First summary from Orlando... :)

Why hello friends!

Yes, we are still alive and kickin'!  Actually, quite enjoying our time here in Florida.  A couple of reasons we've been MIA here on our blog for the past few months...#1) our jobs at the Maximized Living clinic are going wonderfully!  While our training is keeping us extremely busy physically, we wouldn't change this life for any other!  Every day we are given the opportunity to help so many people and save their lives.  It is so much more than we could have ever imagined -- can't wait to do this in our own clinic soon!!  Ready to transform lives in Greensboro!! :)

We spend about 20-30 hours each week in the clinic taking care of patients and helping in the office.  Dave and I also go out into the community to volunteer our time for about 20 hours each week, more or less depending on what events we have arranged.  We host a lot of health makeover/nutrition/toxicity/exercise workshops all around Orlando.  Various organizations invite us out (YMCAs, churches, grocery stores, schools, etc) and Dave leads the workshops of their choice.  It's a lot of fun meeting so many great people, and it's a fabulous experience helping each one of them transform their health!  I'll admit my favorite part about doing community events are the ones that have us outside for a few hours on the weekends -- like community festivals or fairs.  Temperatures here in Florida are basically perfect right now, 70's/80's and low humidity!  It's like the U.P. in July, haha!  There are some times that we walk outside and forget it's February/March..

Any time we have left outside the office and community events is spent training on protocols (mostly Dr. Dave's work) and Healing Cuisine (mostly my work).  And for fun, we've still got $1 RedBox DVD rentals and board games (cheap fun, right? haha).

So, on to reason #2 of our preoccupied-ness... The first morning here in Orlando, January 3rd, also our first day of work, we found out we are pregnant!! :)  A great start to our day, an early morning pregnancy test, hehe!  So this reason #2 is probably the more prominent reason why I haven't been so diligent about updating our family blog.  On top of our daily requirements with the clinic, I've also been battling nausea and the extreme need for naps.  I am very happy to say that I am officially into trimester 2, PTL (that's Praise The Lord), so food is going down more easily and my appetite is finally picking up.  Also, baby bump is starting to show!  Pictures to come...  Dave and I are SO EXCITED!!!  We have been waiting 2+ years for baby Schwartz, and finally the time has come.  I'm planning to write a more detailed testimonial of my health on Healing Cuisine about my fertility and health issues over the past few years.  I've not talked to many about this, just close family and a few friends, but I am finally ready to share my story and hope other women will find it as inspiration to seek help outside of drugs and surgery to conceive naturally.  More to come on that, I'll link back the post here when I get it up!

We are planning, as we're calling it, a 100% organic and natural birth!  We had our first appointment with our midwife last week and covered all the basics with her.  Baby is healthy and growing right on schedule.  I have all the normal "symptoms" of pregnancy.. we're healthy and happy.  Still quite a few things to plan out in the coming months to be ready for the birth, but we'll get there!  The biggest question at the moment is where will we live.  We will be doing a home birth, and right now we are living in a small house with 5 other people...the landlady and her daughter who live here speak only Spanish.  Nothing really works in our favor here.  So, trying to figure out if we want to birth baby in Orlando or somewhere else (like North Carolina or in Michigan).  Most likely we'll find a happy home here in Orlando, but who knows what the next few months will bring.  No matter what, we are just putting our complete trust in God!  He's given us our first baby as a complete surprise much sooner than we could have hoped, and we are trusting He knows the best path for us! :)!!

Also, if anyone has questions about natural birthing, why we are doing a home birth, or any questions relating to baby at all, please don't hesitate to email or call.  We look forward to it!  We are, as always, an open door!

At this time, I must give props to Dave who has been taking outstanding care of me for the past two months!!  I've got to admit, food prep and cooking makes me sick to my stomach.  I've had to literally run from the kitchen every time I attempt to make us a meal.  So, Dave has been THE BEST HUSBAND doing all the cooking and meal packing since January!!  Recipes you've seen on my blog, yup, Dave prepared those!!  I don't know what I would do without him!  He's so willing to try, such a blessing! :)  If he doesn't know how to do something, he'll run back into our bedroom and ask how much of this to put in, or what temperature to put the pan on..so sweet.  And let me say, he makes an omelet a thousand times better than me!!  If you ever stay at Hotel Schwartz, you will have to stay for breakfast and enjoy one of Dave's delicious omelets.  Cheese is my personal favorite, but his best is spinach and zucchini with feta!  Mmm, mmm, good!

