Moving to Indiana!!

Sorry for not posting in a while...not much to post since we have been doing nothing but packing! I will try and take some pictures of our packing adventures with a toddler. Logan is not a fan of the packing tape and every time we go to tape a box, he starts screaming! So far my wife has not allowed me to take a pic of him while he's crying. It's amazing how hard it is to get anything done with Logan crawling all over us. We have actually been able to get the most done when he goes to bed...so from 9:30-12:00 we are getting the most boxes packed! :) So for those of you not on Facebook, this posting may be a surprise!

Yes, we are moving back to my hometown, Ligonier, IN. A couple of weeks ago we really started seeing signs that God was opening doors for us to start looking into the possibility. We have always wanted to move back to Indiana or Minnesota, but the chance to move has never been a possibility due to jobs or Jared in school. Three weeks ago (on a Friday), I decided to apply for jobs in Northeastern Indiana! By that Monday, I received 2 phone calls from recruiters from Wells Fargo and Chase! I went through their phone interview process with the recruiters and was told I would be passed along to the banking center managers that had the open positions! At this point, I was a little stunned because this was all happening quickly. While searching for jobs online in the past, I have NEVER been able to find my exact position in banking open, so this part of it was definitely a miracle! A manager from Chase called me the next day and we setup a phone interview for Thursday. That interview on Thursday went great and I was told there would probably be at least one more interview. Just one week after applying for a job, the manager from Chase called me back to schedule another phone interview so she could ask me some more in depth questions....that went great also! So just a few days later, she said that I was on to the last round and they wanted me to come up there for a face-to-face interview! I flew up there last weekend and had an interview with the manager and district manager and by the end of the day this past Monday, we were officially moving to Indiana!

The position in Indiana will be in Goshen, which is not too far of a drive for me. We are hoping that this personal banker position with Chase Bank will give my wife the opportunity to be at home with Logan. We are going to be staying with my parents on the farm for a little while so that we can pay down some debt that we have accumulated from living in expensive Florida. Logan is going to have a blast playing with the farm animals (not to mention my parents will have a blast)! We are doing some crazy packing because we are leaving here on July 8th, which is only 12 days away!

So now I realized I am going to have to change my blog name....any suggestions?

Eye Surgery

Thankfully, Logan's eye surgery is now behind us- YAY! Although yesterday was difficult, it's over and Logan is recovering quickly.. :) Mommy and Daddy are too.

When the dr. first came to speak to us after surgery, he said Logan's was one of the most difficult surgeries he'd ever performed- instead of finding that Logan had Strabismus, which is what he first diagnosed him with, he unexpectedly found "an incredible amount of scar tissue" when he went to operate. We now know he has what is called, Bilateral Duane's Syndrome, Type I. For those of you who might be interested, follow this link for MORE INFO. Basically, what it means is that although Logan has outer eye muscles, he doesn't have nerves there to tell them what to do. In turn, the inner eye muscles over-compensate and constrict, causing scar tissue. He said Logan probably won't have more eye surgeries because that would most likely compound the scar tissue problem. From what I understand, the only symptom he'll probably have is instead of letting his eyes dart back and forth freely with his head still, he'll have to turn his head to see things properly.

I absolutely cannot say enough about how great Dr. Silverman and his staff have been! I've never been anywhere where they cater to making sure the parents are comfortable as well as the children. They've been so patient with us and have answered all our questions before we even had them. Their care has been wonderful- Logan has been in good hands!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for the little guy. It has been truly amazing to watch God work!

Taking Logan home- he was still groggy from the anesthesia. When he cried, his tears were bloody.. it was so sad!

Logan brought along his favorite stuffed animal to the surgery center.. the moment he cuddled with him in the car, he fell asleep. Cute!

Later that day.. don't his eyes look straighter?! Amazing!

This evening at dinner (ravioli was on the menu in case you didn't notice). The inside corners of his eyes are blistered- looks painful, doesn't it? He'll be taking Tylenol every 4 hours at least through tomorrow afternoon. We can definitely tell when it starts wearing off!

Jared's 8th Grade Graduation

Here are some pictures from Jared's Tabernacle Christian School Graduation Ceremony this past Tuesday night. We had a dinner before the actual ceremony and then they were presented with their certificates. Yes, Jared's was signed!!

Logan wanted to get in on the picture before we left! Our neighbors helped take care of Logan while we were at Jared's graduation. We figured Logan wouldn't make it till the end.

Jared walking down the isle.

Receiving his diploma.

Jared getting a hug from Mrs. Therrien after receiving his diploma.

Group picture of the TCS 8th grade graduates.

The 8th graders from their praise team played a song.

Jared jamming on his electric guitar.

Some of the guys in his class.

Mr. Goss and Jared....Mr. Goss was Jared's praise team/drum line director this year. He is going to miss him a lot!

Jonny, Dennis, Jared, and Joe

Pictures and Videos

Here are some pictures and videos from the past few weeks. I recently got a handheld video camera from an award I got at work, so I've been doing way more videos than pictures. Some of these pics have been posted on Facebook, but for those of you not on Facebook, here you go!

Logan with the 2 giraffes that Janelle has made. The purple one is going to MN real soon as a gift!

Logan went out back on the lanai to hang out with the kids.

He's always trying to act like a big boy.

Jared was awarded the "Flam Award" from his drum line director. Here is what the award says, "A 'Flam' is an extra musical note that percussionists use to embellish the melody-to enhance the music. It adds character to the piece, but does not take away from, or waste any of the time value of the measure. It is a special addition to the music that makes it more interesting and pleasing to the ear. Like a flam, the student who receives this award has had character and behavior that has been an embellishment to our drum line. Never wasting valuable rehearsal time, or having poor behavior. He has enhanced our drum line with determination and dependability." Pretty cool!

Logan eating some chicken alfredo....video down below.

Logan with his new haircut!

Video Update

Here are some videos...

Here Comes Trouble & Mother's Day!!

Here are some pictures from our latest adventures with a teen and a baby!

Logan getting a hold of an open packet of peanut butter crackers.

Before I knew it...he was crumbling them in his hands.

He did manage to get some of the crackers in his mouth! (mostly on the floor though)

Logan chilling out by looking out the window one evening.

Logan has started to cross his arms now. It all started when him and I were sitting on the couch Sunday afternoon watching basketball. I was crossing my arms and I looked over at him...he looked back at the TV and crossed his arms. Very, very cute...

This is one of Logan's favorite things to do...playing with the pots and pans. Notice the glass "stuff" on the counter...All of a sudden he started pulling out breakable stuff!!

You know Logan is in the room by just following the trail.

Here is Logan and Jared looking at their Mom's Mother's Day Card.

It was a singing card and Logan loved it!

Happy Mother's Day to the best Mom in the state of Florida!

Logan got tired of all of the present opening and crawled up on his chair and chilled for a bit.

This is the outfit that Mrs. Heidi, Logan's babysitter, got for Logan to wear on Mother's Day!

And this is the award that Logan gave his Mom (Mrs. Heidi made this also)! Can you believe those are Logan's feet! They are going to end up being as big as Jared's feet! Size 11 and still growing!

Logan finally eating some eggs.

We have scrambled eggs for a while.

He's definitely doing better at eating with a fork!

Logan's very proud of himself!!

Logan ready for the pool!