Augustana, My Amazing Friends, Fun at the Orchard, Happy 8th Anniversary

First, I need to point out that I have a lot of work to do getting good at this blogging thing.  If I want to chronicle my adventures, I need to be better about taking pictures.  Pictures that anyone would want to see anyway.  I find I use my phone's camera more for reminders, references, and jokes than anything.  Kind of a waste.  I'll try to do better in the new year.  It's not even Jan 1 and I have some resolutions ahead of me.

Next I'll actually move on to some of the fun I had!  In late October my friend Ethan and his parents hosted a "Nerd Weekend" for some of my college friends. We gathered to play nerdy games, eat good food, and drink good beer.  I started the weekend off by meeting my good friend Nate at our Alma Mater: Augustana College in Rock Island.  We enjoyed a stroll around campus, marveling at just how good the kids there have it these days.  It was a beautiful morning all around.

I have a lot of great memories from Augie.  I met some amazing people there, people I have carried forward the lessons I learned, and the people I love from that place.  That said, there are many parts of Augie I don't miss.  The overwhelmingly liberal culture (as evidenced by the "Feel the BERN 2016" graffiti that was... everywhere) which pervades most campuses, and the abandonment of their Lutheran principles.  Still, it was nice to be back, even for just an hour. The rest of the weekend was also a ton of fun.  A shout out to the hosts with the most, the Essers!  

Very early in November the official service for my grandfather was held in Mahomet. He passed away in October.  We had a small family service, which was lovely, but this memorial was for his friends.  What I wanted to share here was the amazing tribute that MY friends, some of whom had never even met my grandfather, paid to him with this lovely arrangement.  It moved both me and my grandmother.  I couldn't ask for better people.

While in Mahomet, we also met some of my other friends, Matt and Jenny for a meal at my absolute favorite spot: Filippo's Pizza.  Filippos is a small, family owned chain of restaurants based out of Monticello IL, with branches in Mt Zion and Mahomet.  Each branch is owned by a son or daughter of the original Filippo Galbo.  The pizza is truly the best anywhere.  I am a sucker for the Thick, Extra-Sauce, Meatball variety (pictured above).  It was a great meal, with good people. I hope I get to go back soon.  And if I do, yes there will be more pictures.

As we cruised into November we managed to get in a trip to Tanner's Orchard, out near Bradford IL.  It is always a fun time.  Mandi was asked by Forrest to join her on the spring-riders. She got going, though not quite as fast as he did:

Heh Heh.  Kid loves those little spring-riders.  

Lastly, I'd like to note that Mandi and I had a wonderful 8th anniversary. I brought her a single red rose, a fun mini-cake she had commented on a while back, and a card.  It was a quiet night in for us, but sometimes that is best.

My wife can blog, and so can I.

For any of you who don't know, my wife blogs.  And she is really good at it.  Her talent for crafting has helped her do wonderful work cataloging our life together for the past... many years.  Anyone who wants to follow her can, and should at:

Mandi's Musings

Me on the other hand?  I struggle.  I would love to chock it up to the ADHD, and maybe that plays a part, but really I just lack the discipline and dedication.  I work a lot as well, so that doesn't help.  Still, I need a journal, and a forum to express my joys, my concerns, my love, and my faith as much as the next fella.  So I'll try to do a better job.  If not for me, then for my kids to have something to look back on, besides their mother's blog. 

I'll start with an update.  When we left off, I was paradigm shifting.  It was 2012, Mandi and I were moving to Monticello IL after finishing residency.  Mandi was carrying Forrest, and I was making a lot of transitions.  

Monticello was a wonderful place for us.  We accomplished a lot, and I'll summarize in bullet point :D

• August 2012:  Forrest came into our lives.  We love you buddy.  You were tough at first, you were not the happiest baby, made worse I am sure by our new parent anxiety.  But we made it through and you sure are a ton of fun now!
• September 2012: I reunite with an old friend, Josh, who is an instructor in Choy Li Fut Kung Fu - I begin my study of the martial art.
• October 2012:  I was made President of the Medical Staff at the local hospital.  I learned a lot about administrative medicine, and myself as a physician
• November 2012:  Our 5 year anniversary!  Fun!
• November 2012:  I pass my ABFM board exams, and become Board Certified in Family Medicine!
• February 2013: I traveled to Phoenix for an administrative medicine conference - what an awesome time!  The Hilton Pointe Tapatillo was a great place to stay, I made some great friends and learned a lot.
• July 2013:  My college friend and fellow physician Mark Keplinger and I decided to go into business together, founding The Gaming Goat - Champaign.  A specialty game store.  We operated as a franchise of The Gaming Goat out of the Chicagoland area.
• September 2013:  I went on a CME trip to San Diego, where I learned a lot, and spent time with my friends Brent, Nate, and Brian (Brent's Brother).

• September 2013:  Forrest and Mandi enroll in a local Montessori Toddler program, Mandi meets a great friend in Heather Foran.
• November 2013:  Mandi and I celebrate our 6th :)  
• Christmas 2013:  Forrest, having developed an obsession with KitchenAid Mixers (which he refers to as "Ddittz") receives his very own Blue (boo) Mixer (Ditz).  Video shown below:

• August 2014:  Mark and I strike out on our own, dropping our Gaming Goat Franchise, and convert our store to Titan Games - Champaign
• November 2014:  Many changes over the past year push me and my employer further apart.  For reasons I won't elaborate on, we decide to part ways.  I begin my search for a new job, planning on finishing up in March of 2015.
• November 2014:  Mandi I celebrate our 7th anniversary, and beating the odds.  I love my wife more and more everyday, she lights up my life and grounds me in all the right ways.
• January-February 2015:  The job search continues, with interviews all over IA, IL, and WI.  Eventually we decide that we will return Peoria, our home during residency. I take up employment with UnityPoint Health as a Flex provider.
• April 2015:  I finish up at Kirby and begin the next Chapter.  For the time being I commute to Peoria as we try to sell our Monticello home.
• May 2015:  Our house sells!
• May 2015:  Mandi and I find out she is expecting our second :D
• June 2015:  So long Monticello (or Mommicello as Forrest calls it).  We bid farewell to our happy home, and one of our favorite towns and make our way back to Peoria.  I am loving my new position.
• July 2015:  During our annual trip to WI, we find our dream retirement home, and we pull the trigger.  Me make an offer, and the offer is accepted.  Whitefish Lake here we come!
• July 2015:  We join Mandi's family on a trip to the west coast of Michigan, what a lovely trip (see Mandi's Musings for more detail)
• September 2015:  We close on our new house in Gordon!

• October 2015:  We finally find a house we like in Peoria, after renting for a few months in our old neighborhood.  (see Mandi's Musings for more detail)

So that was a lot, in very little time.  I didn't cover nearly everything, but I don't know that I could in one blog post.  Heck, Mandi has done a lot more than that to cover those three years.  But it serves as a fair summary.  I hope to be back at this regularly, now that I am living and loving my time in Peoria.  I'll end this with a verse I read today:

"They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God;, he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this way we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

1 John 4:5-6