Life, etc.

Just a general update... I'll be 27 in two weeks. I now have three children, age 3 and under. Sometimes I wonder why in the world I thought I could handle having three children so close in age. But I wouldn't change anything about that.

I had our youngest daughter, Tanasi (TAN-uh-see) just six weeks ago. She is such a delight and has started smiling a ton. It's been a rough six weeks though, with her nursing around the clock and the older two adjusting to me needing to give the new baby so much attention. I remember with my second daughter, it was tough the first three months, then it got better, so I'm just hanging in there. I tell myself it's better than pumping every 2 hours like I did with my son! The kids are also warming up to the new babe even more.

I'm teaching American Sign Language at Austin Peay State University and love my job. I took a few weeks off to adjust having a new baby, but start back up in three days. Adam took on an apprenticeship with Sams Club to become a licensed hearing aid specialist. It's something he's been trying to land (with any company) for a couple years, so we are so grateful that he got the position!

I started school again to get my Bachelor's degree. Unfortunately, I failed at completing this semester. I thought I could handle it, even with a new baby, but I was very wrong! So I've had to defer my semester for a later date. While I feel disappointed and slightly like a failure for not being able to handle it, I'm also proud of myself for trying. I will take a break next semester, and try again in the fall, but take less classes.

I've taken up a new hobby, raising chickens. However, I've had the worst luck ever with them! I've had 24 chickens killed in the last few months by either stray dogs or raccoons. I just don't understand how people keep their chickens alive for years, free ranging and all that. I took so many preventative measures but it still did no good. The thing is, I'm not giving up. I love having chickens and am determined to have some, and keep them alive for as long as possible! So I'm working on beefing up the coop. Hopefully the next flock I adopt won't get slaughtered... but we shall see.

So that's a super watered down catch-up (there's way more that has happened in the past while, but I don't think I can fit it all in one post!). Hopefully I can find the time and energy (mom of 3, three and under) to maintain this blog better! See you next time!

IT'S A................!!!!

We went in for our first ultrasound tonight to see our baby and to find out if it's a boy or girl! Well, we found out the gender in less than 2 seconds!

The ultrasound tech said, "Yep, it's DEFINITELY a boy!"

The place we went to was like an ultrasound boutique, and was NOT like the doctor's office at all! We had an entire theater to ourselves, and the ultrasound was projected on a giant screen. We were surprised how MUCH the baby was moving. He was kicking, pushing the walls around him, tugging on his umbilical cord, flipping around, and even waving at us! He even put his hands up and formed it into an "I Love You" in sign language, unfortunately the tech wasn't able to snap a picture in time. The hand is still there, just too blurry to tell. Darn!

The tech told us he was a healthy boy, with really long legs and a great, strong heartbeat. Very active too, obviously. I was surprised because I don't feel that much, so I wasn't expecting so much activity. We also got to see his brain and his heart. Kinda creepy, but cool.

We LOVED that little place we went to get our ultrasound. It's this great place called "My Baby Bump" in Clarksville. We booked online for our appointment last week, and when we arrived today, there was no record of our 5:10 PM appointment, but our sister in law, Lori, was double booked for 2 PM the next day. Our names are similar... Lori Farley and Laura Farley... but it was just weird that my appointment disappeared and then Lori was double booked for the same time the next day. I was kind of bummed cause I thought they'd make us reschedule, but the tech was so nice and told us that she could squeeze us in for a 5:30 appointment. When it was our turn, we went into this nice, warm room with the lights dimmed and comfortable couches, a big screen, and a comfortable examination table that was more like a bed than a table. The tech immediately got started and we were surprised how fast we could see the baby. We got to watch the baby play for about 10 minutes and listen to his heart beat. Then our tech printed out snapshots and gave us a CD full of pictures and a rubber bracelet that says "It's a boy!". We also got a free "heartbeat elephant", which is a stuffed elephant with the heartbeat recorded into it, so whenever we press its stomach, it plays the heartbeat. Pretty cool. And on top of that, the tech gave us a discount for the "inconvenience" of my appointment not showing up on the schedule like it should've. They had EXCELLENT service, probably the nicest I've ever been treated anywhere! And the prices were so affordable. It was awesome. I would totally recommend this place to anyone in Clarksville.

