congratulations!

this year has been a year of changes and celebrations.

1. lovie graduated from high school and started at JBU!
2. susie graduated with her PhD and was offered 3 jobs! she's working for the aurora public school system! and al finished his nursing degree and impressively got a job in an ICU unit!
3. charlie and i got engaged and... married! we successfully planned a wedding! i also started working toward my goal of being a dietitian by going back to school!
4. mom went a whole summer without needing surgery :) (sorry mom... no more surgeries for you!)
5. dad completed a large portion of his PhD thesis (book) and got promoted (yesterday!) to "all but degree" status! (that means they know he's "doctor" quality! he just needs to finish it!)

(and with my new loup family, too!
charlie and my marriage, risa and judah's marriage, and nic and crystal's baby foxy. it's an eventful year all around!)

oddly enough, with all these changes, we're all looking forward to more changes. all of us will probably move within the next 3 or so years. stacy will graduated again... al will get into nurse anesthetist school... they'll probably have a baby in 3 years, too :) (Hopefully!) charlie will graduate ;) and (hopefully!) i'll get into a masters program somewhere? and mom and dad will move to the city where dad gets a job!

i really miss my family. i hope we'll all soon be in a place where we live close or can visit more often. it's exciting to me that in all of our different stages of life, God is still working in us and through us and bringing us to new places.

honesty...

hey wendy! thanks for the nomination... i'm not sure how interesting this will be. i'm normally pretty terrible at coming up with lists about myself. but let's see... probably the more honest i am, the more interesting this will be...?

1. back in the day when i was in college... at all of my ilead director retreats, we had to come up with these sort of lists. mine were generally boring except when i would impulsively throw in something stupid like "i wish i were tyra banks." whoops? i can't help it that i'm drawn to tall women. they understand my plight in life.

2. i wish people would stop having babies or talking about babies. seriously. how many pregnancy tests can a girl go through? i'm seriously paranoid.

3. charlie and i -really- love our pets. like reallyreally. we sing a song about punkin to the tune of "apple bottom jeans"... called "hoggy-bottom pernk". and today we gave pernkin the scientific name "hoggybottomous poopsiana britanicaa." i mean... we don't study scientific names on our way to school every friday or anything...

4. i've always hated nature because i don't get along with it very well. i must have the blood volume of a pregnant lady (See! another reason to be paranoid!) because mosquitos are innately attracted to me. i could be standing next to charlie and have 12 of them swarming and biting me... and charlie? nothin. every night before bed, i run around the house and smash all the mosquitos that snuck in on the walls and ceiling. it infuriates charlie. but i can't sleep knowing they're drinking my blood and buzzing in my ear. BUT, despite my hatred of bugs, i LOVE living in a little trailer in the country. i hope to find a job on our side of the river so i can keep my life small-towned. i like it.

5. i am addicted to sugar. and when i say addicted... i mean if i resist eating something sweet long enough, chances are i will break and then binge on it. i believe this is called "related disordered eating." well done for the girl who wants to be a nutritionist. at least i will understand people if we talk about diet changes...?

6. i still cry when i get to missin' my mommy. (like every week. ask charlie.)

7. i -love- to cook... and HATE to clean up my mess. HATE. poor charlie. i'm a very messy cook because i like to experiment.

8. i think about children in other parts of the world pretty much every day. i remember the faces i saw in the garbage dump in nicaragua... the kids in la carpio... the girls in thailand. it brings me severe guilt for doing nothing to help them.

9. i want to foster/adopt. we want a big family. with lots of love. giving opportunities to kids that may not have had them. i would also -really- like to start an orphanage somewhere. i know charlie and i will travel and hopefully really help communities with nutrition and agricultural related issues. it makes me antsy. who knows how long we'll have to wait?

10. i love musicals. 7 brides for 7 brothers? christmas gift please?! haha charlie and i are going to see an hansel and gretle opera this weekend! yay! i think musicals of any sort require a lot of brilliance to put together.


the rest of the rules....
1. Must thank the person who gave you the award and list their blog and link it.
2. share 10 honest things about yourself...
3. Present this award to 7 others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged you.
4. Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award.

now my nominations? umm?
1. leslye. you'll say something crazy.
2. melissa. you neverever update. and i love you.
3. susan! i know you do daily things, but you could stand a change of pace?
4. charlie! please? update.
5. molly and her big-city stories..? maybe?
6. amy... you should consider restarting your blog! please?
i don't know. no one updates anymore. i miss my xanga.

all i have left now is one more sister to tie the knot :)

i love to be married. risa and judah... i wish you... an eternal love and bond with one another!

and ps... there was a rainbow that appeared out of a cloudless sky right before arisa walked down the isle. it was a -very- beautiful God moment!

I think I must appear fickle.

I say I’m going to do something… and then… I don’t.

Something happens. I don’t follow through.

My life, in some aspects, keeps not going where I want it to go or think it should go. I don’t feel like it’s a problem of commitment. I commit myself to something, and it feels like that something keeps falling apart underneath me. Like I leap onto an iceberg only to feel it slowly melt.

“I’m going to nursing school”

fail.

“I’m going to get a dietetics degree at lsu”

fail.

It makes me scared for the future. “I’m going to get a masters degree in dietetics.”

What’s to say that won’t be another fail? There’s like 150 steps between here and there.

I have to get a job once this semester is over. I don’t want to. I felt –so- suffocated at the hospital. Suffocated because of the hours and because of the structure and because I couldn’t take off when I wanted to. Suffocated because I have a college degree and can’t find a real job. Suffocated because of the thought that I’ll never get to where I’m trying to go. Suffocated because of everything that job meant I wasn’t. Being treated like… I was uneducated and incapable. Suffocated because it was the best thing I could find.

I don’t want to search for another job. I don’t want to be another secretary. I need challenge. I need autonomy. I need freedom. I need creativity. I need to use my brain. I need to feel like a contributing member of society.

i keep hearing over and over again "whether you eat or drink (or work or study) or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.