Hi everyone! After a long lay off I'll finally add to everyone's news. First of all many (belated) congratulations to Elissa, and Jim and I of course will want to attend the wedding. And Kelly - we are basically neighbors if you are near 56th and Pine Lake, so welcome to Lincoln. When I read your news about being in Lincoln and needing a job, I thought of the new Target and am quite impressed that you are the manager. That deserves a congratulations too!
For an update on all of us - Michael and Renee are still in Omaha, Michael still at Streck, but Renee now works in the anti-terrorism department at UNMC. I think she likes the job, and has put pursuing a nursing degree on hold for now.
Wyatt is in Des Moines, but his situation has changed. While in his first clinical rotation at an outpatient clinic at St. E's here in Lincoln, he came to the difficult conclusion that Physical Therapy is not what he wants to do. He stayed with us and I could sense that something was troubling him. After he finally told me he felt better and said he could sleep at night again. He wanted to finish the rotation and we used the time to try and help him really think things through (and were silently hoping that he would stick with PT.) But he decided to forego this field and start over with something else. So as he worked at the Nebr. Book Company after his rotation, he applied for different jobs online, got a response from an environmental testing lab in Newton, IA and now has a job there as a "chemist." He's learning alot and finds it interesting, but feels he doesn't really fit the chemistry nerd stereotype (he says they all think he's weird!) He did some tests on soil (I think) from Greenberg, KS after the horrible tornado and spoke to someone from FEMA about what he found (there were positive results for something very bad.)
So this job is good experience, but is probably just a stepping stone to something else, perhaps more schooling. He does have a girlfriend who graduated this spring from Drake and she's now working at the Des Moines Register, but she has her sights set on finding a job somewhere like Kansas City or St. Louis, or Phoenix. If she wasn't going to Spain with her Mom, she may have come with Wyatt to the picnic.
Owen was at Wesleyan this year and has decided that's a good fit for him. He played baseball and pitched okay, but struggled all season with something bothering his shoulder. He had an MRI and is now scheduled to have it scoped on Thursday. The doctor couldn't make a diagnosis from the MRI, but thinks during the scoping he'll figure it out for sure and be able to fix it. He did think that if nothing was done and even with lots of rest it would continue to bother him whether he plays more baseball or not.
Reference has been made in other posts to my trip to Honduras, which was a wonderful experience! This was a dental mission trip, so 3 dentists and 14 helpers went for a week and felt grateful for the chance to be servants, to feel we were doing a little of God's work, and to feel our perspectives (on lots of things) being altered. We saw lots of poverty and hardship, but also lots of faith. We pulled lots of teeth from painful mouths, but also saw lots of smiles. Honduras is not the safest place (it's routine to see armed (with rifles) guards at gas stations or even fast food places) but the most hazardous part of our trip was driving home from the Omaha airport the Friday after the big blizzard at the end of February! The dates are set for the next trip, and I will gladly go again. If I don't get any pictures posted, I'll bring them to the picnic.
Nancy did a great job reporting on our marathon experience, that is something else I want to do again. For one thing, it was such an ego boost as we passed the water stations to have all the volunteers cheering us on and telling us how great we were doing (even though we were bringing up the rear of the 5,000 participants.) To keep me moving, I'm now taking a running class with a couple of friends. The class meets once a week, different groups do different levels of running, there's speakers about different fitness topics, and if we want to progess we run on our own during the week. Saturday I ran for 5 minutes, walked for 1 minute and repeated that 6 times, which was tough, especially on the hills in our neighborhood. We'll work up to running for longer times, and as long as my old body can take it I'll keep at it, and maybe run the half marathon next year!
It's past my bedtime, time to close. Love to you all, Debbie
