Well I'm not sure if anyone still reads this but I thought that I'd update. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I'm at work tonight of course. It's kind of slow but steady at least. Whatever it takes to at least get some paycheck. That's the bummer of working in a small hospital, but I do like it.
Alexa is getting so big and it was a lot of fun to watch her open her presents this morning. She was so excited and the typical child. When she opened the clothes she threw them on the floor and asked for the next present. When we were done she was sad and frowned and said that she wanted to open more presents. Now some may say that's greedy but I've been told that's simply how they are at this age. At least this year she was ripping into the presents and she spent all day playing with new things. She is loving Cinderella this year so we got her a Cinderella doll and grandma got her some new sheets and the movie and she's just surrounded by it now, I'm sure she'll move on to something different soon.
Well over deer season we went out and braved the ice storm and Jim got 2 doe's and I got a doe and a 6 point buck. It was sick so we got rid of it, it broke it's rack off when it fell to the ground with my shot. It was sad but my hope is that there's plenty more and bigger where that one came from. We still have 4 tags to fill before the middle of January so we're going to keep hunting. It's a lot of fun to spend time together. I just can't wait until Alexa actually gets to go with us, I hate leaving her with Grandparents or friends.
That's all the news for now. Nothing exciting this month to tell you. I hope that the new year finds you all happy and healthy. God Bless.

Alexa and Sam in there new bibs, ready for the train ride!

Aren't I cute in my new bibs?

Sam, Alexa, Rob and Sam riding the carousel.

Jim, Alexa, Rob and Sam getting ready for a real pony ride!

Alexa riding on the train, "HELLO!"

Well this last weekend was Old Threshers, we were only able to go down for Sunday afternoon and evening but look at all the fun that we had. Not a lot going on here just trying to milk the most out of the last part of summer. Alexa is learning a lot of words and talking up a storm. She loves to play outside in her new house.

We're still not pregnant but we're hopeful. We've done some testing and so far things on my end are alright but we're awaiting Jim's test results. Please continue to pray for us and this effort. God will bless us someway, just pray for us to know clearly which route He wants us to take.

Well I'd better get ready to leave for work. Have a wonderful week. God Bless

Samantha

Moving

Jimmy in Alaska with Red salmon
Alexa with Grandma Farnum

Alexa with Aunt Jeanette
Travis and Ty.




Well you might wonder why I haven't written lately. I've been stuck in the new world of MYSPACE. My mom is pushing me to write both, she's actually made a myspace page to keep up. So I thought I would update you on what's been going on this month in our life.
Well Jimmy had a good trip to Alaska fishing with his dad. He caught Halibut, King Salmon, Silver salmon, and a bunch of other fish that I can't remember the names. While he was gone though he caught bronchitis and has brought it home and shared it with the family. We're trying not to share it with our friends.
While Jim was gone Bernice came and we made a trip to St. Louis and visited some of her old stomping grounds and had a party with her friends. We then made the trip to Indiana and stayed with Jim's sister and played with the boys. We had a lot of fun and got to see a lot of veggie tales movies while on the road. Alexa did pretty well though for all the driving. When we got back it wasn't for a very long stay because my great grandma passed away in Michigan so we went up there last week. We came home on Friday and spent the weekend taking a deep breathe and relaxing at home before we started this week at work.
Work has been pretty slow while I've been there. I haven't really worked that much because I've been gone and because we've been closed. This is my weekend so we're destined to be closed again. Which isn't a bad thing it's simply not good for the budget. I guess this just gives us the chance to practice being a one income family.
As far as fertility goes we're not much closer than we were 9 months ago. We're still trying, so far my thyroid and my progesterone levels show that things are all fine. Our next step is to make sure that Jimmy's levels are all fine and then I guess we move into the more extensive steps. We're struggling with when it's too much intervention and when do we just stop and wait for more time to pass. At least now we know that things on my end are alright at least chemically. We really want another baby and every month is truly a stuggle for me in my trusting God to take over and make things happen for us. I'm not sure what I can do to convince myself that He's in control and I need to "let go." We'll see. My friend Courtney that has been trying for two years is pregnant and my friend Valerie that suffered the loss of her daughter Erin is pregnant again so I'm trying to just be the best friend I can and not bother them with my concerns any longer. I con't want to be the friend that darkens every meeting.
Well that's enough sad talk for now. Alexa is doing well and her vocabulary is expanding greatly. She's becoming a lot more clear in her words and she's a lot of fun. I'm kind of enjoying this two year old stage for the moment.
I'm going to get going . Hope you're all doing well. God Bless
I'll try to keep updating things. If you're interested you can see pictures on my myspace page. Go to www.myspace.com/samanthaobnurse.

