So the summer class that I am currently taking is a health and nutrition class - all but two of us that are enrolled in the class are education majors, so the emphasis has been not only on our own education in all manner of health and nutrition, but also has included elements of how to teach these things to children/adolescents.

This week the section of our textbook and the lecture in class was on the topic of 'Sexual health and reproduction'.  Sheesh.  If you don't know it by the time you are in college, I think the whole thing is probably lost on you. 

So we get to class yesterday and after going over initial information stuff and the handing back of previously turned in assignments, the teacher pairs us up with another classmate as she begins to set out containers of playdoh on the front desk.  We [each pair] are then instructed to take two of the containers of playdoh [my teammate and I chose pink and green] as our professor turned to write the following on the blackboard.

Female anatomy:
Labia majora
Labia minora
Clitoris
Clitoral hood
Urethra
Vagina

Male anatomy:
Scrotum
Testes
Shaft
Urethra
Glans
Foreskin

Our instructions were then to [without looking in the book] mold a version of each anatomy out of the playdoh and label it - you know...just to see if we actually knew what things are and where they are located exactly.    It sounded like we were in a fifth grade health class and having our first sex education class with all of the snickering and nervous laughter in that classroom.  Seriously?  How old are you?  Sheesh.

I am happy to report that not only did my teammate and I completely nail our representations, but we were one of the TWO teams who actually labeled everything correctly.  Maybe the rest of the class DID need to hear it over again.... 

Yes - these are the things I learn in school...[[sigh]]. 

Here are some picture highlights...

Logan's graduation...

I love this boy.  Logan - it is such a privilege to be a part of your life!

Visiting my dear friend Kelly and meeting her new baby (Zane) for the first time...(I think he likes his aunt Havah  )

My sweet brother Sam's graduation - I am SO PROUD of this boy!
With mom and dad...

Waiting for the ceremony to start - Me, Abe, Jannah, Dad and Mom.

Sam and Jannah - they are super close and I love watching them together...

Abe and I - LOVE that our eyes are the same color.  He is such a handsome boy.

Sammy and I.  I love this boy.  He makes me laugh so hard and has such a sweet spirit.  I am so proud of the person that he is and is becoming.  It is a privilege to be his big sister.

Let's see...let's see...what else?  I am becoming a master at pruning rose bushes - today at work I did approximately 500 bushes...it took four and a half hours, but it was so fun! [no seriously - I really did enjoyed it].  School is going well - I am currently in a 'Health and Wellness' class.  It is keeping me busy, but is pretty interesting.  I know that I complain about school quite a bit, but really, I really do like it.  This past week we read/discussed the effects of stress on your health...I took the survey where you add up the points for significant life events over the last eyar as a way to gauge your risk level for health problems related to stress.  If you are over 300, you are considered high risk... Guess what my score was?  544.  Yep.  Perhaps that could be contributing to thee fact that currently my head feels like it is going to explode?  hmmmmm.  Okay - I should probably be doing something productive now.  Or maybe going to sleep....

In my defense however, since you last heard from me, life has been rather hectic and a bit overwhelming at times...so settle in as I explain...  

Let's see.  I was in the car crash on Friday, the 2nd of May.  If you recall, I was on my way to school to finish and turn in my last *monster* paper of the semester.  Needless to say, the paper was not completed and turned in on time, but seeing as it was my professor for that particular class that came and retrieved me from the side of the road as my car was getting towed away, she generously gave me an extension to finish the paper with no penalties.  [wow - I just realized what a long, run-on sentence that was]

Whew.  I was relieved to not be penalized, but a little stressed to still have it hanging over my head.

I then headed into a full work week, finals and finishing up the paper.  Fortunately for me, most of the hard stuff for finals and the end of the semester was already done, because I was hugely distracted by the whole car situation and feeling a little overwhelmed with it all. 

The Tuesday after the accident, I got the confirmation that they had decided to total my car rather than repair it.

