Top 9

1) I did Habitat for Humanity over the weekend. It was super fun! I would highly recommend it to ya'll if you have never done it before. It was a LONG day but super fun!

2) I got a new bed and I L-O-V-E it! It is so comfortable!

3) I decorated my new bathroom. It's very HAPPY looking!

4) I'm pretty sure that Allisha has the Swine Flu... It's only a matter of time before I get it. Just add it onto my crazy medical history!

5) I have 4 more days of undergrad class left... ever!

6) I registered for my first Grad classes today, I begin June 3rd.

7) Tomorrow is my first day as a paid employee at Texas ReEntry Services

8) The University of Texas at Arlington is highlighting me as an outstanding graduate. They are doing a story on me and the summer program I designed and will be running it in the UTA magazine. They called today and asked if they can pitch my story to the local newspapers and TV channels. (I'll keep you updated on that!)

9) Is it just me or did April FLY by?

Thursday = Monday

As it has been pointed out I have missed a couple of Mondays. So here I sit on Thursday trying to make up for that. I am "working" from home today due to my Jeep being in the shop. My Jeep has been leaking anti-freeze and yesterday it over heated. Kelly (my boss) looked at it and thought it was the Head Gasket which totally stressed me out all day yesterday! But I just got the call and it's just the heater valve....Phew!!

So I have been a live in Nanny for almost a week now! My second day in the oldest girl (14) "ran away" in the middle of the night. She came back that night and is safe. I spent a good majority of Sunday talking to her. My Heartlight days are coming in handy! Other than that it's been good. It has been a good transition.

I have 2 weeks left of undergrad! The last day of class is May 8th and I graduate on May 15th. It doesn't really feel like I'm done though. My goal in going back to school was to get my Masters and I'm not there yet so I don't feel like it's that big of a deal. But I have a MAJOR case of senioritis!! I will be glad to be done with these silly general ed classes I have had to take.

The Youth Summer Employment Program (YESP) officially starts May 1, 2009! I will transition into that position that first week of May as I finish up my internship hours and begin that program. I am SO very excited about it! I'm excited to be working alongside a good friend of mine and doing something that I have a passion for!

That's all for now... I'm sure I have more to say but I really should get back to work! I will try not to miss another Monday!

The big 2-8

I just re-read my blog from one year ago and remembered how hard my birthday was last year. I have to say this year was the opposite of that and I am so thankful! I had a great birthday and hopefully 28 will be good to me!

On Friday two of my dearest friends flew in for the weekend. Emily and Leslie are like sisters to me and it was so fun to have them here for the weekend. We spent Saturday at the Zoo and then we had a cook-out. It was fun to have a few of my friends gather and just spend time together! Then on Sunday(my birthday), I spent some time journaling in the morning and then we went to eat lunch and then to the Botanical Gardens and an art festival in Dallas. Leslie's flight got delayed so we had some extra time with her so we went and got Mexican. It was such a good day. It was so good to be with people I love on a day that is usually so hard for me. Thanks so very much Emily and Leslie for coming and making my birthday so special! Just spending time with you was the best present!

I'll try to upload pictures later!

Oh yeah and another update... I GOT THE GRANT!!!! My supervisor called me on Friday to tell me that not only did we get the grant but they like it so much they are DOUBLING our budget! My supervisor said they were very impressed by the program. It really makes all that hard work well worth it!!! It was such a good early birthday present!!

Medical mystery solved!

So as many of you may know I tend to be a bit of a medical mystery! I spent about 6 months back in 2006 going though pretty much all the tests known to the GI doctors, all to come back showing me I was a healthy 25 year old. I was told by one doctor that it must be Cancer since we ruled everything else out (and then he told me I couldn't get in for the test for 4 weeks!). I recommend that a doctor NEVER do this!!! The symptoms I was having eventually just went away on their own, only surfacing twice at random times throughout the next few months. Then in 2007 I was having intense abdominal pain. My doctor prescribed Cipro to combat an infection she thought I had. Turns out I am allergic to Cipro and I went into Renal failure. This is an extremely rare reaction to the drug (1 in 1,000,000).

As I wrote on Sunday I was in a lot of pain, it only continued to get worse on Monday. Yesterday I went into the clinic. At first they could not figure out what was wrong with me (surprise, surprise) but I finally got a diagnosis! I have epiploic appendagitis. Granted this usually is diagnosed in late 40's early 50's. It is the same thing that I originally had when I was prescribed Cipro. Basically the fatty tissue on my appendix is inflamed. I was told I don't need surgery, the pain will go away in about a week. So I'm home in bed today. It's nice to know what wrong for once but am sad to know that this type of pain can come on at anytime if it gets inflamed again.