Ok, so here are ALL the pictures we got from our ultrasound. Have fun!

 

 

 

Here are his "super long legs"! ^

 

His hand on his neck... you can see the little fingers!

 

This one is kind of a blurry one. Sorry.

 

 

I think he was kicking in this one, so you can see the blurs of his legs.

 

 

It's a boy!

 

 Him playing with his umbilical cord... he was doing that the whole time.

 

 

 If you look closely, his left hand is grasping his umbilical cord! 

 

 

He's kind of smiling in this one!

 

 

Where the yellow box is, that's his heart, and the squiggly lines is his heartbeat.

 

Another "It's a boy!" picture. :)

Update on the Last Eight Months

Well, after 8 months of inactivity, I am back! I'm going to try to keep up a weekly blog post from now on, especially because there are going to be some pretty exciting travels and adventures coming up!

I'm going to give you a quick list of highs and lows that happened the last eight months. 

November: I went to see my family for Thanksgiving in Utah. I got four cavities and I had to get a shot in my left jaw with a freaking big needle (cause it was a big cavity, I guess) and was in extreme pain for a couple days. Makes me never want to get a cavity again. And stay away from dentists altogether. 

Adam also got his "baby", a 1972 Chevy Chevelle named Melli, painted. Finally. 

December: On the 6th, it was Adam's 25th birthday! Then, on the 15th, we got married! The wedding day was great, the weather, however, wasn't so cooperative. We ended up having to take most of our pictures inside the church building. But, I don't really care. Pictures are pictures and I'm glad to have some! The reception afterwards was amazing and absolutely magical. I just want to put in a quick thank you to all those who showed up to the Tennessee and Utah receptions and for all the great gifts that helped support Adam and I!

A few days after we got married, I got really sick with an infection and was in a lot of pain. This is where I was introduced to the magic of herbs. Adam and I don't have medical insurance, so we weren't going to be going to the doctor unless it was like a life and death thing. It wasn't life or death yet, but it was certainly painful. I was actually begging to go to the doctors, but Adam asked me to try herbs first. I was a huge skeptic and really believed it wasn't going to work. But, I painstakingly drank parsley tea and took some herbal pills and then fell asleep after a long couple days. I woke up the next morning completely pain free and all better! So, that made me a believer in herbs. 

December 25th was Christmas day, obviously. We had a great time with Adam's family. That night, Adam and I kind of spur-of-the-moment decided to start driving to Colorado and Utah. So we threw our stuff in the car and left. Kind of a bad idea. We got stuck in a blizzard and I let Adam drive. We passed so many cars that had spun out or got stuck. Good thing Adam has two years of experience driving in blizzards, considering he served a mission in Alaska, so we were fine. However, when we got to Arkansas, we ended up coming to a stop on a one way bridge in between two semis and nowhere to go. We were stuck in standstill traffic for 5 hours. It was really cold and miserable. So yeah, we were really excited when the semi in front of us started moving forward!

Driving to Durango, Colorado was crazy. The highway was literally, a graveyard for abandoned cars and overturned or jack-knifed semis. It was that way until we hit Texas. We drove through New Mexico, and then finally, arrived at Hesperus, where a lot of Adam's family lives. We stayed with his grandparents for about 5 days then went to Utah. On the way to Cottonwood Heights, we made a stop at Arches National Park and did a little bit of hiking. After that, it was straight to my parent's house. We surprised them with our appearance. They weren't expecting us for a couple more days, so that was fun.

While we were in Cottonwood Heights, we just hung out with my family, went night snowboarding and skiing, and then we had our reception at a neighbor's house. The following day, we had to leave back to Tennessee. I was pretty sad to leave my family, because I wasn't sure when I was going to see them again.

January: We had spent the whole first week in Utah with my family, and made an uneventful drive back to Tennessee. I got a job as a part time nanny for a two year old boy and a four month old girl. 

