North Port!

Well, we've moved from Punta Gorda to North Port.  It's closer to work for everyone and we will get better gas mileage.  It is really convenient to everything as well.  We are only a few miles north of Port Charlotte and closer to Venice as well.  We like it so far.  This area reminds us of North Central Florida for some reason.  Maybe it's the pine trees and the woodsy areas. 
The house we are renting is bigger than before but the same cost per month.  Also, electric bill will be lower since it is newer construction!  We have well water too which saves on paying for city water.  All in all, I think it was a good move.

Fraser North Port Home

North Port is growing.  We are getting a Sports Authority, TJ Max, and a Ross Store.  The mall is in the north part of Port Charlotte, not that we go there much.  The neighborhoods are laid out nice and provide for a lot of biking in different neighborhoods close to us.  We still haven't investigated a lot near here yet.  North Port does have a YMCA with an outdoor pool which we might look into.

Bob recently had a scare with a retinal detachment in his right eye.  He had surgery this week but is recovering well.  He has to keep his head parallel to the floor almost all the time though, whether sitting, laying down or whatever.  Every hour, he can take a 5-10 minute break.  He has to do this for the next week.  We just recently bought a 23ft Proline cuddy cabin and he won't be able to go out on it for 2 weeks per his eye doctor.

Sebastian is doing well at his job.  He gets quite a bit of overtime which he likes.  Right now he is working day shift b/c he is one of only a few people who know how to operate this one machine that they are trying to get working correctly.  He will probably return to second shift soon though.  He rather work that shift anyway.

I still like my job.  My medical assistant and I are working well together.  Some changes may be coming though; changes that I may not like but it is in God's hands and I'm going to rest in that.  It is out of my hands, that's for sure.

Our grandchildren are growing and doing well.  Jazmin got 7 awards in first grade this year.  One of them was in Bible verses!  She got the outstanding student award for her whole class too!  What a smarty!  Anthony Jr is growing like a weed.  He is just too cute!

Here's a picture of one of the few times he has let Bob hold him!  Something about men....

Well, guess that's about all the news from our end.....

Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!  I know I haven't updated our blog in a long time.  Seems like too much was happening.  Some of it not so good.  
In August, I had to be hospitalized with Diverticulitis.  I was in Orlando for a Nurse Practitioner conference when I started having abdominal pain during the last hour of the conference.  Had to be taken by ambulance to Florida Hospital in Celebration, FL, "the town that Disney built".
Nice hospital; I had to stay there for 6 days with a PICC IV central line, NG tube down to my stomach, etc... went in on a Saturday night and left Friday evening for home in Punta Gorda.  I woke up on that Saturday, and saw that my right arm was a bluish color and immediately thought "I  have a blood clot", so off to the local hospital I go and sure enough, an ultrasound showed the blood clot in my armpit.  So I had to be put on Heparin and then Lovenox for few days while taking Coumadin for a blood thinner.
Whew!  all that is a lot to process in and of itself.  Eventually I had an endoscopy that was normal, no stomach or duodenal ulcer as they suspected.  So I slowly got back to nomal.  Had a cold virus in September that really knocked me back for a week or two and just when I finally feel that I'm getting back to my normal self, I have another abdominal pain attack in late October and have to go back to the local hospital.  Geesh!  I did not want to be there and go through the IV, and another CT scan which supposedly showed another diverticulitis attack.  Anyway, another round of antibiotics and light eating.  By the way, I've lost 10-11lbs since this whole thing started!  I wanted to lose some weight but not this way!  So then just as I was feeling better again, I get another cold virus in November just before Thanksgiving.  Took several weeks to feel better again and now I'm getting my energy back.  I want to be able to start walking again and doing the Wii Fit Sports Plus----to get back to normal!
I am so thankful for my family and how they have stood by me and helped me through all this.
So I am looking forward to the New Year----to be healthier without any health problems!
We love it here in Punta Gorda.  The water so close by and being near the grand-kids.  We all have good jobs too.....Bob teaching at our church's Christian Community School, Sebastian working at PGT Industries, a window and doors manufacturing plant and also me with Healthstat, a company that provides work-site clinic for companies and their employees, in this case also at PGT!  Thank you Lord for everything... Here's looking forward to 2012!

