Thank You!

Hi all -

First I have to start out by thanking everyone for praying that I would receive my nursing license on time. I received my temporary nursing license from the State of SC on Friday afternoon, called HR 2 minutes later, and had an appt. with HR and Occupational Health for new hire paperwork and a check-up about an hour after that. They were willing to fit me in at the last moment so I could start orientation on Monday. If I hadn't made it in, I would have had to wait another 3 weeks to start....and that would have been three long weeks. So...I start work nursing orientation on Monday! Thank you so much for praying; it all worked out on God's timing and I guess I just needed to have a little faith.

This past week also held a couple of firsts for myself here in Florence. I made my first trip to the dauntingly massive library and my first trip to the Florence Starbucks! (Sarah - it's a really good Starbucks, it has a lot of seating....hehe) The coffee is just as great down here. And even in the heat, my latte was wonderful.

Adam has been busy this week organizing his training room at Wilson High School, and working the Dixie Youth Little League Baseball Tournament. This week ahead holds more of the baseball tournament (in 95 degree heat) and the start of two-a-day football practices on Friday. Yippee! (not)

Prayer requests for the week:
- Pray for Leah as she starts orientation, and getting back into the groove of working again.
- Pray actual nursing license comes from the state, and that the state of MI sent their portion to SC.
- Pray for Adam as he is still figuring out his schedule and keeping it all straight each day.
- Pray for Adam as two-a-days start up and working with the coaches and athletes.

Goodnight friends and family! Love you!

Leah

Wedding Weekend in GR

Hey y'all!

Sorry it's been a couple days, but Adam and I have been busy! This past weekend we flew back to GR for a little time with family and to celebrate my cousin Erica's wedding. Adam and I flew out on Friday afternoon, and eventually made it into GR after a couple delays with flights. Let's just say after this weekend's flying experiences - I'm so over flying for at least a little while. Airports just aren't that cozy to be spending that much time in them. So anyway...we made it and spent late Friday night and early Saturday morning with our Ploeg family. Nice to see everyone again!

Erica and Phil's wedding was beautiful! The wedding was in the afternoon and the reception was held later at Egypt Valley Country Club. It was a great time (see pictures :-). I've never witnessed my Mom dance that much; my favorite being the conga line - watching everyone (including my mother and Uncle Bill) prance around with sombrero's on their heads. Classic.
It was really nice to be able to see our family again so soon - not easy to say good-bye again, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Adam and I were exhausted on Sunday after flying out of GR at 6am. Once again we had a delay at the airport - that made us really cheery. Once we got home we immediately went to bed and slept for a couple hours then relaxed for the rest of the evening.

I don't have any stories about any recent ventures out in Florence because I haven't been able to explore for the past couple days because my cars been in the shop. Hopefully I will be able to get out tomorrow - thinking its about time to explore the library - that probably sounds more exciting to some than others - and I think in a day or two I will venture to the farmer's market.

This is also probably more exciting to some than others, but we purchased our first lawn mower yesterday. Adam was like a kid in a candy shop....and of course the mower is bright red and probably has way too many features for our tiny little lawn. But it is OUR lawn mower and we feel so grown up now to have this new responsibility. (The lawn does look much better now - I have to say. Between the weeds that were by now up to our knees and the bird-sized flies in the back yard; it was resembling a jungle.)

I am still waiting for my nursing license to come in the mail - we are praying that it comes by Friday so I can start orientation on Monday. I decided to take the Hemodialysis position with McLeod. I will be working 6a-6p three days a week, and on-call Sundays periodically. Not that I really want to start - but it would be nice to have something to do here. Please pray that the Board of Nursing hurries up!

Have a great day!!

Leah

End of a Busy Week

Hey All,

Hopefully you all had a great week. Leah and I made it through week one. Praise the Lord, she has 2 job offers. Choices are nice.

We went out for dinner with AJ and Alison, (2 of my friends from Cedarville) who will be getting married next summer. Yah! They have been out at Myrtle beach with family for the last week. We went out to Redbone Alley for dinner. Mmmm. That place is delicious. If anyone ever comes, I recommend either the Ribeye or Grilled Carolina shrimp. Delicious.

My week was a busy week filled with lots of new things. I started seeing patients today in the clinic, but that will decline once I start football at the end of July.

Well, sorry it was so short today. Leah and I are now headed back up to MI for a quick trip (Friday afternoon-Sunday morning). Sorry we won't get to see everyone. Congratulations to Erica and Phil who are getting married this weekend! Looking forward to seeing as many people as we can.

Much Love,
Adam

Job Prospect

Yay!!

Thank you so much for praying everyone! I got a call back today from the HR lady at McLeod and she told me that both hemodialysis and cardiac would like to offer me a position! I haven't decided which position to take yet, both have their pros and cons.
The next hump is making sure my South Carolina nursing license goes through so I can actually practice here. They are notoriously slow I hear, but hopefully it shows up soon.

Blessings!
Leah

Just a quick word

Hey all,

I got the afternoon off for a few hours this afternoon - yah! I guess that's nice considering I put in 12 hours yesterday. Orientation has gone well. However, I think my brain is about to explode. Lots of information. Computer based training, policies, procedures, manuals, etc... I did get to work a Redwolves game last night though. They are part of a "wooden bat" league. They are all college baseball players from all over the country who come here to play summer ball. I actually met a coach who graduated from Cedarville the year before I did. Small world.

Leah had her interviews today, she might post something about that at some point, but thought i'd give my 2 cents. She said they went very well. Both the hemodialisys and the cardiac positions have pros and cons, but both would work for her. We're not totally sure which sounds best at this point, but then again we don't have an offer from Mcleod either. We're not sure when they'll call us back. Hopefully soon.