February: The big highlight of this month is that we went on a caving trip somewhere past Nashville. I can't remember the name of the cave now, darn it. But it was fun. It was some serious caving, especially when it was just my second time. We climbed, jumped, crawled through tubes with an inch off of our backs to spare, and saw bats and some really cool crystals. Then, we had a dinner in the cave and a show. It was great fun!

March: Nothing eventful. Just work.

April: It was my 22nd birthday! Adam's family threw me a party and made my favorite dinner ever... SLOPPY JOES! Just the way my mom makes it too. I got some sweet gifts. Then that weekend, we went to dinner at Red Robin and went to see Iron Man 3 in theaters. A few days later, I finally got my ultimate gift... A blondie at Applebee's! Those are to die for. 

May: My niece Teyla turned 1. At the end of the month, I had to quit my job as a nanny since Adam and I were planning on going to Utah for an extended period of time.

June: Not much interesting... just worked to get some money to go to Utah.

July: Fourth of July happened. Of course, we had a BBQ and fireworks. Then, July 14th, we headed out to Utah. It was a 32 hour drive... fortunately, it was uneventful, but unfortunately, very boring and exhausting. I was really excited to go home and see my family. When we got to Salt Lake City, we left to St. George with my family, drove back, and the very next day went gold mining three hours away from Orem. The day after that, we drove to Durango, Colorado, and drove back to Salt Lake City. I was SO SICK of being in the car!!!!
The rest of July was just being with family and friends. We started working with doTERRA as independent contractors. Our job is to teach others about the amazing benefits of essential oils. We teach many different topics on essential oils, such as cleaning, emergency preparedness, emotions, medicine cabinet makeover, and so much more. We were planning on staying until mid-September, but there has been a change of plans and we decided that we should go back to Tennessee. But, we will be back for Christmas!

Now it's August! It hasn't been quite eventful, just the usual spending time with my family and so on. I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

That's the catch up on the last eight months. Time has really flown! In four months, it will be Adam and my one year anniversary. Pretty hard to believe. And it's so hard to believe it'll be cold in just a couple months! Whew...

Well, I promise I'll do better on blogging now. My goal is one post a week... so we'll see if that even happens. And I'll make more of an effort that they'll be a little more interesting than this one. If you made it reading this far... thank you! I really appreciate your support.

Til next time!

Laura

The New Job and Spelunkin'!

Hey y'all!

I just wanted to let you know that my new job as a nanny is going GREAT! At first, it was extremely difficult. The baby has some extreme anxiety with new people. It's quite funny how my first week went.

Ok, so let's back up.

I started two weeks ago. The family had an aupair from Brazil. I worked with her for the first three days so she could show me the ropes and the baby could get used to me with the comfort of someone familiar alongside her. I was supposed to work the entire week, but on Thursday, I got the stomach flu. It actually makes for a great puke story.

Here's the puke story: So, Thursday morning, I woke up feeling really crummy. I texted Adam around 6 AM saying I was sick and asked if he could bring me some ginger ale. Within half an hour, he was on my front doorstep with ginger ale and this garlic medicine that's supposed to help speed up recovery from illnesses. However, when Adam opened up that cursed bottle, I smelled the strong scent of garlic and I just couldn't handle it anymore. I tried to run to the toilet, but ended up puking all down the hallway, making it one puke into the toilet. This was the first time I didn't make it in the toilet since I was four. I was absolutely dying of embarrassment when I was done, and stepped outside the bathroom to view the damage. I was expecting a mess from Adam as well, since he gets this horrible gag reflex when he sees puke. Instead of seeing another mess, I  saw Adam with this little piece of paper towel, wiping up my puke (and it wasn't just a little bit of it), with all his might. It was probably the sweetest sight I've ever seen. I immediately grabbed the roll of paper towel and demanded him to go outside while I cleaned up my own mess. He refused to and grabbed more paper towels and kept cleaning while holding back gags. When I was done cleaning, I went into the bathroom to wash my hands and saw myself in the mirror. My hair was a disaster, I had ghost white skin and mascara blotted around my eyes, and I had a smear of puke on my cheek. I couldn't believe he still loved  me after all this, but he certainly did, because for the next three days, he took good care of me. That's pretty rare to find in a guy! I feel so lucky to have him.