Samantha

Sorry this should have published a long time ago and it didn't go so I'm publishing it now.

Back into the Swing of Things

Well it seems like maybe my body has finally remembered it's purpose. I know that I'm kind of jumping the gun some might say, but I'm just excited that I've ovulated this month. God truly is in control and I know that and sometimes I think that He has to remind us/me of that fact. This doesn't of course guarantee that I'm going to be pregnant but it reassures me that my body does know what it's doing and it can ovulate when it wants to. Please pray for me this month just to be able to have the patience and if I'm not pregnant that I would be able to continue on in a good mood about the trying part and not lose hope.

Alexa is doing so good. She's finally potty trained, except for the occassional accident but we're so proud of her. Every day she does something else to amaze me. She's picking up vocabulary like crazy and of course repeating everything that you say. She loves to "mow" and play with her babies. She's definitely in the 2 year old phase of sharing with others, it doesn't happen. She thinks that everything is hers and she is into pushing and stealing the toys that she wants. She's definitely her papa's girl because she loves to be outside playing, especially with her new companion-Mocha, our dog. Jim and I have decided they're going to be best friends. Mocha is such a good dog, Alexa can push her and hug her and play with her and she just stands there. She has been such a good addition to our family.

Jimmy is getting packed and ready for his big trip with his dad to Alaska. He leaves on Friday. He's planning on doing a lot of fishing and from the sounds of it not too much sleeping. It's only dark there from 11:30pm to 4:30 am right now so my guess is that they're going to fish most of the time. He's very excited but I'm very nervous. It's a long way away and I want to make sure that he comes back to us. Please pray for him.

I am also asking everyone for prayers for a former patient of PRHC. Their little baby died on Tuesday night and they're struggling with the loss right now. Please pray for peace for them. They have had a tough time and also have a lot more to deal with. Also pray for the nurses and doctors that took care of Cody. Pray for peace.

Well that's all for right now. Hope that you're all doing well. I'll write later.
Samantha

Feeling 10 again

Have you ever felt like you were back in 2nd or 3rd grade? Well that's how I'm feeling right now. Just this overwhelming feeling of being the odd one that no one likes, like everyone else has boobs and is wearing a bra and I'm not. At church I don't feel like we're fitting in. People go places and do things and we're not invited. I'm not saying I want invited to everything but it would just be nice to be included sometimes. I often think that people are afraid to include me, or call me simply because they are afraid they're going to wake me up. WAKE ME UP, PLEASE!!! I'm missing that special fellowship with a lot of people and I'm struggling with that. I don't want to force people to invite us places but church feels very cliqueish(?) right now and I don't like that feeling and I don't feel close to anyone. Well anyone that is but good old faithful friends, Aaron and Courtney. No matter how the world flips us around, no matter where we land Courtney and I always understand what the other one needs. Thanks Courtleg!!

Through all of these feelings I'm also working on the fertility feelings. I'm trying to be more open to God and talking to him straight forward about what I want and how I want to understand his reasonings for things. In the midst of this I've talked to one of my doctor's about the situation and we're going to do a progesterone level to see where things are, as far as ovulation. I'm just praying that this will give me some answers and let me know where to go next. Please continue to pray for me with this issue.

