The blabber!

I have been a slacker. I have not updated as I should. The problem lies in the fact that the thing I wanted most to tell all of you was not general public knowledge just yet.

But now I just can’t stand it anymore and it’s all about to come out of me NOW!

About 3 weeks ago, Peter got a call from a friend he’s worked with at Verizon. Brad had moved to take a job in Georgia and he wanted to offer Peter a position. Now, Peter has a rambling heart, he’s wanted to move for years….he would have been a great military husband, moving every couple of years…but I am a homebody. I like it where I am and I want to stay here.

There have been many “Hey, what about placeXYZ???”

“No.”

“But they have (insert attraction/neat-o-wowie-cool-thing) here!”

“Yeah…no.”

It pretty much just went in this basic conversation path every time.

Then this offer came up. We had just had this long talk about moving. I told Pete to just trust that when the time was right, when the job was right, when the move was RIGHT, the doors would open and there would be no doubt in our hearts.

Big mouth.

Not a week after the “right” conversation, the phone call and the job offer came up. It is a fantastic opportunity, it’s the perfect fit job for Pete, it’s all Christmas and birthday wrapped up in one big ball of joy….but it’s in Atlanta.

Whooooaaaa, Nelly.

Atlanta?? Why would we want to move to Atlanta? We live here — that’s an actual quote from me…I have a real knack for stating the obvious when there is no other rational argument.

But Brad told Pete to take his time, weigh his options, consider all the possibilities and he would hold the position as long as it took us to make a decision. Wow! Ok, let’s start weighing those options.

Lots of friends, family and support – no support system
Great insurance – who knows?
A hospital and staff that we love – some top 3 rated pediatric oncology group in the county
We have a house here – oh wait, we can buy a much bigger, nicer house there for less money?

Wait…which side am I arguing here?

What we found was that as we really did weigh all our options, we were feeling more and more compelled that maybe this WAS the right time and right move.

Then God kicked in and said “Let me show you what I can do!”

I have to make a list there’s so many awesome things that have happened.

1. The insurance thing was figured out when we found out that Verizon is lowering the coverage plan and that meant that the option between what we would have and what the new company was offering was pretty much a moot point.

2. We made a mad dash trip up there to check out the hospital and, although it isn’t our amazing doctors and nurses, there was nothing that could be complained about. In fact, it was the most tremendous clinic I’ve ever even thought about…it blew our socks off.

3. The house…well, if we make the move, pray that it sell…but there are some awesome houses available to us up there.

4. Now check this out…this is when it almost borders on creepy cool. I have been talking to Alayna in TX. Her son has cancer and we’ve built an email friendship over the past few months. When I had mentioned this upcoming decision, she says “Well, I just happen to have this cousin who live in Atlanta and she has a daughter who was treated for cancer up there, she would be able to share all kinds of information.” Well, cool! So I email D.D. and I get back a wonderful, mile long email about the hospitals, the doctors, the support system, how involved she is in both the family side and the research funding side of pediatric cancer in Atlanta. That’s sweet, she sounds a lot like me! Awesome. So there we are, standing in the clinic in Atlanta, we know no one and no one knows us, we’ve just finished up our tour of the facility and I hear this voice say “Anissa?” It’s D.D.!!! They just happened to be at the clinic that day, running late for their appointment and she recognized me from one visit to Peyton’s site. A five minute difference in timing and we would have left and they wouldn’t have been there and just WOW! If that’s not a God thing, I don’t know what is. She and her husband Todd were able to talk to us at length about the area and share so much encouragement about moving there.

5. Then!! Then!! Oh yes, my friends, there’s more. The director that Peter had spoken to at the new job mentioned two areas to check out that would be great for us to look into if a decision to move was made. Peachtree City and Newnan. Great, so we hit the internet, as that is our only source of information…if we can’t Google it, then it don’t exist! And we start checking out the Newnan area. I get an email from this lady named Julie, It’s just a sweet comment left to tell us that she’d been following Peyton’s site and that she’d been praying for us. I emailed her a thank you and when she wrote me back…hold on to your pants!…she wrote “There are many prayers for you coming from NEWNAN, GEORGIA. Ok, are you kidding me?? A random person just decides to email me from Newnan, Georgia the day that we are told to start looking for homes there?? She wants to have us over for dinner! How cool is that?