Ok, I'm done with my puke story. I just had to brag a little about how awesome my fiance is.

Anyway, the following Monday, I started my job flying solo. The aupair had moved to Maryland for another job. Monday was absolutely horrible. The baby was hysterical the entire day. There were times where I thought she would pass out or make herself sick from all her crying. Sometimes she'd be crying so hard that no sound would be coming out of her mouth and she wouldn't take a breath for a good 10 seconds. I was absolutely frazzled and completely relieved when the day was finally over. The baby hadn't taken her naps, since she was too hysterical to calm down. I was definitely not looking forward to the entire week. However, Tuesday, there was a surprising change. The baby only cried a few times when her mom left and if she was tired. She still didn't really take her naps and was kind of tense all day. But it was definitely an improvement. Wednesday was much better. Thursday was better than Wednesday. Onnolee finally started reaching to come to me, leaving her mother just so I could hold her. On Friday, I walked through the door and Onnolee screamed excitedly, "Lala!!!" and ran up to me.  I was so amazed by the radical change that took place from Monday to Friday.

Friday, the mother and the baby left to Pennsylvania to drop the Onnolee off at her grandparents while the mom went on her business trip. I dropped them off at the airport and drove back home. They will be gone for the next few days. The only responsibility I have is to clean the house on Tuesday and put up "Welcome Home" signs for the dad. He is in the military and will be coming home on this following Wednesday. Then, I have to pick up the mother and baby from the airport in Nashville.

During my time off, it's been so nice to hang out with Adam. Yesterday, we worked on his farm. I helped his mom collect pecans and cut the raspberry bushes. After working for a bit, we headed out to go spelunking, which is a southern term for caving. It was so much fun! There was a spring coming out of the cave. We walked in the water, which varied from ankle deep to thigh deep. Surprisingly, it was pretty warm for a cave. It was so fascinating to see the limestone formations and how perfectly clear the water was in the pools on top of the rocks. We saw crawdads that had no eyes, I caught a bright orange and black speckled salamander, and we saw a snake hiding in the rocks. It was really cool to see how much wildlife there was living in the caves. When we reached the end of the first part of the cave, we debated whether we should keep going in the crawl space to get out on the other side, or head back the easy way. Our friends had a baby with them, so they headed back the easy way. We followed them, but decided that soon we will come back and go through the crawl space for a little extra adventure. I wish I had brought my camera so I could have some pretty cool pictures, but I couldn't find it in my room, which is a disaster. Once I find my camera, I'll be sure to go back and take some pretty cool pictures.

I'd post pictures of the baby too, but I can only describe her. The father works in a very secretive position in the military, so it puts the family at risk for enemies to retaliate. I'm not allowed to say when they leave to somewhere and where they are, specifically. I have to be pretty vague about things and can't post pictures without clearance from the mother. I choose not to post pictures for now. But, Onnolee is the most beautiful baby girl you'll ever see! She has blonde hair, vivid blue eyes, long black eyelashes, and beautiful pink lips with rosy cheeks. I can only hope my kids are as cute as she is! When she's in a good mood (typically in the mornings and after her naps), she is the sweetest baby ever. She will turn one year old in October. I am teaching her sign language. She is picking up here and there but hasn't quite caught on that the signs have meaning yet. She knows the sign, "more", but she thinks it means "grapes". She will also sign "puppy" occasionally, and recently learned "baby." I think soon, she will pick up quickly.

Well, that is all for my recent adventures! I'm sure enjoying life here. I miss my family a lot, but I know they're always there and I Skype with them every Sunday, which makes it easier for me.

I'll be sure to keep you updated on my future shenanigans. Until then, farewell! 

I Got A JOB!

After two weeks of searching, I finally got a full time nanny position!

