Blessings Abound!!!

I am walking on air today, and very grateful for wonderful blessings!  Most of you who know me well, know the last year has been hard and trying.   I have wondered many times if things would ever turn around!  I feel like I am finally seeing the turn around.  I interviewed for a great position last week and was offered the job today!  I am so excited that I didn't really hear what my now boss was telling me, I was shaking!  I will be the Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Technology Transformation at American Express.  I have had great "intel" from some friends that this is a fabulous company to work for, and the vibe I got was amazing.  My boss is from the UK, and she has two small children.  She was so nice and emphasized that she is flexible and encourages growth within the company.  The assistant I will be replacing is being promoted and she lives close to us here in Surprise, hello carpooling!  There is an opportunity for me to "telecommute" or work from home at times which is really exciting as well.  I didn't think jobs like this existed, certainly not for me, and I am thrilled beyond words.  I truly am blessed, and can't wait to go back to work! Wyatt will be in the day care program at our church 3 days a week, while Taylor will stay in her current preschool schedule.  She will go home with a friend of ours on those afternoons, and both kids will stay with Uma Tuesdays and Thursdays for the first couple of months until they get used to this transition and will go to full time.  I toured the Amex campus on my interview and it is truly amazing!  It is a great company that really seems to value its employees and their families.  Anyway, this is a BIG change for me, but one I am ready for and so thankful.  I am excited to be back in the office doing much the same thing that I did for Senator Allard when I worked in Washington D.C. and who knows where this road may lead me next!  Everything happens for a reason, I don't question, just follow faithfully! 

Random Thoughts...

This past Sunday our Pastor tackled the not so fun topic of prophecy.  Mostly we delved into staying positive about prophecy.  I am the first one to admit, I really try to avoid this whole topic altogether.  It is scary, yucky, sad and in my heart I know it is coming.  How can one stay positive about prophecy?  Pastor Lee focused on the amazing gift that God has given us, and that is time.  Time to make sure you are right in your heart and mind so that you can make it to the "big house".  Now I understand that sounds great, but I still get sad about the whole mess.  I get sad about the state of the world, of humankind.  There are some really great things about the world we live in today, but there is also so much evil and desperation.  I guess I am conflicted.  I want God to clean house, literally.  Like Pastor Lee said, in not so many words, this is not heaven!  It is a place fulling of hating, sinning, killing, starving...and the list goes on an on.  So in that way, I welcome and am happy about the extensive "cleaning" that needs to go on.  However, I am sad about it too.  I love living, and I love people.  I love waking up every morning knowing that anything can happen.  What saddens me is that this would end.  Not just for me, I know where I am going :) but for mankind.  I become sad thinking about the desperate times ahead for the rest of the world, and that eventually it will cease.  I know that as a Christian staying positive is my role, it IS in my heart, because I know I'll join God in heaven.  But I also get sad for the end.  I find myself thinking "things will change, things will get better"...when in reality that probably isn't reality without "the end."  At this point, I try to clear the fear from my heart and head, especially when I look at the world around me and realize...all of the prophecies are complete, except the end game.  That sends chills down my spine, both good and bad!  I want it to happen, and yet...I don't.  I can't help hoping the depravity and sickness our country and the world is suffering will turn itself around.  For the sake of my children and their children.  This is a bit rambling, a bit ranting, but it has been on my mind since Sunday, and strangely it was something I was thinking about even before the service.  God always speaks right to my heart, when I am humble enough to listen.  This was a dark topic, with a lot of golden and silver light illuminating it, if that makes sense.  I don't know if anyone else thinks about this, or if everyone else just tries to avoid it, denying it because it isn't so fun to think about.  I see the validity of being positive, but I have great empathy for those who will suffer and are suffering right now.  I guess I am positive and hopeful for myself, but so sad that at some point it has to end.  While I know many non-Christians probably read this and say "Christians have been saying this stuff for years" and many will think I am nuts, I am putting this out there.  If you have a response, send it my way!
"I am the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End. To all who thirsty I will give the springs of the water of life without charge" Revelation 21:6

Ready or not.....

Wyatt loves to play hide and seek, so much so, that he goes and hides without us knowing that we are playing!  He is not afraid of the dark and will hide in a closet with the door shut for quite awhile waiting for someone to find him.  We generally know he is hiding because it is the only time he is quiet when he isn't sleeping, so we know to go "find" him.  This evening he was hiding, and was more than delighted when we found him.  He is such a cute little man, and he recently has started saying "Uma"!  We love to hear him babble and he gets so excited when he can communicate.  His attention span is finally getting long enough that he can sit through some books, and he especially loves a few in particular.  Wyatt has found belly buttons to be fascinating.  He pulls up EVERYONE'S shirts in order to give them a poke, and really loves Papa's.  He is a busy boy who is most happy torturing his big sister, and getting into everything he is not supposed to.

Tiny Dancer

Here is our tiny dancer, our little ballerina!  Taylor has been taking ballet from the Arizona Ballet Academy and has loved every second of it.  They do a lot of "acting" and she is learning the basics of ballet too.  Her final performance is August 17th, and I can't wait to see her.  She is lovely to watch, a true Leo, the sign of the actress/performer.  She loves to be on stage and she charmed us like crazy on parent observation day. 

