The Four Things We Worry About

How else are you going to know what the recent developments in our busy and eventful household are if I never take the time to write about them? Well, by actually communicating with us by phone, email, Facebook, or even in person, I suppose. But today, all of that is unnecessary thanks to this. These are the top four sources of stress in our lives lately, and there is news about all of them.

4. Alicia's Ears
Well, her ears, her lungs, and her hemangiomas are the only things left about Alicia that we could possibly be concerned about, and there has been no reason whatsoever to worry about the last two lately. However, Alicia has had a couple of ear infections since her tubes fell out a couple months ago. The tubes falling out was normal and expected; the ear infections somewhat normal as well, but she has also been asking us to repeat things lately and we were getting concerned that her hearing might be affected again and the tubes would have to go back in.

But as it happened, today was her regular six month ear check. Her hearing test showed that she can hear wonderfully well, and her exam showed no fluid or infection in the ears. As of today, she is aurally healthy and shows no signs of requiring further attention in the future. Sigh of relief. I guess when she asks us to say something again, it just means we mumble too much.

3. Michelle's Visa
I haven't checked with Michelle on the ordering here, by the way. Her worriorities might be arranged entirely differently. Anyway, her application for permanent residency in Canada is still being processed. This week we received a letter from Canadian Immigration informing us that an interview will probably not be required in the process. They asked for a few additional documents though, which is apparently a normal step in the process. They need to see another background check on Michelle from the state of Minnesota (no problem), Toby and Alicia's birth certificates (okay, sure), and proof of Toby and Alicia's Canadian citizenship. That sounds simple enough, but what it actually means is their citizenship certificate cards which we applied for back in September. We haven't received them yet, and we were told the process could take 8 to 12 months. Strange that such a simple, relative formality takes longer than some much more complicated applications. So we will be letting them know that those are still in the works, and we'll see what happens.

2. Michelle's Degree
Michelle is still hard at work on her Master's in ESL Education. She continues to enjoy the classes and love what she's learning, but being so busy is additional stress on her. She has just finished the final project for one of the three classes she is currently taking. Next week that class will wrap up and she will only have two going for the rest of the term, so the load is lightening.

1. Josh's Job
Not my job in Minnesota, which rocks, but the process of finding a job in Vancouver to move to. I have refrained from posting minute by minute updates here, since it can be such a tedious process to actually find a new job, but there are some real developments to report. I will be flying to Vancouver one week from today, there to interview in person with a company with whom I have already had two interviews by phone. Not to jinx it, but they have indicated that they are pretty happy with me and I have every reason to hope that they will be offering me a position following this face to face meeting. If that turns out to be the case, and depending on how soon all the details are worked out, we could be officially moving before the end of June. Even if things don't go as smoothly, we will probably decide to go in July anyway. Things have reached the point where we are pretty much committed to the idea, and if the job is not there, we will just need to take the leap anyway and see where we land. But hopefully we will not find ourselves in that position, and the best news is that we might know as soon as in one week.

So what four things are you worrying about most?