Operation

Yesterday I found out I have endometriosis in addition to polycystic ovarian syndrome. My wonderful doctor did a laperoscopy yesterday and found that I had some adhesions from the endo that had glued one of my ovaries to my pelvic wall. I am so glad to have found the source of my pain! I'm grateful to live in a time where we have the tools to take care of these issues and allow people to continue to have children.

Recovering from surgery wasn't the way I planned on spending my long weekend, but that's life. My dad is in town right now and he and Aaron were able to give me a blessing on thursday night. I love those two men very much and can't express how they have enriched my life and made me a better person. The two of them are doing a great job keeping Ash away from my stomach. According to instructions, I'm not supposed to lift anything over 10 pounds for two weeks....which is going to prove a little tricky.

IDEAS NEEDED

It is official--the second semester is underway. I am in need of some help from the vast community of blogging land for an assignment that I have. I am in need of some ideas for the project. So, let me explain the project and you can post your suggestions (humorous or serious).

I have been given the assignment to create a group therapy manual from scratch. The group needs to be 8 sessions (8 weeks long) complete with agendas & activities. I have decided I want to create a life skills group for expecting adolescent fathers. As a side note, the current research is claiming that adolescents range from 12-23. So the question I propose to you is what kind of life skills do you think would be nice to address in a group like this?

Here is the list I have thought about thus far...

• Job training (i.e., applying for work, interview skills, resume building)
• Applying for government assistance (i.e., health care, food stamps, WIC)
• Basic Automobile maintenance
• Budgeting
• GED resources

The Four F's: Family, Football, Food, and Finals

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend was different for us this year than previous years. The actual holiday was spent with my sister, Lynnette, and her family up in Anthem (about 45 mins away from Tempe). Trine & I made the stuffing, the garlic potatoes, and the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (no one is a big fan of pumpkin pie). Lynnette provided the turkey and all the other fixings. Oh, and she made a killer homemade apple pie!

Following the meal, everyone watched the Cowboy's game (the second sporting event I have watched since we moved to AZ). We did not actually play football though. I missed the turkey bowl that my family usually has during Thanksgiving because it is the only time during the year that everyone plays a recreational activity regardless of age or athletic ability.

Asher loves going to Lynnette's house because he is able to play with her kids, their toys, an occasional piano key, their dog Sophie, and the newly discovered trampoline. The entire day he was either sneaking out the doggy door and up the ladder to the trampoline, playing with a kitchen set, or playing with the girl's doll house. Seriously, he spent many hours playing with the doll house and accessories it was so funny.

Thanksgiving evening was spent taking family pictures at the park. Lynnette was kind enough to use her photography skills to take some pictures for us. We got pictures that we will be using for Christmas cards, so you will have to wait to see those. But here is a few other pictures:

The remainder of our Thanksgiving holiday was spent at home with me working on school work...there is no rest for graduate school. I am happy, and relieved, to report that at the time of this post I have officially complete the first semester. That means I am 25% of the way done with my training! It also means I am can relax for 6 weeks before school starts again.

Milestone

I've finally blogged one hundred posts. Actually I know it's more than that, but I've had a few deleted posts every now and again. Aaron said that in honor of this milestone I should write about something spectacular. So I thought I'd write about my awesome hair today.

Hair is a huge deal for me. Growing up, I remember my dad doing my hair in braids with beads at the end. Anything I wanted done my dad could make a reality. My hair was long and thick. Then when I was around eight I got it into my head that my hair wasn't "good,"so I begged my dad to relax it. For those of you who don't know lots of African-American women chemically relax their hair. Against his better judgement my hair was relaxed and then if fell out. I had to cut it all off into a very short little afro and I remember feeling like the ugliest duckling.

