Sunday, February 3, 2013

Dinosaurs


We went to the Natural History Museum today, and Ryan saw "real" dinosaurs for the first time.   He was pretty jazzed about the whole thing.  



                          They were allowed to hold: a t-rex tooth, a dinosaur egg and some dinosaur poop.
 They had some toy dinosaurs which could be sorted into different categories, but they really enjoyed just playing with them.

 Ryan drew a picture of a tri-ceratops.   Dylan drew an impressionistic work of art. 

 Then onto the dino-dig.  This did not last long.  Ryan hated the goggles. 




 We also saw a slew of other exhibits, including Egyptian and American Indian and the art gallery.  But the dinosaurs were definitely the most exciting for my guys.

The Road to a PhD-for us


  We had been married less than a year when Josh graduated from college.  It was a given that he was going to attend graduate school of some sort. He applied to several--Virginia Tech, Iowa State, Carnegie Mellon and Washington University.  He told me Carnegie Mellon was his dream school but he probably would not get in, but since the application was free, he filled it out.

At the time, my parents were planning a move to Virginia, in the same area as Virginia Tech.  It seemed obvious to me that we would either end up in Virginia with them, or stay relatively close to his parents, and he would go to Iowa State.   Josh got his rejection letter from Carnegie Mellon quickly, and we spent our spring break touring Virginia Tech.

Just before the scheduled tour of Iowa State, about a month after his rejection letter from Carnegie Mellon, they (Carnegie Mellon) sent him an e-mail accepting him and offering to pay for a plane ticket so he could come check out the school. They had changed their minds about rejecting him.  He wanted me to go, in case he liked it.

I took some time off of work and we flew out together for a weekend in April.   While he attended interview after interview, I walked around the city and tried not to get lost.  I thought the place was entirely too big and crowded.  I could not imagine driving or raising a family in such a place full of concrete, buses and fast moving crowds.


I told him I did not like Pittsburgh and preferred to go somewhere smaller and greener and closer to family.  But he loved the school and the city as well, and it was a fantastic opportunity and a great school. He reiterated that it was his dream school.  He also asked that we not have kids until he was half-way (2-3 years) through the program or had completed his program.  I told him I didn't want to raise a family in the "big city" anyway.  We made the commitment to move to Pittsburgh at the end of April so he could pursue a PhD in Computational Biology.

A week later, in May, we found out we were going to be parents. There was no backing out.  He had already declined his other opportunities.  I began the process of changing my SLP license to a PA license and looked for jobs, and houses to rent, online.

It seemed like a miserable circle---it was daunting to find a place to live relying on small pictures over the internet as well as trying to determine if that would limit any possible job opportunities, should they arise, and vise versa.  On my birthday, I was curled up on the bed with severe morning sickness, when I got a phone call with an opportunity and was accepted through a phone interview for a job at NHS Autism School.   This was a huge relief--we would now be able to support ourselves and now knew what kindof budget for housing we could afford.  We chose a rental online that same evening.

This job turned out to be an enormous blessing as I only needed my state license to provide services there.  At the time, I did not know that my MO teacher's certificate would not transfer because PA does not have reciprocity with other states, and I would have to re-take certain sections of the PRAXIS designed specifically by PA.   If I had obtained any other PA school position, this would have been a serious problem.  Good thing God was looking out for us!

In August we moved, far from family and friends.  I struggled with culture shock, the demands of the new job and city driving in particular.  And we found an amazing church.  Our church family have been extremely supportive and have blessed us tremendously through the years as Josh has been in school and I have been helping to support the family.

In December, we welcomed Ryan to the family.
(Above: Josh after a bike ride from Germany into France)

When Ryan was five months old, Josh left for Germany for several months to participate in a research opportunity.  We had decided to buy a house and move during that time period.  I signed the papers while he participated by phone from Germany.   Our care-group and other church friends helped me pack up the old house and paint the new house, and went out of their way to keep me company on the days when I did not work summer school.   I do not think I could have done it without their help!

Josh went back to Germany to finish up his research a few months later.  This time he was only gone for a month, which somehow seemed worse in the dead of winter than it did in the summer.

When we were expecting our second child, I was extremely sick during a period of time consuming lab work.  I was again, extremely morning sick, unable to gain weight (losing it in fact), and thus unable to cook or feed either Josh or Ryan.  Our care-group blessed us again during this time by providing meals so my boys would have something to eat, while making it easier on me.

In June that year, we welcomed Dylan to the family.  At that time, Josh was busy as always with lab-work and was putting his thesis proposal together.   It became clear that after Dylan was born, I would not get a maternity leave due to financial reasons.  Unfortunately, his delivery was traumatic and I lost a lot of blood.  It was weeks after his birth before I had the strength/stamina to walk from the front of the grocery store to the back of the grocery store without becoming dizzy and needing to sit down.  I returned to work summer school, and our care-group came to our aid again by organizing ladies in our church to babysit for us while I worked, sacrificing their time to stay with the baby and Ryan to help save us money on daycare.  Several of them stayed with me when I got home from work until Josh got home, because I would at that time break out into a fever and chills.

During the last several years Josh has worked so hard to complete very challenging classes, meet all the demands required by the rigorous CMU program... and he has still been able to be a fantastic husband and father.  Even after working into the early hours of the morning, he would still go to the zoo with us, start my coffee in the morning or help with dinner.  His first thought is how to help me in every way he can from giving the kids breakfast in the morning to waking up early with the baby so I can get a little extra sleep, even though he has usually been up most of the night.   I am so blessed to have him for my husband!

 SO,  January 24th, 2013 was a very important day for us as a family, when Josh defended his thesis.


Aaaand passed.  We are so proud of him and all of his hard work!  
His Mother, Father and sisters (Cassie and Linda) were able to be present during this time, which was much needed family time for us all.  

That weekend, along with our care-group, we threw him a surprise party.....and we got 'im! 







We have also had so much help from our church, family and friends along the way.  We are forever grateful to everyone who has helped with meals, babysitting, prayers for endurance and to God for sustaining us through this journey.  We are excited for the next season of life to begin!