Grandma (by Ramona)

June 14th, 2010

Let me start off by saying “Congratulations Dr. Nat!”   Nat defended last Friday, and both my parents and Nat’s parents were able to come out.  Nat did well on his presentation, and his committee seemed pleased.  His advisor told him he has some things he needs to do, but Nat should be done before we leave for Ethan’s wedding.  :)

Nat said his defense wasn’t the way that he pictured it to be.  First, he wasn’t planning on having to running experiments or finish writing his dissertation up until the day before his defense.  Second, he wasn’t planning to work after he defended.  Nat had to work on a paper submission that was due the same day that he defended.  Nat would have liked to relax after he defended and spent time with family.  Unfortunately, Nat had to go to work after his defense.  He was able to eat lunch and dinner with the family, but then headed back to work.  Poor Nat didn’t get home until 10:45PM on Friday.

My parents left on Saturday morning, and we were able to spend the day with Nat’s parents on Saturday.  Nat was able to relax a little bit more, which was nice.  Nat’s dad headed back to Nebraska via plane while Nat’s mom stayed for another week.

It was really nice to have Nat’s mom out here, especially since Nat left on Thursday to go to his brother’s bachelor party.  Nat’s mom was able to experience the day-to-day life that we have and enjoy the boys.  Unfortunately, both boys got sick while Nat’s mom was here (the same nasty cold that I was fighting last week).  That meant that Sean and Jonas were more clingy, so when Grandma tried to help, there was crying.  Nat’s mom took it well and wasn’t hurt by the “No Grandma” attitude from the boys.  As much as I tried to extend the boys, especially Sean, grace with being sick, I didn’t like the disrespectful words or attitude towards Grandma at times.  When Sean started feeling better, he acted better, but there were still occasional yellings of “No Grandma”.

It was nice for me to have Nat’s mom around those days that Nat was gone.  It nice to have someone there to help 24-7, and it was nice to have someone to talk to at night.  In fact, we stayed up late (around 11PM) each night!  I definitely enjoyed my time with Nat’s mom and I was sad to see her go on Sunday.  I’m glad that Nat’s mom had the opportunity to stay with us for an extra week.  Maybe next summer between Colorado and Nebraska, she can come out again to spend time with our family! :)

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Football (soccer) fan (by Ramona)

June 13th, 2010

Exchange on the phone with Nat (who is on his way home from Ethan’s bachelor party):

Ramona:  US plays on Friday morning.  You’re not going to work that morning are you?
Nat:  No, of course not.

Go USA! :)

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Dr. Thompson soon!

June 1st, 2010

Life has been busy for us since Nat came home from Seattle.  He’s been working hard at finishing up his last project and working on his slides for his defense this Friday.  Unfortunately, some of his results aren’t coming out the way that he wants, so he’s been dividing his time between rerunning simulations and working on his slides.  It seems like that Nat is making really good progress in his slides, and he just has to wait to see how his results are.  If his results aren’t good, he’ll need to take some time to figure out why and to present why the results aren’t good.  I think that Nat is a little bit frustrated that the results aren’t turning out the way he wants, but sometimes research is about understanding why the results are bad.

We have been able to have some relaxing times, and I’m thankful that Nat has been trying to balance his workload and family.  We celebrated Mother’s Day this past Sunday, so I got most of the day off.  I pampered myself a pedicure.  :)   We went out for dinner, just the two of us, and it was a good time to relax.

Yesterday, Memorial Day, Nat worked.  He did come home at 4, and took Sean to the block party on our street.  I was thankful that he did that because I wasn’t feeling well (I took a nap and woke up with a low fever).  I did manage to spend some time at the block party, and it was nice to meet some of our neighbors.  We had missed the block parties the previous years because we had other plans that day.  Sean had a great time running up and down the blocked parts of the street with the other kids.  He also had fun splashing in some big puddles.

My mom is coming in this afternoon;,my dad is coming tomorrow afternoon, and Nat’s parents are coming in late Thursday night so they can watch Nat defend on Friday morning.  It’ll be nice to have help this week with the kids, especially since I’m feeling sick.  It’ll be nice to celebrate Nat’s achievement as a big family too! :)

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Seattle (by Ramona)

May 20th, 2010

Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile.  Life has been super busy at our house.  Nat has been writing his dissertation and submitting some more job applications.  He’s been spending most of his time on his dissertation, and he just needs to make the final push until June 4th, when he defends!