Well in other areas Alexa is now 2 and doing well. She's potty trained, except for the occassional accident and doing pretty well with it. We're very proud of her.
Well work is very busy so I'd better go. 6 babies and 6 mom's right now. I'll talk to you all soon. Congratulations Michelle! See ya
Samantha

Alexa's Birthday Weekend

Her and Courtney hanging out while mom was the seemstress.

Her last days of being 1 year old.

The Fish Cake, imagine the candles on top.

Standing in line to ride the 4-wheeler with Uncle Jimmy.

It's birthday weekend and the cousins have come to visit. It's a little different though now because Alexa is old enough to play and fight for her toys. Before they got here I worked on the birthday cake for Alexa's party tomorrow. Well not a lot of time to blog but I thought that I would definitely get the pictures of the cake up so you could all see my masterpiece. Well I hope that you have a good weekend. See ya soon.

Samantha

2 years old

I can't believe that Alexa is going to be 2 on Sunday. She's getting so old. Potty training is going better. She's been wearing just pull-ups and she's been dry for 5 days, except for 2 accidents. We're happy with this and she's not holding it, she's telling us she has to go and sitting on her potty and papa's potty, even pooping in the potty. It seriously feels like we've been working at this potty training thing for an entire year. Oh well, I'm kind of sad too because that means no more baby, no more diapers. We haven't been able to get rid of the "rag" though. She still has to have it to go to sleep at night, I guess that's not too bad at the age of 2. She's doing really well and her vocabulary has exploded, you really have to watch what you say because she repeats everything.
Well what we've been waiting for for 2 years is finally hear, my friend Courtney is finally pregnant!! :) I'm so excited for her that I almost forgot about the fact that another month has passed and we're not pregnant again. I have just been praying that this pregnancy will take and that God will protect this little child. I know there are risks but if anyone deserves to have this baby it's Courtleg.
Well that makes almost all of my friends that were trying to have a baby pregnant now. I've got to be coming up here soon. I'm surrounded by pregnant women. I really thought that by not trying it would make it easier on me when I started my period this month but it's not as drastically changing as I thought. Maybe that means that I am not really, "not trying." Part of me wants to know what's wrong with my body and another part of me just wants God to give me the desires of my heart but at the time that he wants it. How much is too much trying or intervention?
Well I'm just trying to vent a little. Please pray for Jim and I and our family and friends and all the pregnancies of my friends. Well blog again soon. Hopefully next month at this time we will have some better news. Happy Independence Day!
Samantha

Playhouse

It's done!! The playhouse is up and ready to be played in. Alexa has a lot of fun in it when the bugs aren't attacking her. The slide still needs to be bolted on but then she'll be really in business. It's nice to have somewhere for her to play while we're out working in the yard.

We've been working on improving our deck so we've stained it and we're doing a cherry floor and white railing all the way around. We really like it and it really makes the house look sharp. We've also gotten new furniture on our deck, now that the hot tub is gone, so that we can sit out and enjoy meals and friends on the deck.

Well Jim and I have decided to stop trying to have a baby. It's been 8 months and it's been very emotionally trying and just too hard on us right now. God has a different plan for us so I've decided to focus on my relationship with Him for awhile instead of worrying so much about myself every month. I'm reading a great book given to me by a friend, "Traveling Light," by Max Lucado, he's a very easy author to read and his stories keep you interested. I'm holding on to a lot of baggage that I don't need to and I need to "let it go," as Dr. Carlstone would say. I'm also going to take this time to focus on my friends. I have a dear friend that has been trying for 2 years and I want to be an encouragement through the next steps of her journey to motherhood, not a stumbling block.

Jim is doing well, pretty busy at work this week and driving back and forth to Ames everyday to deliver samples. He's been working in the yard and riding on his new four-wheeler. We even weeded the garden,the three of us, on Sunday night. We did well until Alexa started getting eatten alive. The bugs love her and bit her 6 times on the face. She's going to be 2 in 3 weeks. It's so unbelievable that she's so old already, although her attitude is definately showing me that she knows it. We're having lots of fun with everything that she's learning. We're working on sharing though.