Funny thing is, I promised myself, that after eight years of nannying, I would never nanny again. Except for my two darlings, Kennedy and Cooper, and my great friends Leah and Lucy. But other than those two families, never again.

Why?

Because, my last two nanny positions were a complete disaster! You all know my story about Switzerland, and then the last nanny position, the kids were really difficult to work with. So I've been having a bit of anxiety applying for nannying jobs, worrying whether I'll get along with the parents and the children, and so on.

But, I have a GREAT feeling about this job. I've been praying for a job where I'd get along with the parents and be happy in my work. I feel like nannying is what I'm best at, and I guess I'm just going to go along with the 9th year of being a caretaker.

I'll be taking care of a 10 month old baby girl. Her name is Onnolee. Quite the unique name. She is probably one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen in my life! Blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a beautiful smile. She's quite shy to other people, and apparently cries when she meets someone new. But, when I met her for the first time, she seemed really happy to meet me. The mother said she was really surprised that she wasn't freaking out. I think it pleased her that the baby seemed to like me right off the bat. Onnolee seems pretty easy to take care of. However, she has kind of a separation anxiety when her mother leaves the room. She'll cry and cry and cry. I witnessed it when her mom said, "I'm going to leave the room so you can see what she does." The mom left the room and Onnolee freaked out. I can tell it's going to be a hard first few weeks until Onnolee gets used to me and becomes more comfortable when her mother leaves. But, that's how it usually is with any kid or kids, in my experience. So I am expecting it to take a while, but I know it'll all work out in a couple or so weeks.

I'll be earning some good money (for a 21 year old nanny). It'll be enough to get me by comfortably. My responsibilities include doing laundry, housekeeping, cooking, running errands, and of course, caring for Onnolee. The mother works at home, so she'll be around every once in a while. She also travels for her job, and when she travels, I'll be joining her with Onnolee. So I'm really excited for that!

I'm excited to see how this works out. It's 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, and the occasional weekends. I've worked longer than that before for the same pay, so it's just fine for me.

Life is good, and I've been greatly blessed to have a wonderful home to live in, a good job, and a wonderful fiance. Thank you for all your support, I appreciate it!

The Move to Tennessee

Hey y'all!

So, moving to Tennessee was an excellent idea. I love it here so far! The people are great, being with Adam is awesome, and the family I'm staying with are absolutely amazing!

Here's how it all started.

I missed Adam way too much to be 1,600 miles apart all the time. So, I made the big decision to move to Tennessee. Adam was originally supposed to move to Utah, but he had a feeling to stay down in Tennessee, so I decided to follow him. I flew out to Tennessee at the end of August and stayed there for a week. (That flight was supposed to be for me to go and help him drive to Utah. It was non refundable or transferrable, so I decided I might as well just use it.) Then, Adam and I flew back to Utah to get my car and most of my stuff.

It was really a bittersweet moment when I got into the car to drive back to Tennessee. I knew I would really miss my family. I almost cried my eyes out when we left. But, it was a sweet moment, because I knew I could be with Adam every day now, and that it was a new adventure to embark on.

Adam and I started our long cross country journey. I wasn't sure what to expect. We planned on driving straight through and that it would take 25 hours. However, by the time we hit Colorado, just before Denver, we both became so exhausted we couldn't keep going. We stopped in the mountains twice to sleep for a couple hours before continuing on. I drove the last part of the night. Around 6 AM, I found myself falling asleep at the wheel. I don't really remember what happened, except that my head snapped back up and I basically freaked out. I pulled over at the next exit and slept in the parking lot of a gas station for a couple hours. Then Adam and I switched over and I slept while he drove. Adam makes fun of me because apparently I slept the "whole time" that he was driving, which is far from the truth. ;)

Adam and I didn't really talk much because one of us would sleep while the other was driving, or we would just sit in silence because we were too tired to talk. We had our share of interesting and funny conversations though. I tried to play a game of "30 Questions" with Adam that I found on Pinterest. He was kind of reluctant to play, but he ended up talking a lot and answering the questions. We only made it to 5 questions because they were pretty deep stuff. We did learn a lot about each other though!