I'm hoping to get some pictures of our Florida life up on here soon!  We have two palm trees in our front yard, which I think is incredibly cool!  There are also all these weird looking plants everywhere -- they remind us of Jurassic Park.  So, pictures to come next.  You have that to look forward to. ;)

If we haven't thanked you by phone or email yet, THANK YOU for all the cards and love since we moved here!!  Every card and drawing is hanging on our wall.  We have just a tiny room to ourselves, cluttered with our clothes, cooking utensils and pantry items.  The love on the wall really brightens our day, every day!  We appreciate it so so much!  Reminds us of all of you who have touched our lives and who we can never forget! :)  Many blessings to each one of you!

Merry Christmas

Hello everyone!

It has been much too long since my last post.  I've been putting all my of free time into Healing Cuisine, and thus have neglected you all.  We are home for Christmas, finally, and it feels great!  At the Schwartz house presently, hanging out while we bake cookies, sip tea, the girls are playing their instruments (flute, piano, singing), and the boys are outside skiing and tinkering with the car.  Very relaxing, so glad to be here. :)

Dave and I have been all over the place for the last 6 months, including living in Canada for 3 months.  Dave has graduated with his Chiropractic degree (CONGRATS DAVE!!!!) and we are now working on opening our chiropractic clinic.  We've been living nomadically since August, going from basement to basement living with various friends all over the place.  On January 1st we will be driving down to Orlando, Florida to relocate for about 6 months.  We'll be training and working with Maximized Living while plans commence on our office in Greensboro, North Carolina.  Greensboro will be our eventual permanent home.  Well, permanent for a little while at least. ;)  2011 is going to be a busy year for us!  Hope to  have our clinic doors open by July if all goes well.

Want to wish you all a very blessed Christmas!  Our next update will be from sunny Florida!!  Visitors welcome!

"Look!  The virgin will conceive a child!  She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'"  Matthew 1:23

Dave Made It

So I meant to get this story posted like 2 weeks ago when it actually happened, but I've had to focus on a few other things until now.  I think Facebook informed the majority of you of the happenings when Dave tried to cross the border to get in to Canada...  I'm going to give the short story because it's late, but I promise it will still be enjoyable!

Dave left Minneapolis on a Saturday afternoon and planned to cross the border Sunday afternoon, a 14 hour trip.  He actually made it there a lot sooner and arrived on Sunday morning.  He Skyped me (remember, we're without cellphones!) from his table at a restaurant somewhere just off the border to tell me the exciting news that he was going to arrive ahead of schedule and get to relax a bit and get settled in before starting work on Monday.  He told me to get back on Skype in 2 hours and by then he'd be in his new home and getting things settled.  Two hours came...and I waited and waited...nothing for a while.  Finally he came on and was in another restaurant.  So I said, "wow, that was quick.  You all moved in?" thinking it was extremely amazing he got across the border, got all of his stuff moved in, then had the energy after that long trip to head out for food.

"Bad news," he said.  My stomach dropped.  I call him Mr. Optimistic you know..he's my rock, my foundation.  Whenever Dave says "bad news," that means it's realllly bad.  And after 2 years of marriage, I know to just ask for the details, "Don't sugar coat it" I said.."Just tell me the details cut and dry."  I immediately started thinking of all the worst possible scenarios.  He wrecked the car, lost his passport, what could possibly have gone wrong when he was so close?!

"The border patrol won't let me thru to Canada."  WHAT!?!  We both started freaking out.  I will spare the details of the string of papers Dave had to fill out and other things they required him to do, but basically the border didn't let him through because he was heading over as a student intern and they didn't want American Dave to take away any potential internship opportunities from Canadians.  Hence all the paperwork and hoopla to prove he was qualified to intern at the office he chose.

So over Skype we set up a game plan.  Contact Dr. B.J. and let him know Dave wouldn't be at work until who knows when.  Call the chiropractic boards and get the paperwork started.  And then we realized Dave was stranded in a small town in Michigan...great.  Thankfully he thought of the Bittners, a Maximized Living doctor and family who live outside of Detroit.  Dr. B.J. tracked down their info and Dave was able to get in touch with them.  They were such a blessing!  The Bittners took Dave in for 3 days, fed him and helped him get all that paperwork stuff finished.  They were so sweet and we are so grateful to be involved in such a gracious network of chiropractors in Maximized Living.

