On Monday, as we were coming back from our weekend getaway, I started feeling yucky.  Not any stomach junk, just a really sore back and neck, and a bad headache.  I had a hard time driving home and was really wishing Andy could drive (because he felt fine).  But we made it and I came home and crashed hard and slept for a few hours.  I had to call in sick on Tues. since I had a much worse cold and migraine.  I felt really bad about it since we’re so short staffed at work, but I wouldn’t have been any good there.  I slept all day yesterday and was hoping to go into work today, but as I was trying to get ready this morning, husband tells me that I “still look like hell” and he knew I shouldn’t go in.  I feel bad because the girls won’t even get a lunch break for 2 days since there is just the 2 of them without me there.  But I knew he was right.  I’m finally feeling a little better….hopefully on the upswing.

I still had to get up and take Andy to PT at 8am both mornings….we’re both really, really ready for him to start driving again soon!

Happy Birthday to my my husband!

Here’s hoping for a great year for him (and us!)….and for a full recovery….

So thankful for him and that God placed him in my life!

The weekend was too short – even though it was a 3 day weekend for me.  I worked New Year’s eve and came home so tired that I didn’t make it up anywhere near midnight ….we turned on a movie and I was out so fast I don’t remember much past the first few minutes of the movie.  Good thing we didn’t have any big New Year’s eve plans.  I was off New Year’s day  and we had a fun time running up to Raleigh and doing a little after-Christmas sale shopping.  Mostly Andy just likes getting out of the house these days, so it’s easy to talk him into shopping!

Today was another long day and as I have many days recently, I have come home really exhausted….we have been really busy and VERY short-staffed.  But I came home and even made a good dinner.  I like to cook, but had been having a hard time feeling putting much thought or effort into making dinner at all since Andy’s accident.  I don’t know why – it just seemed like more thing to worry about or something.  So we’d end up doing more fast food, easy meals, and breakfast/snacking for dinner than was good for either of us.  It was getting a little out of hand in my opinion – even though Andy didn’t usually care – he could snack all day every day and be fine I think.  Anyways, I’m going to get back on track with planning and cooking.

But today was really good because Andy went back to work!  He got the all clear from his doctors and was just waiting to hear from his employers about how everything could work out.  He decided to start with part-time working from home to get re-aclaimated to working.  He said everything went pretty well and he had a lot to catch up on.  Its good to see him focusing on his work instead of the pain and frustration he’s been dealing with for a while now.  We’re thankful that his job is being so supportive of everything and is willing to let him work from home since he can’t drive yet and it would be hard to get him there.

Happy New Year!  We hope everyone had a good one and a good Christmas.  We haven’t blogged for a while, so here’s a recap of 2009 and what we’re looking forward to this year.

2009….

• We renewed our lease and decided to stay another year in our current apartment and little town.  Andy talked to some people in the national office and we found out that he is/was higher up on the list to be moved overseas which could possibly look like the end of 2009/beginning of 2010, so we decided that a year contract was a good gamble.  He also was on the backup list to be deploy in June, but thankfully that didn’t happen!
• Abi’s job is still going well…she’s actually one of the senior employees now and has a lot more responsibility and has been really busy.  But a lot of the drama is gone and she enjoys working with her current co-workers.  They have been really supportive of her and we are thankful she has a good job.
• We got to go and celebrate Abi’s sister Katie’s wedding (more here) in May and then spent a week vacationing up north visiting DC and MD and then up to Maine to celebrate Abi’s cousin Daniel’s wedding (vacation pt. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
• We celebrated our first anniversary (and decided not to get a dog right now).
• We started going to a new church and a new Bible study together.  We are doing a Disciple Bible study and are systematically reading through most of the Bible.  We are loving it and are glad to be making new friends.
• Andy was in a very serious accident in November and was injured but is alive and healing.  (Email either of us if you would like to read more info about his accident and recovery).  He spent a week in the hospital and still has a lot of physical therapy to go…we are so thankful for all the love and support we received this past year while going through everything.
• Abi turned 30!  She wasn’t too excited about it and her actual birthday wasn’t very good since it was right after Andy’s accident….but she had a fun surprise birthday party in Baltimore when she went up to visit and celebrate her good friend Becki’s baby at the end of October.
• We got a new car!  A fun red Ford Focus….gets good gas milage and we got a good long test drive the day we got it….going up to Baltimore to visit Abi’s family for Christmas.  We had a good time and were glad we got the chance to get up there to see everyone.
• Andy has been working hard in physical therapy and has recently started walking with a cane!  He looks like an old man, but this is really good progress as he is starting to put more weight on his hip and leg.  We like his physical therapist and are glad he comes to work with Andy at our home.

in 2010….

• We are looking forward to and praying for a full recovery for Andy!
• We are thankful his job has been understanding and supportive and are looking forward to him returning to work.
• We hope that he can quickly return to being able to drive – our new car!
• We have no idea what Andy’s job will be like this year…if we will be moving overseas or Andy will be able to be deployable or not, or if we will be able to stay here….just keep us in your prayers as we (and his HR) figure it all out.
• We hope to still be able to spend lots of time with our families….we are thankful to be so close to Andy’s dad, sister and his stepmother and step-siblings and we want to make time to visit with his mom, grandmother, and Abi’s family who are all a little further away.
• Abi’s excited about a new girl’s Bible study and some new friends she has made – she hopes that will be a good outlet for her when she needs suppport and/or gets too stressed.
• We are looking forward to a good year with the American Red Cross youth group – hope to help them do another major activity/fundraiser this spring and several more service projects.
• and who knows what else?????  We are glad that we can stay in touch with so many people and would love to have more people follow us as we blog.  Thanks so much!

And in case you didn’t notice….Abi is being indecisive and has changed blogsites once again…..she didn’t feel very inspired to blog at a private blogsite (although she knew it was necessary to keep some things privately viewed at this point)…so she looked around and realized that she can password protect certain blog posts on WordPress’s site….and she decided to switch over and blog here.  We are still keeping

http://abiandandy.com

but switching hosts and blogging here instead.  Abi can also more easily blog on her Blackberry from WordPress’s site….so hopefullly you will get more frequent updates.  Thanks for following our journey!

- Abi & Andy