The Hazard Chronicles

This is long. Good luck.

This last week was our Spring Break. It did not seem like much of a break. In fact, the longest amount of time that Rachel and I actually spent talking with each other in person was today on our way home from Columbus. It was a busy week for both of us. It was also a very emotional week for us. But I'll start at the beginning.

Last Saturday evening Rachel dropped me off at the airport. It was sort of sad because just as I was about to go Evelyn looked at me with these big teary eyes and said something to the effect of "you're forgetting to take me on the airplane with you." I explained to her that I was going alone and that I would be back in a few days, but she just didn't understand how I could be leaving her. It was tragic for a little while, but I think she got over it as soon as Rachel distracted her by looking for a "Y" on a sign. I'm not sure what I think about the fact that her daddy can be replaced by a letter of the alphabet.

The next few days for me were spent in beautiful Northern Idaho, looking for jobs and learning about the area. Rachel and I both have this strong "feeling" that this is the place for us to raise our family. Well, we have learned to pay attention to these feelings and after a lot of hard work it was nice to be there interviewing for real possible job positions and looking at real houses and meeting real people. It made the whole thing so much more "real."

My hotel was located in Coeur d'Alene, but most of my time was actually spent a little closer to the border in the Post Falls/Liberty Lake areas. When I wasn't busy with my pre-arranged meetings I was usually driving or walking around the area just picturing our family living there. I honestly don't think that there is any place on Earth that is more beautiful, or more fun, than this area, and I am so excited to move here! (Hopefully). For those of you who want to see what it's like, click HERE to go to a local photographer's web site and see some pictures. Simply beautiful.

So, the results of my visit there are still sort of up in the air. I was offered one job, but we would have a hard time paying back student loans with it. Also, it would probably be a year or more before we would be able to buy a house. Basically, it is less than ideal, but at least we know we have a standing offer. I interviewed at two other places as well in the area, and both of them will take a few weeks to get back to us. One of them would be pretty much PERFECT and we are really praying that we get it. Basically, it is a place where we would be living where we wanted to live, making the kind of money that we were wanting to make, and (for me) doing the kind of dentistry I have been wanting to do. We are REALLY hoping that this works out. The third place I interviewed would fall somewhere in between the standing offer and this other great place. I feel pretty good about my interviews, but there is always that little bit of doubt that nags at you until the final word is said. Anyway- pray for us because if none of these things work out we may be going to Nevada or Texas, and we don't really like either of those options.

A word should be said here about my flight home as well. I was supposed to fly out to Vancouver, WA on Thursday to interview for a fourth position out there. Well, on Wednesday afternoon, just six hours before I was to catch this flight, I got a call from the guy who was helping me set up the interview. "Hey Logan," he began. "I was just calling to see if there was any way we could change the interview location to Yakima." I was flabbergasted. Was he really asking me this. I told him that, seeing as my flight left in 6 hours I was probably not going to be able to change plans. "Well," he said, "would you be able to make it to Yakima today? The interviewer decided to go on a trip and isn't going to be in the Vancouver area." Woah! I again emphasized that my plane was leaving for Vancouver in 6 hours, and that this is where we had agreed to hold the interview, and that I had traveled across the country for this, and that you don't just call a guy 6 hours beforehand to notify him of a change unless it was a real emergency, which this wasn't. This was just plain unprofessional and inconsiderate of my time, not to mention that this trip was costing me a lot of money that I didn't really have to spend on joy rides in airplanes. This was totally unacceptable.

Okay, that's not how I said it, but it sure is what I felt.

As it turns out there was sort of a silver lining to all of this in that the company I was interviewing for agreed to pay for my trip. Also, they set up a time here in Cleveland when I can meet a company representative and complete the interview. The only real downside is that now I had a full day to spend in the airport with nothing to do. Talk about boredom. Wow. But it all worked out, and after a lot of Internet videos and Facebook I finally got on an airplane and met Rachel in Columbus.

Okay, we are going to shift gears a little bit here and Rachel is going to take over now.

Life is wonderful. I have my sweet husband back, my kids are all very healthy, I have had a good dose of interpreting enlightenment... and I lived through the week.

