4 years ago in August, Josh and I began our second year of marriage, in St. Louis. Josh was in the ASP(accelerated science program) at Logan College of Chiropractic and I was working as a nurse, fresh out of nursing school, on the Cardiac Unit at Des Peres Hospital. As Josh started Tri 1 of the Chiropractic program that next May, we found out we were expecting our first baby. 2 1/2 years into our marriage, Andrew was born and the real adventure began! And 2 1/2 years after that, Josh graduated and now we are ready for the next part of the journey.
An unexpected plot twist...
It all started with an unexpected change of plans at the end of July. We had been planning for well over a year to come back to the St. Louis area after Josh's graduation and FL training.. It wasn't until a week before we needed to turn in which specific community we would be locating in that we discovered, for various reasons, St. Louis was not much of an option anymore. Before we started that process I remember Josh specifically praying that God would make the choice obvious to us. And He did. Big time. There was almost no question in our minds that Bloomington, IL was the perfect location for several reasons. So, that meant a TOTAL shift in thinking and plans. We would no longer be returning to St. Louis after training(explained later), including all the friends and the church we had come to love. In addition to that, we would be leaving a month sooner than planned to save some money before training by moving in with my family.
This chapter... hiatus.
So, we sold most of our furniture and took two trips back and forth to move our remaining items into my parents basement for the month of October. We had two beautiful, almost perfect days to move. The next two days (our original move dates) were cold and rainy. We were thankful that my Mom suggested the earlier dates! We have now settled into as much of a routine as possible for this month long stay. We're trying to squeeze as much as we can into these 4 weeks, including a trip up to Detroit to visit my Mom's side of the family. It's a fun little roller coaster, fitting the fun and relaxation in with the stuff that needs to be done before heading to FL.
The next chapter... our great adventure.
The last week in October we will be moving the bare essentials in our two cars to a furnished aptartment down in St. Cloud, FL, near Orlando. We'll be training in a Maximized Living office in the area. Josh's training will be long and intense, learning every aspect of being a Maximized Living Doctor(***For those who don't know what Maximized Living is, I'll explain just a bit about it below in the red***)The training will include marketing, patient education talks and events, and all of the business aspects and in-office procedural dynamics. My training will probably be about a month total, learning how to help him run the office. Actually, I don't really know what all to expect! We're just prepared to be busy. We have the best intentions to make the best of the situation, remembering the whole time no matter what happens, we should be grateful that we will be skipping out on Winter this year! (Boy will we be in for a shock at the IL Winter next year!) The stay there should be around 6 months, and the goal is to have his office ready to open as soon as we get back. Josh is already working on the site selection right now, and he will have the help of some great people during training to finish getting everything ready. So, we could be up and running in Bloomington by the end of next spring. But, as we have learned, our plans are never as perfect as God's. We'll just continue to trust Him and put our future into His hands.
Please keep us in your prayers, especially our little guy, as we embark on the journey. Love you all!
***Short explanation of Maximized Living***
Maximized Living is a group of passionate chiropractors around the country and world who are on a mission to save and transform as many lives as possible through the five essentials of wellness. These are:
1. Minimize Toxicity
2. Maximize Nerve Supply (Restoration of the spine to it's natural curves so that the nervous system can communicate to the rest of the body at 100%, and then maintaining those curves)
3. Maximize Nutrition
4. Maximize Oxygen (exercise)
5. Maximize Mind (healthy relationships, time management, etc...)
We feel so blessed to be a part of such a great group of people. Both Josh and I are very passionate about this, please let us know if you have any questions!