Well that's just a little of what's going on here. I hope that everyone is doing well!

Sam

RENO

Well sorry that it's been such a long time since my last post but we've been on vacations for the last two weeks. First we went to Minnesota for a long weekend over memorial day and had a good time just relaxing and Jim went fishing with his friend Aaron and his dad. Alexa played with Grandma and we went shopping in Pequot Lakes. It was very nice and relaxing. We also got to see the playhouse almost finished. I don't think that I've mentioned it but Jim's parents are building Alexa a big playhouse. It's 41/2 feet off the ground and has a deck and a slide. It's here at our house now and next week they're going to come and help get it all set up. Once it's finished I'll put some pictures up for all to see.

This last week Alexa and I were in Reno, Nevada visiting my college roommate Kim and Pete and Maya. We had a blast. We went to Sacramento and San Francisco, CA over the weekend which was really cool to see since the last time I was supposedly there was when I was Alexa's age. We met some new friends and had a lot of fun. We went shopping on Pier 39 and saw the sea lions and Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge. We also went to a water park in Sacramento and went to Lake Tahoe all in one week. We did a lot of relaxing and enjoying conversation too. It was a lot of fun and maybe next time Jim will be able to come with us.

Alexa was on her very first airplane this last week on our way to Reno. She did pretty well. We had early flights so she was pretty tired but there was a lot of excitement so she didn't sleep much but was good on the plane. She's never met a stranger so we made friends wherever she went. Well I'm adding some picures from our trip. We'll write again soon. Hope all is going well. GodBless!

Alexa and I before her first airplane ride.

Alexa at Raging Waters

Pete, Kim and Maya at Raging Waters in Sacramento

Alexa and I at Lake Tahoe, CA

Alexa and Maya

Happy Mother's Day!

God is always teaching me patients and just when I start to doubt the fact that He knows what He's doing He shows me. I'm currently reading the story of Jacob and Rachel(Genesis 29-35), which has come at a good time in my life. I know that God will provide for me when at last he remembers me and I am still showing my faith in him.

Our weekend was good. We were in Davenport for my nephews birthday and then we spent Mother's Day all together. Our lunch was at Biaggi's which the service was terrible and the food was ok but the company was good and we made a good afternoon out of it. All the girls went and got pedicures which was my first time experiencing such a nice thing. The best part was that while they were down there cleaning my toes all up I was sitting in this wonderful chair that was giving me a deep message. I loved it and I'm definately going to do that again. Thanks Mom!

While we were there we visited my brother's new church. It's great to see him so excited about a church and for him to get his family up and ready to go every sunday is a great thing. I hope that this is the turning point in his life. He's definately making a good effort this time. It's a very interesting set up. They have a breakfast and lunch and it depends on what service you go to which you get served but you sit at tables and eat and then while you're finishing they start the service and you stay at those same tables. It was a good service.

Well I hope you all had a good mother's day. Only two weeks and Alexa and I are headed to Reno to visit Kim and Pete. I can't wait for a vacation and to see miss Maya and experience the west coast. I'll write later. Hope God is Blessing you all.

Ready to Party!!

Sam had his cake and ate it too. Actually more like sucked it in.

Both kids were crashing after their sugar high. Alexa didn't want to let papa hold just Sam!

Samantha

May begins and Summer is close behind!

Blowing bubbles with Papa

I think that in Alexa's case she is going to have a shoe collecting problem!

Getting ready for church with papa. Mommy layed out my clothes this sunday!

Well things are going well here. This weekend we make our trip to Davenport to go to my

little nephews 1 year birthday party. I can't believe that he's 1 already, that and I can't believe that Alexa is almost 2. She's getting so old and learning so much. Her vocabulary is getting more recognizable now. She's even counting on her own with a little help in the 3-4 region she's got the 1-2 and 5-10 part down. I don't know why she misses those two numbers but she's having fun and we're very proud of her. As far as potty training we're about in the same spot occassionally she has days where she tells you everytime and she doesn't have a wet diaper at all and others you're constantly changing diapers. Who knows!?!

