Sometimes I complain about living in such a rural area that we drive 1 1/2 hours to go major grocery shopping or go to the doctor. There are no groups like MOPS and no one that I know to invite over to play with my boys and chat with a mom every once and awhile. There is no La Leche League group within 1 1/2 hours. One of my friends said she couldn't make it without a mom's group. I complain about Costco being 4 hours away.
I think it's because I'm pregnant and many of these have contacted me recently, but I'm reminded that we are blessed where we live. Here's a few wonderful people/places that I can think of.
*chiropractor (7 miles)
*midwife that does water births (45 miles-I hope we have all our children before we move from here or she doesn't work there)
*WIC office (7 miles-they really support breastfeeding and even let me borrow LLL books for as long as I want them-I know this is not true of all WIC offices-plus give us free car seats)
*ECFE (7 miles-as far as I know MN is the only state that has ECFE)
*regular dr. (7 miles-we just began going to her last year and we really like her)
*pediatrician (1 1/2 hours but has been wonderful as we worked with Lamb 1 with MSPI and our other Lambs have always been at the bottom of the chart-most pediatricians would not be as understanding)
*Ewe's thyroid dr. (3 hours-much better than the dr. that I went to in Fort Wayne-really knows what she is doing and concerned about me, especially when I'm pregnant)
*dentist (15 miles)
*Lambs dentist (3 hours-Lamb 1 had dental work done when he was 3)
*eye dr. (7 miles)
*Early Childhood Initiative (7 miles-our town was one of a handful in the state to get a huge grant to work on teaching/educational opportunities for ages 0-5 years-also part of Dolly Parton's program that sends a free book to children each month from age 0-5)
*Sears portrait studio (1 1/2 hours-do a great job and with coupons not that expensive)
*Schwan man (I love having delivery because we live too far from the grocery to get ice cream home in the summer without it melting!)
*church treasurer (does a great job, especially being in charge of tri-parish expenses-taxes would be a pain if our treasurer didn't do his job right)
*local bank (7 miles-has savings program with rewards for the Lambs-small towns are the only ones that have something like this)
*parsonage (we have 4 bedrooms, full basement-plenty of room for the Lambs to play in the winter-I would be surprised if we ever live in a house this large again)
As much as I complain about where we live, we are blessed where we live by all this. Sometimes I need to make lists like this to remind myself of my blessings instead of just complaining. If Ram were to get a Call and we had to move, I would be sad to leave all these people and especially to have to find brand new doctors. Thank you, Jesus, for blessing us with this.
Finding new Doctors is the hardest. I almost did not want to get pregnant because I did not want to break in a new doc! Working at the hospital was great because I just picked everyone's brain until I found a doc who shared my same philosophies. As God would have it, he is also the go-to guy for multiples... So I did not get to labor ina whirlpool as I wished, but I got to deliver my twins vaginally...which was a huge deal to me (even though it hurt!)
ReplyDeleteOur family doc is fabulous as well. She even gave me her cell number so I can call her if the twins run a fever in the night or some other scary thing. She even checked on Emily in the nicu, even though technically Emily was not yet under her care.
I tend to make lists as well when I feel like maybe things are not right,and then I realize how blessed I am!