There have been quite a few things going on with our family over the last couple of months, especially with my side of the family.
From previous posts you've learned that my Grandmother (Dad's mom) had been in a nursing home the last several months. At 96, her health finally caught up with her age, I guess, and she started deteriorating some. She was in and out of the hospital a few times and then finally moved into the nursing home. We weren't sure if that was going to be a temporary or permanent move for her. The intention was to see if she could get some strength back and take care of herself again. She actually did really well. So well in fact, that she was dismissed from the nursing home and moved in with my parents at the end of January. But, right at the same time she started really struggling and having issues with Congestive Heart Failure. On Friday January 28, less than 2 weeks before her 97th birthday, Grandmother moved on to be with Jesus.
Lots happened during that last week or so. In and out of the hospital again and finally released home to my parents on hospice care. She died about 24 hours after going home on hospice. I'm so thankful that we could see at that point that the end was near and were able to go home and be with my family for those last couple days. I had no idea how meaningful it would be for me to be there with my parents and my Grandmother in her last hours. It's an aspect of nursing care that I have no experience with, yet what little I knew made such a difference for supporting my parents. I'm so thankful that God made it possible for me to be there. We all had a lucid moment with my Grandmother before she passed--even though she'd been sleeping or hallucinating most of the last couple days, she woke and was able to tell each grandchild and her Noah that she loved them. What a blessing.
We had a wonderful celebration of her life...and that's just what it was. A celebration--she had a wonderful like and we were all so blessed to have had her with us for so many years. I could go on and on about all we learned from her, but it all comes down to faith and family--those were the most important things to her and she made sure everyone knew that.
My parents also faced some other tough decisions in the last couple months. After almost 40 years in business, they made the decision to close Bo's BBQ in December. Lots of reasons but basically it was time. Their last day was December 24. Looking back on it now, there's no way they would have been able to run their business and also provide the care my Grandmother needed in January. Perhaps that was God's way of preparing them for what would happen next. They would definitely say that even despite tough circumstances God had certainly continued to prove himself faithful in their lives. Dad is currently playing a lot of golf and they are trying to figure out what's next now.
I also made a job change. I left the Children's Wellness Center at the end of November. The clinic had undergone some changes in the previous year and the environment there changed a lot. Many of my good friends and co-workers had also moved on or were in the process of looking. After praying about it for a few weeks it was obvious that it was my time to move on too. I decided the easiest transition would be into a larger teaching role at the UT School of Nursing where I'd already been teaching some clinical groups. I agreed to take 2 clinical groups in the spring and also share in some lecture courses as well-all in pediatrics. That means I had to get reaquainted with the hospital setting which was quite a change for me--I'd been in primary care for 6 years. I've spent some extra time over the last few months getting ready for that. I'm excited as the new semester starts and a little intimidated too. But I think the challenge will be good and it was definitely time for a change.
That sums up all the big stuff that's changed in our lives. Of course we're anxiously awaiting the next big change which will come in July. We'll find out in March whether we're going pink or blue this time. So far everything has gone well with this pregnancy. I had some pretty intense nausea and just overall feeling of "yuck!" for about 3-4 weeks early on. Thankfully this coincided with Christmas break...and since I'd quit my other job I really had a break and could spend extra time on the couch when that's what I needed to do. I feel like the morning sickness passed pretty quickly this time though--even though when it was here, it was bad at least it was short. I'm back to normal now. We'll keep praying things go well and appreciate all your prayers for our family too!