3 weeks in a row!

Well I am currently laying in bed not feeling well at all. As long as I don't move I am not in pain so I'm gonna try to write this while moving as little as possible. I woke up this morning with an intense pain that has been present all day. I'm really hoping it goes away and I will be better tomorrow!

Do you ever have those days when it just feels great to do nothing?!? That is what yesterday was for me. I slept in, ate breakfast, showered and then read all day long. It was so nice to just have a nice lazy Sunday. I got to read for fun too which is something I have not done in a long time.

Also big news is I think I have found my future home! I spent all of last Thursday and Friday looking at apartments. I looked at a total of 16! I came home Friday night and watched Fireproof (which I recommend to all of you, especially my married readers... it's cheesy but good). I narrowed down my choices but did not feel totally confident about any of them. Today I stopped at one last place and I really liked it!! It's near to where I use to live so I know the neighborhood and they have a great student special so it was cheaper than most I have looked at. The community is only 5 years old so it is also very nice. I'm going tomorrow to put my deposit on it!

Well I am going to bed and praying that I feel better come tomorrow morning!

CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!!!

My Monday morning was CRAZY! Let me walk you through it, 9:00 Spanish Mid-term, 10:00 turn in English paper, 11:00 turn in History paper and take a quiz over FDR's Folly (which I did not read... 20 questions, I guessed on 20 of them!), 12:00 go to the office and put final touches on grant and HAND IT IN!!! It was such a busy morning but so good to have it all done. I had a crazy couple of days leading up to Monday also as I was trying to prepare for the crazy day. I feel like I need a break from spring break! It felt so good to check these things off my list though!!

I must say that I am SUPER excited about having the grant turned in and even more excited to hear back from board. We should know unofficially April 8th if we got it or not. I continued to get more and more excited about it as I was writing but I was trying not to in case we don't get it. I think it's going to be a great program though and my supervisor does also!

I am realizing more and more how much I love working with teens and young adults. The oldest daughter of the family I nanny for Alisha has had some hard things going on in the past couple of weeks, a friend of hers was cutting, another friend is pregnant (she is only 14), and then last week she lost a friend of hers unexpectedly. All of these things have really opened up our relationship and I have been able to walk through some of this with her. She reminds me A LOT of myself when I was 14 and it's neat to be able to be to her what a woman dear to my heart was to me at that age! It just continues to confirm to me that I am doing the right thing by getting my Masters in order that I will have the skills to do what I love!

Ok, so I'm exhausted and going to bed. I wanted to include a picture of my new dishes though! I'm super excited about them!

The last month...

Ok so it has officially been a month since I last wrote on here. It has been a crazy month, but some very exciting things are happening! So here is the update...

I have decided that Mondays are going to be my official day to blog so if a Monday goes by and I haven't blogged yell at me!

Well in February I flew out to Kansas City to surprise a dear dear friend of mine for her birthday. Natalie is a friend from MSU who has become so dear to my heart over the years. I had realized that it had been over a year and a half since we've really had time to just sit with each other and catch up. I worked with her husband Bob to plan the surprise, and it was AMAZING. I flew in early and got to have coffee with Melissa, one of my old residents from Heartlight and then I drove to Bob and Nat's apt. It was such a sweet weekend to my heart. It is amazing how the Lord continues to use these people I love in my life!

The next big thing is that I moved out of my house I was living in. I know that it was the best decision, it was just a bit sudden! I am currently staying with a friend of mine while I look for my new apartment. I'm so excited about living by myself! I'm excited about this new stage of life! I'm excited to find new stuff and decorate my new apt (I just bought new dishes this past weekend!)

I said earlier that my life has been crazy busy, and the reason for that is an amazing opportunity I have been given. My supervisor at my internship came to me a few weeks ago to tell me about an opportunity she had been presented to develop a Summer Youth Employment program for disadvantaged youth. She knows this is the age group I want to work with and asked me if I would want to develop this project. If we get the grant she is going to hire me on for the summer to run the program! Of course I said YES! So I have been developing this program and am currently writing the grant proposal. I'm getting more and more excited about the program and pray that we get the grant! I will be ok if I never have to write another grant in my life though!

I think that is all for now. All the major things anyhow! I'll be back next Monday at the latest to fill ya'll in on anything I forgot!