Roller Skating

Today we celebrated birthdays for 2 special little people in our life! At 1 of the parties, Jackson got to try out skating for the first time. He enjoyed it, but after falling numerous times became a little discouraged, and figured it was more fun for daddy to skate and carry him than it was to keep falling. Here's a few pics of our time today. We'll definitely do this again soon! Thanks Nicole for the opportunity to try something new, and for allowing us to celebrate this special day with Sophie!

Bedtime prayers

Donald is out of town this week for work, so Jackson and I are on our own. Boy, do we ever miss him after just 1 night!
Last night I was putting Jackson in bed after his bathtime and storytime. I asked him what he wanted mommy to pray about tonight, and he listed off: Daddy, Mommy, Mimi, Granny, Papa, Giz, me, and Daddy. He made sure to put daddy in there twice since daddy is gone, and I thought it was cute he asked me to pray for him. So, we closed our eyes and said our prayer, and when I was finished, I asked if he wanted to say a prayer. So we closed our eyes and this was his prayer:
Dear God, watch over me, Daddy, Mommy, Mimi, Granny, Papa, Giz. Protect us. We sat there for a minute and I peeked and he still had his eyes closed, so I asked if he was finished, and he nodded his head yes, so I rounded it out by saying Amen.
Oh it was precious! I love that child that God has so richly blessed me with! Parenting isn't always easy, but there's just some moments that make up for the difficult moments to encourage you to stick with it, because it's all worth it!

FEES Certification

What a weekend it has been! I went this weekend to a course to enable me to get my FEES certification. FEES stands for fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing. It's a swallowing evaluation we do on patients who may have difficulty swallowing. I have to get a special certificate that allows me to perform these evaluations because it is in invasive procedure. I've completed the first part of certification now which was the course I took this weekend, and so far I've performed 17 evaluations. I will have to complete the other swallowing evaluations in the presence of an ENT or a priveledged endoscopist, which I hope to have completed in the next month and a half.
WOW! Everything is really falling in place for graduation and the job search. This is all becoming so real as I anticipate graduation in only 5 short weeks. It'll be here before I know it, and I only have 2 more papers to write before grad school is over! YES =)

It's Official!

I officially began the job search today! I submitted my first application for a position that I am interested in as a staff acute care Speech Language Pathologist at a local hospital. I'm excited about what the next few months may bring in our life. I've been praying for months and months about this decision...Seems like such a daunting task to look for a job, to figure out exactly what arena I wanted to use my degree in...did I want to go work in a hospital, school system, inpatient rehab center, outpatient rehab, home health, etc...the list goes on. The great thing about this profession is there's so many possibilities, and I'm not limited by 1 arena or 1 population. I can work in acute care primarily with adults now, and could later begin working in the school systems with pediatrics. In my heart of hearts, I know why I went into this profession, I know why I love this profession, and I know where I can make the biggest impact; however, with so many choices, the way is not always clear. I have been prayerfully considering my options for some time, and have been quite reserved in my choices and job search; however, I'm finally ready to begin this job search, and pray that God opens the right door for me. I think I know what I want to do, but I pray that if that is not God's desire that He will close those doors, and open only the door He intends for me to pursue. So, please be in prayer for us as we embarq on this adventure!
**What a rambling post! That's how all this seems in my mind right now too =)