06.29.07
Moving, Church, and other news
We have been in the process of moving this week. It started last weekend with packing and planning. Then, on Monday, we hired a group of teenage boys from the youth group to help us move. (We offered them all-you-can-eat homemade pizza as an incentive - I ended up making four, but they only ate three. I learned that putting leftover pizza in the fridge AFTER it rises but BEFORE it bakes doesn’t turn out very well - I baked it for lunch the next day, and it came out like cardboard.) Since then, we have been unpacking (slowly) and getting the handful of things that didn’t get transferred on Monday. We were told we had until July 13th to be out, but once we moved the bed the land-lady started getting very impatient, so Mike stayed over there until 11:00 last night getting the last of the stuff, mopping the floors, cleaning the sink and bathroom, and just generally giving everything a last “once-over.” He stayed late by himself so that I could go to bed at 10:00 - he must really love me! The school still has some things in there (the oven and fridge, a couple wardrobes) so we haven’t officially handed our keys over yet, but all of our stuff is out.
It has been WONDERFUL to be back at church. That was one of the hardest parts of being on bed-rest. Mike always found something on-line for me to listen to on Sunday morning (usually Pastor Rick from our home church in Beavercreek). But listening on the radio and being there in person, as part of the community, is NOT the same thing. I now have first-hand experience to back up what I’ve been hearing for years - you really can’t “do church” at home as a substitute for being involved in a local body of believers (the communion of saints, as the creed would say).
Our pastor leaves on Saturday for a short trip to the States, and our associate pastor is also on a summer furlough, so for the next few weeks the deacons and various lay-preachers are going to be filling the pulpit. Mike is preaching on July 8 at the evening service. Pray for him if you think about it. In addition to getting his sermon ready and helping me at home, he has also been very busy at work preparing for the transition into his new job on Monday.
I haven’t been back to the doctor since my last update, but so far everything looks/feels fine. I get hot and tired very easily, which is making moving go VERY slowly, but I’ve passed the initial “caution advised” period and am now supposedly able to get back to my normal routine. Our next appointment (the normal 5th month visit) is scheduled for July 10, and will include such fun attractions as another blood test (to check for downs syndrome, not optional here), finding out the baby’s gender, and strawberry smoothies from the juice bar outside the clinic. Our insurance year ends this weekend. We sent in the paper work for Mike’s appendectomy, but when we added up all of my hospital bills we realized that the ones the insurance will cover (hospital stay and blood test) don’t add up to enough to cover our deductible. Since on most of my visits, the only thing I pay for is the required ultrasound, and our American insurance company doesn’t cover ultrasounds, that is all out-of-pocket. But, for $20 a month, it’s not a bad deal. My “emergency ultrasounds” were free.