Monday, December 29, 2008

NOT ME! Monday

I'm going to try my hand at the "Not ME!, Monday" list. Somehow I doubt mine will be as entertaining as some others, but who knows what it might evolve into?

This is a list of things I absolutely, would not, could not, never-ever would be caught doing ~

I did not lay in bed and toss and turn for 4 and a half hours one night this week trying to get to bed early 'just in case' a certain mama was truly in labor. Why would I want to do that instead of getting up and getting lots of things accomplished? Like all the things that were NOT running through my mind at the time: cleaning off my desk, getting all my paperwork done for turning in my clinical progress report, vacuuming the floors, unpacking boxes, or other stuff that wasn't going through my mind.

I did not ride the kids new zip line and have to drop off midway through because I could no longer keep my feet (or rear) from dragging the ground no matter how hard I tried. And I most certainly did NOT do this in a skirt! No sir, not me, no way! (And thankfully there were no cameras around for this thing I did not do!)

I also did not get up and move to a different spot in the living room to watch a movie so the cat would not have to move. Just move the dumb animal, right? It's not like she was really going to watch the movie or anything! Why would anyone do such a thing? Certainly not me!

I also have not spent an enormous amount of time this week scouring Craig's List for new bedroom furniture for the boys or living room furniture for our house. I have no money for such items, so why would I spend hours sitting in front of the computer looking at little furniture icons? I would never waste my time doing anything like that. I am far too practical in how I use my time these days to day dream like that!

And, I would never load my family in the car and proceed to drive an hour away to go to the best Mexican food Restaurant ever (The Jalapeno Tree) for dinner last night. That just sounds cruel doesn't it? So I, of course, would never do such a thing! Especially not just minutes after they had gotten home from a 5 hour trip themselves. Disclaimer: I also did not give them a choice, and that is the place they chose. Since I didn't do this thing, how could I have given them a choice???

Okay, that's my NOT ME list for this week ~ it's really kind of fun to stop and think through this list of things I did NOT do!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Our Christmas in Springtown

The stockings are empty...

The presents unwrapped...

Now it's time for...a nap! For Mom and Dad anyway!

The kids are all happily enjoying their new stuff ~ shooting nerf darts at each other, building with Lincoln Logs or LEGOS, or maybe reading a new book. And Robert and I went back to bed. When the alarm went off at 6:50 this morning (yes, we now have to make sure we set an alarm. After a couple of years of the kids having to work hard to wake us up, even calling us on our cell phones one year, we have to set an alarm to get up now!) I told Robert to go tell the kids that we were putting Christmas morning off until 9 AM this year. Well, when we got in there, the boys were all still asleep! Haley was the only one awake and reading her under-the-pillow book. We really could have done it!

After our nap (that was several hours long) we got up to a wonderful lunch. We don't do the traditional lunch at our house because my kids are less than thrilled with turkey and dressing and all the fixings. So we decided a few years back that we would do something else for our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. This year we had...Sil Panchos. This is the most wonderful dish Amber brought back from her time in Bolivia. Maybe in the next blog I'll tell you all about getting drunk with Pedro, but for now, I'll stick to Christmas in Springtown :-)

Robert got the entire collection of M*A*S*H, so we watched a few episodes of that while the dishes were getting done, and we put together my new portable table for my laptop. And now, the boys are all outside putting up their new ZIP LINE! With all these awesome trees, they are looking forward to having a zip line between a couple of them. I'll post a picture of the great fun they'll have on it sometime soon. Hopefully they can get it done before dark.

After dark, we'll all settle in to play one (or more) of our new games, and maybe watch one of the new movies the kids got. The boys will probably spend some time playing with their Laser Tag stuff, too. So many trees to hide behind here in Springtown! Mostly, it's about spending time together, enjoying each other, and growing in our relationships ~ with each other and the Lord.

All-in-all it's been a good Christmas. Yesterday was a wonderful day. We all got up slowly and enjoyed a leisurely start to the day, sitting around after breakfast visiting and talking and just enjoying each other. Then Haley and I went to do some last minute shopping, and Robert and the boys did some of their own. We got home, fixed up some Sausage, Velveeta Cheese & Rotel tomato dip and settled in to watch "The Christmas Shoes". I haven't seen it in a few years, and I've wanted to watch it all season. We had a good cry, finished up the Advent calendars, spent about an hour singing Christmas carols and the boys got to bed a little before midnight. Robert and I got the stockings filled, I took a bath in my wonderful jacuzzi tub and worked out the last of the birth-kinks from Mondays' birth, and we got to bed around 1-ish.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending His Son. I tend to get so busy that I lose sight of what the season is all about, and I hate it when that happens. I want to get to a place in life where I am always mindful of the sacrifices of my Father and His Son, Jesus Christ ~ and not only the sacrifices, but the great love that is behind them.

