Still alive

Wow--it has been forever since I updated this blog. And, for the two people who actually care--sorry! I am a big fan of reading other people's blogs, but not so good about updating mine! Sorry!

Life continues to move a break-neck speed for me and my family. I have ONE clinical rotation left in nursing school and then graduation! I have a couple of job leads and had a great interview for my dream job, but the economy in Michigan is so bad that even nurses can't find jobs. Sigh.

On a totally different note....our dishwasher died. The pump no longer works. AGAIN! We replaced this part 1.5 years ago, and now it's broken again. We decided that we are going to replace the dishwasher rather than repair it. Thank goodness for that emergency account (because, in my house, a broken dishwasher IS an emergency!)

On yet a totally different note, I have become pretty "thrifty" over the past few weeks. I am now making all of our own bread, making my own laundry detergent, and I even rinsed out and reused a sandwich bag. I guess the current economy has me thinking of ways to be less wasteful. Of course, I refuse to give up my DVR on the TV (unless it's that or eat!), so I'm not totally thrifty yet!

And, to wrap up this totally random post....I brought both girls to the eye doctor today. Mandy's vision hasn't changed since she got glasses at the age of 3, and Kayla's eyes are still perfect! Kayla was highly traumatized by the doctor wanting to actually look at her (she's a bit on the, um, shy side), but she recovered in time for him to do enough of the exam where he can still bill for it.

I promise it won't be so long before I write again :-)

The wonder of it all

The older I get, the more precious the Christmas story becomes. It's probably a combination of many things--spiritual maturity, myself being a mother, and the ability to watch the miracle of Christmas unfold before my very eyes in the life of my children.

We decided this year to do an advent wreath with our children. I was raised doing the advent candle (or at least, attempting to get it done!), but we had not done anything like that with our children in previous Christmases. In case you aren't familiar with advent, it's a way of observing the period before Christmas. Advent literally means "coming." The 4 Sundays before Christmas each are represented by a different candle; there are three purple candles and one pink candle. Each candle represents something--peace, hope, joy, and love. In the middle of the advent wreath is a white candle, which signifies Christ.

It was an amazing time for our family. We didn't light the candle and read Scripture every night, but we did most nights. The Christmas became so incredibly focused on the birth of Christ and what His birth meant for us that (and I'm not making this up) we did not have one time where a child asked when we would be able to open presents, nor give us their lists of wants (although, if you asked them what they wanted, they were more than willing to give us some ideas). I know that as the girls get older, that is likely to change, but we so enjoyed it this year!

It was such a breath of fresh air from other years to literally take a deep breath and push away the busyness! Luke and I had about 90% of our Christmas shopping done in October, so we didn't have the fight the crowds to buy a last-minute present. Instead, we were able to bake cookies with our girls, make a gingerbread house, read lots of stories, and enjoy time together as a family.

So, a belated Merry Christmas to everyone! My prayer is that all the Hope that the birth of Christ will be very real to everyone.

Sorry, guys!

For the two of you who actually read this (haha!), I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in forever.

Isn't my family adorable?!

Life has been CRAZY.

Beyond crazy!

But, life is still good!

I ran my first official half marathon (13.1 miles) in October, finishing in 2:04:04. I was hoping to finish in less than 2:10:00, so I was pretty happy (actually, I was just hoping to FINISH!)

Nursing school is going well. I'm extremely busy (this the reason for not posting!), but I'm having fun. I've actually done a successful IV start, and that felt pretty good (I'm sure my patient was relieved, too!)

Luke is plugging away at his MBA, and Mandy and Kayla are still loving school as well.

I promise I'll post more when I have time!!

Wow!

That's all I can say to describe the last few days. It has been, needless to say, BUSY! Mandy started back at school on Monday, I started again yesterday, and Luke starts back with his graduate work today. Kayla moans that she, too, wants to go to school....I can't AFFORD to have anyone else in school at this point!

Nursing school is going to be fun this semester. Well, at least it is now...we'll see what I'm saying in a few weeks! This is the first semester where I get to work with "real" patients in a "real setting." I do 4 weeks of primary care rotation and then 4 weeks of labor and delivery/post-partum. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like, and I'm praying that I still enjoy it!

The focus of this blog is gratitude, so I'll share a few things I'm thankful for right now
1) The beautiful weather (it's January in Michigan, the sun is shining, and it's relatively warm out!)
2) Kayla is completely potty-trained
3) My family is HEALTHY--no colds, flu bugs, or anything else
4) I have the world's best sitter who not only adores my kids and entertains them while I'm gone, but she also cleans my house. No, I am NOT giving her name out!