6. My comment was “Life was so much easier when God just set a bush on fire when he wanted you to go somewhere.” On our drive to Atlanta, there was a Chevy Lumina absolutely AFLAME on the side of the road. Ok, maybe not exactly a burning bush, but it’s the 21st century, maybe a burning car is the equivalent. Maybe I’m reaching a bit on that one.

7. One of the sweetest things was when we were on the road on our way up to look at Atlanta, we got the nighttime call from the kids who were bunking up with Grandma while we drank 84 oz Big Gulp size coffees and tried to stay awake through a midnight drive. We had just been talking about whether to move away from all our support and wonderful friends here was the right choice at this point in our lives. Rachael says, “Do you want me to recite my Bible verse for you?” Of course, we say yes, we have the phone on speaker so we can both hear her. “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. Genesis 28:15. Was that good?” Seriously? My own daughter is verbally giving us God’s assurance that no matter where we are, He’s going to provide the support we need. It’s like God uses Verizon “Can you hear me now??”

So, there are still things to finalize, it’s not definite until all paperwork is done, all the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted, but we are praying for our lives to be led in the right direction. We are excited at the idea of all that could happen for us in Atlanta, and we are also sad to think of all the wonderful things we would be leaving behind. We are scared to think of the possibility that Peyton could take a turn for the worse and we would be without our friends and amazing support system here, but we also know that we can’t let our decisions be made by fear. We are hesitant to leave behind the Children’s Cancer Center and all that wonderful people we’ve been blessed to know and have in our lives, and then the hint is dropped that a CCC is in Atlanta’s future…maybe we’re being placed there ahead of time to be ready when it is.

The kids are taking the moving idea remarkably well. Rachael is ready to pack up a bag right now and hit the road, Peyton is unsure of what to make of it (although she’s expressed she’s not going if there’s no Cancer Center and our nurses aren’t going to be there), and Nathaniel has been very emotional about the whole thing. Please keep the kids in prayer, they have been through so much in the past couple of years with my being so sick, Peyton’s cancer, it’s just been turmoil after turmoil. I know this transition will be hard, but I also see great things in our future and I pray that they are able to embrace the possibilities of it all.

Please pray that if this is where we are meant to be that the final cogs will fall into place and we will be able to just celebrate the decision.

Thursday we went to the hockey game, we got to see so many wonderful friends and share in a fantastic night. We are so appreciative of these events, not because of the hockey game (although it ROCKED!! Two spectacular fights AND we won!! Whooooo hooo) but because of the time we get to spend with phenomenal people. Just a huge thank you to Brad Richards, #19 and the big playmaker of the night and an all around awesome guy with a huge heart, and to Kasey Dowd who spends so much time sharing the wealth of her compassion and her tremendous self with all of us families.

Kasey Dowd and Kay Bertoch, two awesome ladies!

Peyton in her Lightning glory

Cody and his fan club

Peyton and Lindsay

Peyton, Lindsay and Erin – a living example of our greatest hopes, she’s a Leukemia survivor, 3 years out of treatment!

Peyton and Kay, it was just a lovefest all night long

Dana Bertoch, Lymphoma survivor and Matt (on the left) a Neuroblastoma patient and his buddies…or as her mom Kay and I liked to giggle, Dana and her harem!

This is Juan, the child we’ve been sponsoring for a dollar a day…ok, so no, seriously, this is the ever awesome Brad Richards #19!!! The reason Rachael has that look on her face is because each table set up in the room has a HUGE bottle of Tabasco sauce on it….Kasey got a great laugh out of Rachael’s horror at that find.

Brad making lots of kids VERY happy!

Peyton and Kasey, is there any doubt how much this lady loves the kids and how much they love her?

The weekend has been spent with friends from Daytona who came over to stay for a few days. 6 kids, 4 adults, 2 dogs and a great time for all!

f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
—Anissa