Today I finally changed my phone number from my Ohio number to a local Texas number... Now when I call someone local they might answer, instead of thinking it's another political call or the FBI (does anyone else get those often?). Last month we celebrated a year of being in Texas, and as I look back, I think of the craziness, laughter, tears, and many, many adventures we've had! And it's been too long since I've posted here, to keep friends and family across the globe updated, so I figured I should sit down and write an abbreviated Sliter Family update of the last year to catch everyone up to speed. I will include links to previous posts that go more in-depth, or add links as I write posts, but for now, here's what we've been up to!
March 2013 (and why we moved from Ohio to Texas!)
April 2013:
- April 13th, loaded all of our possessions into a "big yellow truck" as Levi says, and moved to Texas!
- April 15th, the big yellow truck arrived in Texas, and we moved in with my parents for a season, tucking our things into various locations in the upstairs of my parents' home and their barn.
- Nathan interviewed, and was hired, by a local owner/operator of two Chick-Fil-A stores near my parents (about 30 minutes away, which in Texas, is close for a job)
- Nathan also started leading worship at a small local church plant, who's current worship leader had undergone surgery and was beginning chemo for a rare and dangerous form of cancer
- Levi and Eliana jumped right into life in the South, which meant it's already warm & sunny, and your life can be spent outside all day, every day (my parents live on 5 acres in the woods... so much to explore and experience!)
- I took the kids to East Texas (about 2.5 hours away) to visit my grandparents, who I am very close to... we have kept this up pretty much every month since moving here! They have 12 acres, a pond, a large garden, and just in general are a fun place to be!
May 2013-August 2013:
- Nathan continued to lead worship 2-3 a month as needed at the local church, and I began making some wonderful local friends there, with kids similar ages to Levi & Ellie.
- Nathan continued at Chick-Fil-A, learning and growing as part of the leadership team there. Long days & nights because of working mostly closing shifts, but it was a season
- We spent lots of time with my family, since all three of my sisters are local, and of course we were living with my parents! One of my sisters (Sarah) found out in August she and her husband were expecting their first baby!
- We received a queen-size like-new mattress, a huge answer to prayer!
- Levi took swimming lessons, and practiced the rest of the summer (still not quite there, but better!)
- I was hired by our church to help coordinate volunteers for Sunday mornings while their normal staff person was on maternity leave
- Nathan and I enjoyed a three day vacation to the Texas Hill Country (New Braunsfels & Canyon Lake) sans kiddos, thanks to my parents, going to Schiltterbahn (a 40 acre water park incorporating natural rivers & spring), Natural Bridge Caverns, tubing on the Comal River, and staying at a lodge on the gorgeous Canyon Lake. This was our "we turned 30 this summer" trip together!
- We took Levi & Ellie to their first Barnum Bailey Ringling Brothers Circus (or however you spell it)
September 2013- October 2013
- Beginning September 1st, Nathan transitioned into his official position at Chick-Fil-A, the Training & Leadership Development Director. Woohoo! This also meant financially we could start exploring our options for living on our own again.
- Started some basic preschool with the kids, online material called "God's Little Explorers", which fit well with how much time we spend outside
- Got a Houston Zoo membership, which we have thoroughly enjoyed already!
- Started just getting a feel of rental places and/or cost of homes in the area. To make a long story short, while not intending to buy for awhile yet, in October a foreclosure caught our interest with a floor plan we loved, a huge backyard (12,000 sq.ft. lot), in a neighborhood two miles from Nathan's job and our church. It was on the market 4 days for bids, the bank chose ours out of 5 offers, including a cash offer higher than ours, and our closing date was set for beginning of December.