It wasn't until two years ago that I finally stopped relaxing my hair decided to go natural. Aaron has been super supportive and my sisters have actually ditched their relaxers too. They have the cutest afros! What I have discovered with my natural hair is versatility, I'm not afraid of how it looks coming out of my head. I no longer think of my hair as something to be tamed or managed. In fact, this week is the first time since I was eight that I actually wore an afro. The first day I was really nervous but as the week wore on the freedom of not worrying about my hair every morning was amazing!

Here's a picture of my rockin' afro! Thanks to Aaron for his twisting assistance.

Pvt. Nelson

I've just been called to my first tour of duty in primary! For the foreseeable future I will be working in the nursery. Asher is allowed to come with me, which is nice since he'd just be in the hall anyway. Honestly, I found myself a little overwhelmed today with 12 kids. There are two other women in the nursery too, but it's still more kids than I've been responsible for at one time. Just uncharted territory. For example, I'm not sure how to navigate potty training. Do I just take the child by myself or should I get their parents? I think I'd want to do that myself with Asher, but different strokes and all of that. People get touchy about their kids and I don't want any parents upset with me. (Nicole, none of the above scenarios are about R.) Today's lesson I learned in nursery is that apples don't have skins on them at church. So funny!

Happiness is a Cheeseburger

It's been a rough week. We received some not so good news about my father. He has prostate cancer. He is very lucky that it was caught early and has already scheduled several appointments with specialists to discuss his treatment options. I know that everything will be alright. I'm going to be flying home with baby in a few weeks for a quick visit.

Asher has had strep throat which has left Aaron and I juggling schedules to stay home with him. Life is just a huge balancing act and I'm left questioning my decision to work on a regular basis. However, I don't really want to get into that with this post. I want to talk about a few things that have happened this week that let me know that I am not alone and that God is aware of me.

I have a co-worker who is prone to saying really inappropriate things to me. Really inappropriate. I take her comments in stride because I can tell she's just trying to be friendly. Well about an hour after I got off the phone with my mom saying my dad has cancer this woman plops a cheeseburger on my desk. I'm not really sure why she thought of getting me food, but I have been dying for a cheeseburger for weeks! It was delicious, a slice of heaven.

On Wednesday, I was feeling really overwhelmed with life when another woman from work stopped me in the halls and invited me to join her book club. You know how there are people you can just tell you are going to click with and if only you could spend more time with them you'd be friends? That's my situation with her. Needless to say I went to the meeting that night and had the most enjoyable time with the group. It was nice to spend an evening with great conversation and peach cobbler.

Yesterday Aaron and I got invited to go out with another couple! We usually do the inviting so this was a nice switch-a-roo. So I'll be going to church tomorrow on a mission to find a baby-sitter for the Ashman.

So, that's my good news for the week. What about you?

Workin' in a Coal Mine

Well I've survived my first week of work. I'm employed as a student service coordinator for an online college. This first week was just training but I can tell this will be a pretty fast-paced job. I haven't worked 40 hours a week since Ash was born so that is definitely an adjustment. There are still reservations about working full-time, but right now it seems like the thing to do to keep us afloat. I've given myself six months to work and then I'll re-evaluate.

Working for a "for-profit" school is also interesting. WIA was certainly not without goals or expectations, but they weren't really tied to a fiscal outcome. Education is important and I'm glad to help people find ways to accomplish their goals, but I don't want to manipulate people. My position is good because my main job is to help students get used to the computer programing and making sure they have all the things they need to start class. You can't really manipulate people doing that. If they've already paid for school I want to make sure they can at least be successful.

Asher seems to be enjoying his new sitter. He had a little trouble napping the first day but after that he's been great. Spanish is her first language and the other children seem to pick it up pretty quickly. Ash is such a funny boy. His teeth have decided to come in three at a time and his poor mouth is so swollen. I feel bad just giving him motrin and ice to suck on, but there isn't much else to be done for him.

Aaron is busy with school and his internship. He enjoys both and is looking forward to taking some Spanish classes during the summer. We are really liking Tempe and are slowly trying to make new friends. Trying to make couple friends is like dating all over again.