Validation

Before beginning our ultrasound program, one of my fellow sonography students had attended one of the program's informational meetings. At the meeting, each person had to state their reason for wanting to become a sonographer. My fellow student explained that one interested woman at the meeting, said that she wanted to become a sonographer because she wanted to volunteer at a pro-life clinic (I'm assuming it is one of the Christian based crisis pregnancy centers located all over the country). Anyway, my fellow student made a judgment about this woman and said, "Isn't that incredibly short-sighted?" I immediately thought: "No, that's incredibly eternally-minded."

I had my latte and oatmeal, watched the end of "While You Were Sleeping," and now I gotta go study. Before I do, I have to say that I'm so proud of my husband for joining the second round of Men's Fraternity at our church. The title of this season is "Succeeding at Home and at Work." For those of you who don't know about Men's Fraternity (click on my sidebar to see more), it is a Christian series of weekly messages and small group work, going deep into what it means to be an authentic, godly man. And, they go deep. Last season was learning about what God says about authentic manhood and delving into past wounds that keep them from being an authentic man. This season will be some more of the same, but emphasis on other aspects of manhood. My husband will be heading down to church at 6:00 AM on Thursday mornings for the next few months or so. Good stuff!! Another cool thing, is that I don't have morning classes on Thursdays - thanks for ...

This week was the first real week of my sonography program. Needless to say, I won't have much time for blogging. I might try to write once a week. My brain is so tired from the intense concentration I must exert everyday, and it would be so hard to explain all that I have absorbed, but I will try to share about the experience (maybe so I can look back and appreciate it)..... I am scanning my classmates already. I found a liver, kidney, aorta, gallbladder, and inferior vena cava all by myself. I haven't done anything or lacked to do anything that has resulted in me being terminated from the program (a daily fear of all of the students). I have five classes, two of them labs. One lab is over four hours long. I found out that there were 50 people who applied to the program. 18 of us got in. Our class is all women. I am the 2nd oldest. The oldest is almost 40. The youngest is 21. I have amazing, excellent instructors. A HUGE challenge so far is learning the direction of wha...

When I have excellent food, it is impressed on my memory. I do not forget awesome food. Sometimes I will just think about some memorable food, and re-experience it all over again (without eating it, of course). I enjoy the experience of eating, which means I eat slowly (which some people find the need to bring to my attention. I already know this, however, and I am proud of it - so there) :) My favorite food is Italian. The other day, Joe and I went on a lunch date to a great little, authentic Italian cafe in Sumner. It's called Sorci's. It was sunny, so we even ate outside. This is a luxury in and of itself in our part of the country! My delicious sandwich was a grilled panini. It had three slices of tomato, big slices of mozarella and pesto spread on each piece of bread. This is my new favorite sandwich. I will think about this sandwich for awhile.....

I usually make my kids' lunches for school. Once in awhile, Ben likes to buy lunch. Last week, he actually used his own money. He brought $5, and bought one lunch. The lunch lady said she would put the rest in his "lunch account," (something the district does). She told him he had about $3.15 left. Yesterday, Ben wanted to buy lunch with his remaining money. However, when he got to the cashier, she said he only had 29 cents. They gave him a granola bar and a milk. He cried, and asked his teacher if he could call me to bring him a lunch. His teacher said "no." When Ben got off the bus yesterday, he started to cry, said how hungry he was, and relayed the aforementioned story to me. I WAS TICKED!! I called the school, which directed me to the food services office. The lady there, looked things up on her computer, and basically said, "I dont' know what to say." They didn't have record of his $5 deposit. SO - I called his teacher to let ...

Sometimes our "no's" and decisions to set limits, make other people unhappy. However, the more I learn and the older I get, it ceases to be quite as bothersome to me. Recently, I heard a speaker talking about perspectives. She had everyone stand in a circle. She put on a funny mask, and held up a picture of something. Without turning her body, she pointed to different people around the circle, and asked them what they saw. Each person had a different answer. Each one saw things from a different point of view. Huh. I think that, when people are unhappy with our "no's" and limits, it shows that they are unwilling to respect our decision, which was based on a different point of view than theirs. I can understand that they are unhappy with me since they are coming from a different place in that "circle," but it still doesn't change my decision. It's unfortunate when we are unwilling to seek to understand (or even try to imagine) someon...

