crazy family

Hi girls! missing you all today! Liz, your baby bump is adorable. You look really good, and I have to admit that I am pretty jealous that you have had such an enjoyable pregnancy, free of nausea and grossness. but I'm happy for you and hope you continue to feel good. By the way, are you guys waiting to find out what the sex of the baby is?

So things are going pretty well for us. Josh is on plastics this month, which isn't bad. I think we're going to meet with an air force recruiter soon to look at joining the military and get more information about health care in the military. The pay is pretty enticing to get us through residency and to help pay off some school loans before they collect too much interest. The med school debt and the fact that we can't really make it on Josh's current salary is just sort of becoming oppressive. The military would go far in getting us a better financial footing. Plus, during Josh's repayment years (5 years following residency), he would be getting state-of-the-art training and work experience and the hours would be better than private practice. And we wouldn't have to pay for malpractice insurance, which would be huge. I don't know, we're just bouncing the idea around and balancing it with our desparation at this point. =)Not to mention, men in uniform are hot and think Josh would be pretty irresistable as an air force captain! haha... Obviously, the crappy part would be deployment. But they do usually keep the docs pretty protected. So, we'll see.

So I titaled this post "crazy family" because I have recently discovered that mine is crazier than I already thought. My great grandma Ida passed away right after Christmas and we had her funeral on Friday in Cincinatti. I went and it was a good time with family on my dad's side. For those of you who don't know her, grandma was spunky, to put it mildly. So the stories about her life were entertaining in themselves. But as my dad and his cousins were discussing the family history, I learned some interesting facts. I learned that my family has a history of generosity and kindness. We have a noted propensity for sarcasm and humor. And my great grandpa had solid links with the mafia. Now when I say that, I am not speaking of my distant relative about whom I uncovered buried information. I am speaking of the great grandpa that lived next door to us until he died and who let us bounce on his belly like a trampoline. We were close. So it seems a bit surreal to learn that he was a highly recognized "business partner" with Jimmy Hoffa. (Seriously, we have the Christmas cards from Jimmy and grandpa lost a huge investment on something called Drive Alert when Mr. Hoffa disappeared) We also have a news clipping of a man being found dead in grandpa's "stolen" car. I don't actually think grandpa really killed anyone, but his connections are unmistakeable. He was a boot-legger and prohibitionist as well. I also learned that my family came to Cincinatti when my great, great grandfather fled there with his brother from Kentucky after being connected to some murder. I found out I am 1/16 Indian (of the blackfoot tribe), which is just one generation away from qualifying for the tribe benefits. But I am mostly German and originate back to the fifes of Germany, from before Germany was a country. So, here's to family and all the history, characteristics, genes and life lessons we inherit from them (the good ones and the crazy ones). Love you girls!