where we've been and where we're going...

my friend informed me today that drew and my initials are, in fact, the dolce and gabbana logo. i googled it and voila. she was right.

in good news, we have a wedding date! pretty exciting, since we have been engaged since july 8th, but we found a date! we will become mr and mrs on july 17th, 2010! 7.17.10 sounds pretty good to us! 168 days to go...and we are starting to see we have a lot to get done before then :) my friend matt reminded me yesterday to just breathe, and so far that advice has been helpful with the stress of school, work, writing nearly full time, and drew still being in montgomery.

nursing school is going quite well! i was placed at ashland middle school with the wonderful kids there, doing some therapy and being a school nurse there as my internship. i love it so far. they are amazing, wonderful kids with broken homes but big hearts. i'm managing (by a large miracle, i am sure) to have pulled straight A's so far. our first large exam is on tuesday, but i have been acing every paper, lab, sim, and assignment. i'm pretty happy about it, since im working almost 40 hours a week between my two jobs. my job at sou keeps me nice and busy, with about 26-30 hours a week; writing press releases, blogging professionally, and attending various events with my boss. it's a relatively low stress job, and my boss is the best, so its quite flexible with my schedule. i can even work from home some days. i'm working doing some writing off and on, mostly for halogen, a wonderful site that i have quickly fallen in love with. its a site dedicated to social justice issues, and i was honored to write several pieces on haiti after the earthquake, and it was incredible to see a Community arise amidst the horror that is still going on. sorting through the pictures and the research was heartbreaking. alot of the money i made from my writing went to relief efforts. halogen has allowed me to spread my wings creatively, and im grateful. my first published works as far as a book will be published in 2011! i was selected to be part of a team contributing to an anthology called "Great Lives in African American History". i have never written for a book before, so i am quite thrilled. deadline is march 2010, and i will be published the following year...with my married name! i am not sure which part i was more excited about...the book or the married pen name part...

we had another health scare this past week, with my left eye. it swelled up on monday, and by monday night, i was in excruciating pain. i missed all my classes this week, but my teachers have been gracious to help me make up the missed time. by tuesday, i was on vicodin and getting scary ctscans and specialist visits. i was rushed around to three different practitioners. currently, they still have no answers, and i'm waiting for referral to a neurologist. i am functioning in a haze of painkillers, which is frustrating for me, since i hate to be on any kind of medication. it seems like we have been given the run-around with doctors, and its certainly been a test of my attitude and patience. i was convicted this morning by this proverb:

Proverbs 21:23 He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.

let's hope i can remember that. today, the eye dr called to inform me that i had "missed yesterday's appointment at 3:15". i calmly reminded them that i had called to make the said appointment at 4:00 yesterday, so i could not have preemptively missed an appointment. thankfully i kept my cool :p

as we wait for answers to a scary eye issue (my left eye is already much worse than my right. they can no longer bring me to 20/20 in it anymore), we are reminded of God's merciful kindness through all of it.

"I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears!" ps.34.4