Well, I need to get a dinner real quick before I go cover another baseball game for the Redwolves. Thanks for all your prayers and support. They are felt every day.

-Adam

Big on the Pig

Good morning!

Leah here - thought I would update everyone on my experiences during my first day alone running errands in Florence. Adam started orientation yesterday morning for his position at McLeod. He seemed a little overwhelmed with information yesterday - but that's how orientation always goes. Please pray that he gets to hang of his schedule and begins to feel comfortable with all the things that have been put on his plate. We found out a little more about what Adam's schedule will look like for the next year - he will be in the sports medicine clinic from 8-12 each day and then, (depending on the season) he will be at Wilson High School in the afternoon each day. Now we just need to find out what my schedule will look like! I have two interviews tomorrow morning at McLeod one for hemodialysis and the other with the cardiac unit. It is our prayer that I am able to get a day position - but I would probably take anything for now.

So anyhoo...I decided yesterday to venture out into Flo-town (without the GPS mind you) and see what types of stores and shopping were available. Mind you venturing out here is something different than venturing out in MI. People here don't use the blinkers the car companies purposefully place on their cars for their safety and the safety of the other drivers on the road. I actually had one lady pull up next to my car and stick her arm out of the window to motion to me that she wanted to move over. And the car she was driving wasn't old. Of course they do it with a smile on their face and wave because people are nice, but it still takes some getting used to.

I headed towards the main shopping area in Florence, the Magnolia Mall. Florence has the typical stores like Kohls, JCPenney, Sears, Barnes n Noble, Dicks...and of course a Target (a prerequisite for considering moving to a new town :-). But I wanted to explore the new department store available to me - Belk. Dumb name huh? The name sure didn't draw me in, but someone told me it was like a Macy's s0 I decided it couldn't be too bad. Upon exploring every section of the store I decided I wasn't all that impressed -it will do, but it's no Macy's. (The outlet mall 45 mi down the road will probably be more promising :-)

After browsing my options in retail - I decided we needed a couple more groceries for the week. It was time to make my trip to the local Piggly Wiggly. I was excited. The Pig (my new nickname for the store) had a nice selection - a little cheaper prices than the Food Lion (what's up with the animal names?) and the isles were larger. AND every employee where's a t-shirt that has a big pig on the front and says "I'm Big on the Pig" on the back; AND they sell these t-shirts in every color! Get excited about X-mas presents everyone! hehehe JK.

So...it was good day in Flo; Adam came home, we ate dinner then unpacked the office a little more. I'm not sure yet what today might bring - maybe I'll venture to the Library. But it is sunny and only 88 so I could lay out...supposed to be warmer later in the week...oh like 95, so maybe I should catch my beams today.


Have a great day!


Oh I almost forgot - here's some pictures of our new house!

A Busy Sunday

Well, we had a great Sunday. It was eventful. We went to the Church at Sandhurst. We thought that was a good church. It will remain on our list for the time being. Pros and cons of course, but overall a good experience.

AJ called me this morning, and made it to Myrtle Beach yesterday. Not knowing my schedule for the week, Leah and I decided it might be best to head out there after church to see he and Allison...just in case I don't have a full free evening this week. The weather after all was 95 degrees and humid, so we thought the beach would be a great option. On the way out to Myrtle, we encountered the slowest McDonalds ever...nearly 20 minutes for a double cheeseburger, hamburger, fries, and 2 water cups...unbelievable. Is this SC time? Hope not. After arriving at the beach we visited with AJ and Allison for a few hours and made our way home. Soon we'll be having some dinner.

Just a few more things to do tonight before I start orientation tomorrow. Should be a relaxing evening.

Continue to pray for patience as we look for churches and also as I start orientation with McLeod.

Until later,
Adam and Leah

ps...i'm not allowed to post pictures until our house is cleaner...=)

The first week in SC

Hey everyone!

Adam and I have been here in SC for a total of five days now; much has been accomplished, and we are very pleased with how it has all gone so far. The moving truck arrived on Wednesday with all of our stuff intact! (I was a bit worried...) With the wonderful help of our parents most everything found a home and was put away on that first day. Our home needed a little bit of tending to with some maintenance issues...it was very helpful to have Dad Ploeg and Dad VK here to tend to those things.

On Thursday the boys headed to Lowe's (unsupervised...always a risk) and the ladies headed to Food Lion to fill up our cupboards. (Maybe next week I will make my first and much anticipated visit to the nearby Piggly Wiggly...can't wait!! lol).

By Friday we had accomplished most of the home maintenance tasks, and decided to head to Myrtle Beach to explore and have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. (Come visit and I'll take you too!) We headed down to the beach and put our feet in the water and whetted Mom VK's desire to come back and spend a day lounging on the vast beach.

Friday afternoon brought our first Florence tears though...it came time to say goodbye to our dear parents and them say goodbye to us. Probably the least fun part of our week so far....Adam and I both realize that our parents support our decision to move here and are proud of courage to step out of our GR bubble, but it was hard to see their tears and sadness as they drove away. We will miss them dearly, and it will take some getting used to considering we won't be able to drive up for a day to go shopping or stop by for dinner or a round of golf. We can't thank them enough though for taking an entire week of vacation to drive 16 hours and help us transition and settle into our new home. We love you MOM(s) and DAD(s).

So everyone, I understand if reading our blog gets boring after awhile, but I hope it is informational and updates you on how Adam and I are doing. We will try to post as big milestones occur, or maybe even little things like buying my first sunshine-shaped fly swatter come up. Also I hope this will be an easy place to post prayer requests that Adam and I have along our journey. Thank you to those of you already praying!

Much love, til next time...