Wow!! It has been a million years since I have been here to write. Well, it feels like a million years. But have no fear, I have returned! I will be more conscious about having regular updates.
Where do I even begin? A lot has been going on. That is why I have not written. Right after Memorial Day, I began my summer intensive unit of CPE (hospital chaplaincy) as part of my education. I have already finished school, but CPE is the last thing standing in the way of ordination, although I did need to be commissioned first. I kind of did things backward, and I was running out of time so I needed to get my CPE unit in. I wasn't expecting to do it over the summer, but an opportunity presented itself and it just seemed perfect. Everything fell into place. I love it when God opens doors like that! So anyway, my CPE unit required basically 40 hours a week, on top of me being a pastor. So any free time I had was for me and I didn't do any writing. But now it is completed and I am relieved to have it done.
Josh has been growing like a weed. He is now over 3 feet tall and weighs around 29 pounds. It is hard to believe he will be 2 in less than 2 months! Ahhhh!!! Where does the time go? I am already starting to plan his second birthday party, and it is just as fun as the last one. Knowing I have a child that is practically 2, it feels like just about the right time to add to our family. Matt and I are starting to discuss it, and we feel like that may be something that will be coming in the near future!
If you remember (if I talked about it on here) Josh got sick for the first time in April with strep throat. They said at that appointment his ears looked kind of bad. Well, Josh has been fighting ear infections and strep throat since then. We have been to the doctor 6 times I think. It has been rough, and we are sick of it. We went to the ENT on August 26, and found out that Josh will be having surgery on September 26 to have tubes put in his ears and his tonsils and adenoids removed. I am very nervous and worried, but relieved that the doctor told me this is a 15 minute surgery. I imagine I will be a wreck the day of. But then it will be over and behind us. Then we will be able to move on with a healthy little boy!
I had surgery myself on August 29. I had been having some stomach issues. After a trip to the ER when I was in excruciating pain, we found out that I had like 5-6 gallstones. The doctor said the best way to deal with it would be for me to have surgery. So I had surgery 11 days ago, and am feeling much better now. I haven't had any of those horrible painful attacks since, and I can eat the things I want. Yay! And the surgery itself wasn't that bad at all. I would do it again if I had to, knowing the difference it made.
The next several weeks will be particularly busy for me. I am going through the process of commissioning in the UMC. I am hoping to be commissioned next June. Part of the process of being commissioned is presenting a sermon, doing a Bible Study, and answering 17 questions. I am done with the sermon. I have about a third of the questions done, but I haven't even began the Bible Study. I am just in the thinking stages on the study. Thank goodness I have until October 21 (the day before my birthday). But it also is the season of charge conference, and my charge conference is October 12. There is a bunch of work to be done to prepare for that. So I will be busy, but I will try to find the time to update, hopefully weekly. Until next time!
