Reaching out and grabbing life

In addition to this wonderful blog, I also have a private one. I opened it about 8 months ago because I started feeling that I no longer had any place to share my most personal, intimate thoughts anymore. Everyone in every aspect of my life pretty much has access to this current blog, so if I needed to get something off of my chest about a co-worker, or a member of my church, I needed a place to go where I could share with the 10 or 11 people that I trust most on this earth, and have zero worries.



I posted about this last week on my private blog. I was laid-off on Tuesday, April 28, 2009. I've just now arrived at the point where I'm comfortable talking about it in a public forum. There are family members that I've talked to several times since the layoff that I still haven't told yet. I'm not hiding it, there's just a bunch of emotions, and possibly stages, that one goes through when something like this happens. I believe that the order of the stages mostly depends on our individual personalities. Here are the ones I encountered, in their respective order:

1) Shock I was like a zombie that Tuesday. Once I got home with my hubby, I knew that everything was going to be okay, but I just didn't know what to do or think. I wasn't hungry (which is a CLEAR sign that I was going through something abnormal) and I didn't want to talk to anyone. My phone began ringing off of the hook by 2:30pm that day. Apparently that's when the meetings ended where the news was broken. People that I didn't really talk to that much were calling my house; I just asked my hubby to take messages. One of my best friends who was also a co-worker came and picked me up that evening and took me to a meeting at Turner. I was a part of the Turner Women Today circle mentoring group, and our mentor had already paid for us to attend a big event being held there. So I went, and acted as if nothing had happened. There were people around me crying for me, and I was comforting them!! Yep, definitely shock.

2) Bitterness Over the next few days, Twitter and Facebook were abuzz with the news of the layoff. I started making the connection that the people who were talking about it still had jobs. (And probably weren't pregnant and the only source of income for their households). I still didn't want to talk about it in a public forum, so I refrained from responding or commenting about the matter at all. I was angry with Suchita Vladlamani on Good Day Atlanta because she has a job and I don't. I went back up to CNN a few times to get some things and felt betrayed by the people that still had jobs. From the SVP's to the crew at Chick Fil A, I was just bitter toward them. I even felt slight envy toward my husband who now has 3 friggin' degrees and has the people from his new job that he starts in August already calling him and talking about how excited they are for him to start later this summer. Woop De Doo for everyone else except for Tami...that's how I was feeling later that week.



3) Embarrassment By that weekend, I started feeling as though it was my fault I was laid-off. If the whole group had been let go, that would be one thing, but we were cherry picked. I felt expendable. My GREATEST fear in life is rejection, and here it was staring me in the face. So cold and uncaring. Goodbye, Tami, we just don't need you. I have a lot of self confidence, and there are people in my life who I feel look up to me for different reasons and who depend on me. I didn't even want to face them anymore. I just wanted to hide somewhere and pretend I never knew any of these people. After all, at least they still have jobs.

4) Reality By the following week, I was starting to get some of my swagger back. Some. I still felt pretty yucky about how things went down, and came to a lot of unfortunate realizations. The gravity of what happened really hit me, and I knew that it was time to take from this situation what I was supposed to:

I had spent the entire 3 weeks before my layoff complaining about how miserable and tired I was. I was SO exhausted and had been feeling so sore. I was only at weeks 22 - 25 of my pregnancy, and I was barely able to get around comfortably. It was taking me almost 15 minutes to get from my car to my desk...that normally only takes about 5 or 6 minutes. I was barely able to stay awake at my desk anymore. Mondays were the worst!!! I always woke up completely wiped out on Mondays as if I had been binge drinking and someone had been kicking me in the stomach the entire weekend. Miserable. I really loved working for the lady who was my direct manager (and who I have been staying in touch with very well) but that's about as far as it went. Everyone else around me was making me miserable, save for a few people around me that I am especially close to.

I was also spending a lot of time in other departments trying to get on with other groups. Amazingly, this is still in the works now, and is actually much easier now that I don't have to balance a current workload with the new stuff I was being trained on. If this pans out the way it appears to be, what an amazing story this will be to tell in the near future!



