Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Kolin Gets a Job

Yay! Kolin finally secured a job today at The Cake Shoppe in downtown Goshen. He'll start in mid-September.

Not much else is new around here. It was gloomy and a bit rainy today, so my pinky finger was giving me a lot of trouble. When I was in the hospital, no one realized that my pinky finger was broken (even though I asked multiple times for them to make sure), so it healed awkwardly crooked and hurts a lot when it's rainy. Fun!

Mom, Mike, and Jeremy are coming to visit on Sunday morning. Sadly, little Mia (who is beyond adorable and growing like a weed) and Mandy can't make it because Mia has thrush. But I'm looking forward to seeing Mom; I miss her a lot! (I know you're reading, Mama; I love you!)

My job is going well. One of the women I work with asked if I had any kids today. It just reminded me about the crash and how our lives got set back. For those avid readers who don't know (I'm sure all of you do), the original plan was for Kolin and I to move to Savannah, GA in August and start our family together; obviously we were unable to do that. Hopefully we'll get the settlement by the end of the year and can get our plans back on track.

Keep praying.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

First Day of Work

Who's your favorite Amish girl?

I had my first day at Essenhaus today. It went pretty well: I caught on quickly and only messed up a few times. Everyone seemed very happy with their meal and service, so I think it's going to be a pretty easy gig. BUT standing for 7 hours on my crippled legs wasn't too fun! I was doing pretty good until about halfway through. I chose not to take a break when they offered me one, because I wasn't hurting yet; I know now to take an offered break from now on no matter how I'm feeling. Kolin gave me a good foot rub when I got home, which was fantastic.

The other job prospect (at Derby Photography) doesn't seem like it's going to happen. I went there Friday for my second interview, and the guy didn't show up. It was so aggravating, because it takes 30 minutes to get there. He called back today and left a message saying he was "on location" and said he would call again tomorrow. I'm just going to tell him that I can't waste the gas to drive there unless he's actually going to hire me. As I said in my previous post, I don't like getting the runaround.

Keep praying.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

No Longer Jobless

I've been melancholy the past few days, and I'm not quite sure why. Hopefully it will pass.

Onto happier news: I finally got a job as a hostess/cashier at Das Dutchman Essenhaus, an Amish restaurant in Middlebury (shout out to Trash who used to call this Amish countryside home!). I went in for an interview Wednesday and was hired on the spot - very cool! It's more part-time than full, so I'm hoping to get another part-time position. I had an interview at Derby Photography last week that seemed promising and he wants to see me again tomorrow morning to see how well I know Photoshop; I wish he would just hire me or tell me to forget it instead of (what feels like) giving me the runaround. We shall see...

On the healing front: I'm doing my therapy daily and feel like I'm getting better while I'm doing it but still am skeptical about my wrist; I just want to be able to use it like I could before! It's extremely frustrating, but I'm trying to remain optimistic. It's good to have Kolin around to celebrate tiny victories with me and cheer me up when things don't seem to be going well.

Keep praying and think about how truly blessed you are.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Falling Down

Since I'm having so much trouble finding a job, I might blog so much those who read this will get tired of me...but I hope not! I just had to share this story:

Kol and I spent all day yesterday being lazy: staying in our pj's, lounging on the couch, etc. But around 5 o'clock, we realized we needed to get to the bank before it closed at 5:30. So off we went.

We got lost on the way, because our Garmin didn't recognize the address. So we stopped at a gas station to get directions. The attendant gave us a phone book instead. We found the phone number of the bank, got directions from the teller, and were on our way with little time to spare.

Right before the road we were supposed to turn on came up, the car in front of us slammed on their brakes and I had my first panic attack in forever. Not fun, but I survived.

We made it to the bank at 5:25. It was raining as we went in the first door. I stepped forward on my right foot as I went to grab the next door handle and slipped, causing my bad left knee to completely buckle underneath me.

I fell to the floor and began sobbing; it hurt A LOT. An old man (I'm not sure if he worked at the bank or if that was just his normal haunt) and a few tellers ran over.

"Should we call 911?" a female teller asked.

"Yeah, go call 911," the old man responded.

"No, please don't call 911," I cried. We have enough hospital bills already!

Kolin explained the situation with my knee and assured them I would be fine once I cried it out. He was right, of course. I was finally able to get up and we made our deposit.

How embarassing; that's what I get for leaving the house, I suppose.

Keep praying.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

I'm Not Dead

That's right, folks; I'm still kickin'! Sorry it's been an insanely long time since I updated; I've been busy packing, moving, and searching for a job. We're all settled into Kolin's Dad's basement (1600 square feet all to ourselves: master suite, kitchenette, pool table, dining area, and theater room. Very nice!). Here's the address if you want to send me money ;):
57257 Garnet Lane
Goshen, IN 46528.

The job search hasn't really been going well; there aren't many places hiring around here, sadly. I do have an interview tomorrow at a photography studio where I would edit photos and video, so please pray that it goes well! Also pray for Kolin's job search; he definitely has a job at a bakery in South Bend, but that's 30 minutes away, so he's hoping to find something in town instead. Pray, pray, pray!

Let me rewind a bit and tell you about the last two weekends in July. On the 18th, Kol's cousin Jenny got married at her parents' house in Michigan. We got a hotel for the weekend. Kolin's sister, Carrie, also got a hotel room for her husband, her four kids, and herself, but when she got there, it only had a king bed. So, Kol and I took a few of her kids off of her hands, because they gave us a suite with two beds. We spent Friday night having fun in the hotel pool with all the kids. The wedding was beautiful, but we weren't able to stay at the reception long, because the excess of sitting made my knee and ankle stiff. It's no fun feeling like an old lady when you're only 22!

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Sorric!

Then the next weekend (the 25th) was Mom's side of the family's reunion in Kentucky. These were relatives that I used to see a lot as a child but hadn't seen in years, so it was a lot of fun catching up with everyone, especially our cousin Pam:

(here she is celebrating a cornhole victory).

After the reunion, Pam came back to our (me, Kolin, Mom, Mike, and Rhiannon) hotel room and reminisced for hours; she had us all laughing so hard the entire time!

Cousins!

Now, fastforward to the present. I no longer have to go to therapy; I have a regimen that I do at home twice daily. My shoulder is pretty much back to normal; it gets sore every now and then but otherwise is great. My wrist hasn't changed much since my last post. My therapist said that by the end of August, I should be where I'm going to be for the rest of my life with it, but the doctor also says it will take up to a full year for it to heal. Hopefully if I do my exercises like I'm supposed to, it will get a lot better. If I don't see any improvement in 3 1/2 weeks, I'll get a special splint to help my hand go palm-up.

As far as the legs, I've gotten all of my range of motion back and now I need to focus on strengthening. Because our room is in the basement here, I've been getting a lot of practice with the stairs. Yesterday, I started walking down the stairs normally (instead of one step at a time), which was so exciting for me! It's not easy, but the fact that I can do it really makes me happy.

If you made it all the way to the end of this long post, I commend you. Sorry for being a slacker. I'll try my best to post once a week from now on. I love you all! Keep praying!