Why I LOVE my new home!

1. We all have our own rooms (love you Sarah but I know you're glad about this too)
2. I no longer have to walk through Kristina's room to get to mine.
3. I can get up and pee in the middle of the night without waking up Kristina meaning I can drink all the water I want before bedtime.
4. Sarah has studio space
5. We have a private front porch
6. We are located 5 blocks from the park and 1 block from the levy bike path/river
7. We have central heat and air!!!!
8. We have a washer and dryer!
9. No more flies infesting our trash (this was seriously uncontrollable at our last house)
10. New windows!!
11. We have 2.5 bathrooms (in case all 3 of us have to pee at the same time. haha)
12. No more leaking showers and mold in the bathroom
13. Several friends live on the same street as us

I think of new reasons every day. I LOVE IT!!

Excessive heat warning

86°F

Feels Like: 101°

Details:

Oppressive humidity

Well said weather.com. I knew it felt freaking miserable on my run this morning. Yay for 101 degree weather at 7am.

sibling rivalries

I am so glad that I was able to come home for my mom's 50th birthday this weekend, but more about that later. It is always good to spend time with my siblings. However, sometimes it is hard for me to relate to them as they struggle with the frustrations of living with each other. They are constantly fighting, making snide remarks, or arguing. They have no patience with each other and show no grace to each other. It breaks my heart.
I guess it is so hard for me to see them act like this because I remember when I acted the same way with Rachael. After the accident I had a whole new perspective on what was important (not that I am perfect in my interactions with others now) and I just want them to enjoy being with each other. I know their behaviors are a normal part of growing up but I HATE it. I've tried communicating this to them but they don't seem to listen.

Falling into pieces

Today has been exhausting emotionally. I have been having a really hard time dealing with Jordan leaving and I was surprised that the rest of my siblings have too. I expected Katrina and Annika to cry because they are emotional like me but when Sarah and Corey started crying too, that was the end of any composure I had managed to maintain up to that point.
The entire drive back to New Orleans was like a series of emotional waves. I would be overwhelmed by emotions then just when I thought I had overcome them, another wave would hit. It has been really difficult to pick apart the reasons to why this has been emotionally trying but here is what I have so far:
1) A big part of it is that no other sibling has moved since I moved to college and now when I go home we won't all be together anymore. I'm worried that we won't all be together again (even though I know this isn't true, it won't be the same).
2) I think a lot of this has to do with losing Rachael and now that I am feeling like I am losing Jordan too, the old feelings of loss have resurfaced even though it is not the same situation.
3) Another reason is my lack of faith. I think that Jordan's time at boot camp is a critical point in his relationship with God and that this will either make him or break him. I am not fully trusting that God will use boot camp to draw Jordan to Him.
I know there is more lurking around inside me but I am too exhausted to probe any deeper. Off to bed and praying for deep, dreamless sleep...

Job update

So I had posted a while back about starting the job search and just wanted to provide you all with an update on how that is going. I applied to several schools and had two official interviews--one with a charter school and one with a catholic school. The charter school was a bust but I got a job offer from the catholic school. The salary that they offered me was too small for me to live off of so I told them what I would need and they said they could not meet my offer.
The school systems here are so different than what I was used to in Auburn. Here you have the public schools, recovery district schools, charter schools, private schools, and catholic schools. The public schools are unstable because of state budgets being cut. The recovery district is a mess. The charter schools are like boot camp for teachers and students--long hours, extremely rigid rules, extended school year, etc. And the catholic schools can't pay enough for me to live off of.
So, after going through this process I have decided to take the Graduate Assistant position at UNO for another semester. I will graduate in December and apply to work for Early Steps which is what I wanted to do anyways. My only hesitation about taking this position was that I will be an independent service provider working for the state so I will not have any benefits (health insurance, retirement, etc) but I will get paid $60/hour and I can decide how many hours/cases I want to work.

PG-13

This week has been soooo looong....I have learned some interesting things but I am past the point of exhaustion. Yesterday I was tested on putting in a catheter, feeding through a g-tube, and cleaning a trach. As I'm typing this, I am supposed to be listening to the powerpoint presentation on toileting skills. 

Sorry about the picture but I just had to share it after stumbling across it in one of our many handouts. Why would I ever need to see a sketch of an individual relieving themselves through a catheter?? 

couch to 5k

It's official! I'm training to run a 5K! No the world is not coming to an end. My mom just suggested that I start doing a program called "From Couch to 5K" so we started training when I went home to visit. I am in week 6 of 10 in the training program. It has been going well so far but I am starting to lose motivation now. This is partly due to exhaustion from my one week classes but also because this past week and a half I have been doing it on my own in the UNO gym. I am far more motivated to continue the training program when someone does it with me. So Sarah, if you're reading this, get ready because we are going to be running either in the mornings or afternoons because I need someone to kick my butt when I can't do it myself.