Life in the Burbs

Well, actually Miss Murrary (our neice Ella) lives in Washington, so she didn’t have to travel far to attend a special panel at the U.S. Senate on rare and neglected pediatric diseases, such as EB. The purpose of this panel was to urge lawmakers to help fund research relating to these diseases, and Alex Silver spoke on behalf of EB children and their families. His testimony is embedded below, or you can watch the full committee hearing (Mr. Silver’s portion goes from about the 103-108 minute mark). The video below contains a couple of shots of Ella with my sister Katie.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to have Mr. Silver speak before the Senate about this devastating disease. Only when there is more awareness about its effects and what life is like for EB families will there be more funding put toward researching more effective treatments and ultimately, a cure. Please pass this on to other people you know, and if you would like to know more about EB and getting involved, you can visit debRA. You can read my sister’s first hand account on her blog: teamjoella.blogspot.com.

Tonight when I went in to check on the boys, I immediately noticed Sam wasn’t in his bed. I suddenly froze because he has been known to sleep on the floor. I looked around to make sure I wasn’t about to step on him, but he wasn’t on the floor either. When I looked in Nate’s bed, this is what I saw …

This was a first for Gina and I. We knew they get into each other’s beds when they were waking up, but this is the first time I have seen them asleep in the same bed. It was pretty darn cute, and I hope they actually sleep all night like that. Nate is a notorious for squirming and kicking, so Sam may end up back into his peaceful bed where he won’t get kicked.

I meant to give this update much earlier (actually closer to the day it occurred), but I got sidetracked with other projects and am just now getting to it. We had a fun 4th of July weekend, and rather than going into too much detail, I will let the pictures tell the story.

Some of the pictures at the end of the slideshow are not from the 4th of July, but I just left them in there anyway.

This afternoon we all went to a picnic sponsored by the Forth Worth Parents of Multiples club. I don’t know if that is the exact name or not, but you get the gist. Gina has been involved in similar clubs in Charlottesville and Springfield, and it looks like the Fort Worth club will be the most active, largest and most organized of them all. This event was held at one of the member’s homes, and they have a huge backyard capable of hosting so many people.

This was not my first twin event, but it is still funny seeing all these little sets of matching children running around. Most of them have matching or coordinating (we opted for coordinating this time) outfits, and most of the younger sets of twins and triplets stick pretty close to each other. Sam and Nate were no exception. Even with so many other kids to play with, they pretty much played with each other the entire time. I guess there is some comfort in familiarity.

I have included some pictures of the different activities they had for the kids to do.

The best part of the whole event was the reaction we got in the car when we asked Sam and Nate if they had fun at the picnic. I’ll let you judge for yourself.

Our first full week in Texas was filled with many thunder storms. Sam, Nate and I went onto the front stoop to watch the biggest of these storms, and they couldn’t resist the temptation to play in the rain. Gina joined us, and we had a lot of fun splashing in the rain coming through the gutter. We didn’t let the boys venture too far out, but they still had a pretty excellent time. Here is some video I captured of the event …

About a week ago we all arrived safely in Fort Worth. The driving was a little harder this time than it has been in the past because a) I was driving a 26-foot moving truck (which wasn’t all that bad) and b) we had a caravan of 3 cars. In most cases, this wasn’t a big deal but it did make me nervous in the bigger cities. The last 50-mile stretch across the DFW metroplex was the most intense for me, but we made it through with no problems and arrived at our new home about 5 p.m. Gina had called Don and Karen as we were approaching Dallas, and they pulled up within minutes of our arrival.

The last week has been very busy as we unpacked our boxes and found a place for all of our stuff. And let me tell you, we have a lot of stuff. That being said, we have found a place for almost everything and our house is now starting to look like a home. With all the activity and changes, I have not really been motivated to blog much, but that will change in the near future.

The boys have adjusted to the move pretty well. In fact, Sam has adjusted a bit too well. He has become so comfortable in his new surroundings that he started climbing out of the crib. Gina and I were both surprised that it took either of the boys this long to start climbing out, and on Friday night the era of “captive babies” came to an end. Thankfully, we were prepared for this event and had already purchased bed rails, which are now installed on their cribs in place of the front gate. So far, they have been going to sleep with minimal resistance, but we’ll see if this holds up.

