10-13/52

I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to document our happenings on a weekly basis. I mean it could be fun but also overwhelming if you happen to fall behind as much as I have. So to catch up on the past two months I'm just going to recap the entire month of March and April like I did for February. I'm thinking that from time to time I'll record a week here and there but for the most part it'll have to be a monthly thing.  

Thinking back on March it was a busy month. Lot's of work on our kitchen reno and definitely a slow process. From the cabinets taking an extra week to arrive, one cabinet arriving the wrong size, our contractor needing days off, and our granite guy going on vacation for two weeks it was all very frustrating. I seriously thought this project would take just about a month if that but apparently this was the project that didn't want to get finished. The kitchen was gutted out to it's very core. Just imagine electrical cables going through cement walls. It was definitely no easy project. But now that it is all pretty much finished it was worth every minute of it. Everything came together like it should and once again I was reassured that everything happens for a reason and with purpose. 

I celebrated my 29th birthday this month. I didn't have anything in mind about what I wanted to do, yet for some reason going dancing kept popping in my mind. Personally I believe that after a certain age you shouldn't find yourself at a club shaking all you have. Your late twenties is a time of transitions. Either you recently got married and/or had children so you start a new role in life that requires you to be mature and level headed. Not that you have to stop having fun but that fun should be more responsibly. That being said I just knew, knowing myself, that after next year the club scene was going to be a thing of the past or at least a once a year for a special occasion type deal and I wanted to get it out of my system. I already enjoyed those years and that fun, now I want something better and worthwhile. I want to travel and create memories with my little family. I want to live life purposely. I want to focus on my home and my career, like really focus. I want to get to know myself and do some soul searching. What sucks about this is that "my friends" are not there yet. They still enjoy the club scene and for the most part our priorities are different because we all find ourselves in a different phase in life. I guess that's the thing about life. We grow up and move on leaving behind those who are not quite where we are. Sad but true. I do like however that when we do get together we pick up right where we left off and that my friends is the beauty of friendship.

Birthdays are always a good excuse for getting together and celebrate with food and alcohol or in my case catch up. I was invited out for breakfast and lunch by two dear friends. We were overdo for catching up on life and it was time well spent. Then a nice dinner with my love at a Thai restaurant was the cherry on top. The food was delicious and the service phenomenal. I look forward to the day we go again.

Shopping for the kitchen and new decor around the house was pretty fun too!

Playing with the snapchat features was a good way to include the kiddos in my photo adventures. 





A few trips to the park with the little guy was a must to welcome the nice weather and a trip to see the Sleeping Beauty Play was so much fun. It was the perfect ending for AJ's last day with his friends. I'm sure that I was affected more than he was but after a couple of weeks he started to miss them very much.




We also attended Steven second concert of the year. He has learned so much and I hope that he continues to play the Viola in the years ahead. We are so proud of him. I still remember the days when he wanted to be a singer hahaha.

AJ had his surgery this month too. They called it a Bilateral Inguinal Hernia/Hydrocele Repair and we were worried for nothing. Quite the experience for sure but the team who performed his surgery was awesome. Our worries were understandable but I wish we had seen the animated procedure in YouTube to keep us at ease. Other than that my little guy is doing just great and hopefully we don't encounter any more issues for as long as possible.

p.s.
that picture below is one of our little AJ way up on cloud nine before being taken back. The video is even funnier, or so we think ;)

We ended the month with Easter Sunday by attending church followed by an early dinner at MIL's and an egg hunt at my cousin's house. Good times! I always try to make it clear to my children the real meaning of certain holidays such as Christmas and Easter. I wasn't raised with the traditions that Americans have in regards to these even by coming to the States at an early age and it has been hard adjusting and keeping the real meaning of said Holidays the main focus. Kids care too much about the presents and the Easter Bunny and honestly it bothers me. I try my hardest to maintain balance between the traditions so that they grow up with fair understanding and so when they become adults they may decide for themselves what they want to teach their own children. In the meantime I guess we will continue to celebrate both meanings. 

After the egg hunt we returned to MIL's where we had family game night and dessert. This was so much fun and I love that it is turning into a fun tradition of at least once a month.

I've been slacking using my big girl camera to take weekly pictures of my boys but I hope these ones will count for the month :)

OMG I'm starting nursing school!

I can never express the emotions that I feel about this day finally being here. I have been blogging since 2010 and my school journey goes beyond that. 

