like to speak with a representative, press number 3." Not an option on the other line. Once I did that, I heard "the wait time is approximately 30 minutes." And it was! Craziness. So while we're thankful that mess is at least temporarily behind us, we might have to deal with it again, but for a very good reason!!

Nathan signed up with a temp agency this weekend that was was looking for electricians, and he was called in on Monday to fill out paperwork to start work on Tuesday! We are SO thankful!! The work is supposed to be through this Friday, but they could call him off the job at any time (temp work), and it might go through next week too, but they never really know until sometimes the day of. But nevertheless, we are SO thankful for this little bit of relief, no matter how much he actually gets to work. AND the work is at the main army post out here so he gets what's called Davis Bacon wages (dumbed-down version, they're equalized wages that workers get on government institutions like military bases and posts) which are BIG bucks, so he'll make nearly an entire two week pay check from his previous job in less than one week's time!! Truly manna from heaven right now. :-) So, while we still hope that his previous company will call him back, we are thankful that he has this temp job for both the money and for the ease it would be to transition back into his old job if they can call him back to it! But most importantly, we want whatever God may have because that is always better.... and we're completely out of our own ideas at this point anyway... so overall, I suppose we're in a very good place. :-)

In other news, we completed our last Bradley class last night, and now are "officially" trained in the ways of natural childbirth. :-) Nathan even has an "official" coaches card. Of which he is very proud of too. One of the couples in our class already had their baby so it was fun for the last lesson (which was on newborns and postpartum care) to have a live newborn there. :-) And the other other couple is due any day now. So it will be fun to get together again probably in early June or so to show off all of our babies and share our birth stories. We're very excited. Time to start taking a tally of all that we have and will need for both the birth and our little Annabella. Which will be very fun!

So anyway, back to my day of subduing my home so I can begin to think more seriously about all things baby, and to learning to trust God with the troubles of today, because tomorrow most certainly has enough of it's own to worry about without any help from me.

We're Sorry. All Circuits Are Busy. We're Sorry....

Never in my life have I been more angry at an institution than I am right now. And I worked with major medical insurance for 2 and half years! The unemployment office, in their oh so "infinite wisdom" decided that once you've filed an initial claim the ONLY way (and yes, it is the only way, I've called the workforce office in Colorado Springs and talked to an actual homosapien who concurred with my own research on the website that indeed this is the only way) to reopen an existing claim is to call this ONE stinking phone number that, by the way, has been so busy literally ALL week long (Nathan was laid off again on Tuesday morning... and it's now Friday morning) that we're not even getting a standard busy signal, we're getting "We're sorry, all circuits are busy, please try your call again later."

Now, Nathan did get through a couple times, and here's how those lovely occasions transpired. The first one, he got all the way through the automated "give the computer your information so we can waste your time and make you THINK you're going to get helped until we can get you to an actual person who will only ask you for all of this information again" business, only to get to the end of that rigamarole, to hear "You need to speak with a representative. We are currently experiencing an unusually high volume of calls right now. Please try back later." CLICK!!!!!! No, go ahead and stay on the line for an hour or two, or four or five, just a nice friendly CLICK! The second time Nathan got through, it was right at 7:30 in the morning (when the mysterious and seemingly unmanned office supposedly opens) so we're thinking, "alright, we can get this thing reopened and move on with our lives,".... oh, no...no, nnnno, no, NO! He gets all the way through the automated ridiculousness (see description above) only to hear, "Please call back during regular business hours to reach a representative. Office hours are Monday through Friday 7:30am to 4:30pm Mountain time." CLICK! IT WAS FREAKING 7:40AM WHEN HE GOT THROUGH! We proceeded to call back again, and from that point on haven't gotten anything but "we're sorry, all circuits are busy... we're sorry, all circuits are busy..... we're sorry, all circuits are busy........................."

Somehow, at this point.... the whole, saying "We're sorry" to try to soften peoples nerves who have heard that a gagillion times is just patronizing and I wish the happy little recording would just keep it to itself. The least it could do is to cycle through some different recordings, like "Ha! Guess what?? All circuits are busy. Talk to you in a few seconds." Or, "You're STILL trying? Good luck getting through. All circuits are busy." Or just ANYTHING other than the insincere "We're sorry."

Oh, and there's not even an office that we can walk into in person (refer back to the conversation with the homosapien in the Colorado Springs office) to resolve this that way. Isn't that "convenient." I don't know if they're "smart," to try to protect themselves from people like me who also FEEL like me right now, or if it's just plain cowardice. Ask me later and I may feel differently, but right now, I'm voting for just plain cowardice.... IF there's even anyone working in that office at all.

So here we are, me trying to get my frustrations out in a supposedly healthy way and my husband sitting on the phone hitting redial repeatedly. We'd really appreciate your prayers if you're a praying person. I sure am thankful in times like this for what Jesus said in the tail end of the book of John, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world it would love you as it's own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." Now, granted I understand fully that this is not the main focus and interpretation of this passage, or perhaps a better phrase is that its not the intended application of this verse. I'm not being persecuted specifically for my faith by any means, but I certainly do feel "hated" by the world and the way that it functions. I know my personality is wired to look at things and see how they could be better, but my faith also wires me to know that the way things are is not how it was meant to be, nor will it remain this way forever. I do take some solace in that during times like this. But it sure doesn't help the frustration I experience in the moment at stupidly organized programs and plans. Not that anything I would come up with would make all parties involved happy... someone always gets the shaft in any sort of plan, you can't please everyone. But, gee... one would think that there has GOT to be a better way of planning something like unemployment, especially in times like this.

But anyway.... God has faithfully taken care of His people through many droughts, famines, and desserts. And to that I will cling as we try to navigate this messed up world right now. I guess I'll go out back and look for some manna while I'm hitting redial over and over again. :-)

So what's my point with all of this..... while I suppose there's many, I guess my heart's cry right now is just.... on many levels, for many things in this world, poverty, starvation, forgotten people right in our own neighborhoods, war torn nations, and the list goes on.... this stupid and petty unemployment thing aside....

I just think things could be better.