Punta Gorda!

Wow, it has been 2 months since I posted anything!  Can't believe how the time has flown by.  We have been in Punta Gorda now for 1 month and really like it here.  We felt that we were "home" in the first few days, so we knew it was the right choice for us.  We love being close to Jazmin and Melissa.
Getting a house with a pool was a great idea since Jazmin loves the water.  The pool maintenance and yard maintenance comes with the rent so we thought it was a good price.

There's a canal behind the house.  We hope to have a boat in the near future so we can just hop in it and go out to the open water.

I will start my job on June 27th.  Trying to decide whether I should make a trip home to NY for a visit before my job starts.  Tickets are a little high right now.  Sebastian got a job at a windows and doors manufacturing plant and is working 40 hours.  Bob is busy trying to build up his insurance business.  He is also going to be a coordinator for a foreign exchange student program to place students here in Florida for the school year.  He has also put in applications in charter schools and Christian schools for the next school year.

We' like to save some money to buy a house again one day before we officially retire!  But we thank the Lord for all the blessings we have now.
We have found a church home and are going to First Baptist of Port Charlotte.  They also have a christian school there that we'd like Jazmin to go to.  She loves going to church.

Moving to Florida

Well, we will probably be moving back to Florida in about 4-6 weeks.  We want to live in the Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte area.  We found a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house on a canal with a boat dock.  We don't have a boat yet but plan to get one in the future.  It has a pool which comes with pool service and also comes with lawn service.

I thought I had a job opportunity doing house calls with a physician in Venice, going to Assisted Living Facilities but that didn't pan out.  I may be able to do house calls with a recruiting company called EMSI in Florida and maybe still with Sunbelt Staffing who I am with at present also in Florida.  So I have some options.  Just have to figure out when to tell CIP that I am leaving!  I have to give 30 days notice.

Melissa and Jazmin were in Punta Gorda these past few days also.  It was fun to spend some time with them.  We took Jazmin to a park where they had a fishing pier.  She was casting her little fishing pole.  She was so cute.  She was afraid of the live shrimp and so I put in on her hook.  She sidles up to me and says "Mimi, when I'm as big as you, will I be able to put my shrimp on the hook?"  I guess meaning by then she won't be afraid of doing it herself!  I told her yes, she would but that Papa Bob used to put my shrimp on the hook when I first started fishing and sometimes he still does!

The night before, all of us including Sherry and Bill went to a restaurant and after eating she wanted to snuggle on my lap and as she did she says "Mimi, I love you".  That was so precious.  We haven't spent much time with her over the last few months, so that was really nice to hear that she still loved me!

We took Melissa and Jazmin home to Gainesville and in the car I played her favorite CD of children bible action songs.  She knows almost all the words and wanted me to sing along.  She's asking how to spell certain words now.

Well that's all for now.  Will upload some pictures in near future.

February 14th

So I'm late with my "Happy Valentine's Day"!  It was also our anniversary- 16 years now.  Doesn't seem that long.  The three of us went down to Punta Gorda, FL for the weekend.  It was somewhat warmer but windy and chilly also.  We went out on Bill and Sherry's boat onto the canal and then the river leading out into the mouth of the river near Alligator Bay.  We stayed in Gainesville on Friday night at Gene and Cindi's house and visited with them and then also did that on Sunday night on our way back up.  Then drove up to Statesboro on Monday morning.
I'm now in Dublin, GA working for my 4 days which is over tomorrow.  Then back home to Statesboro.  I'll be there till next Thursday then fly to Baltimore, MD for the CIP summit for a week.  The days are moving fast.
We have been thinking of moving to Punta Gorda area in the summer.  Melissa and family are thinking of moving there as well.  We'd like to be near them and help out and see Jazmin more often and be able to take her to church with us.
We'd definitely like to live on one of the canals and get a boat again.  Bob wants to become a fishing boat captain and take out charters.  So guess we'll see what God has in store for us over the next few months.  My niece Jill is in Fort Myers, so that would be nice to be nearby.  Also, heard that my brother Dan and Linda want to come down to Florida for a couple of the winter months next year.  Be cool to see them while they are there also!

