Absence

Well, that's the life of a DCE wife, I just gotta say. He's here today and gone tomorrow....and the next day, and the day after that.......
Tomorrow Nick will be leaving for Seward, NE (I'm so jealous)for the first stop on the Concordia tour. He is taking 4 of his high schoolers to visit 3 different Concordia Universities. First they fly to Nebraska to visit CUNE, then they fly to Chicago and drive to Mequon, WI to visit CUW, and finally they drive back to Chicago to visit CUC (formerly CU River Forrest). They fly back to Florida Monday, but does he come home then? Nope. He then will have a friend pick him up and take him to the LYF (Lutheran Youth and Families - or something like that) annual retreat that runs through Wednesday.
Really, I don't know why I'm complaining. He will be home for two whole weeks before he goes to his mission conference in Minnesota. :)
So I will be all alone for a week. Well, Charles will be there to keep me company when he's not running around in the back yard stalking lizards and squirrels! :)
Despite missing my husband, sometimes, I will admit that it is nice to have some all alone time. It gives a person time to think, un-wind, not have to worry about anyone but yourself. I suppose it will give me a chance to clean the house a little better. It's not looking so hot right now.....
I've been exhausted lately anyway, so maybe I can even squeeze in a couple of naps this weekend! Isn't it funny how as a kid you "hated" naps, but as a adult they are considered special treats? Ah perspective....

Alright, now to share some joy! I am currently in the middle of working on my final big project to complete my MBA (Part 1), and I have been blessed with an amazing group of people to work with! They are all pretty easy going, but great students. We are WAY ahead of where we need to be at this point, and we may get to finish two weeks early! That would give us all a nice break (about a month) before we have to get started on Part II.
I turn in my application for graduation tonight, and I registered for my FINAL class on Monday!!! I am just so excited and wanted to share. Lots of wonderful things are happening in my life right now, and I feel so blessed!
I pray the same for all of you. Hope everyone had a fantastic Easter celebration!
He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Patience

Patience is one of those things that is so hard to practice. Whether waiting for a loved one to get well, anticipating graduation or a wedding, waiting for the birth of a child, or looking forward to retirement. No matter what stage of life you are in patientce is practiced. In a recent Bible study, I found out that one definition of patience is long suffering. Sometimes it feels like that, doesn't it? Thanks be to God that we can go to him for stregnth and endurance during these times.

Nick and I had both excitement and hard times this week. This past weekend we took some of our High School kiddos to the LCMS District Gathering in Orlando. It was a good time, and I think the kids really enjoyed it. There was an amazing guy named Ben Glenn that speaks and also draws with chalk. He is AMAZING! You can check him out at http://www.chalkguy.com/. If you ever have a chance to see him, jump all over it. The theme for this gathering was "MADE". We are fearfully and wonderfully made to do good things that he has prepared for us to do. How can we serve him? What are our gifts? It was great!

The down side is that Nick came down with a nasty viral infection that Saturday. He woke up with a fever and ran one off and on until Thursday. Around Wednesday, he developed a nasty cough. He is feeling somewhat better and I finally felt safe enough to share a bed with him last night - but only after everything had been thoroughly washed! I had him quaranteened and took up residency in the guest room on the other end of the house. I wanted no part of that. I think I washed my hands about a million times, too. It's hard to not be able to go near your spouse for such a long period of time and to watch them suffer. I'm glad he is getting back to normal.

He did have some company as Charles, our cat, was also VERY sick. We kept thinking it would get better, but on Tuesday morning we woke up and he looked like death warmed over. :( Poor kitty. I took him to the vet, they told me he was on the brink of pneumona, and he got the works! A kitty IV with shots for antibiotics, antihistimine, and B12. He looked like he had a camel hump for the rest of the day with all those fluids pumped in him. We got sent home with two different types of pills that Nick has been giving him for 10 days. We are just about half way through with those, and he seems to be feeling better, thank goodness. Hopefully he will be 100% recovered soon and back to his normal self!


Anyway, needless to say it has been quite an eventful week!

Well I guess that's about all I can say for now.....more to come later....