The Dickson Family: Back on Schedule

Hello everyone, it has been way too long since the last time we wrote, but it has been a whirlwind craziness the last 6 weeks or so. As hopefully you all know we've moved down to Rio Rancho NM, a suburb of Albuquerque. It is a very nice area, most of the area is new and it continues to grow. To say our move down here was rushed would be an understatement. About two weeks prior to opening another office the dentist who had committed to Rio Rancho bailed and left our company high and dry. We had talked about the possibility of moving down to Rio Rancho in the summer time to work in the new office but now it seemed like the opportunity was immediately upon us. I traveled down to see the area and office with my boss, I liked it but knew that it was going to be a challenge. We would be opening up the office from scratch, no existing patients. And I could tell that they wanted me to be down there soon, very soon. Well we were heading up to WA for the last week in December and I asked if we could at least have a day to move our stuff down there. So we returned to Farmington on Sat. night, packed Sunday, loaded the truck and cleaned on Monday morning and unloaded the truck Monday night. I was up and seeing patients Tuesday morning at 7:30. I was very sore and tired to say the least. So we have been gradually moving our stuff into the new rental house. It is a nice house, a little smaller than our previous one but still plenty big for us. The first Sunday that we were down here (Rio Rancho is about a 3 hr. drive SE from Farmington) Janelle received a phone call very early in the morning, it was the police. Our previous rental house in Farmington had burned down. We immediately started thinking, what could have caused the fire? We knew that the house had its fair share of problems. It would burn lightbulbs out in a manner of weeks, and they were the energy efficient kind, the heater never seemed tightly secured to the roof, it would shake the whole house whenever it kicked on. But we knew that we had turned all of the utilities off a couple of days after we had left so we weren't sure what happened. We later found out that the owners had gone there on Saturday night and the utilities were off so they had a candle that they used and they said that they forgot to blow it out before leaving and maybe that is what caused the fire. The whole thing is under investigation and the sad and frustrating thing is there are trying to blame us for it because we turned off the utilities. Janelle has called the Farmington utility people and they told us that we were in the right by turning everything off and that we would have been more liable had we left things on and then the fire started. Janelle also called the Fire Marshall because the landlord made it sound like we were being investigated and he said that yes we will be contacted to get our statement of what happened but that the landlords were the ones under investigation. It is sad that the house burned down, we were only there for 6 months and we have plenty of memories from it, I can't imagine raising your children in a home and seeing it burned down. It must be a very sad and frustrating time for them as well.

We all had a great time in WA for Christmas was wonderful seeing all of our family. The kids loved playing with cousins and grandparents we are so blessed to have such a loving and supportive family. Things are settling down now for us, Dayna likes her school and is making new friends, they missing her dearly at her last school. The teacher says that she was the leader, she would raise her hand to get discussions started and now the kids don't know who should raise their hand first. Janelle came home from her first trip to the school and said they don't have white boards here they have smart boards. The classes have touchscreens instead of white boards, I guess its part of the deal Rio Rancho made with Intel when they wanted to build a plant down here, they needed to support the schools. Dax just started preschool program where he meets on Tues and Thurs from 9-12. He is excited to be meeting new friends too. Alana continues to grow and progress she is a toddler now, not just a baby. She says a few words like Hey! Happy Happy Happy, and owee! You know the basic words for a third child to be saying to survive. Yesterday we went to the zoo, it was a lot of fun, but still quite cold. The weather has been nice and clear but it makes for cold mornings and evenings.

Well I know that doesn't completely catch everyone up, but its a good start. We'll try to get back on track with these email. We hope all is well with you and yours!

Jon, Janelle, Dayna, Dax, and Alana