Congratulations Nate!

On Saturday the Grand Haven Science Olympiad teams headed to the State competition at MSU. What a busy Saturday it was for the middle and high school students. It was so much fun to see these students enthusiastic about science! These students amaze me because of their devotion from January through May. What a long season! Wow!

So how did they do? Well, the High School team got first place in their division. Lakeshore, Nate's team, received first place and White Pines, the other middle school, received 2nd place. WOW!!

What next? All three teams from Grand Haven will be traveling to Augusta, Georgia to compete in the National Competition next week. So this next week and a half will be extremely busy for Nate, but well worth it!

Congratulations to Grand Haven on another successful year in Science Olympiad!!

White Pines Middle School taking their 2nd place trophy!

Lakeshore Middle School (Nate's team) taking their 1st place trophy! Yay!!!!!!!

Life - Part 2

We are alive, but just have been extremely busy as usual! I have been meaning to post pictures of our Spring Break trip to Disney World, but seem to leave my camera at school every time I go to update this blog. They are coming just as soon as I remember to take my camera home!

So what have we been up to? My best friend Darcie and her girls Grace and Joy came up during spring break so we got to spend some time with them. What a fun time that was! We miss them all so much, but will get to see them in June!

Nate has been so busy with Science Olympiad. The State competition is this Saturday at MSU. Please keep Nate and his team in your prayers. If they make the top 2 they are on to Atlanta, Georgia in a few weeks for the National Competition. I hope they are able to go because his students have been working so hard. Nate always amazes me with his work with Science Olympiad. It's a long season he devotes a lot of time to his school.

I have been procrastinating when it comes to my grad work. I finished my Masters two years ago and am working on 15 more credits. I am just finishing my 12th credit and need 3 more and I'll be done for awhile. It just never seems to end! Nate will be finishing up with his thesis in the fall. Then we can just concentrate on each other. That will be great!

So life at the Mihalek household has been busy with school, grad classes, working on the basement (pictures to come soon), small group, and family time. We are excited for the summer so we can relax and go camping!

Congratulations Nate!

It is the busy season of Science Olympiad again! Starting in January, Nate is very busy working with a team of middle school students at Lakeshore and White Pines in preparing them for the Regional competition at Grand Valley State University. Well today was their first competition and both Grand Haven teams will be moving on to the state competition at Michigan State University in mid April. His school's team, Lakeshore, took 2nd place while the other middle school, White Pines, took first place.

I am always amazed at the hard work and devotion of the middle school students. These students put in hours of work and studying to prepare for the competitions. It was so neat to see them get excited about their accomplishments today. Now they will be hard at work again starting on Monday, preparing for MSU.

I am so proud of Nate and his devotion to Science Olympiad. It is fun to see him work with his students and see their excitement as they compete. Congratulations to Grand Haven and their teams. Good luck at MSU!

Life

Life has been very hectic this month! Last week was a busy week with my parent/teacher conferences. Many long nights of talking, getting home late, and not a lot of sleep! My conferences went very well and I'm glad they are through! Only one month until Spring Break and we can leave all our stress here and enjoy Disney World! We can't wait!

Nate has been extremely busy with Science Olympiad, which started right after Christmas break. This week were his parent/teacher conferences. Many long nights for him also, but his went well too! Nate's SO team will be competing in a few weeks at GVSU for the regional competition. He has some stressful times ahead as he decides on his team. I don't know how he does it!

So the month of March will hopefully be exciting around our house. We have someone coming to work on the basement sometime this month. We can't wait to get some of it finished. It will be so nice to have the bedroom completed so our guests will have a bit more privacy. I hope to post pictures as it all unfolds.

It's Almost Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is almost here! The decorations, cards, and candies were in stores as soon as Christmas was over. I have been reminded about this holiday for awhile and finally went to get my special Valentine's cards for my students today. As I sat and filled out each of my cards for my students, the memories of Valentine's Days past filled my mind.