Doula Time!

So I haven't been active as a Doula or Childbirth Educator since Wyatt was born.  We haven't stayed put long enough in one place for me to really make any connections!  Through a friend, I served as a Doula for a family that delivered yesterday!  While I probably won't be serving as a Doula regularly anytime soon, it was absolutely exhilirating.  It is work I truly love.  Being witness to a woman as she goes through the process of birthing a baby is an experience that I don't tire of, and being able to serve her during that time is an honor.  Working with this mother was quite different than my previous birth experiences because it was on a "pro bono" basis, and distance made it difficult for us to meet and do much preparation together.  I certainly missed that deep connection I have shared with clients in the past.  I also really missed being familiar with the hospital, staff and of course having my midwife there.  I worked with my midwife who delivered both of our children, and we became a great sort of team.  I learned invaluable skills and gained powerful knowledge by working with Marie.  She is the inspiration that drove me to birth work.  In spite of these missing pieces it was an incredible journey, and a short one!  I left mother and her new little work of God early yesterday evening, feeling renewed and really just happy!  While I will say that at this moment in time we are done having any more children, I recalled the feeling of unadulterated happiness on the days of both of my children's births.  Each was such a different experience, but that natural high of holding your child for the first time is one without compare.  At one point in her completely natural and exhaustive labor, the mother said "I just want a nap, when he gets here I want a nap".  I smiled and nodded.  I knew that while she said that in that moment of complete exhaustion, once she held her little baby she would be filled with such adrenaline and love that there would be no sleeping for a long while.  I recalled after Taylor's birth, I had been in labor for the entire day, and all of the night with no sleep, no drugs to relieve my pain or exhaustion.  I was so tired that at the end when the contractions would pile one after the other, giving me no more than 30 seconds between each, I was able to fall into a deep sleep in one or two seconds!  So tired!  Once she was born at 3:43 a.m. I was suddenly awake like I had slept all night!  A little orange juice and breakfast, holding my newborn I was so alive.  The same was true of Wyatt, I was in labor throughout the day and night, he was finally delivered via C-Section at 11:44 p.m. and although I was exhausted and groggy from the medication I took a brief nap with him in my arms and didn't put him down for the next 3 days.  Ask the NCMC nurses, they will tell you they couldn't get me to put him down for anything!  Watching the new mother with her tiny son at her breast yesterday evening filled me with remembrance of those first precious days with both of my babies and the wonderful bonds we share.  I love working as a Doula, and it gives me such appreciation for the art of MOTHERING.  Mothers are amazing.  We go through pain and discomfort that really in unfathomable, and once we lay eyes on our child the pain is suddenly a distant memory.  Our biggest concern is their safety, their comfort, their health and happiness.  We would do anything for them, and we do.  I really believe that birthing a child is such strong and hard work because it gives mothers the knowledge and confidence that they have overcome something that may have seemed insurmountable, and they did it!  Birthing is the ultimate confidence builder in a new or "repeat" mom, and she will need that confidence in the days ahead.  It just gets more complicated after that!  While I certainly am quite content with my two children, I had a teensy weensy bit of envy as I watched mom nurse her new baby.  Like I said, those first few moments and days are like none other and pass so quickly.  What a great day it was, and I feel like it was the start to some really great things happening.  They are a great family, and that little baby boy is one lucky guy because his mother and father love him so deeply, that was evident throughout the afternoon.  Anyway, it was a great day and I wanted to share some thoughts I had! 

In the Army now...

We are in the midst of 115 degree days, so our afternoons are spent either in the water or air conditioning!  It is not as bad as I thought it would be though, and is definitely more tolerable than 6 months of cold winter, blizzards and howling winds.  In another couple of months things will start to cool off again, and for that we will be thankful!

Chris is back in the United States Army again!  After some heart wrenching discussions, and meetings with different branches, he is back as a Military Police Officer as an Army Reservist!  Some might question this, he has a good job and has been out of the Army for almost a decade.  Over the last couple of years his desire to serve has been growing, and this was finally the choice that made the most sense to him.  I guess once a soldier, always a soldier.  He will admit that he probably should have stayed in for life, he has missed the Army, and the pride and work that comes with it.  Distance probably makes the heart grow fonder!  Regardless, I am extremely proud of him.  He loves his country, and has a profound sense of duty that was not necessarily being fulfilled by his regular job.  He will be helping to train soldiers on terrorist investigations, basic criminal investigations, his many years of service and training in law enforcement will be of great benefit to the unit he is attached to.  Chris is a great role model to our children, and while I am nervous about future deployments, I also know he is doing this for our children, and the future of our country.  He basically put his money where his mouth is, so to speak.  He has always said that every many who can serve, should.  Since he is still able bodied, and has skills to offer, he really believes in serving his country this way!  The benefits of retiring from the Army are also good, and hopefully being a weekend warrior will satisfy the inner warrior within him!

I may have more news to share in the next couple of weeks, and I can't wait for new and exciting changes.  I have learned something over the last year.  I keep saying I don't like change, and things keep changing.  So guess what....I am learning to embrace change! HA!