My flowers that we planted are starting to really take off now. My hostas are starting to really leaf out also. My Calalillies still haven't shown any sign of existance but hopefully soon. We're having a lot of rain but still having nice enough weather to get out onto the swing occassionally.

Work has been very busy. People must have been really bored about 9 months ago. We've had an over abundance of babies for our area. One night I ended up with 3 patients delivering within a 2 hour time span, which wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that I was the only labor nurse until about 1 hour before the first one delivered. Thank goodness people were willing to lose some sleep to help me out. It's times like those that I miss being back at SMMMC.

Well I thought I would update but there's not a whole lot to tell. I hope that everyone is having a lovely spring and enjoying the blossoming of the world as we are. God Bless! Would love to hear from you all soon.

Working Again

Well I find myself yet again at work. I find that our lives are so strange that we just go through a routine every week. Where has the spontaneity of this world gone? I sometimes long for my teenage years or going back to school simply to have time to spend with friends on the spur of the moment. -Trips to the gym to workout and watch the "Bachelor" or "American Idol;" Dinner at Zios in our pajamas and slippers; those were the good old days. Why can't life be the same way. I guess I'm going through a midlife crisis and I'm only 25:(. Just remember I'm not always sleeping so you can call me, I'm still a fun person to go do things with!
Well anyway things are great. We had a rough middle of the week because Alexa decided to give me a little sample of what the terrible two's are going to be like. I was ready to have a tubal and no more kids but since then we've been fine. The power of prayer.
On Friday Alexa and I planted flowers along the front sidewalk in hopes to bring summer along. My hostas are coming up and I planted two pots of flowers to put on my front porch and my deck. It's looking a little bit more like spring at our house.
God has truly worked some wonders in my life this week. The requests that I made to my manager have truly been taken into consideration. They have opened a position for my shift to help with some of the load and they're going to do a call system for the busy month of June. I still have some struggles but I'm definately grateful for the changes that they've made and for God helping me through this. I am still an employee at PRHC.
I urge you all to be in prayer for a friend of mine that goes to the doctor on Monday. She's been trying for a long time to get pregnant and she's finally going to a specialist. I just hope that she doesn't receive any bad news. Please pray that He would bring them through this with a child on the other side or a better understanding and a renewed joy in Him.
Well I hope that you are all doing well and I hope to hear from you all soon.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
Samantha

God's Always Working

Wow,

Well this weekend went by so quickly. I haven't written in the blog in awhile so I thought I would update. Thank you all for the prayers. I went and talked to one of my bosses and explained everything. It was nice to get it off my chest and to know that someone else knows what I'm feeling and they now have the ability to make changes. If they don't I know that God is going to work with me to get me through this.

The Lord has really been working in my life this weekend and even up until now as I write this post. A family member of mine is really hurting and asked me for some verses to help the family through this tough time. As I was getting some verses from a friend and reading through them I realized that not only would these verses be relevant for my family member but also for me.

There are two that really stuck out in my mind, they are: Job 2:9-10 and Ecclesiastes 7:14 which states "when times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future." I think this is something that we overlook in our society today and think that we're too good to be hurt or suffer loss. We always ask, why? but the question should be, why not? Well I never know when God had given me an insight to share with someone else so I hope that this touches someone elses life like it has mine.

As for our family, Jim's parents were here this weekend and had a lot of fun with Alexa. She got a new swing in the big tree in our backyard. She loves it and is going to have a blast this summer. We're learning what it's like to be a kid in the summer. We have two skinned knees and an owwee on our eyelid and our nose. We've also had grass stain twice so far and it's only the beginning of summer. Well here are some pictures. We'll talk to you all soon. God bless

Samantha

This is a picture of Alexa showing us her teeth when she gets to the "T" in the alphabet. Daddy thought that she looked like a wallrus.

