Quick Recap of the past almost two years

After taking ill in April 2013 right after our anniversay I was put on a long term disability leave from Blue Shield. I was having severe migraines and other side effects. After several doctors appointments, testing, and seeing my neurologist on a semi regular basis we determined out apartment had black mold and was likely the cause of my illness. We soon moved out and sadly Craig and I had to live in separate places. I stayed with my dad and step mom to be close to the doctors and Craig went to live with his parents. While there his parents started an addition on their house and soon Craig no longer had a room to speak of. He began coming to visit me at my dad's for a week or two at a time. Due to limited space he slept in what was my room/sewing room and I would sleep on our couch in the dining room. This went on for about 3-4 months. My doctors had approved me to return to work but my postion had been backfilled a couple weeks before. I was then placed on a Disability LOA and was told I would need to apply for jobs within the company and that if a similar job/grade level became available I would automatically get first dibs. Well no such jobs became available and I continued to put in applications not only with Blue Shield but also other companies. I got a few interviews but nothing came of them until January. A recruiter from a company called Sage contacted me to setup a phone interview. From there I did a Skype interview with a couple managers and was offered the job!!! I was to start February 17th which was only 3 weeks away and the job was in Oregon. About this time I was notified that Blue Shield was going to cease their efforts to rehire me. Prayers were answered and I put my two week notice in before they could lay me off.

For those who haven't heard we moved to Beaverton, OR last spring (April 2014). I took a position with a software company (Sage Software NA) here as a Customer Support Analyst. I work primarily with small and midsize construction and real estate companies assisting them with their accounting software. It's been a learning experience to say the least.

So on February 12th I said my goodbyes to Craig as I dropped him off at the train station to return to his family for the time being. I packed what I could in our little car and drove to Vancouver, WA to stay with my brother and his family until I could find us a place to live and earn a paycheck or two for a deposit. About a month or so later I found us an apartment less than 2 miles from my work. We signed a lease and started to coordinate getting Craig and our stuff up to Oregon. I took possession of our apartment on April 3rd and Craig along with his dad and our stuff arrived on April 11th. Our new wards Elders Quorum came out to help us unload. The Relief Society sisters were not far behind and over the next few weeks came to help us do some of the unpacking.

Almost immediately after moving in both Craig and I were given callings in our new ward. I was called to be an assistant librarian (basically I run the library every other week) and Craig was called to be an assistant ward clerk over membership. He really enjoys his calling and looks forward to the times he can meet with the ward clerk to get stuff done. My calling is good as well though I don't get to class as often as I would like and don't get to meet as many people.

My Gramps passed away June 11th. Craig and I caravaned with my brother Jeremy and his family to California to attend the funeral and services. While it was a bitter sweet occasion it was good to be with family especially those we haven't seen for a long time. Almost all of the family was able to make it.

Craig has been able to travel to California a few times since the move for a Wuehler family reunion in July, his nephew Isaac's baptism and Christmas in December, and then again this past month January for a couple weeks to take care of some lingering business. I too got to make a couple quick trips to California this past month. The first trip was to see my nephew Declan being blessed and I was only there a little over 36 hours. My brother Jordan, his wife Charme, and daughter Constance welcomed Declan on Jan 1st and he was blessed on Jan 18th. My second trip was a bit longer more like 51 hours, this time was to be a witness and support for Craig's disability hearing with Social Security. We are praying for a favorable outcome but probably won't hear until at least April and more likely June on the decision and then will still have to wait after that for a determination on his financial compensation and medical benefits. Hurry up and wait as they say.

In September I under went Gastric Bypass surgery which seemed to alleviate many of my aliments such as the pesky migraines I have dealt with for 25+ years!!! Then in December I got plagued with my back going out followed immediately by a bad Upper Respiratory Infection and then with a single day's respite I got hit with vertigo like symptoms and inner ear issues the Sunday before Christmas. Talk about fun for the holidays and Craig was gone the later part of the month so he wasn't here to help me with the vertigo. Gratefully my visiting teacher was able to rush my to Urgent Care and my brother took me in for the next 8 days as I was restricted from driving. After a couple weeks I was cleared to return to work and that lasted about two weeks. I relapsed and have been off again these past two weeks. I am currently undergoing testing and treatment right now to determine the cause. 

So that's our life the past almost two years in a nutshell.

Suzanne

I know it's been a really long time

Much has happened and continues to happen. Since having Gastric Bypass surgery in September I have been blogging more on that and neglecting this blog. I will try to be better but for those who want to follow my other blogs feel free.
Journey of a Lifetime  From Simple to Satin Goodies Shack

Suzanne