So much has been going on lately... but things are finally starting to fall into place! It's turning out to be a crazy month and it will be hectic until the last day of August - which just happens to be Mark's 30th birthday and will most likely be Cole's 1st day of life!!!
I had a Dr's appointment yesterday and things are looking good. Everyone is healthy and I've starting to dilate just a bit. I actually had the appointment with the CNM since my Dr was leaving town and needed to get some other stuff done and wasn't seeing patients that day... but she was really nice and convinced me to schedule the c-section for August 31st. She seems to think I'm likely to end up having the baby before that but we can all remember how that went last time around. If you don't, just look at the archives in our blog from last February and March :-) So, it's nice to get some of those details settled and arrange all the details for taking care of Asher while we're in the hospital... I'm feeling a lot less stressed about all of that now. And, the gals at the office told me that when I go and pre-register at the hospital, to talk with someone in the billing/business office and that if I set up a payment plan beforehand they will greatly reduce the bill for me. They said you can get a discount up to 90% off if you arrange all the details ahead of time! That would be a tremendous blessing... and a much needed financial help!! I'll be praying lots and lots for that to all work out!
And with this news you guys are going to think we are most definitely crazy :-) We're moving to Wilsonville... again! We'll still consider Creekside our home church and Mark will still be working in McMinnville so don't get too concerned. After looking at our bills more closely with Cole's pending arrival we realized that our rent here was just more than we can handle. We looked into some places in McMinnville but all the apartments are either too small, really run down or we just had this odd feeling about them. So, on craislist one day we just happened upon the apartments at Villebois in Wilsonville, went out and took a look, said some prayers and feel like it's the best choice for us. It's a bigger apartment (for a 2 bedroom) and we really feel like it'll be easier for us to stick with our plan moving somewhere with a bit more room that is a little nicer than what we found in Mac.
It will be a long time before we'll be out from under some of our financial strains and this will be saving us a lot of money every month. Yes, a 1000 square foot apartment will be quite a change from this 3500+ square foot home we live in now, but we're excited at the idea of finally being able to make some progress financially! Plus, with saving so much $$ every month, we'll be able to get our other car fixed sooner than originally planned (assuming no more random bills come out way) so I'll be able to actually leave the apartment every once in a while. And while we'll still only have one car working for a bit, there's lots of walking trails and a park just down the block so I will actually be able to do more outside the house than I do now. Plus, we're on the bottom floor - no more stairs!!! If you want to take a look at the place here's a link to their site... Villebois Apartments.
We'll be sad to be a bit further away from friends and family, but we're pretty good at making the trek out to McMinnville - at least we were when we lived in Tualatin, Sherwood and Wilsonville before :-) Anyway, we'll be finding out our official move in date today and I'll be doing lots of packing, selling, donating and giving away the few weeks before we meet Cole. We figured we really needed to do this before he was born, otherwise we'd just end up waiting too long and getting too far behind financially again. I may periodically list some things we're selling on craigslist on here for any of you to claim and we'll do our best to keep you updated on how things are going! Wish us luck!!!
August 4, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Um hello. Not to sound selfish or anything, but we just start getting to know one another and you gallop away like a wild horse! Well, that's alright. I understand the whole financial thing!!!
They look like nice apartments!
August 5, 2009 at 11:55 AM
joellen,
i don't know if you remember me, but i went to the berean school of the bible a while back now. i actually was friends with mark. i was just looking at your blog and saw that you will have to pay the hospital for your delivery. i wanted to encourage you to try to get as much finacial assistance as you can from them. we had an outstanding bill after i delivered a couple of our kids and I filled out all this info. trying to get assistance after I recieved the bills. Praise the Lord each time they took care of the whole balance. so, it never hurts to keep trying. even after you get the bill try to get more assitance.
i enjoy looking at your blog. asher is a very cute kid and will make a great big brother. many blessings to you and your family.
August 5, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Thanks fricker18... does this happen to be Michelle (no longer) Frick? Even my OBGYN really encouraged that too so hopefully tomorrow I can begin to work out those details! And thanks again, we also think Asher is super cute :-)