The drive was not very interesting. We missed the beautiful mountains in Colorado because it became dark by the time we hit them. So, we ended up driving through the boring part of Colorado and through the bleak Kansas scenery. The only interesting sight was the St. Louis arch. We drove through St. Louis on the second night and it was AMAZING. I loved the sight. The silver arch shone brilliantly in the darkness. I was driving, so I didn't get to stare at it long, but the image is burned in my memory.

Finally, at 4 AM on the third night, we arrived at Adam's house in Adams, Tennessee. It was such a relief! I dropped Adam off and drove to my new home in Sango, which is about 10 minutes away from Adams and Clarksville. Christie, the mom, was still awake when I arrived. She's quite the insomniac, apparently! We chatted for a while before I headed off to bed.

It took me a few days to get rid of the lag from driving. I was pretty much exhausted for about three days. Looking back on the trip,  it doesn't seem so long to me. I think it was so long that it didn't even matter anymore.  It felt like we were driving and driving and driving and going nowhere. And then, all of a sudden, BAM! We were in Tennessee. It's kind of weird to think about it, and to think we will have to do it again twice in January, when we drive to Utah for our reception then drive back to Tennessee.

So far, the first two weeks of living in Tennessee has been great. It's been a bit different there. The climate is pretty humid, of course. The small town setting is pretty different for me. Growing up in the suburban area, stores are pretty close to us. However, here, you really have to plan out your trips because everything is so far away and it can get a bit expensive in gas if you have to go to a store every day. If I have to go to the store, I really have to think it out and make sure I'm getting everything I need to get for the week. It takes about 12 minutes to get to Walmart, and 25 minutes to get to the mall, Target, and Hobby Lobby.  But that's on the route that my GPS has shown me. I'm sure there are faster ways to get there. I just haven't found them yet.

 I've hung out with Adam every day. We've been working on exercising and went on a hike yesterday. Adam got us lost. We planned on a 1.37 mile hike and ended up walking 5 miles, according to my GPS. The trail had split at one point. I told him the trail was that way, and he said he was SURE it was the other way. So, we went the other way, despite my objections. Guess who was the right one? ;) But, we did get some extra exercise in, even though I had to do it all in my flip flops!

Now, the family I live with... can I say they are AMAZING?? Because they are! I had quite a bit of anxiety moving in with a family, since the last two families I had stayed with ended up being... let's just say it didn't work out very well. I just didn't want to experience that hurt and disappointment for the third time. I can't tell you how good it feels to be accepted, welcomed, and loved in a home with another family. It feels so good to know they appreciate me and know that I appreciate them too. The parents are amazing and kind, and the four children are absolute angels to me! The children are: Liza, age 14; Alexander, age 12.. I think...?; Tori, almost 9 years old; and Katie who's six. They also have a dog, a ferret (which I hate because it decided it likes to bite my feet and chase me), and a sugar glider.

The children and the parents have been so excited to learn sign language and they pick it up so fast! The mom, Christie, wants to go on a sign language mission with her husband, so she has been super interested in sign. The two younger girls, Tori and Katie, have been stuck by my side and absolutely love signing and having me teach them how to paint. All the children are so sweet and obedient. Of course, probably not all the time, but they're some of the best kids I've seen, especially in my 8 years of nannying. I can only hope my kids will be as awesome as they are!

Currently, I'm searching for a job. Probably as a nanny, of course. I've applied to several retail jobs, but I haven't heard back because it's slow season and they aren't hiring just yet. I had an interview to nanny a beautiful 10 month old baby girl. I find out today whether I get the job or not. I'm pretty anxious to hear back! I've also gotten some side babysitting jobs and people who are interested in purchasing my paintings. So things are going well. Money's a bit tight, but I'm getting along. My parents have been so awesome with helping me out and I'm forever grateful I have amazing parents who support me in all that I do. They really are great examples to me.