She had to have her hands in her pockets and

then she was walking around the house hunched over.

There's never a dull moment in our household.

Pray

Well this is for all my friends and family. I really need your prayers right now. Work is not going very well for me. I still love what I do and I love my co-workers and the physicians that I work with but I am not getting along very well with management. I'm not agreeing with the way they are managing the unit and staffing the night shift. Please pray because a group of us are going to go to the top nurse executive to see if we can get some changes made. The devil is just really working on me and asking me that question, "Why are you a nurse if they're going to treat you like that?"

Alexa and Jim are doing well. We had a wonderful barbeque on Sunday night with the other young couples from church. It was a lot of fun to hang out with friends and the kids were all able to play outside because it's starting to be nice weather. We actually went to the Dairy Creme tonight for the first time of the season. It was really nice and 74 degrees. Alexa had an accident though; she was running "fast," and fell on the road right on her nose, she's got some scratches and a little bruising but she doesn't seem to notice she wanted right back down again to "walk!"

Well I hope that everyone is doing well and I'm really enjoying reading all the other blogs and keeping in touch. I'll talk to you later.
Samantha

Easter

Look, I'm the easter bunny!
She had some problems actually standing up after putting papa's work boots on!
Adding a little more cushion to Mommy's couch!


Well things here have been pretty good this week. We found out some bad news, a friend of ours that was pregnant lost her baby, this is the third person this week that we've known to have a miscarriage at 12 weeks. Kind of scary when you're thinking about getting pregnant yourself. Just pray for everyone that's pregnant. It's always in God's hands but it's easier to say that when it's not your life that's changing drastically.

We are giving thanks to God for our big girl. Not a whole lot more progress in the potty training yet but I'm not too worried about it. She's definately got the defiance part of the "terrible two's" down. She's very willing to do what you tell her not to and she ends up sitting in time out a lot. She's only a growing girl that's trying to learn her boundaries and we're just learning parents that are trying to learn patience and strength.

Jim has had a rough work week so hopefully he'll have a relaxing weekend. Next week is the opening of turkey season so I'm sure he'll be in better spirits after he gets to shoot a turkey. It will also be nice for him to be outdoors. He thrives on nature.

As for me, I had a busy work week and it's only going to be worse next week(of course nothing compared SMMMC or Reno though, Kim). I did get to be involved in a few deliveries though which makes my hard times worth while. The day that I become hardened to the joy a mother and father feel with the birth of an infant I'm going to stop working!

Well it's time for bed. Tomorrow I have my second job, Usborne Books, in Davenport. We're going to visit Rob, Kim and Sam. Hope things are going well for everyone.
Talk to you later.
Samantha

Here's Jim and two of his prize possessions.

This deer is now adorning our living room wall.

This is Alexa in her new suitcase getting ready for her trip to Reno, NV to see baby Maya!

While we waited for Jimmy she decided to learn how to drive.
My hair finally fits into a ponytail. Yeah!!!
I wonder how many jellybeans I can get out of here before Mom notices that I took more than just one!

New Blog

Hey friends and family,
Well we're new to the blog world but hopefully this will keep you all informed of what's going on in our lives. Alexa keeps us very busy these days. She's repeating her ABC's and counting 1-10 and we're practicing our colors but everything turns into "red!" We're still working on potty training and somedays we stay dry all day and others she gets so busy playing that she forgets to tell Mommy. It's hard to believe that she's almost 2 years old.
Jim is working a lot of hard days. He's also the stay at home daddy at night for Alexa while I'm at work. Of course you all know Jimmy, he's getting pumped up for turkey season which starts a week from Monday. He's excited that we're living in Iowa for all of these hunting seasons.
I'm still working full-time at PRHC in OB and trying to be a good mother to Alexa during the day. Well I'm going to post some pictures of Alexa later today. Check back later.