When I started this journey in 2008 I had no idea what I wanted out of life. All I knew was that I wanted a college education because I didn't want to find myself a few years down the road working retail or at a warehouse. I remember meeting with an advisor and being told "Give it a try. Take one class now and see if college is for you or not." And that's exactly what I did. I registered for a College English class online late that fall semester and passed it with an A. I was pretty impressed because I was not expecting that at all. On to the next semester I went taking 2 classes. From there on I kept taking either one or two classes every semester. I still had no idea what I wanted so my intended major was general studies. About a year or so after that initial class I decided on Diagnostic Sonography which lead me to a biology class. There a met a a girl who would become a really good friend. Somehow she convinced me to try nursing and after several looks at the required pre requisites I said what the hell, worse  case scenario, if I'd change my mind again the only difference between both majors would be a math class. We took A&P I and II, Microbiology, Chemistry and Statistics. After taking statistics I knew that there was no turning back, a degree in nursing it was. Until chemistry that is. Oh that chemistry. Three times I repeated that class and with each time things seemed to get worse. Never did I imagine that repeating this class several times would lead me to dead ends when applying to nursing schools. 

Life also got in the way on multiple occasions and I ended up taking four semesters off throughout this journey. What was I thinking???? This set me farther and farther behind each and every time. But I am glad that I didn't give up. Yes there were many times when I felt hopeless and doubted that a career in nursing was for me but deep down I knew that I was meant to do this kind of job. My clerical days where over. I was bored of them and they brought no excitement to my life. I felt like I wasn't helping anyone. I didn't see purpose behind it even if I was a pretty darn good one finger typist ;)

2015 was a tough year. Feeling lost, confused, overwhelmed, and like a failure had me very stress and depressed but with each passing month I found a little bit of hope. 

Moving on to my last resort in pursuing a nursing degree I chickened out twice when it was time to proceed with the required steps. Then this past January I decided to hold on to faith. I submitted all my paperwork. I was called in for testing which almost made me back down again until I got the results which resulted in moving on to the interview phase. The interview was a piece of cake. And now, now I am 2 days away from my first day of nursing school. I still can't believe it if I'm being honest. 

So many tears. So many frustrations. So much stressing and worrying and feeling unwanted and now I'm on the road to completing my dream. Of course that it only gets harder from here and various times I've doubted if I was good/smart enough to make it through the next twenty months but like I told someone a few weeks ago. Failing is not an option for me at this point. I've made it way too far with many road blocks in between to screw it up now. I don't really care what I will miss out on the world because there's nothing out there that my "friends" are doing that will give me a rewarding life. I do fear missing out on milestones in my kids lives (am I exaggerating on this?). I hear over and over again how nursing school is stressful and for the duration of it I will eat drink and sleep studying. I will only succeed if I give it my all and for me not succeeding is not an option so yes I fear that I will have to put my kids after my studies. I repeat over and over to myself that it is all for the greater good and that I have a great support system with my mom and husband alone but some days doubt creeps in and messes with me. 

Nonetheless, here I am. A Friday night sitting on a study station I set up a couple months ago looking at my surroundings and imagining what the next twenty month will be like. I'd lie if I say I am not scare shitless but I'd also be lying if I don't say that I am overflowing with excitement. If you could look at my life the past several years and saw everything that I have gone through you wouldn't believe it. Just these past several months, the way things have fallen into place I know that God's hands have been poking around these parts. I am unworthy of his Mercy and Grace yet I am so thankful that he has not given up on me. It is all happening on his time and for his purpose and I will try my hardest not to let him down. Not to let my mother, husband, children, and everyone who has supported me down. 

I honestly cannot fully grasps how much difference a year can make. Last year around this time I was being prepared (through my devotionals) for some very unfortunate news and this year, oh this year. I have been immensely blessed in every aspect of my life. Can life ever be sweeter than this? We're not even half way through 2016 but I am sure that things will only get better, as long as I stay obedient. And that is only a small price to pay for the amount of happiness and joy that I feel. 

Life is a journey. Actually, life is full of journeys and I have embarked into quite a few of them over the years. Now I'm ready for the next one. 

Thank you Jesus! I give you all the glory. 

p.s.

Can I just say that in orientation we were told our graduation date. 

December 7, 2017 at 7pm Coincidence or Fate?

Word of the year: Faith

That's the word that I decide on as my word for 2016. 

Why? well because I feel that I need to grow in my Faith. I have it, of that I am sure, but the degree of faith that I have is not what I should have or what I would like to have. So the plan this year is to exercise my faith in any and every circumstance. Last year my word was Grace and by being aware of the many times God's grace fell upon me even when I felt the did not deserve it I found myself to be happier, to understand certain situations better, and to be thankful for the not so good days since they help me appreciate those that were good.

I'd never heard of word of the year before and last year after seeing this go viral in the blogsphere I decided to give it a try. I wasn't sure where to begin or how to choose my word but interestingly enough I didn't have to do much research. The word sort of chose me :) as it did this year too. 

After the past couple of weeks I'm even more convinced that this is the word I should hold on tight to for the months ahead. Good things are happening with many more to come and only with an increase in faith will I understand and appreciate them.