The first draft of this post was written last month- I never posted it, so here it is with a current update at the end.
Here we are in May 2020. When I checked the date of my last post, I was so surprised to see that I haven't posted in over a year! Wow. I am going to update by bullet points, probably because grad school has taught me to appreciate making and reading bullet points far better than reading essays and the like.
-Kennet's US visa got approved in late October 2019 and he joined me here in Pennsylvania. We are still waiting for his permanent green card to arrive in the mail, which will allow him to be able to travel across US borders again.
-Since moving back to Pa., we lived with my eldest sister Sarah for several months here in Bear Creek Village where we grew up, and since mid-January Kennet and I are living in a house that we are renting from a family member just down the road from Sarah's and my parents' house.
-We are here in Pa. because this is the state that I am licensed in as a nurse, and I got a clinical placement at a hospital as student nurse-midwife here. I have been in clinical (women's health office-based care) since September 2019 until March 2020, when all clinicals came to halt for students due to the pandemic of COVID-19. My hospital system will not take students back until September 2020, so I will resume again then, doing office-based care as well as labor, birth, and postpartum. Sill planning to graduate December 2020!
-Other than needing to finish my clinical hours at the hospital, I am now registered for my FINAL class of midwifery school and will complete it the first week of August.
-I also have to complete the "birth skills" classes during the rest of this month and next month, which are now virtual since the universities are closed. I now have my own pelvic model with a perineum, a baby, and a suture set.
-I'm looking into nursing jobs where I can work as an RN for the summer. I know that with the pandemic there is more of a need, but it may be difficult to find an employer who wants someone without acute care experience for short-term. Since my clinical hours will be intensive from September to December, I will not be able to keep a full-time or part-time job after August.
-I miss Honduras a lot, I miss the happiness of Kennet's family, I miss my doggy Max (with our family in Honduras), I miss the warm weather year-round. However, since being in Pa., we have been extremely fortunate to have some family close by who have given us friendship and who have been generous to us.
-Kennet got a job with TransPerfect, working from home from 13:00 (1pm) to 23:30 (11:30pm) 4 days per week.
-With all the ups and downs, I have been trying to help myself grow healthier as a person.
I am grateful to (finally) be taking an SSRI which is helping me have more energy and feel more stable mentally. Since everyone has been mostly home due to the pandemic, several of my sisters and I have started FaceTiming every morning, and that has been a true gift to me. It has brought me so much happiness. I am one to feel lonely very easily, much to my surprise even with a spouse. Trying to get to the root of some of my issues such as loneliness, jealousy, and depression are topics that take up much of my thoughts these days.
-Audible and Kindle have been a great way for me to read either at night, now that Kennet works late, and during my weeks between semesters. For our book club, my sisters and I are currently reading/listening to The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut, PhD.
-Having time to exercise nearly every day has also been a gift, especially with the increasingly warm weather now that springtime is here.
-As I look forward to the rest of 2020, I am excited while trying to not have anxiety. As aforementioned, there have been many ups and downs for me personally and for our marriage. We are approaching 3 years since our wedding, and we've lived in 3 different countries thus far.
I am hoping to stay on plan and graduate, study for my board exam so I can look for employment in early 2021, and we are thinking about adding family member(s), whether that be a human, a dog, or both!
Update
So the day after I wrote the first post (5/6), Kennet brought me home a pug (5/7) to my complete surprise. Many of you know I've been a pug-lover since childhood, when I first fell in love with my cousin Tommy's black pug named Spaz. My mom didn't want a shedding dog, so she got me a black Shih-Tzu instead, Ace. He was the best gift I ever got, and Jackson Ace, my pug, is now tied with Ace for the best gift I ever received!
To see many pictures & videos of him, please visit his Instagram page, jackson_ace_reinke.
Here we are in May 2020. When I checked the date of my last post, I was so surprised to see that I haven't posted in over a year! Wow. I am going to update by bullet points, probably because grad school has taught me to appreciate making and reading bullet points far better than reading essays and the like.
-Kennet's US visa got approved in late October 2019 and he joined me here in Pennsylvania. We are still waiting for his permanent green card to arrive in the mail, which will allow him to be able to travel across US borders again.
-Since moving back to Pa., we lived with my eldest sister Sarah for several months here in Bear Creek Village where we grew up, and since mid-January Kennet and I are living in a house that we are renting from a family member just down the road from Sarah's and my parents' house.
-We are here in Pa. because this is the state that I am licensed in as a nurse, and I got a clinical placement at a hospital as student nurse-midwife here. I have been in clinical (women's health office-based care) since September 2019 until March 2020, when all clinicals came to halt for students due to the pandemic of COVID-19. My hospital system will not take students back until September 2020, so I will resume again then, doing office-based care as well as labor, birth, and postpartum. Sill planning to graduate December 2020!
-Other than needing to finish my clinical hours at the hospital, I am now registered for my FINAL class of midwifery school and will complete it the first week of August.
-I also have to complete the "birth skills" classes during the rest of this month and next month, which are now virtual since the universities are closed. I now have my own pelvic model with a perineum, a baby, and a suture set.
-I'm looking into nursing jobs where I can work as an RN for the summer. I know that with the pandemic there is more of a need, but it may be difficult to find an employer who wants someone without acute care experience for short-term. Since my clinical hours will be intensive from September to December, I will not be able to keep a full-time or part-time job after August.
-I miss Honduras a lot, I miss the happiness of Kennet's family, I miss my doggy Max (with our family in Honduras), I miss the warm weather year-round. However, since being in Pa., we have been extremely fortunate to have some family close by who have given us friendship and who have been generous to us.
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| This is baby Max, Aug 2018 |
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| This is Max now, 2019 |
-Kennet got a job with TransPerfect, working from home from 13:00 (1pm) to 23:30 (11:30pm) 4 days per week.
-With all the ups and downs, I have been trying to help myself grow healthier as a person.
I am grateful to (finally) be taking an SSRI which is helping me have more energy and feel more stable mentally. Since everyone has been mostly home due to the pandemic, several of my sisters and I have started FaceTiming every morning, and that has been a true gift to me. It has brought me so much happiness. I am one to feel lonely very easily, much to my surprise even with a spouse. Trying to get to the root of some of my issues such as loneliness, jealousy, and depression are topics that take up much of my thoughts these days.
-Audible and Kindle have been a great way for me to read either at night, now that Kennet works late, and during my weeks between semesters. For our book club, my sisters and I are currently reading/listening to The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut, PhD.
-Having time to exercise nearly every day has also been a gift, especially with the increasingly warm weather now that springtime is here.
-As I look forward to the rest of 2020, I am excited while trying to not have anxiety. As aforementioned, there have been many ups and downs for me personally and for our marriage. We are approaching 3 years since our wedding, and we've lived in 3 different countries thus far.
I am hoping to stay on plan and graduate, study for my board exam so I can look for employment in early 2021, and we are thinking about adding family member(s), whether that be a human, a dog, or both!
Update
So the day after I wrote the first post (5/6), Kennet brought me home a pug (5/7) to my complete surprise. Many of you know I've been a pug-lover since childhood, when I first fell in love with my cousin Tommy's black pug named Spaz. My mom didn't want a shedding dog, so she got me a black Shih-Tzu instead, Ace. He was the best gift I ever got, and Jackson Ace, my pug, is now tied with Ace for the best gift I ever received!
To see many pictures & videos of him, please visit his Instagram page, jackson_ace_reinke.
 |
| Jacks was born Feb 2020. A coffee-lover like his mom and dad. |