Wednesday the insurance company contacted me and told me the amount that they were giving the bank for the cars assessed value.  While they were fair, it still left me responsible for approximately $3100 on my car loan.

GULP.

Yeah, I was a little freaked out to still owe that amount on my car while simultaneously not having a vehicle.  [My parents have very graciously loaned me their 'get around town' Geo Tracker to get to school and work while we figure out what I should do next - just in case you were wondering]

At any rate - Wednesday after hearing from the insurance company, I called the guy who sold me the car and told him that I was going to be looking for another vehicle soon.  I had told him a little of the situation, and about still owing on the last loan, so he asked if I had purchased GAP insurance when I bought the car from them.

I really didn't think that I had, but he put me on hold to check anyway, and what do you know?  Apparently I had made a super good decision when I bought the car and had gotten the gap insurance - which basically means that the gap insurance will be taking care of the remaining $$ on the loan, and I will end up not owing anything.  I cried I was so relieved.  I cannot even tell you how grateful I am.

So the semester ended on that following Thursday, and I jumped right into my first summer class this past Monday.  It is a two week, three credit hour class titled 'Victims and Society'.  Basically I am in class four and a half hours a day, five days a week, but contrary to how horrible that sounds, I am actually really enjoying it.  It is super interesting - the content is difficult sometimes, and there have been a couple of days that the subject matter has hit a little close for comfort, but overall it is a super good class.

Grades were posted for the spring semester over the weekend - I somehow managed to make straight A's again - I am still not sure how that happened in a couple of the classes, but am pretty excited about it.  It probably shouldn't matter as much to me as it does - I know that my worth is not dependent on my performance, but it sure feels good to see all of that hard work pay off.

So all of that to say - sorry for the absence...but I really had good reason! 

This weekend I head to NWA for Logan's graduation.  I am so grateful that I get to be there - to celebrate an amazing young man and his accomplishments.  That will be another post, I think...

It will be good to get away for a few days and to see lots of old friends.  To be surrounded by familiar comfort on a difficult weekend...

I know that I am not alone in feeling this way.  I know that I am not the only one that still misses her desperately.  I know I am not the only one missing her laugh and her smile and her holding my hand.  Somehow that doesn't really make me feel any better.

What does make me feel better?  Remembering that she is now healed and whole.   She gets to climb up in the lap of her Savior and sing with angels.  I don't get it, and don't know that I ever will.  Weird that I can smile over the thought of her in heaven, and cry over the missing at the same time....

All of that to say...I don't understand.  I don't know why.  The only thing I know is that God is still in control.  I don't like it today, but I am choosing to trust Him.  I am still in the palm of His hand. 

My last paper of the semester was due on Friday at noon - I had been working feverishly on it for days and weeks - and was SOOOOOO close to being finished.  It was 10am and I had two hours to get up to school, type my last appendix of the paper and get it turned in by the noon deadline.  I was totally going to make it.

And then the unthinkable happened.  Turning into the school entrance, I smashed directly into another car head on.  She was traveling 45mph.  I was traveling close to 30.  Which made our combined impact like hitting a wall at 75mph.

Next thing I know my car had completely spun in the intersection and all of my airbags had gone off.

Wow. 

Here is what things looked like after the fact....ever wonder what airbags look like deployed?  I was always curious...after the fact, I could have done without it experiencing it firsthand!

And the front passenger side.

The last picture - the driver side...you can't really tell from these pictures, but the entire front frame of my car was smooshed back into the rest.  I had stayed in the car until the tow truck driver came, and when he tried to open the driver door for me upon his arrival, we realized that the drivers side door was not able to open more than three inches.  Yikes.  It was actually a little funny - He looked at me and said "Well - you can climb through the window or try to get out of the passenger side...."
Sheesh.  Neither was a dignified way to exit the still smoking vehicle...but I chose to climb over the center console and to exit on the passenger side.  As much as I used to adore the Dukes of Hazard when I was young, I just didn't have the impersonation in me on Friday. 

