Good-Bye Summer-Hello School...

This post has been a while coming! I have been SO busy with all the changes that have been going on in my life, and I have majorly had to make some adjustments to timing and what I do in the little bit of free time that I have. I hate hate hate that blogging has taken a backseat and I haven't been able to document and keep up with everything as much as I was before. This is my ONLY form of scrap booking (unless you count ALL the tons of stuff I have saved in Elem's closet waiting patiently to be put in an actual book) :) that I use to keep memories and things in a timely order, and totally serves as a journal and outlet for me. So I really am going to try to commit more time to it because I know when I look back I am really going to regret not jotting down some of the little things that I love so much. For starters, our family ended the summer and kissed the 107 degree temperatures goodbye, with mixed emotions! I love the summer-swimming, the sunshine, pretty flowers, and all the school age kids at the shelter, but at the same time-enough heat is enough! The shelter summer program ended on July 31st and we had our annual graduation that gives the kids and the staff some closure!

Here is just a COUPLE of pics from the summer of Elem and I and our time with the kids at the shelter! I am so thankful he has been able to be a part of this culture and been able to come away with so many friends and good experiences! I think it has really contributed to who he is as a person (even though he is a little person). :) And even though it was really hard to work and have him there with me, again I just wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Even though I am still a part of Our House, Elem has recently moved on! In the pics you will see where he has made so many good friends, and definitely feels himself at home within the shelter and its programs. Awesome! And to top it off, he found his first true love...Ms. Caroline. She was one of my employees for the summer program, and the FIRST EVER teacher/person, Elem willingly wanted to leave me for to spend the day with. I am not shocked at all that he chose such a beautiful girl, inside and out! He has good taste. The first pic(once the slideshow gets started) is my favorite-Ms. Caroline missed the graduation and couldn't be there but Elem was sure to find a pic of her and hold on to it tight and even made it home with it!

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I didn't realize you had to click onto a new page to watch the whole thing, so if you dont want to watch the slideshow, here is the pic of Elem and Ms. Caroline:



How can you not smile, right? Hehe. So sweet. Moving right along- here are a few updates that are going on in our lives! I am officially in Nursing School Full Time at UALR! Thats right, I finally took the plunge and decided to go back to school. :) I am super excited about making a shift in my career and I know it is a good choice for our family. Although, it is already proving to be seriously hard work, which I knew it would, it will be so worth it. I have been taking classes for a little over a year now, and going back as a "grown up" if you will, is way better! I really like going to school and I am super annoying in that I want to make an "A" in everything. However, it is difficult to find time to study with a kid around, so I kind of have to make do and have done some major shifting around with my schedule to make that happen. That being said, I am officially, part time at Our House Shelter. Which makes me sad because there could never be enough hours in the day to do my job, much less do it in a limited amount of time! So I just kind of have to do what I can in the time I am there. In addition to that, I took a huge step and got another job as well-I know I am insane! At Arkansas Children's Hospital, as a Patient Activity Specialist, where I basically play and provide activities, etc. for children in the hospital. It can range from bed side activities, to holding toddlers and reading to them, to organizing a playroom. I love it! That job is just a Zero Base job which means they call me and ask me if I can work when they have people needing to take off. Of course there is plenty of that! So I try to work about 1 shift a week or so. I know it was a huge risk in doing that, but I wanted to get my foot in the door at a hospital and really get some hands on training so I would feel comfortable when I was put in that atmosphere in clinicals. And I am so glad I did. Hopefully, when I graduate, I will be able to get a job a TINY bit easier with the hope that they hire within much faster that outside. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one. And finally, Elem has started preschool at Geyer Springs First Baptist Church. He is officially a big boy and it was SO difficult for me to let this happen. I am very stubborn in my ways and controlling with the whole parenting thing-and even though I willfully admit it, it has been super hard for me to let go and let someone else do some of the teaching to our kid! And I mean SUPER hard. Ill go more into his school on the next post! Overall the shift in these lifestyle changes has gone pretty smooth with the exception of some serious role reversal on the part of me and Seth in regards to who is at home and who is at work, and with some severe exhaustion going on! We are so excited and happy about where our family is headed, so keep us in your prayers and send your positive thoughts our way, because we need it. And we are a little more on the poor side these days, so we don't really do much outside the house, but since we have about 2 more years of that ahead, it hasnt really made too much of an impact on our life! ha! For today, all are happy, healthy, and in good spirits!