Iowa...Land of the Rolling Hills

We arrived in Iowa on August 20, 2007 knowing that we chose Iowa against what seemed to be our better judgment. The tuition is expensive, Iowa City is small and offered few job opportunities for me, and we weren't quite sure how we were going to make ends meet.

The 22nd was the start of our new life; Sterling started orientation for his program and I started the job hunt. We were both a little nervous for what lie ahead but we could never have anticipated as much. Sterling was informed that he received a research assistant-ship which, besides our health and well-being has been an enormous blessing. Instead of paying out-of-state tuition, we will pay in-state tuition, he receives a monthly stipend that will pay a great deal of our monthly bills, and best of all we are relieved of the stress of how we are going to make it.

The job hunt on the other hand, was not going as well. I searched for a couple of days with little hope of finding something even related to engineering. Then one day after orientation activities, Sterling informed me that IDT, a biomedical company near our home was hiring. I visited their website and found a couple of jobs that would be interesting to me as well as meet our needs. I just interviewed with the company this past Monday and will hopefully hear from them soon informing me that I have been awarded a position.

Perhaps the rolling hills of Iowa are not what we picture when we imagine our future but for the present they beautiful. For in those hills we have found safety, happiness, peace and a grand display of the love of God.

January to August in a Nutshell

There is a lot of time to cover and yet not enough space or words to do it justice.

January 1, 2007 will forever be known as the day of Cylynn's unwise decision. We arranged an afternoon of playing games at the church house near Sterling's home which would result in a suggestion to have a basketball game between the Sheffield's and the Wisniewski's, "just for fun" of course. For the record, let it be known that the game did not get extremely competitive until the announcement, "first team to 11 wins." Perhaps this isn't the best way to start off a marriage, especially when the bride and groom are on different teams.

A fierce elbow from Josie and a flagrant foul from myself against Sterling would only slightly demonstrate the competitiveness of the Wisniewski's. Luckily the game was over shortly after both of these uncalled for acts as my foul almost ended the marriage before it began. Luckily Sterling has a forgiving disposition and is willing to look beyond my shortcomings.

For any and all that are interested, the Wisniewski's did win the game but only by a small margin. The next game is bound to be interesting...that is if there is a next game!

On January 2, 2007 Sterling and I were sealed in the Bountiful Utah Temple. I wish that I could explain the feelings we experienced that day but words would not suffice. The decision to marry Sterling was definitely the best and wisest decision that I have ever made.

The next morning we were on a cruise to the Bahamas for our honeymoon. Some of the activities that we enjoyed were snorkeling, swimming with stingrays, riding bicycles along the beach, plays, good food, sea sickness and the pleasure of each other's company. It was nice to spend the days following our wedding together as we would soon be thrown back into the real world to experience life together.

Sterling went back to school the day after our honeymoon and I continued working at Costume Craze, a fabulous Internet retail company. At the end of the semester we had to make the decision to continue living in Provo (and if you know me well, you know I was against that) or moving somewhere else where we could work and save money for graduate school.

We decided to move back to Rock Springs and work for my dad. Since we have been here we have been able to spend a lot of time with my family which I believe has been nice for Sterling and me and luckily we have remained closed enough to Sterling's family so that we were able to return for birthdays, vacations and other family gatherings.

The next step in our life is the move from Rock Springs to Iowa City where Sterling will attend school at The University of Iowa. He is pursuing a Clinical Doctorate in Audiology (AUD) which will require at least four more years of hard work and dedication. Due to the fact that a career in Bioengineering would require a round trip journey of 150 miles, I myself will be pursuing a job doing whatever it takes to meet our needs.

All in all, seven months of marriage has been good to us. We enjoy each day as it provides us with both challenges and blessings that help us to realize that we are not perfect yet we are still loved.