We are grateful to finally be here and are especially thankful that my parents (Ron and Gale) were able to make the trip with us and help with various stages of the move. They are swinging back through town tonight and there will be no work for them to do. This should be a nice break from the last couple of weeks. Thank you to all of you have been praying for our safe move and travels.

We arrived home on Sunday from our trip, and we have been packing our house ever since. The drive back was pretty uneventful, but the boys did continue their fixation with the movie Cars. I think we watched it at least 5 times on the drive home, not to mention the 7-8 times we watched it in Florida. On the upside, we have yet to watch it since we got back home. Other than that, we stayed safe and made good time on the interstate.

When we walked into our house, things really got interesting. For one, we are used to coming home to a clean house because we always make sure things are in order before we leave. When we left for this trip, we were in a hurry and had boxes stacked everywhere. I wouldn’t say the house was a complete disaster, but it was quite cluttered with boxes and items waiting to be packed. We had a hard time finding a place to put our bags and other things from the trip. I had turned off the AC while we were gone because the temperature had not been all that hot before we left. It was still relatively cool when we came back but the house was very stuffy and humid. I also detected a slight musty smell. That’s when I discovered the major surprise …

When I went into the basement (which is VERY unfinished) everything looked fine. But I noticed that some trash cans were toppled over and there was an abnormal amount of debris in the drain in the floor. Well, after some investigating it was clear the basement had flooded while were gone. I have no idea how much water was in there, but I am thinking between 2-3 inches, at least. Everything that was on the floor was obviously ruined or completely soaked. Thankfully, it had flooded (just a slight trickle) right before we left and we had moved most of the stuff upstairs. We had to discard a few items, but most of the stuff was saved. Anyway, it was at this time that I realized how done I am with basements. Don’t get me wrong, if the basement is sealed up and taken care of, like my parent’s and sister’s house, it is a great thing. I loved my basement in my house in Casper. But this basement has been a real headache for us. Besides the fact that it looks like a 18th Century dungeon and has almost no lighting, it is dirty and cold, leaks water and smells like an old storm cellar. I can’t wait until we have moved everything out of there and can close the door for good.

We also came home to an AC unit that wasn’t working. So, in the midst of dealing with the basement crisis, the upstairs felt like a sauna. I was able to call the AC guy who works for our landlord, and he fixed it right away. Apparently it was an easy fix because we had a cool house again by Monday night. Even so, it was one more thing to think about and keep us from doing the packing we needed to do.

Despite the setbacks, the packing and planning for the move is going well. My parents show up today to help with the final details, then we all depart for Fort Worth on Saturday morning. Thankfully, we feel rested from our vacation in Florida, and we have actually been sleeping better since we got home. You know how it is with toddlers and their sleep patterns when they travel. I have actually found some time to write this before the rest of the family is awake, which couldn’t have happened on our trip. So, the next time I update this blog it will be from Texas. In the meantime, I have some more boxes to pack.

I had a really interesting experience on Wednesday of our vacation. Gina and I left the boys with Granny and Granddad so we could swim in the ocean for a little while. We took our stuff down to the beach and left it under the tent we had set up. I had noticed during my last couple of times to swim in the ocean that my wedding ring felt kind of loose on my finger. I decided to take it off and placed it in my hat. After we were done swimming, I dried off and put my hat back on without even thinking about my ring. In fact, I didn’t even notice that I wasn’t wearing it until we had been in the beach house about 30 minutes. I rushed back to the beach without telling anyone why I was going and searched furiously in the sand for about 30 minutes. It became clear to me that this was going to be really hard to find. I came back to the house and broke the news to Gina about what I’d done. She was understanding, but she wanted to go back down to look for it. We recruited a few others to come with us, but after quite awhile we became convinced that the ring was gone. Later that day, I looked out the window and saw Don by our tent. I had this sudden thought, if I don’t go back and look while the tent is still up (which gives me at least a general idea where the ring might be) I will definitely not find it again. So, I went down there one more time and began sifting through the sand. After several minutes, I saw in the sand the faint outline of a circle. I dropped down and dug around it, and as the sand fell from my hands, a small silver ring — my wedding ring — appeared. I was so excited that I ran back to the beach house without even telling Don, Kendall or Zach, who were on the beach with me, that I found the ring. I also forgot to put my shoes back on and I stubbed my bare toe on the boardwalk pretty badly. I ran into the house, tracking blood the whole way, ascended the stairs and just stood in front of everyone. Gina could tell immediately what had happened. It was a really cool experience.