As a child I would get extremely excited for this special day because of the little Valentine's cards. I remember when I was a little girl making my beautiful card holder every year and awaiting the moment when I would get to open each card. I remember stressing over which cards I would give the boys in my class. I didn't want any one of them thinking I really liked them, well maybe just a certain boy in the class. The time came to open my cards and what a fun time that was. I would sit and look at my cards for hours. Oh the little things in life!

Now my cards are all filled out and I will pass them out to my students this week. I know they will be just as excited as I was as a child to open each and every one of those special cards. I always enjoy watching them open their cards and then showing their friends. Oh the little things in life that make us so happy!

It Has Been Awhile!

It has been quite awhile since I've posted anything. Life has been very busy with school for the both of us. I finished another grad class, Nate is currently working on one, and he has begun the long season of Science Olympiad.

I have another confession to make, I became addicted to...Facebook! I thought I would never create a facebook account, but I did! I was sucked in and I am really enjoying it! I have reconnected with so many people through it and it's actually been quite a healing process for me as I am still going through the emotions of my miscarriage.

How could it facebook be healing? Well, when we were celebrating our 2 year anniversary, I thought I would link my blog on facebook. I am not very good with technology and had no idea that it would continue to post every blog entry I updated on facebook. So when I wrote about my miscarriage, it posted on facebook. I didn't really want that yet, but oops! Well, it was actually a blessing. I encountered so many others that had gone through what I was going through. And the prayers we were receiving? Amazing! I can't thank everyone enough for all of the prayers that we have received. Amazing!

So how are things going for us now? Up and down. While I'm at school, things are fine. The kids keep me busy and make me laugh. That's a good thing. When I get home, it's harder. It will take awhile to heal. I'm just thankful for Nate and all of his support! God answered my prayers when he sent me Nate!

Prayers Needed

My Christian faith has always managed to get me through some pretty tough times, and now I am needing it more than ever! Nate and I were expecting our first baby in July. I went for my yearly check with by OB doctor yesterday. I went in at the 12 week mark. She tried to listen for the heartbeat. As I laid there while she ran over my belly with her instrument, I was so excited to hear what was growing inside of me. It seemed like she was trying for 5 minutes, but it was only probably about 2 minutes. She could see I was getting upset because she couldn't find anything, so she let me chose. I could wait until next week and try again or I could go and get an ultrasound. I opted for the ultrasound and was very fortunate I could get in that day. I asked her if it was common to not hear the heartbeat at this stage and she said yes. I went home right away and got on the internet and read in my baby book that many women have had that happen, so I felt okay, not great but okay.

Nate took me to the hospital for an ultrasound. When we walked in the room I could sense something was different. The technician asked me what problems I have been having. I had told her no problems, they just tried to get the heartbeat today and couldn't . She then got me ready for the ultrasound and rubbed the instrument on my belly again for a long time. She only found the sack or whatever it's called. I was nervous and scared at that point. She decided to get closer and do another type of ultrasound. She again only found the sack and it was measuring at 6.5 weeks. I didn't know what was going on and just wanted to cry!

She called my doctor and we were able to meet with her. We found that I did get pregnant, but the egg never was able to attach to my uterine wall. So at about 6.5 weeks the growth stopped. My body still thought I was pregnant.

Nate and I sat in the office and just listened to every thing. I think he was listening more and I was just in shock. I still can't believe it. So now we just wait.

I've gone through a roller coaster of feelings; anger, sadness, understanding, not understanding, frustration, and the list goes on. Nate's had some of those feelings too. He has been a great comfort to me.

I'm writing this down because this is my journal. Writing helps me to express my fears, sorrows, and joys. I also write this to ask for your prayers. I know all of you who read this have been praying for Nate and I during our pregnancy. Now we need prayers to strengthen us and comfort us.

My Christian faith will help me through this. We both believe that God has a plan for us. He had this happen for a reason, we don't quite know it yet, but we know He doesn't let things happen just because. We pray that God will draw us near during this difficult time and bless us in the end. I know that Nate and I are supposed to be parents some day. That's why God brought us together. I need to be patient and pray.

Thank you for your prayers!