I know the great love I have for my children ~ I know how much I want them to be happy and joyful ~ how I want them to feel safe, secure and loved ~ to joy in my presence and enjoy their time with me. How much more My heavenly Father wants those same things with, for and from me.

I pray that you will all revel in the great love of Jehovah God and His Son, sent to earth for us, so that we can look forward with great anticipation to eternity with Him! That is something to get excited about this holiday season!

Blessings...


Monday, December 8, 2008

I Passed!

Woohoo! One more workshop passed, and just one more to go before I'm finished with the academic portion of my midwifery study! This last one was on the Postpartum and Newborn. The new one is the Advanced Skills ~ where I get to learn about suturing and starting IV's and fun stuff like that!

I also have to write my protocols. In the state of Texas we have basic rules and laws that govern us, but each midwife has to write her own set of protocols stating what "I" will do in a given situation. For example: If I have a woman that goes beyond her due date, how far past that date am I willing to let her go before deciding she needs to have her baby? The docs don't like to see them go past 40 weeks ~ but some moms are 'slow cookers' and can actually safely carry a baby for 44 weeks! As time goes on, there are some risks, and I have to know what they are, and decide how comfortable I am with them, for how long...

I have to do this for every area of midwifery covered in the rules and laws. It won't be a quick process, but it is a good one. It makes you think through all the book learning you have done, and put that together with the clinical work you've done, and then decide what you feel comfortable with as a new midwife. There are things that will change in my protocols as I have more experience, but I have to decide what I am willing to do (and in some cases, where is the line I'm drawing in what I'm willing to risk my license over) right now.

Feel free to pray for me as I go through this process. I want to trust birth, and trust God in birth, and be wise and safe...

It's a beautiful day here in Springtown. We have the Christmas tree up and decorated, and the windows are open today. Can't do that up north, I bet! It's been a cloudy overcast day, but the temp is 70! The boys have done school, I've unpacked some boxes, we've hung some pictures on the wall, I'm trying to catch up on e-mail and such, and all-in-all, it's been a productive day at home. A much needed one!

Before leaving for my workshop last week on Thursday ~
  • Monday we had a study day for the 3 of us doing this workshop who live in the Ft. Worth area
  • Tuesday we had prenatal appointments all day
  • Wednesday we had a birth at the birth center
  • Thursday we had a birth at the birth center, and cleaned up and left only a little late for the workshop, arriving in Midland at about 10 PM
It was a very busy week! And has been a very busy, crazy 3 months since the last workshop with Robert's dad passing away in September, my move to the birth center in October, and the family moving to Springtown in November. But it is over, I did survive (although there were days when I wondered if I would survive intact!), and there is only one more workshop to go!

I'm taking this week off from school, just doing the prenatals, postpartum visits, and any births that may happen. Then I will get started next week so I don't end up with the last minute crunch (yeah, right! even when I start early and work all the way through, I still somehow end up with a last minute panic over getting it all done ~ why is that?).

Through all of this, I am learning ever better and deeper that God is in control, not me. There are new areas daily that I realize I am trying to make something happen, when if I would just rest, and let Him be God, I could relax so much more...will I ever figure that one out ahead of time? Here's praying I do, and soon!

Blessings!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

School Days

I never thought I would be "my age" and fretting over school work! I'm so close to finished, but I am so very tired of trying to find page numbers to go with the answers! Next weekend I have my next-to-last workshop for midwifery school. One more workshop in March, then I have to finish all of my clinical requirements before I can take the NARM test and get licensed. Still sounds like a really long time away, but I know that God has perfect timing. This past week has been crazy, with the Thanksgiving holidays coming 12 days after moving to Springtown, and one birth on Monday and another threatened birth 3 nights in a row! Sleep has been at a premium, and my schoolwork has suffered as a result. No more excuses though!


Amber and Caleb dropped in for a visit!

Amber and Caleb were here for 3 days this week, and we have so much fun with them around. We tend to have fun anyway, but there seems to be a lot more laughs than usual when they're here. We took new family photos for this years Christmas cards, so as soon as I'm done with my schoolwork, we'll work on getting those out!

I'd better get back to learning about things Postpartum and Newborn...

May you be blessed as you reflect on all of God's blessings to you today.

Interesting tidbit from Jonathan...
  • Sundays are supposed to be warm, not cold. That's why they're called 'Sun'-days.
I love that boy :) He was sick yesterday and we are so happy to have him up and around today feeling his usual self!