If you are familiar at all with the two stories Jesus tells about people who found something  they thought was lost (the widow and her lost coin and the father of the prodigal son), you know that both people ran with joy. I don’t think this detail was randomly added to these stories. After finding my ring, my first response was to run back home and tell people what happened because I was convinced the ring was gone forever. I think Jesus included this detail on purpose to illustrate the emotions God feels when we choose Him over ourselves, the world or thousands of other things competing for our attention. Pure joy and elation, the natural reaction to which is running toward the lost object in order to end the lostness as soon as possible.

Gina, the boys and I have been in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida for the past few days with her parents, her brother and his family. So far, everyone is having a great time and we have really been soaking up the sunshine and cool (and sometimes hot) ocean breezes. The condo we rented for the week is pretty much right on the beach, so we can go swimming or for a stroll anytime we want. There is also a pool next to the condo, and we have really enjoyed going over there. The twins were quite slow to warm up to the beach; in fact, Sam still pretty much screams to go home every time we’re out there. Nate finally let us take him in the ocean this morning, and he loved it. He actually screamed when we told him it was time to go home and eat lunch. They both love the pool (they call it “blue water”) and have been quite the independent pair with their floatie Speedo swimming suits. Wearing a Speedo definitely has a different connotation now than when I was a kid. The best part of the vacation is that everyone is relaxed, which Gina and I will need when we get back to Illinois and pack up to move to Texas. We’re looking forward to the rest of the week and the fun adventures we will have at the beach. We just hope those adventures don’t include dodging oil slicks. So far, it’s been all clear.

Gina, Sam and Nate and I have been in Texas for the last week. As many of you know, we are will be moving to Fort Worth this summer to start new jobs in the Fall. Gina will be a nursing professor at Texas Christian University, and I will be splitting my time between the University of North Texas and Good Shepherd Episcopal School. I know if this is the first time you are reading this news, it may seem like it’s coming out of nowhere. Actually, this decision has been a long time in the making with a lot of hard decisions and steps of faith along the way.

In early January, I received word that my university was in pretty bad financial shape, and in order to make payroll they would need to mandate furlough days and possibly lay people off. Our first response was to look to see what the state of the job market was in case my position got cut. We found nothing for me, but there was a position for Gina at TCU that looked like it had been written for her. She applied, they liked what they saw and she was ultimately offered the job. My journey was not as clear cut, and I won’t go into detail about how I landed my job, but God was definitely in the middle of it and I am looking forward to what I will be doing.

So, we came to Texas to find a house and get some things set up before we move down in mid-June. My cousin Amy was able to help us find a house on our first day of looking, and we are really happy with what we found. Here are some pictures of the new pad.

The boys will also be starting preschool in the Fall, and though we are a bit nervous thinking about how they will do, I know this will be good for them. Overall, this is a good move for us and we think it will be good to live close to family. We are certain that this is what God wanted for us, and we are eager to see how he will use us while we are here. In addition to reconnecting with our friends from when we lived here before, we have learned that some of our friends from Virginia are moving here as well. So, God is already opening up some doors for us.

So, that is the latest with us. After a vacation in Florida with Gina’s family, we get to head back and pack up our stuff for the move. I have already packed a lot of our stuff, but we still have a long way to go. As usual, it will be a challenge, offer plenty of opportunities to learn and grow and be an exciting adventure.