So.  The amazing thing?  I could have been hurt so much worse - as it is, I went to the hospital and had a ton of x-rays on my neck, back and left arm (where the airbag hit/burned me).  Nothing broken - just a bit battered and bruised.  My neck is stiff (but not horrible), arm bruised and burned, and bruises from my shoulder to abdomen from the seat belt.  It could have been so much worse - I am completely convinced that I had an angel sitting between me and the airbag to keep it from hitting my face...pretty much wrapping me up in bubble wrap really.

So there you go - the drama of the week...pray for me if you think about it - lots of things to work out with insurance, and I am scared how this will turn out.  I really don't have the money to fix any of it, so I have to just keep reminding myself that God was watching out for me before and during the accident and He surely won't stop now, right?  Right.

Hard to believe that I am finishing up my second semester of school already.  One more major paper due on Friday, and two finals next week, and I will be finished.  That feels really good.  I will have five days off school once finals are over, and then will jump right in to summer classes.  In an attempt to not be so completely overwhelmed this coming fall and spring semesters I am taking three classes over the summer.  Kind of a bummer to not have the summer off, but in the long run it is really going to pay off.  Plus, the classes that I am taking are super interesting, so that will help a LOT.  The summer is going to fly by.

We had a significant event happen in our family over the weekend, with my littlest brother Jesse getting baptized on Sunday evening.  My parents are involved with a HUGE church that does not have a baptismal in the church - so once or twice a year they rent out the local sports complex/family pool and dunk a lot of people at one time.  This time there were close to 100 people - amazing to think of all of those decisions.  Very cool testimonies...

Anyway, I digress.  They did the baptisms in three groups - each group would get into the pool with all of the pastors and go one by one until everyone in the pool had been baptized - then the next group would go in...Jesse was in the last group - the family was out in full force and the little ones were starting to get pretty restless, but it was a sweet moment when he finally made the plunge [pun totally intended].  The girls all got a bit teary [mom most of all] Jesse is the last of the siblings to be baptized. 

Here are some pictures....

After the baptisms were over, they opened up the pool for everyone to swim who wanted to - so our whole family played in the pool for a while.  I didn't remember that we could swim, so I hadn't brought my suit - I was totally bummed.  Fortunately, my sister in love Brittney had brought hers and didn't really want to swim anyway, so I borrowed hers.  It worked out pretty well, except for the part that she is a little a lot more endowed than I in the chestly region, so I was in imminent danger of exposure from slipping swimwear the whole time, but I was cautious and had a GREAT time despite of it.  Unfortunately, we didn't get many shots of the nieces and nephews playing in the water, but here are a couple...

I bought this little bikini for my very first niece, and it has now been passed down through three other nieces to Hadassah - I love it, and have told my sisters and sister in loves that it is one of the few pieces of clothing that they need to keep in case I ever have a daughter.  This was her first time to wear it, and she was so stinking cute in it.    She loved the water - Hannah let her float and kick, and she kept intentionally dunking her head under the water, coming up sputtering and smiling.  So cute.

Tabitha and I...

Basically what that means is that my name is on a certificate on the wall of the personnel office until the end of the month, at which point they will give me said certificate in its two dollar cheap-ish frame, and I will in turn throw it away.  [shhhh - don't tell]

And lest you think I am exaggerating, please don't forget that I have worked for this company for almost seven years now, and have been on both the management AND the employee side - I have seen this played out month after month. 

Please don't get me wrong, I AM grateful for the kudos.  I promise.

That is basically all the news from here - not my favorite thing ever, but certainly better than a kick to the head...which just proves yet again that I can complain about anything! 

And here is a *special* treat for those of you who are visual - a work picture from a year and a half ago when I got my five year pin to put on my name badge - complete with cheesy smile!!

Adding fun to the day - it is grey, cloudy, windy and COLD today.  Is the weather ever going to change?

I am so ready.