What a GRAND day.

The job interview went great! We got the property management position and a 2 bedroom apartment that is huge! Baby girl is going to have quite the crawl space. It is on Grand Ave, which is such a great part of the city.

The man who interviewed us asked about the missionary service that we had put on our resumes. It turns out he has done a lot of missionary work in his life for various churches. When he told us that we got the job, he said, "The mission got me." I remember people telling me that serving a full time mission would bless my life countless ways and I already feel that it has, yet I never imagined it would catch the eye of an employer looking for a couple to manage his apartment complex...

There are a lot of little things that all fell into place to help this work out. We feel like God has pointed us is a new direction and we are excited to move forward.

We get to move in a little at a time throughout this month (without having to pay double rent). SO the move will be completely stress free. I am excited to finally get to use all of our wedding gifts that have been packed away in my parents shed because we had no room for them here. I kind of want to wrap them all again and put them under the Christmas tree!!! This just feels like a Christmas miracle... plus it's snowing outside today :)

One and a half to go

Only one and a half weeks left of the semester (before finals that is)... and it's a good thing because I literally only have one and a half inches left between my baby belly and the desks at school.

Good news

Chuck and I have a job interview on Tuesday.

We have been interviewing together for apartment management/caretaking positions

I like having job interviews with my husband (go team!)

If we get this job (oh please oh please of pretty please)

We will get to live in a

2 BEDROOM apartment

with

CARPET

and

5 CLOSETS

and... oh could it even be true?!?!?!?!?!?

A DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like this opportunity came straight from heaven. I have been praying really hard that we would find somewhere that we could afford (first and foremost), and kept us in the area, and was a wonderful place to bring home a new baby. We will see how it goes on Tuesday, but I have a feeling this is going to be the best Christmas present I ever could have hoped for.

Dear Ramsey County Human Services Department-

Thanks for accepting my application for Health Care, there is no way my husband and I could afford having a baby without government assistance. I was just wondering however if it might be possible not to mail me hundreds of forms that are confusing and only have two sentences on them. I feel like a small portion of some distant serene rain forest has been torn down in order to provide enough paper to send me all of these forms. I just know President Obama really wants our country to be more "green" so maybe you could just e-mail me or something... or even better, just call me! My phone number should be readily available on forms 1 through 678. Yet I am starting to think that my case worker is actually a robot... so I understand if the current technology does not allow these machines to have actual conversations with human beings.


Also I was quite surprised to find out that my policy "does not cover anything Natural" (as stated by the kind worker on the telephone). I thought I would be saving you all some money by having a natural birth... I mean no $1,000.00 epidural, machines, or surgeon fees for a C-section. When I suggested to the nice insurance lady that my natural birthing class at a mere $230.00 would potentially save you all $770.00 she informed me that my "opinion" doesn't determine coverage. I would be most appreciative if you would reconsider covering my Hypnobirthing class. You know Christmas is coming up and my birthday is also on December 23rd.... it could be my present. I figure the hospital would also greatly benefit from one less screaming woman in labor, I will be peacefully in a deep state of relaxation from the breathing exercises I will learn during the class and be able to birth pain free (without yelling at all the nursing staff).

I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining, just trying to help... it seems like there might be a efficient way of doing things down there. I hope you get it figured out! Happy Holidays.

Sincerely,
Tacy Marie

I am most THANKFUL for...

My rock throwin'

Leg up sleepin'

Wife dippin'

Floor moppin'

Soul singin'

Husband

This year I am most THANKFUL for Chuck

(my multi-talented baby's daddy)

The Plight of Minnesota Mom's to be

Picture by Trevor Morris

I have always loved the changing seasons of Minnesota.

The sleet storms of spring,

The humidity of summer,

The beautiful changing leaves and cool breezes of Fall,

And winter with it's 30 below freeze your breath days.

(Can you guess what my favorite season is?)

Yet, as wonderful as it is for Mother nature to keep things interesting, I find myself running out of room to put my ever changing wardrobe. I think our storage shed (which is tiny) is overflowing now with plastic bins of skirts, tops and Capri's that wont make an appearance until next summer.

Then you add a pregnancy to it all, which ends up being like 3 different sets of clothes in and of itself...

• The "Oh cute I'm showing" set
• The "I can't squeeze my butt into anything anymore" set
• and of course (Soon to come) The "I'm gonna pop" set

Who has money to buy clothes to keep up with it all?

My saving grace has been some ANGELIC ladies who have given me all their preggo hand me downs. I am so grateful that people are so willing to share, and I figure what I get I will share when my baby days are done.

I can remember when I was younger I hated hand me downs... I always wanted new stuff. These days I feel like kissing the ground and thanking the heavens every time I someone gives me their used stuff (I don't even care what it is!!!)

It makes me want to be more generous to others

and reminds me of the old pioneer saying,

"Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"

The hamburger sign says no turtles here

This is my attempt to show you an ultrasound pic. It is extra blurry because I took a picture of an already blurry picture (Alison! I don't have a scanner either!!).

Meet baby Call who enjoys...

• Chillin in the breech position
• striking a pose Madonna style (had hand up by face for almost every shot)
• snuggling with placentas
• Livin in-utero
• Flashin the hamburger sign... which, for all of you who are familiar with Ultra-Sound lingo, means that baby Call

IS A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!

So much for maternal instinct. I was SURE it was a boy,

But The hamburger sign says no turtles here.

Do you think we could come up with some other terms for recognizing the female anatomy on an ultra sound. I mean there are many things we could compare it to... but a hamburger?!?!?

Maybe this will be the awkward conversation that I bring up sex education with my child... "Well you see honey boys have turtles and little girls have hamburgers"

Or not

Lucky Chuck

Two incredible women to Love

ACP Foundation: Health Literacy

In light of my finishing my Medical Terminology course, I thought I would share with you this little video I saw during the semester. It was really eye opening to me... we had a group discussion in class about possible solutions and reasons this problem is increasing. Sure makes you think.