While I'm waiting on a job opportunity, I've just been working on paintings and helping the family out with learning sign language. Christie has been out of town for the past few days, so I've been helping the two younger girls get ready for school, homework, and the occasional dinner. I also finished two paintings, which I'm pretty proud of.

Things are great! The only bad things that have happened so far is being out of money, chipping my front tooth, and having my laptop broken. But once I get a job, I'm getting that tooth fixed and my laptop fixed.

I have some pictures posted of my time here in Tennessee. It's not much, since I'm not really camera crazy like some people are. Anyway, enjoy, and thanks for reading!

My room while unpacking...

Finally clean!

Me teaching the kids how to paint.

Lil'bit.

My paintings!

Driving in Kansas. 

Playing with the butterflies.

Eating at Red Robin in Kansas. Adam was pretty tired!

My 4 month old niece, Teyla!

My first pen drawing.

The river in Adam's backyard. 

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

This is a nanny's/artist's sleep deprivation blog post. Honestly, I think I'm so tired I can't sleep. So, here I am... deciding on whether it's a good idea to write a blog post at 2 AM while sleep deprived.

But, here goes!

Just an update on life. I went to Tennessee for 10 days. It's been six weeks since I've seen my fiance. It's been crazy hard and lonely. But, guess what! Next Saturday, I get to see him again! I'm so excited. It's quite a bittersweet thing though. I'll be moving away from my family to be with the love of my life in a brand new state with a culture and people that I'm not used to. It's kind of scary. I think I'm more nervous about moving to Tennessee than I was moving to Switzerland. But at the same time I'm so excited!

Anyway, I got my cochlear implant fixed, finally! They gave me a new coil, which is the cord part of the processor. So now it works. YAY! But I'm hoping to get an updated one, which is supposed to be a lot better than the one I have now. It would be awesome! I'm crossing my fingers that insurance will support me in this.

What else is new? I started a new job last month. I work as a employability assessor at Miles Employability Services for the Deaf. So basically, I assess people to see if they qualify for MESD to help them find a job.It involves learning about the person, giving advice, practicing interviewing skills, and giving tips on how to land a job and to keep it. It's not too bad at all! I quite enjoy it. I get to help people, so it makes me feel like I'm doing something positive with my life.

I have a bridal shower next Thursday that my wonderful neighbors are throwing me. I'm so excited for it! People in my ward are so awesome and supporting.

Today, I met with my two good friends from Switzerland, who were aupairs with me. These two girls were the girls that made a huge difference in my experience there. First, I met with Caitlin for lunch. She was the girl who gave me her job as an aupair in France when she went home for Visa reasons. If it wasn't for her, I'd be stuck in Switzerland with no money and no job, depending on church members to help me out, which is definitely not what I would have wanted. Anyway, she's such an awesome girl and a very, very talented artist. We both went to a French restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City. It was an expensive, fancy cafe. I probably should have just ordered a dessert for everyone, (I had two children with me that I'm nannying for four days,) cause it cost me about 30 dollars for lunches for the three of us and two desserts for us to share. CRAZY! The desserts were delicious though. I had a blast seeing Caitlin! Later, I met with Elisabeth and a few people I knew in Switzerland who went to church with me. It was AWESOME. Elisabeth practically saved my life in Switzerland. When I got kicked out of my first home, she was there for me. She supported me, cried with me, and gave me the friendship and strength I needed at that time. She also gave me a place to stay til I found the job in France. Without her, I would have been so alone. Elisabeth and Caitilin are two of the most selfless people I know. Without them, I would have never survived my situations in Europe. I just absolutely loved seeing my two angels all in the same day! It was the best. If I could hang out with them all the time, I would. However, we live in different states, which makes it quite difficult. But no matter what, these two girls have a huge place in my heart forever.

Life has been good to me lately. Many, many unexpected and difficult situations have occurred in just one year, but I've learned and grown so much. I know there will be more in store with me, both wonderful and difficult. But now, I have someone to experience them with me and to be my support and love for all eternity.What more could I ask for?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."
-Douglas Adams