December 2012

This was one of the most stressful months of my life. By the end of the month it felt like a million pounds had been lifted off my shoulders.

I told my boss on November 30 that I needed to take leave starting December 22 and leave was not approved until 10:50am on December 21...then at 4pm they told me that my leave started December 23 and I had to go to work on Saturday...

After 3 weeks of unbelievable stress and anxiously wating, I was on the road on December 23 back to CO. I spent the rest of December catching up with family and being there for them and with them. It's been a relief and reprieve to be able to be home with them.

My leave is until January 26th, and while I will likely spend the rest of the year paying for this leave, I know it is the right thing to do. I have such a peace about being back here and I am able to help in situations I have been longing to help for a while.

For stress relief I have been hanging out with kiddos and catching up with friends in my spare time. I'm staying with my Nana, whom I have decided is "kick ass". She broke her hip the week before Thanksgiving and on Christmas Eve morning she came downstairs to greet me like it was no big thing. She is already taking her golden retriever Dickens on short walks and I even her physical therapist has been impressed with her progress.

Needless to say, I am glad December is over.

2012 was a hard year and a good year. I am looking forward to 2013 with some trepidation and am working on setting some goals. I am applying to grad school, and am hoping to be accepted into a program at ASU called Infant-Family Practice. It's the program I was initially accepted into when I moved to AZ, and now that I have in state tuition, it seems like a great idea. I am prayerful that I will be accepted. I still need to complete a personal letter, get 3 letters of recommendation and transfer my transcripts. I recently found out that the deadline is January 15th and not February 15th, so I am in a bit more of a hurry. However, in God's goodness, this program has rolling admission.

Christmas was amazing and it was nice to be back with family, all alive and healthy, and enjoy the almost normalness of the situation. I think it will be a while before we're all at ease, but it was a good start.

Not much else to report.

Books this month: Beautiful Creatures ... it's being made into a movie, so I thought I'd check it out. It's good so far.

Music this month: whatever is on the radio at the time ... I am looking into getting a CD player in my car and working on a better playlist on my Ipod.