nothing like missing a red-eye

This weekend Chase is in Charleston, South Carolina for a very dear friend's wedding. The wedding is Sunday, and Chase flew out late Friday night to make it in town in time for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Saturday. We had great conversation as I drove Chase to downtown Phoenix to the airport. We knew we would both really miss each other and it would be my first time in Phoenix without Chase. As soon as I dropped Chase off, he realized he didn't have his wallet. SO unlike Chase, he is very organized (perhaps I distracted him whilst packing?) We freaked out for a second, knowing that because Chase only likes to get to his flights an hour before, I would be unable to make it back to our apartment (in north phoenix/scottsdale) to retrieve his wallet and then back to the airport in time for him to board his red-eye to Newark. I tried though, and made it back in phenomenal (illegal) time...unfortunately I was 8 minutes too late and Chase missed his red-eye.

By GOD's grace, the airline (Continental) put him on the next red-eye to Cleveland FREE of charge, and though he was initially on stand-by, he made it onto the plane. However, he would have to fly from Phoenix to Cleveland to Newark and then take a later flight to Charleston. So 2 lay overs. He was going to miss the rehearsal!

When Chase arrived in Newark, he realized that the earlier flight to Charleston that he was originally supposed to be on was delayed and had not left yet, but they were very close to leaving. Pulling a "Chase move" (aka something he has done before) he went over and asked a couple times if he could switch his flight back to the earlier one, and after a few minutes, the airline agreed.

He is now in Charleston! He made it to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on time! On Sunday his is standing by his buddy, Justin, as he marries a beautiful gal. I wish I could be there to witness the awesome marriage...and ALSO to see my husband in a tux again - he's looks very handsome in a tux...that ONE time I saw him sporting one...I think it was an important day? Can't remember though. It was definitely recent.

Tomorrow is my first day on the floor at Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center. I will be shadowing a preceptor for several weeks. My body is going to get a rude awakening getting back into these grueling 12-13 hours shifts (lets be real..my longest day on 3 surgical at IU was 15 hrs...with 10 min of lunch to eat as fast as possible)...because I was a new grad...and slow. Naturally, the plus side to all this walking is the amount of cals I will be burning. Aint never gonna complain about losing a pound or two!

Miss my boy...can't wait until he's back in town!

Just the Two of Us

Chase and I will be staying in Arizona this year to spend Christmas with just each other! We are excited and bummed at the same time. It'll be nice to have time with Chase home a lot (he gets several days off), but since I have a part time job AND a real job now, who knows what my hours will be like. Not that I'm complaining! We decided it would put us in a much better position to be financially wise and good stewards of what God has given us rather than purchase plane tickets this year, especially since Chase is flying out this weekend to be in a friend's wedding in Charleston, SC and we will both be flying back to Indiana for my sister's wedding in March aaaaand I will also be flying out to Indiana in February.

We weren't going to get a Christmas tree, until we stopped by Lowe's and discovered they were 50% off...because they were dying in the heat. Lol. So different than Indiana. We found a good one though - for $12 bucks. We gave it some sugar water and it perked right up. It feels WAYYY more like Christmas now (isn't that pathetic? as if it's about a tree.) However, we are grateful, and also pretty pumped about some cute (READ: glittery) new ornaments.

Chase gave me a budget on the ornaments (let's be honest, he didn't really care what they looked like), so I made the executive decision to forfeit a nice, large tree topper in order to get more glittery ornaments. Only 23.5% of all our ornaments are completely free of any glitter....yes, I did the math. Also, Chase had two stockings from when he was younger (and often had BOTH filled on Christmas), and I left mine in Indiana to stay with my family because, as this first Christmas without all her children is going to be hard enough on my mom, I didn't want her to also be staring at my empty stocking spot all season long! SO an easy fix to this was to just tape my name on Chase's extra stocking. WaaaLaa! (also shout out to Melinda for the wonderful tree skirt:)

We've already seen the benefits of a quiet Christmas season. We've had some time together to really praise God and think about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. That God had such grace on the people He created that He would send a savior into the world. That he would allow Chase and I to be born into a time after Jesus came that we may know God personally, and not only that, but that God also called Chase and I to follow Christ while we're here on this earth, and gave us the Spirit. It will be a really special Christmas, being together alone for our first one.

