My response to an online application question...

Question: Name one person that has had an impact on your life. Answer: My daughter, Eva Kristina. When I found out I was pregnant in 2006 I was packing for Chile to teach with the WorldTeach program for 10 months. Within a very short time-span I had to come up with a plan on how I was going to, not only be a single mother, but how to support a child. In the past 27 months I have been very successful at raising a beautiful, intelligent, funny and extremely independant little woman. Our journey has taught me patience, unconditional love, gratitude for the smallest things in life, how to laugh at and forgive myself when I make mistakes and how to get out of bed, even when I don't feel like it. Her presence has brought an indescribable amount of joy to my life and each day, each moment, brings a new challenge, a new lesson, and a distinct purpose to my life.

Question: What do I see myself doing in my professional and personal life after qraduation: Answer: After I complete my nursing degree in 2010 I will set to work to establish my basic nursing skills. When the necessary prerequisites have been met I will pursue a Master's Degree in Midwifery. I would like to work with teenage girls and single mother's to prepare them to be successful and happy mother's as well as to help decrease future unintended pregnancies. As opportunities arise I would like to travel outside of the United States on medical missions to help with similar issues as well as with HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Further down the road I would like to be involved with an international disaster response team (such as Doctors without Borders, OXFAM, RedCross, United Nations, etc.) to help with global emergencies such as earthquakes, mudslides, etc. In my personal life I will continue to spend time with my daughter and to help her be a productive, intelligent and ethical young woman; full of compassion and a willingness to help others.

I'm on cloud 9.... I'm on cloud 9!

Today is a wonderful day! I have yet to receive a letter from U of M, BUT, they let the cat out of the bag a little early…Here’s how it played out….. I came in to work this morning and was checking my email. There was one saying that I needed to “reactivate my uniquename” and at first I thought it may have been some type of spam, since I already have a uniquename with them, one that worked just fine yesterday. I opened the e-mail and could barely concentrate because it was giving me the impression that I had been accepted. So, now my heart wasn’t beating and I rushed to the U of M prospective student site to see if my application page had any updates and it no longer said “under review” it said “YOU HAVE ACCEPTED ADMISSION TO THE UNIVERSITY”!!!!!! At this point I wasn’t even breathing and just made some grunting noise since I couldn’t even get out “oh my god”. I grabbed my phone and I ran downstairs and called my mom. I barely got out “I got in” before I started crying. Well, the crying kept going for quite some time. Every time I called somebody, I’d cry some more. I think my dad’s heart stopped as I called and barely got out a pathetic “daddy” and then just cried…I’m sure he thought something awful happened to me or Eva, maybe both… When I got back up to my desk, I cried more, for my coworkers and boss to see! OK, maybe it sounds crazy to cry so much over an acceptance, BUT, you have to understand that I have been waiting since AUGUST to hear something and with every communication my hope for getting in dwindled, they were receiving soooooooo many applications and there are ONLY 55 spots. Not only that, but I have so much riding on this, this is going to change my life, and my daughter’s. They were tears of pure joy and relief! Well, now I just have to wait for the official letter to come in the mail, and hopefully there is a package of information about the program and what to expect, because I still don’t have much idea of what the heck I’ve just gotten myself into!!! Crazy, right?

The wait is the hardest part...

The wait to hear whether or not I’m going back to U of M is killing me. I submitted my application in AUGUST thinking, for some CRAZY reason, that I would hear something back by end of August or early September… HAH! They showed me… it’s the 19th of JANUARY (FIVE months later!) and I received an e-mail saying that I should hear something in the next several weeks…. So, not only is the wait getting me down, but that e-mail also said that they’ve received a very large volume of applications….. uh oh….. there’s only 55 spots available…. L …. Makes my chances of getting in even lower…. I’m really worried now. I’m trying to think positive though. I know I will make a great nurse. I hope they can see that in my application as well. If it’s not U of M, it will be somewhere else. I just haven’t planned for a “plan B” so, if I have to come up with one, I will. Here’s to not needing one though!!!!

Well, I’m getting ants in my travelling pants again. I keep flashing back to Antigua, Guatemala and other previous travels (like Europe in the winter) and I’m starting to want to go somewhere again. Sometimes I get really excited and say “That’s it! We’re getting out of here!” and then I remember that Eva doesn’t have a passport… It’s from pure laziness that I haven’t gotten her one yet…in many ways, it’s my safeguard from doing something crazy like, oh, I don’t know, spending hundreds to thousands of dollars to leave the country with a two year old….

I better get going. Just wanted to make an effort to post something. If I can get in to the habit of writing than maybe months and months won’t go by in between posts! Take care :-)

Once again...

I've fallen off the blogging wagon L I always think about writing, but, you know what they say about the best of intentions… I’m still here, and one day I’d really like to make blogging a routine thing.

As of today I still haven’t received a letter from U of M L I did get a call in the middle of December saying that they were to begin the review process, so, I can only hope that it will come in the very very near future. I only sent the darn thing in FIVE months ago….!!!

All is good with the baby girl. She continues to amaze me and everyone else. She has such a strong personality and a great sense of humor. I have no doubts that she could be the class clown one day! She’s so goofy. Even after 27 months I still can’t stop myself from staring at her, covering her in kisses and telling her I love you constantly. She’s just an amazing little girl and I am very lucky to have her. It makes me feel so awful when I lose my temper with her, but, I am only human and I make mistakes too…..

School starts back up in a couple days and I have nooooooooo idea how I am going to manage all of this. I’ll take it one day at a time for now, and when I hear something from U of M I will have the flexibility to start making some changes, if needed. WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!