Nat flew out to Seattle this week to interview with Microsoft.  He left on Tuesday morning and is coming back tomorrow.  One nice thing about scheduling this interview was that he was able to watch Ethan defend today.  Ethan is now Dr. Thompson!  Yay! :)

I definitely do not enjoy life without Nat.  The days seem longer and harder even though I spend most of the day with the boys by myself anyways.  It’s just the thought that I have to do it alone the whole day that makes it hard.  Before the day begins, I already feel my patience running low.  Fortunately, it’s gotten easier watching the boys, and I’ve had a lot of help in the evenings.  It’s been such a blessing to have them help throughout this time period of Nat interviewing.  I think all my friends are amazing for providing dinner, helping out with the boys at bedtime, playing with them, watching them so that I can get out, or just being there with me in the evening so I have company.  I find it hard to believe that they actually like watching the boys and spending time with them; I’m spent by the afternoon! :)   My friends give so much of their time and love, and I feel so extremely blessed! :)

I’ll update you as soon as I find out where we’re going to be next! :)

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Dana Visits (by Ramona)

May 9th, 2010

Dana, my friend from high school and college, came down to visit from Thursday – Saturday.  She had been traveling to Chicago for work for the past few months, and when I found out via Facebook, I told her she should come down and visit.

She came in Thursday evening by train.  Sean was super excited to see the train up close at the station; it was his first time at a train station.  We came home and had dinner, and I whisked Dana away to a game night with some friends from church.  We came home and talked late (for me anyways) in the evening.

Dana had to work on Friday, so we headed to Mirabelles (YUM!) for some pastries.  I dropped off Nat and Dana at Nat’s office and the boys and I headed home.  I brought the hardworkers some lunch, and we were able to sit and have a good lunch together.  Jonas was quite happy to sit in Dana’s lap and be fed cheese and strawberries.  Ah, what a life! :)

The boys and I picked up Nat and Dana at 5, and we headed to dinner at B-won.  After the boys were down, we taught Dana how to play Dominion.  I think she liked it, and it was fun to play together.  We stayed up to chat together, and then went to bed.

Early Saturday morning, I took Dana to the airport.  We had a chance to pray together and it was really sweet.  Part of me still thinks of Dana the way we were in college, but I know that she and I are all “grown up”.  It’s neat that we can still get together and talk.  We were both encouraged how God was working in our lives and seeing that in each other.  I’m excited to see what God will do in Dana’s life.  :)

Oh, to end, I just wanted to say that Sean really liked Dana.  I mean, how could he not?  :)   She arrived on a train, let him play with her iPhone, and left on an airplane.  :)

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Mother’s Day (by Ramona)

May 9th, 2010

We didn’t celebrate Mother’s Day too much because we were pretty tired from a busy couple of days.  Nat, however, did get me a present – a picture frame with all the boys’ (include Nat’s) handprints.  It was a sweet gift, and we’ll have to find a picture of all the points to put in the frame.

Other than that, we just had a regular day.  We did have a baby dedication today for all the babies born in the past year at our church.  Each family had a chance to say something about their child, and an elder would pray blessings over that child.  Nat explained why we picked the name Jonas Aiden.  Jonas is a version of Jonah, which means dove in Hebrew.  We love the imagery of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove when He was baptized as it is written in Matthew.  We found that Jonas was also Lithuanian for John, which means God is gracious.  Ironically, Sean also is a version of John; John in Irish.  Aiden means fiery, and Nat picked that over Austin because Jonas was more “fiery” in the womb than Sean.  Our prayer for Jonas was that he would be gentle and meek like a dove, but also passionate and on fire for the Lord.

Sean did give me a not so pleasant gift of disobedience today.  I’m not sure what got into Sean today.  We were definitely ready for bedtime today since we had a hard time relaxing  with a crazy Sean.  Hopefully, he’ll settle down tomorrow.  :P

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Proverbs 16:3 (by Ramona)

May 2nd, 2010

I listened to a sermon today titled, Your Plans: God’s Plans by Tim Keller.  It was a good sermon, and I picked it because the season we are currently in with Nat’s job hunt.  As a whole, the sermon touched many issues that I’m thinking about in my heart, but I was just going to share a few.

In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

Tim used this verse to illustrate that we make our own choices and that we have free will, and yet, God is sovereign and the details are all planned out.  He talked about how it’s hard for us, as people, to wrap our minds around this paradox, but it is the truth of who God is.  It was a good reminder of how God is planning out all the details of our lives, and we can trust in that.  Tim did make a point that we will be called accountable for our choices; consequences for bad choices.  This made me think about how badly I want Nat to work at Sandia.  Yes, I can push and push and push for Nat to get a job there and only be satisfied if we get an offer.  God will allow us to go down that path, but we will have to face the consequences if we make that choice – unemployment, stress in our lives, etc.  God will still be with us during that time and He will still know all the details and have planned that for us.  Will it be wise for our family?  No.

This leads me to Proverbs 16:3

Commit to the LORD whatever you do,
and your plans will succeed.