- Attended a weekend-long Whitten Family Reunion at Chicot State Park in Louisianna... ate lots of fried fish and cracklings, enjoyed a gumbo cook-off, had a regular small aligator visit the fishing pier to say hi, and in general enjoyed more time with family outdoors
- Visited some good friends from college, Alicia & Barrett Marcantel and their 3 kids, in Lousianna on the way home from the reunion
- Flew to Ohio to visit Nathan's family and our Ohio friends, enjoying the colorful fall up there (that we honestly don't have here)
- Our church made the decision to keep me on staff as the Sunday morning coordinator, freeing up the other staff person to focus on the admin side of things
- Nathan traveled to Atlanta, GA, on a business trip to CFA corporate with the owner & general managers of the stores, to take part in a pilot leadership development program for CFA
- Eliana Ruth turned TWO! She gained one pound and grew four inches since her 1st birthday. She runs, climbs, explores, and talks to EVERYONE. She hasn't met any strangers yet.
November 2013-December 2013 (this one will be the harder one to keep brief)
- November 1st, my mom called me downstairs to share a phone call she had just received from the doctor's office. The results were back from some testing on her back and shoulder, which had been causing her a lot of intense pain through the fall. It was not a torn rotary cuff or a simple fracture. She has stage 4 bone cancer. She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in September 2011, undergoing a double mastectomy and 24 weeks of chemo, even though it was caught at stage 1A. Since spring of 2012 has been rebuilding her body and life from the harshness of chemo. Even though she went through those, the cancer had returned and metastasized in her bones from her pelvic area, spine, ribs, sternum, and shoulders. She underwent immediate radiation treatment to help the pain levels, as well as back surgery to alleviate the severe pain from two crushed vertabrae (the reason for the sever back pain in the fall). There is no cure for bone cancer, just treating it to kill it and keep it subdued. It's finding a chemo that the cancer responds to, and she will be undergoing weekly chemo for life. You can hear more of her story here.
- We closed on our house the first week of December, and began re-painting every room inside. We also renovated the kitchen with the help of my dad and some of his friends, to give me more space to cook. Oh the provision of God, providing a home for us in such perfect timing to give my parents space and peace at their home as mom began her treatments!
- We celebrated Christmas at my grandparents and extended family at the beginning of December, then in our new home with the kids, then celebrated with all my family at my parents. December 28th, we moved all our possessions (except a few stragglers) to our new home!
- Nathan led worship less and less at our church, as the worship leader began to wrap up his treatments and regained strength. So bittersweet, missed seeing my husband do what he loves as regularly, but rejoiced at the worship leader getting to resume his passion as well!
- We visited the Houston Zoo several times, as a family, for a mom's playdate, and also for the special Christmas Lights exhibit
January 2014-March 2014:
- Our new home continued to take shape... Levi's room is a spring green color (his favorite color might be green...), Ellie's is lavendar to offset her passion for pink, and the rest of our home is calming neutrals... So much painting!!! We repainted the kitchen cabinets, had granite counters installed, and continued to reclaim the long-neglected yard, while also getting to meet some of our very friendly neighbors.
- Nathan was invited to lead worship at two other church plants in the area to fill-in as needed, once again having Sunday commitments 2-3 times a month (who would have thought he would lead worship 30+ times at three different churches in a year while not being actually on staff at a church?)
- In March I was hired at Chick-Fil-A as a 2nd mile hostess, working about 20 hours a week. We have a fantastic young man in the neighborhood who babysits the kids during the times Nathan and my work shifts overlap.
- In March, I was also asked by our church to start putting together a core team of women to start a women's ministry at our church... the team came together and we're seeing God in some cool ways as we take these steps forward to intentionally connect and invest in the women of our church!
- My mom started chemo in January, and it was a rough go. Neither her body nor the cancer responded well to the initial chemo, and after missing quite a few treatments because her various blood count numbers were staying too low, they switched chemos. She once again got to pull out her fun & spunky wigs, although both my kids aren't phased by Grandma Tink wearing a wig, in a scarf, or just plain mop & glow style (well, she hasn't gotten quite there yet, but we all try to find humor right now). She's still their grandma. Just a lot more tired and slower moving since she can't take jarring movements or impacts from bouncy munchkins.
- I have kept up with taking the kids to my grandparents in East Texas every 4-6 weeks. My grandpa decided his great-grandkids need a paddle boat, whether for their pleasure or for me to work off stubborn baby weight, I'm not sure...
