Fall is my favorite season and has been since Kindergarten. I can say that because I was the odd child in Kindergarten who picked fall to draw on a picture instead of winter or summer. I love the cooler temperatures, pumpkin, apple and all the beautiful colors from the leaves. I also love my fall decorations and put them up Labor Day weekend :) My glitter leaves garland still looks beautiful this year, even though it was a bit of a pain to untangle and get hanging up again.
I believe Fall starts with Labor Day weekend/September because the start of school always feels like the start of Fall. Speaking of school, Brad is now a PA 2 (2nd year) and is in his second clinical rotation. Each rotation is 5 weeks with a test at the end of each rotation on the subject of their rotation (ie: Pediatric rotation means you take a pediatric test). Every few rotations they have a week off that is supposed to be used to make up for any tests that they did not pass (sorry the phrase has left my mind). So we are busy, but he's hanging in there and most days is still able to have a great sense of humor. His first rotation was at a pediatric clinic in a more country area. He did enjoy this and passed his test. Now he is doing a rotation at an outpatient pysch (not sure if it's pyschiatry or pyschology) office. Brad has told me that if he had a song for each rotation his first rotation would have been "Home on the Range" because most of the patients were so country and for this pysch rotation he has picked "Basket Case" by Green Day. See, he still has his sense of humor despite the long days and continued studying.
Tacy has not started preschool like every other 3 year old. I still feel bad about this, especially since she asks me fairly often if she can go to school. At this moment, with my current work schedule, I have no idea how I would arrange for her to go to preschool (and afford it). So for the mean time, I'm trying to teach her the alphabet at home. I used lovely pinterest and found all sorts of activities/worksheets and for 2 weeks we were pretty good, but not any more. The hard part is that since I work 8:30-5, I only have time in the evenings to try to go over things with her. Tacy and I are both a little tired and edgy by the time we get home at 5:30-6pm and I'm usually rushing to make dinner and get Tacy in bed. I can also understand why when I do try to discuss letters with Tacy, why she has no attention span/doesn't try to get it right. I got her these ABC flash cards and the first time I used them with her she was good at repeating. But the next day she only got through one card and now she never wants to do it. Teaching is hard at the end of the day. Luckily, my friend who watches her is also trying to help Tacy with learning. Brad reminds me that Tacy is fine, she is ahead developmentally for her age, she can count to 20 in english and to 7 in spanish and she does know how to spell her name (except for the times she omits the A, I'm not sure what she has against that letter). Plus, I have read that the alphabet just takes a lot of time/repetition. So we read stories every night and Brad and I try to ask Tacy about letters.
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| Goofy girl with her rock collection from our Girl's Night Out campout |
I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm not perfect and that I should not compare myself/my life to everyone else. I'm doing the best I can and I need to work on being happy with that. To help with this, I have started reading the scriptures daily and this has been a blessing. It amazes me how many times the stories I have recently read in the scriptures are used elsewhere in life - talking with the missionaries, in general conference, visiting teaching, or in Ensign articles.
I am so happy to see all the leaves starting to change colors, to enjoy this cooler weather, to eat pumpkin cookies and lots of apples. I'm also so excited and ready for General Conference this weekend! I absolutely love the General Women's Session last Saturday. I truly felt like every talk was for me or directly answered my prayers. If you are interested you can watch the Women's Session here
I hope to always remember to look for the joy in life today and that my divine nature is not determined by what happens in my life, it was given to me by a loving Heavenly Father. I am grateful for all the wonderful messages and reminders to be positive, encouragement to try harder, and find happiness/joy in the journey today.
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