Holy cow, I can't believe there hasn't been a new post on my blog since before my knee surgery in October! It's been a busy past few months, lots has been going on, I guess I just haven't had time. The end.
Sooo, knee surgery went well. Instead of a full replacement, I had a partial...2 compartments instead of 3...and also got a new knee cap. Recovery has been good, but I still have a little ways to go before all the muscle pain is gone. Still need to stick to my exercise regimen. :::sigh::: It's easier said than done. Oh, and did I mention...I'm now down 78 pounds? (yay).
Jon is still unemployed. Job finding hasn't been so successful. He's looked and looked and looked up North to no avail. Now we're looking for cities in other states that we'd be interested to raise our family in. Idaho, Tennessee, Maine, Virginia, Utah, Washington State (snicker), Oregon. Also looking in Canada. Gotta go where the work is. Please keep us in your prayers. We honestly never expected to be out of work for this long. It's been 9 months. Sooo thankful for the unemployment extension and other benefits we're currently receiving. Just wishing we wouldn't have to use them any longer!
Max is great! His follow-up appts. with doctors at UCLA and here in December all say he's recovered completely from the meningitis. His MRI showed no signs of brain swelling and eye exams confirmed only damage to his periferal vision in both eyes and 20/40 vision in his left eye. Right eye vision is back to 20/20. He wears cool specs now to correct the blurry left eye, but doesn't need them all the time. Usually only when he's doing school work on the computer. He's so fortunate to have come out of this illness alive, first of all, and second to only have small vision challenges. We almost lost him twice and, until he got to UCLA, it looked like his vision wasn't going to return. He's living proof that Jesus likes America too, and miracles happen in places other than The Holy Land. Just sayin. So, he's happily continuing with middle school at home through Odyssey Charter School, along with the occasional argument with his siblings.
Meghan. Ohhhh Meghan. How do I describe thee? Let me count the ways. She was officially dx'd with ADHD in September and was really struggling in school. By December, she had fallen so far behind her classmates that Jon and I decided it was time to give her one-on-one attention and home school her. We pulled her out of school right before Winter Break and enrolled her in Odyssey. Because Max and Olivia have done so well in the program, I knew it would be great for Meg. So far she's doing really well and has caught up in most of the areas she fell behind. She misses her teacher and friends, but loves being home with everyone.
Olivia has experimented with different hair colors. Most girls/women try blonde, red, dark brown, etc., etc. Our creative, eccentric artist goes a different route...blue, plumb, cotton candy pink. It took me a long while to agree, and we started out with burgundy streaks. That moved to other colors, which I have to say turned out pretty cool. Never thought I'd like it, but now it's hard to picture her with normal, dark brown hair. Currently she's hot pink...not my fave, the plumb/purple is, so we're going to go back to that this week. She's loving being back in Odyssey for 10th grade. We had her try public school at Chaparral for 9th and it was a disaster. Grades are back up to where they should be and she has lots of time to work on her painting. She also gets to work with a teacher friend at another school, who's taking her through an art program one day a week, kind of like an elective.
Ian graduated last June and has had some struggles, but is finally heading in the right direction. He's got some tough obstacles to overcome, but will get through the rough stuff with our support. He's got a great future a head of him and looks forward to college and studying to become an engineer, probably structural.
These are frustrating but exciting times for this Boardman family. We've been placed in situations we NEVER thought we'd ever be in. Our faith in God has been challenged and, I'm happy to say, we've had more success than failure in that department. Our entire family has been forced to deal with the "product of our environment" issues and we're all on the road to healing. Jon and I have been married 21 years this past January 20th, and just now feel like we have the beginnings of a good marriage. It is so refreshing. We've found a new place to worship closer to home, until we know what our future holds. Will we stay here in Vegas? Hope not. Will we move to Reno? Hope so. Will we move to a completely different state? Maybe.
Change came crashing down on us all at once, like a bolt of lightening. We've weathered most of the storm, so far, and as we look back, we can see that a lot of it was necessary for specific changes to happen, and others had to happen in order to deal with illnesses and other events that were unforseen. No regrets. Now we're relying on faith that we're coming out of the woods and work for Jon is just over the foothill.
1 comment:
So glad to see you again this last weekend. I know things are hard.. Luckily we were only out of work for 6 months. But Looking back like you said, we can see that these things had to happen and we have to endure these trials to become better strongers people and to have better family relationships. I know its difficult but you guys can do it! Love you. Hang in there!
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