- We got to host a baby shower at my home for my sister Sarah. What joy to see these four walls hold so much laughter and fellowship from friends and family!
- I got to take Nathan to his first Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, and we got to invite Jeff & Julie Streitzel (friends from Moody Bible) to come with us! We went a second time and took Levi as well!
April 2014-May 2014:
- My sister Sarah, was diagnosed with preeclampsia shortly after her baby shower, and had to stay home on bedrest (she works fulltime as a behavior analyst for an autistic school). Once again, living 15 minutes from her was such a blessing during this season! Her daughter, Claire Alice, was born at 36 weeks, and both momma and baby are doing great!
- Went camping for the first time since moving to Texas, at a Jellystone Park an hour away. Fantastic camping weather, cool at night, hot during the day to enjoy the water slides & activities. All of us loved it!
- My mom got back the reports from testing done in April to see how the new chemo was doing. Not only were her blood count levels staying in normal ranges, but there was no evidence of new cancer growth, there were areas of cancer dying, as well as areas where bone was healing. Such an awesome praise. But with that praise, comes the price of continual chemo. She came down with a cold, that turned into bronchitis that she fought most of the month. Just as she was on the mend, it came back full force and turned into pneumonia. She was hospitalized almost two weeks ago, then released last week after getting "better" (pneumonia can knock down a healthy person, so a person on chemo is even rougher to heal). Over the weekend was in severe bone pain again, and was once again admitted to the hospital yesterday. Looks like she may have some kind of infection still going on, and today will be talking to doctors about stuff... so I don't know much more. Just the scary reality (being honest here) that with how aggressive chemo and cancer are, it's a non-stop life battle. Without chemo, the cancer roars to life. With chemo, basic illnesses like colds & pneumonia are life-threatening. As a family, we have good days and bad days. Cancer has become "normal" in some ways as part of our life the last three years, but yet it's not normal. My mom is 54 years old. I have fears lurking on the edge of my mind (or taking over when I'm not focusing my eyes on Jesus), "what-ifs" that I don't know how to verbalize or process (well, since I'm a verbal processor they are kind of the same thing), and yet life moves forward and there is so much joy in the midst of the pain.
- Levi is playing on a local soccer team for 8-weeks... last game is this Saturday! And guess who the coach is? Coach Nathan! Levi has loved playing on a team, and Nathan has enjoyed his first time coaching little munchkins.
- We are growing a garden... tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, and squash. We have been having lots of almost-tomatoes, until a certain 2 year old picks all the "green balls" and piles them up in the yard. Two heavy rainstorms have made the growth of the squash plants questionable, and we'll see if the peppers produce!
- Nathan may be starting in a local part-time worship leader position this summer... we are fairly far along in the hiring process, but know that God is still in control and are holding it with open hands. Excited to see him getting to step back into one of his main passions, and just continuing to pray for wisdom as we learn the life of being bi-vocational. Again, taking life a day at a time.
We are seeing God work in so many ways. A theme for our little family of four this year has been that God is at work and moving, things just don't look like we might have thought they were going to look. If a little over a year ago someone had told us Nathan would be a leadership development director for Chick-fil-a, and not full-time in ministry in a year, that would have sounded crazy. But he is, and he feels God has been calling him to stay there for a season. Still feels called to full-time ministry, but we both committed to following each door God opened for us when we moved to Texas. And he feels like his time there isn't done yet. But God has also opened the doors for him to regularly lead worship at three churches, as well as me working on recruiting and investing in people at church, starting to build a women's ministry, and getting hired at Chick-Fil-A to reach out to other women in our community. Good things happening, just looks different than we thought it might.
Keep praying for us. We're taking it a day at a time and have so much laughter and craziness and tears and God-sightings through it all. And pray for my mom, my dad, my sisters... and if you know them personally, call them, write them, do something to just reach out and walk alongside them.
Love y'all and just feel the incredible blessing of having people all over the nation and world walking life with us and praying for us in this wonderful crazy journey!
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