Posting at last.....

We really didn't fall off the face of the earth....really.

- Wood is still looking for work and is a top contender for a really good position. Pray that he gets this job - this has been a really difficult time for us.

- Much to my doctor's dismay, I had a less radical surgery than the bi-lateral mastectomy. I may have the big surgery later this summer - especially if Wood gets the job.

- We are all settled into our new house. I really like it, but there are a few issues:
1. It's ugly from the outside. Really ugly. My older daughter tells her friends it's the house that looks like a martini olive. It's an odd shade of green with a redish purple colored front door and shutters. And it seriously needs to be sided.

2. The house is COLD in the winter. Really, Really cold. We live in an area where this is significant. It was only 40 degrees today, and it's May 12th. We're still wearing winter coats. We can't plant flowers until early June due to frost. When you have 9 months of winter, keeping warm is very important. It gets too hot on the main floor of the house (it's a tri-level) where the bedrooms are, and it's freezing everywhere else. The livingroom, dining room and kitchen are above the garage, so we get the added bonus of having the floor be freezing as well as the rest of the room. We apparently don't have enough air returns, and it's affecting how the heat circulates. It won't be cheap to fix. We're looking at adding insulation and eventually we probably need to put a gas fireplace in the basement for supplemental heat.

3. Our home is the highest on our street, and we have a breath taking view of Lake Superior from our living room window. The Lake is about a mile from our home. The sun rising or setting is just stunning. However, that means my house is on a hill. Our yard isn't level anywhere....and is just the perfect angle that when the kids throw or kick a ball, it immediately rolls down the hill into a neighbors yard, or into the street. We need a fence.

Other than those issues, it's a great layout, perfect size, and meets our needs.

- We're off to Children's hospital this week for G's appt. She has pneumonia once this winter, bringing it to 3 times in the past 18 months. She's missed considerably less school this year, but we're still having issues. She's on 4 daily meds to control symptoms. She seems to have developed acid reflux and is also having other digestive issues. She has grown, but not much. She will be 6 in a month, and weighs 36 pounds, wears a size 5T and toddler size 10 shoes. It was shocking to see her with her peers at the Mother's day performance her class did last Friday. She is so tiny compared to them. However, she's reading at a third grade level (not bad for a kindergartener!), received a Christian leadership award this year, and seems to have more energy than she used to. I will take my blessings as they come.

I will post some pics soon, and it won't be as long until I post again...I promise.