The following is an article by Kim Wenzel, leader of Smoldering Wick Ministries (see sidebar), a ministry for wounded and burned out pastors and lay leaders... Stress, then Burnout It seems to me so many in the church do not understand spiritual burnout. The helping professions have always had a higher burnout rate than many other types of careers. Social workers, counselors, therapists, psychologists, and other social reform positions have scored high in burnout in the past several decades. It the past 20 years burnout and rising drug and alcohol abuse has skyrocketed in doctors, lawyers and members of the clergy. This disturbing trend also includes suicide. In fact, I am writing this article just two weeks after the suicide of one of Colorado Springs' most loved pediatricians. A man who gave so much to the community, he had nothing left. Some doctors claim stress contributes to 90% of all diseases. Even if this figure is exaggerated a tad, we all know stress plays a major factor ...

This week has been full. I have felt like I've been in a cloud, being led along by somebody else. LOTS of information, and LOTS of boring training. It started out with a full day of being scared out of my pants at all of the hard work I'm in for, not to mention all of the rules and stipulations that could mean "termination from the program," etc.....I am in a class of 18, and I feel like I am surrounded by some quality people. It's going to be great....I also learned that our clinicals are chosen for us, and not based on where we live. This means that there is a possibility we might have to commute up to 2 hours each way. Our clinicals start Spring Quarter and then our whole second year is completely clinicals. I had a SEVEN HOUR day of boring HIV/AIDS training. My rear end was ACHING from sitting so long. And, afterwards, I was so creeped out, that all I wanted to do was keeping putting on hand sanitizer. I had another half day of HIPAA training (privacy ...

It's here. On Monday, I start the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program. I am getting nervous. Nervous about the amount of studying there will be. Nervous if I can handle it. Nervous if I'll be able to be as good at this job as I want to be. Nervous if I can get the financial aid/loans to pay for everything. Nervous about the effects of my schooling on my family life. Nervous about the people I'm going to spend the next two years with. On the other hand, I'm getting excited. Excited to learn about the human body and pathologies. Excited at the prospect of becoming a valuable member of a medical team and helping people. Excited for the sense of accomplishment I already have for getting this far, and for how great I know I'm going to feel when I finish. Excited to have an education under my belt, that will allow me to earn a meaningful income for my family. Excited about the people I'm going to spend the next two years with. Excited to wear scrubs! :...

Today was "Meet the Teacher Day" at Ben's school - the day before the first day. I always enjoy observing Ben in new situations. I might venture to say he is a "slow to warm up" kind of guy. He grasped my hand tightly as we walked into his new classroom. I could tell he was a little tense. I could really tell, when he was given a list of instructions created by the teachers. It was sort of a checklist, with things to do, such as "put away your school supplies in your desk," and go check out some things in the room, etc. Ben was taking a VERY long time to accomplish this, plus he wasn't understanding everything he was reading, and seemed flustered. It was unusual for him to be this way, but I think he had anticipated this day for a couple of days now and the excitement was too much. Plus, old friends kept coming into the room and distracting him because he wanted to talk with them. His teacher commented that he was taking awhile to finish ...

When reports first came out regarding Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter, I wasn't embarrassed for their family. I didn't think less of their family. I didn't think less of Sarah Palin. I didn't think less of John McCain for picking Sarah Palin. In fact, I didn't understand how it had anything to do with Sarah Palin as a future vice-president or with John McCain as a future president. What IS embarassing is the way the media and the Democratic party is handling the fact that her daughter is pregnant and not married. MY 17-year-old daughter, who was watching the news with me, couldn't believe how it must possibly feel to BE Bristol Palin and have that very personal information splashed ALL over the United States. It's shameful. I might go so far as to say that it seems almost criminal to do what they are doing. The media and the Democratic party should be ASHAMED of themselves, and smart people in this country should think again about voting for someon...