Come Tuesday, Dave had all of his forms and letters in order.  He made his second attempt to cross the border.  Of course his account was flagged from his last attempt, so they pulled him and searched him.  Dave said they even did thorough questioning for hours trying to see if his story checked out.  (As if someone could make up a story about being a chiropractic intern and going to London, Ontario for their last trimester and super excited to learn from one of the leading chiropractors in North America, plus all the other details of his life that he had to go thru.)  Finally, after hours of sitting in a room with the guards, Dave told me he finally started pleading for them to let him through.  The lady that was with him said, "Okay, I believe your story.  But this doesnt check out" (Referring to something he needed but didn't have or something like that.)  "I'll write it off for you." PRAISE THE LORD was all I could think when Dave FINALLY Skyped me late that night.  We were anticipating it to take just a couple hours to drive thru, have everything go smoothly, and be on his way to London.  Well we didn't expect the hours of questions, that's for sure.  Dave was exhausted, but happy to be at his new house in his new room ready to start what he came to Canada for.  Ahhhh.

As of this weekend, Dave has been gone three weeks and everything since crossing the border has been smooth sailing.  He's having an absolute BLAST up there, learning something new and great every day.  And everyone is taking care of him, Dr. B.J. and the office staff are phenomenal.

I'm going to throw up some pictures in random fashion from the last few weeks before Dave left.  These were the events we attended prior to him leaving.

We made ice cream for the Maximized Living Club potluck that we held at our apartment complex just the next week after Dave's surprise graduation party.

Here we are at Mike & Lori's wedding in Sault Ste Marie, Canada 2 weeks prior to Dave leaving for Canada.  We're on the bus here with the rest of the wedding party.

Lori and Mike, on the bus to escape the rain that stopped their outdoor picture session...we were on to the photography studio next.

Us with the beautiful bride!  This is toward the end of the night.

I love my husband.  I love dancing with my husband!  :)

Next was Dave's farewell night out with his coworkers at Bandana Chiropractic.  It was also on our 2 year anniversary.  We celebrated with some organic goat cheese cheesecake with pistachios and fresh berries.  It was delicious.

Here is the gang, we had a blast!  Thank you all for treating us to a fun night out!

The next big event was Suzy and Rob's wedding.  It was also the last day Dave was here, so it was an extra special day for us.  Unfortunately this is the only picture that semi turned out from their wedding...it's THE KISS! :)

Posing by the water awaiting the bride and groom's arrival.

Our besties, Mark and Nicole <3

And that's it from our lovely last month together in the Twin Cities!  And just a reminder to those who are still trying to call us:  we do not have cell phones anymore.  :)  I giggle every time I get an email from someone that says they've tried to call and it doens't go thru.  Try us on Skype!  drdaveschwartz or elisejschwartz

Thanks to everyone for making Dave's last few weeks in Minnesota a blast!  We both had a great time! :)

Moving on

Just a quick message from the couch at my mom's house.  :)  Taking some me time to de-stress and refocus my goals.  I am hanging out here for two days before Mike and Lori's wedding in the Soo on Saturday.  Dave just left with Joel for Mike's bachelor festivities for the next two days.  They are ready for a weekend of fun!  Especially Dave, he's excited to see his buddies again and get some time off before moving himself to Canada and starting full time work again.  He needs this break!  His MIND needs this break!

The past couple days here have been absolutely nutz.  All good things, just the stress that goes along with moving.  We are successfully moved out of Hampshire Hill in Bloomington!  Half of our belongings are now here in Michigan, half still in Minnesota.  We sold all of our furniture on CraigsList.com!  Wahoo!  We only kept our amazing bar stools (a wedding gift from Mike and Lori) and our small kitchen table.  Our bed and frame were the last to sell and we were sad to see them go, but made the last minute decision to sell them after thinking about all the hassle moving them would bring.  We'll be sleeping on an air mattress once we arrive in Florida in 2011.  For now, I'll be living with my FABulous friend Jan in Maple Grove in her spare room (with a bed).  Dave's family in London also has a bed for him.  I am excited to be moved very close to work, saving me 30-40 minutes of drive time twice a day!!  It's going to be a marvelous Monday morning! :)

All in all, we only had to make two trips with our stuff up here.  Not too bad!  We downsized a lot and it felt great to shed all the "junk" we never use.  I highly recommend doing it as you transition or if you're stuck in a rut.  It opens your eyes to what's truly important and gives you the opportunity to refocus your life on what you want to achieve.

Also have been meaning to throw this picture on here:

The day after Dave's surprise party, after all the family had headed back home and friends said their goodbyes, we headed out with Mark & Nicole and their friend Elyse (!!) to the horse races!  We've had this list of "Things I Want To Do Before I Leave This Summer" with all the major Twin Cities events we hadn't done yet.  The Canterbury Park horse races was definitely one of them!  This is their 25th Anniversary I believe, so all year is free admission.   We brought $7 with us and won on our first two or three races...then we got maybe a little to cocky and blew all our winnings.  Oh well.  We went for the experience.  :)  And it was a blast!

That's it for now.  Excuse me while I stretch out and flip thru some channels on the tube.  :)

-Elise