Soccer Tennis

Chase and I play soccer tennis all the time. This tradition is dated back to the very first visit that Chase made to Indiana (Muncie, no less) to see me. However, I've been playing with my siblings for years up at Torch Lake, where there is a tennis court in the condo complex where we vacation. Back when Chase and I first started playing, I was still in my last season of soccer at Ball State. For some reason that I still to this day cannot figure out, Chase used to occasionally beat me...I mean like every third game...ok well maybe sometimes more than that. Yes, I know, how horrible...the collegiate golfer somehow beats the collegiate soccer player at a variation of her own game. Maybe it's because I was too nervous around my new boyfriend to go all out and kick his butt? Doesn't sound like me. Let's just say I was tired after practice and that's why he often beat me in soccer tennis...................................

By the way, soccer tennis is played on a tennis court with mostly tennis rules, but instead of using a tennis ball and racket, a soccer ball is used (with feet, of course!) I guess the scoring is more like volleyball though...we play up to 11, have to win by 2.

However since we have moved to AZ, we have been able to play often. And I am keeping score of who wins every game. I often remind Chase of these accurate statistics.

Rachael: 25 games
Chase: 2 games




In our most recent game a couple nights ago, it started off very competitive, as always. I had achieved victory already in the two games prior and we were starting a third. A couple points into the game Chase hit this great cross court shot that sent me sprinting to the left side to dish it back. Cross court shots are no doubt Chase's greatest strength in the game. As I approached the ball, it was a little high and on it's way out of bounds, so I knew I had to get my left foot around to sent it back. I hit it hard with the inside of my foot and whipped it just over the net and right down the sideline. An impossible shot for Chase to return. Except I never saw it, because the next thing I know, I was flat on my back looking at the stars. Apparently the momentum of my left leg carried my right leg out from underneath me as well and I landed FLAT on my back. No boo-tay action here to break the fall. Then there was the foreign tennis coach on the next court that gasped and asked the dreaded "Are you OK?" that drew attention to me on the ground. I've always been really embarrassed when injuries happen to me in sports, especially in such a ridiculous manner. So despite my spine being fractured (jk) I got up and pretended like nothing happened, you know...played it cool, meanwhile motioning to Chase (who was sprinting over to see if I was ok) to go back where he came from and continue the game.

Didn't happen.

He made me go home.

And I was SOOO thankful because that sucker HURT. I am also thankful for a sweet husband who felt so bad that he kept telling me what an awesome shot it was (like I cared at that point...ok, actually I did, I like to win.)

Chase also tried to tell me it looked like I was doing some sort of sweet move, like a bicycle (he even went as far as to "recreate" the move using our king sized bed as his landing pad.) But I know better...it looked ridiculous.

Blessed with a job!

I know I haven't written forever but I am so happy to say that God has blessed me with a job! He has been a faithful provider just like He promises that He is. God literally pulled my name out of a very large pool of candidates, most of whom had way more experience that I as the minimum amount of experience for the position was 6 months (ok..I technically only have 5 months...but who's counting??)

I will be working at Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center on a Neuro Trauma Intermediate Care Floor. It's a little med/surg and a little progressive care. We will receive patients from the ICU. There is also a little unit of stroke telemetry patients on the floor, so I will get to study EKGs and potentially use my Advanced Cardiac Life Support certification - yay! I love that stuff. I start December 13th. The drive is a beautiful one down the interstate with a huge mountain range on one side. It will be a little closer than my drive to downtown Indianapolis.

Chase is still enjoying learning all the aspects of Cintas. It just hit us the other day that his management trainee program is up in a year. We have gotten used to Arizona and really have been putting roots down in this area. We (more so just me..) do not want to already be packing up to leave in one year, but we will go where the Lord calls us.