Update for January

Well, January is almost over.  I am off for a nice 4 day weekend!  I really do like my job doing home assessments and the time off in between.  It's getting a little warmer here which makes us long for Spring weather.

Lately, we've been thinking about returning to Florida to be closer to Melissa and family.  She may be moving to Port Charlotte area in late Spring before she has her baby.  I've checked with my recruiting company in Florida and they are now working with another company that does Home Assessments like the company I am with in Georgia.  So it could be feasible to do this same type job in Florida!  That would be great if we want to move back.  Would be especially wonderful if they give the same amount of time off!

We'll keep praying about it and see what God has planned, but for now we are enjoying being in Statesboro.  We wish the weather was a little bit warmer during winter-----the locals says it usually is, but not this year!  I guess it's cold everywhere.

The First Baptist Church here is great.  We love the Pastor and his sermons.  The people in our Sunday School class are really nice as well and they have a lot of class socials that we hope to take part in.

Sebastian is doing well so far at Ogeechee Tech.  He is in Math and English this Quarter.  It looks like he will be able to take 3 automotive classes next Quarter and 1 class in the Summer and be finished with the Brake Service Section to take the ASE certification by August.  If we move to Port Charlotte area, he could take more automotive classes down there if he wants.

Bob is signing up with more companies to be able to sell insurance here in Georgia and also in Florida.  He is learning more and more about the business so he can do his best!  He has also applied with some schools to teach here but so far there aren't any positions, not even for substituting.  Bob wants to take the captain charter course one day and get his captain's license so he can do fishing charters in the future.

We continue with teaching English online with Sebastian's Polish family through Skype.  We have a lot of fun with it and all the kids are doing well.  It started out with just the girls but the boys are sitting in now also.  Even mama sits in on the classes and I will usually call on her as well.  Patrycja is the youngest and she is probably doing the best of them all!  She is learning English in her school now and is doing really well.  She even took one of our chants called "This, that, these, those" to school and taught it to her class!  She is usually the one who helps the boys when it is their turn to speak to me on Skype.  Maybe she will be a teacher one day!

Our goal is to be able to communicate better with them in English for our own reasons of course, but in Poland the kids could possibly get better jobs if they know English and other languages as well.  The older kids do learn it in school too, but when they don't use English to speak to anyone, it's kind of useless to them. Also, I think at some point they can choose to learn German instead, and since they live close to the German border, they might use it more than English.  I think the oldest girl, Marzena is learning Russian and German.  But she understands a lot of English at times also.  She is learning Hotel management in school and is in Sweden right now as part of her classes until early February.

We like living in our small house here in Statesboro.  It is much smaller than our last house and so much easier to keep clean without all the dogs and cats that we had before [as much as we loved them all when we had them]. We do have to keep the yard up when the grass starts growing but Sebastian will be doing that and it's not going to be much overall.  It really gives us a lot more time for other things instead of being so busy with housework and working in the yard all the time.  Over the last couple of years since going to Poland and being without jobs for several months and then traveling with my job [and no home], that we can really live more simply and without a lot of the "trappings" and it's a good feeling!

Besides being committed to reading the Bible on a daily basis, we've committed ourselves to working out with the Wii Fitness Plus on a regular basis and also walking several times weekly.  The Mill Creek Park is close to our house and it has a paved mile-long track around the baseball fields.  It has a small pond in the center and also hosts "Splash in the Boro", a water park with big slides for adults and older kids and a kiddie area where the smaller kids can run under "rain showers".

Well, guess that's all for now.  Blessings to all our family and friends!

Happy New Year 2011!

It's the beginning of the New Year!  Bob and I are reading the Bible from the beginning again.  We have a new daily bible reading book that is much better than how we were going to go through the Bible 2 years ago.  We only got as far as April that year but are determined to go all the way to the end this year!  This book has a commentary with each section, which really is very interesting.
Sebastian starts school this week.  We are praying that he doesn't get too frustrated with the learning process.  Bob is continuing to learn about the Insurance business and has applied to different schools to teach.  So far, I'm still liking my job.  I will be working from home this next week but will be in Laurens county [Dublin, GA], the following week for 4 days.  We'll be staying at the Page House again.
It's nice to finally get "settled in" to our new home. I like that it is small enough to clean easily!