Tim made an excellent point this verse.  When you first read it, you may think that if you commit your plans to the Lord that your execution will succeed.  I have to admit that this was my thought lately about our future plans.  “God, I want to be at a place where I will be excited and happy.  You opened the door to Sandia, and I will commit my plan of wanting to be there to You”.  I waited for the execution of this plan, and it failed.

Tim pointed out this verse is not about committing your plans to the Lord, but the opposite.  It is about you committing yourself completely to the Lord.  It is is about completely surrendering and trusting to the Lord.  It’s about saying, “What You will, when You will, how you will”.  At this point in the sermon, I was tearing up.  Through this process, I have had a hard time letting go.  When the first prospect of Sandia came up, I started getting excited.  The excitement ran away from me, and I am hellbent on Sandia.  Then, God shut the door on this job.  Instead of relinquishing my control and my plans, I pushed harder towards Sandia – asking Nat to apply to more jobs and asking for his resume to be passed along.  It has been so hard to let go of Sandia.  And, as Tim kept preaching on this point, I felt that God was continually putting on my heart to let go – What I [God] will, when I will, how I will.

I liked how Tim ended the sermon talking about Christ.  We will never completely surrender to God and trust him completely, but Christ surrendered to God completely in His life and death.  If Christ loved me so much to surrender His life to God and die on the cross so that I can be reconciled to God, then I should be able to trust Him with my future.  Reflecting on this truth is slowly helping me to die to myself in regards to my wants of our future.

Yes, deep down, I do want us to be in Albuquerque, and I will not be ashamed to pray for this.  But, I will surrender my desires to what God may want for us if it is not Albuquerque.  I know that the Lord will have great plans for us, something better than I can ever imagine.  I do know this with my mind.  Now, I just need to get my heart to a place where I can accept this, especially if it’s not what I have planned.

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Waiting Game (by Ramona)

April 28th, 2010

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  ~1 Corinthians 13:4-5

These verses has been such a rebuke lately for me as we are waiting to see how things pan out with Nat’s job hunt.  I know that God will provide for our family and that the plans He has for our family will be good.  It is, however, difficult to trust in God’s timing when we are in the midst of job hunting.  We don’t know where we’re going to be or when a job might come around.

The main struggle I have been having is one of Nat’s interviews.  He interviewed on site.  The hiring manager wasn’t sure he would be a good fit so he setup a phone interview last week.  We have not heard any news yet.  It has been extremely hard for me to be patient and wait for them because this is the job that I want Nat to get, or at the least the company I want him to be working for.  I am really excited about the location, and Nat is excited about the work and the environment of the company.  I struggle with wondering if this excitement is from the Lord or our own desires.  We asked God to open doors and put on our hearts a location, and I feel that we can read this as an answer to prayer except for the not getting an offer part.  It’s hard for me to see why we’d get so excited about a place and things look like they’re going to work out, but they don’t.  I would like the company to get back to us and just let us know so that we can have closure.

I know the Lord is trying to teach us to trust in Him and to be patient, but it is very difficult.  It is hard for me not to have closure right now and to be patient.  I get angry that the manager hasn’t gotten back to us, but that is not showing love.  I am envious that a lot of our friends have offers and know where they’re going, but our future is still unknown.

Nat has responded much better than I have.  He is being very patient and not placing his hope on this one job.  He is still applying and interviewing for jobs until he gets an offer.  He is comforting me and telling me that everything will be alright.  I know it will be, but the waiting is very tough.  Patience is not my strong suit.

A friend was worried that we were hanging our hope on this one job.  To be honest, I am hoping and praying very hard for this job.  But, I know that my hope is not on any earthly thing, but in Christ.  Christ has reconciled us to God, the Father, through His blood.  By His blood, we are forgiven for our sins and can be in union with God.  This is our ultimate hope, and we know that.  Because of our faith in Christ and knowing that God will be faithful to us, we will submit to Him and where He would want us to go.  Yes, I would like it to be this one place, but if He calls us to go someplace else, we will go.  I might not be happy or excited, but I will go.

I was no excited to come to Illinois.  In fact, UIUC was my LAST choice of all the graduate schools that I was accepted into.  I kept praying for God to reveal His will to me, hoping it would lead to the other schools.  It was unclear for a long time until I heard our collegiate pastor preach the Sunday before I had to decide.  He said that he doesn’t know what God’s will for our lives, but sometimes you can know if it’s something that you know that you will have to trust and rely on God and step outside of your comfort zone.  As soon as that was said, I knew I was going to Illinois.  I could not believe that I would be going to the placed where I cried when I visited, but I submitted to God.  And God did amazing things in my life these past 8 years.  It was hard the first few years, and God stretched and grew me, through tears and loneliness.  But, He has also blessed me.  I have a wonderful husband, two beautiful boys, great friends, and a great church.  So, if He calls us to someplace where I don’t want to be, I will submit.  He has blessed so richly at our times here, and I know it will be no different in this next stage.

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