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