I feel like I just crossed the finish line of some kind of incredibly hard, body-punishing marathon. Let me just tell you about my July.
Well actually, I guess it goes a bit further back than that. At the end of June, things were going great with my pregnancy. But we'd been looking for a house to rent for some time and nothing ever quite worked out. Either a place was perfect on the outside and not so much on the inside, or the utilities were too unpredictable because of houses being quite old, or we had to supply our own large appliances, or there was too much maintenance, and so on. And living in a small town like I live in, not much was coming up for rent at all. My aunt and uncle were great about us staying there and said several times not to worry about finding a place yet, but I knew it was getting to be time to be on our own again.
And then an apartment opened up in a small, new-ish complex just outside of town. I was adamantly against an apartment at first, until I saw the interior condition of most of the houses we looked at. The apartment we looked at was generic as most apartments are, but much more modern and clean than the other places we'd looked at. The square footage was actually comparable to our house in Florida, the utilities were really economical, and I loved the idea of being able to call maintenance with any issues.
I had a little come to Jesus meeting with myself and came to the realization that while living in an apartment wasn't my first choice, it would end up being a lot more affordable in the long run and that was a lot more important than my pride and desire to live in a house for my own silly reasons.
So I filled out an application and we were approved!
This started a frenzy of phone calls between my mom and me trying to decide when she would be able to drive our belongings up to Indiana from our storage space in Florida and when I should start the lease. Things were going so well with the pregnancy that I decided I would set the move in date for the day after my summer semester ended for school. I had it all planned out. I would focus on finishing my summer classes strong, then sign the lease and move in, after which Coen could be born at any time.
And that's when God started laughing at me, obviously.
I set my move in date, reserved the moving truck, and just a few days later I was informed that Coen would be arriving that weekend.
So not the right order.
I spent the weekend completely immersed in school work and managed to finish the work for some of my four classes before I went in for my c-section. At that point I had given up on straight A's and I just wanted to avoid having to retake any of my classes. My mom jumped in the car and drove basically straight through to see Coen being born, arriving just as my cousin Logan and I got to the hospital. Everything had happened so fast there was no time to get the moving truck early or get our things loaded. She had literally jumped into the car with the necessities like the infant car seat and other supplies that I absolutely had to have.
I took two anatomy tests the day after surgery hopped up on medication and I kept shaking my head at Logan and saying "Why am I doing this? This can only end badly!" I had to tell the nurses that I wasn't ignoring them when they came to check on me, but that I was taking a timed test. They didn't believe me. When I was sick with a kidney infection after Coen came home, I started having these terrible cold chills and shaking like crazy. While I was waiting for the antibiotics to kick in, I would have several episodes like that a day, and I would just lay on the couch covered in blankets until they passed. I took my last Anatomy test from underneath three blankets while shivering like I was in an igloo. It was ridiculous.
Overall, I think I took all but my two finals at the hospital either while I was an inpatient or in Coen's NICU room. Two days after Coen was discharged, my mom jumped on a plane and flew to Florida, picked up the moving truck, loaded it with the help of her friends, and headed back here. In the meantime, I signed the lease on my apartment and managed to get locked out of the apartment with the four older kids while Coen was locked inside. We had to call a locksmith to rescue my newborn, although it was definitely a best case scenario...he was in the air conditioning safely strapped into his carseat while we were out in the heat. I still cried, though.
It was a shining moment, I'll tell you that.
Last night, the moving truck was unloaded, furniture reassembled, and boxes unpacked, and tonight I'm writing you from our first official home in Indiana.
So as just another example of how God does things in His time and not mine, we got our place, we got our baby, and I got done with the summer of semester of school, but it all happened really differently than I planned it. But you know what? As crazy as it's all been, as exhausted as I am, I wouldn't have it any other way. Regardless of how it all happened, these are the facts:
Coen is healthy and here and safe.
We have our own place!
and....
I just got my grades and they're straight A's!!!!
I know it's silly to call good grades a miracle, but I have to say that's how it feels to me! I have no idea how I managed to pull those grades off with surgery, a kidney infection, a new baby with a NICU stay, and moving to a new place. Honestly though, I do know...it's totally a God thing, just like Coen's health and our new place. We're very blessed.
I'd also love to put in a request for a quiet August. July has been crazy enough already!
And to close...a picture of all five kids at our new front door!
Park City Utah
2 years ago