I will start at the beginning. Saturday was a difficult day. I was sick, sick, sick, but somehow I managed to drive Logan to the airport to say goodbye to him so he could fly out to beautiful Coeur d' Alene Idaho for the week. I must have done something really good because on Sunday I woke up feeling miraculously better. Evelyn, on the other hand, was not in the best shape. What followed was four days of constant crying, whining and screaming as Adalie and Jackson decided they, too, felt a little but under the weather (thankfully, not as bad as poor Ev). I have to admit that I did take a moment to myself locked in my room while all three of my kids were screaming. My little quiet moment was very helful in reminding me that, "I love my children, I love my children, I love my children."

Thank you for the little space that I needed to vent.

In all honesty I actually had a very fun week spending time with each of the kids. I had to be very careful, however, because the slightest thing would likely trigger the end of the world (sickness be cursed!). We did a lot of fun activities and played some great games together. I love each of my sweet kids! Evelyn's imagination is taking off, and Jack and Addy are becoming more and more interactive. I also enjoy watching the three of them play together. I am very happy that our kids are so close in age. I love the bonds that are already forming. Oh the rewards of motherhood!

Imagine the following situation. What would you do???

You are on a two and a half our car trip with three kids- for the story's sake lets say that one of the kids just turned three and the other two are eighteen months old. You are the only adult in the car. With an hour and a half to go your sweet three year old announces that she has to poop. You evaluate the situation. There are no trees on the side of the road. It is freezing cold outside. Taking three very young children into a public restroom would be disasterous (use your imagination). What would you do?

It just so happens that I had the opportunity to find an answer to this very question.

I evaluated my options, then I asked Evelyn if she could hold it. She told me that she could. I then crossed my fingers that she wouldn't mention it again. If she mentioned it again I knew I would have to figure something out quick. Thankfully, my sweet girl curled up with her blanket and fell asleep fifteen minutes later. Whew. That could have been a memorable experience.

We arrived in Columbus and we had a great time staying with our cousins Lolly and Doug. I picked Logan up at the airport on Friday morning and I saw him for about 8 minutes as he drove me to the airport Marriott hotel for my interpreting conference. I had a wonderful weekend going to workshops and rediscovering why I love interpreting! I think I have the worlds best job. I discovered a few things about myself this week: I love being an interpreter, I would really enjoy being a mentor, I want to teach workshops one day, I love interpreting, I really love ASL, I am a good interpreter, I love my job, I don't think VRS (video relay) interpreting is for me, and I really love my job. I would say that this was a successful weekend.

On a much different note- I have been thinking a lot about my dad. This week marks the two year anniversary of when he was hit by a car and of when he passed away. I have been thinking about what a great dad he was! I really miss his laugh and being able to talk to him. The hardest part has been thinking about how much he is missing out on not being here to be a grandpa. I am glad that there are so many good stories and memories to tell my kids so that they will have a good glimpse into the kind of person my daddy was. I know I will always be a Daddy's girl.

Okay, shifting gears one more time. This is Logan again and I want to talk about my mom a little bit. Those of you who read our post last week know that we recently discovered that my mom had cancer. She had this big operation last week where they removed half of her colon in an attempt to get the cancer out before it spread. Well, this week we got the report back from the pathology people. And...

Good news!

First of all, the tumor had not ruptured the intestinal lining. This came as a surprise to all since at the time of the surgery it appeard that it had. This also greatly improves the prognosis.

But wait, there's more!

When they did the surgery they disected out several of the surrounding lymph nodes to get an idea of if/how far the cancer had spread. When they ran the tests, however, they found that none of the lymph nodes had cancerous cells in them. Not a single one. The tumor itself was malignant, but it seems like it was a very localized instance and that the whole thing may be over now that the tumor is out. We aren't 100% sure yet, and they have a visit scheduled with the oncologist to confirm things and talk about follow-up care, but every indication shows that my mom has got this thing beat!

I want to personally thank everyone who has been fasting and praying for my mom. As soon as we found out about this my family felt an immediate outpouring of love from so many people and it is amazing what the combined faith and prayers of family and friends can do. I also admire the faith that my mom has shown through the whole thing. She is so amazing.

Like I said, it was a busy, emotional week. In the end I think that everything turned out just the way it should.

It was a good week.

And now that you have read this whole thing, we regret to inform you that there will be no pictures. Sorry. We were pretty much seperated during the whole week so we didn't take any.