90% of my closest friends have told me that they feel that this was a MAJOR blessing in disguise. The people closest to me knew how much I was struggling and how I needed a break, even more so than I was willing to admit. Being able to sit on my screen-porch at 9am on a Monday morning and eat my breakfast is quite nice, I must admit. And then sit in my recliner and eat my lunch while watching my favorite soap opera. And then go take a nap before picking up the kids hours later. I'm REALLY loving this, to be honest. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, because I still miss work. I hope I have some good things to report over the next few months. I'm still very excited about what the future holds, and have been reminded to hold on tight to God's unchanging hand. Even though circumstances in the world change, He does not, and always has our best interest at the heart of who He is. I'm so honored to be His, and look forward to what's to come!!

BTW, one of the best parts about this is that I no longer have to pretend that I like/enjoy/tolerate CNN News anymore. Thank God!!! :-) :-)

At A Glance...

Last Week At A Glance:

Last week was eye-opening in a few ways. It definitely had more meetings than I'm used to. Two of them in particular I personally consider awe-inspiring.

During one of them I was, again, exposed to the positive repercussions of simply being nice to people and making myself an available source of information to them. I did some "schmoozing" after the meeting was over, and have some more follow-up meetings this week. It never ceases to amaze me how far natural charm combined with a decent amount of hard work will go. I emphasize "natural" charm, because that's quite a different animal from that "fake, smile in your face, then go talk about you to anyone who will listen" crap that many people seem to engage in. No, one of my few strengths includes an ability to look into people's souls when I'm with them and communicate to them that I actually care about what they're discussing with me at the time. But if you cross me, you are screwed. That's not tough talk at all, just a sad reality. The good news is that everyone gets two chances with me, though, so it's not as bad as it sounds. :-) But I SERIOUSLY digress....

During the other meeting I'm referring to, I was exposed to some SERIOUS irony, karma, whatever you want to call it. We see it everyday, but a colleague and I now use this situation as our inside joke. Life is really something. Now that I am approaching 35 years of age (considered by many to be the halfway point of average life-expectancy), I am really coming into my own. I'm done trying to figure out who I want to be. I simply am who I am, and I'm learning to be content with who I've become.

I am a working mother. Those of you moms who stay home all day, great. But why do so many stay-at-home moms judge working moms? If you're content in your personal situation, stop concerning yourself with what other people are doing.

I am a Christian. I am proud to be a Christian. I don't wear my Christianity like a fashionable piece of jewelry that I take on or off depending on the situation. It IS the biggest part of who I am and I'm proud to exalt my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! If you have a problem with who I am or any of the tenets of Christianity, I don't mind fielding/answering questions about why I believe in and trust God and His Word. But I will absolutely not engage in debates and arguments about who I am and why I believe what I believe. I don't go questioning people of other lifestyles who make certain decisions, and I expect the same respect in return. If I do not get it in return, I'm not shocked, but I will not be baited into heated discussions about something that is so precious and sweet to me.

I am a Conservative. This is something I've only come to realize about myself over the past 7 or 8 years. I'm what is commonly referred to as a "9/11 Conservative". This is not to be mistaken with a Republican, by the way. I don't align myself with any of the major political parties in this country. This choice to not politically align myself has much to do with the fact that my Christian walk is SO important to me and something I have to work at daily. I can't let an undying association with fallible humans and their political swayings mar my testimony of faith. And that's exactly what I believe happens to those Christians who do engage heavily in politics. Simply my opinion.

I'm very obsessive. This is either my greatest weakness or strength. It depends on the object of my obsession. When it's my relationship with God, hubby, kids, or something related to my career or personal growth/development, it's a major strength. When it's a hot actor or sports player, it's bad (I keep writing about this, but I really need to share my Tiger Woods story one day!!). We're not talking minor crushes, people. I always take stuff to the EXTREME on either side. I used to obsess over my husband while we were dating. It was borderline predatory; really surprised he didn't call the police at some point. Sadly, it changes with the wind, and you never know where I am at the moment, or where I'm headed with this. But this is who I am, and at this point in my life I finally understand that trying to be something else is so futile. All I can do is channel this obsessive nature into positive things that will leave a positive stamp on my family's livelihood and well-being.

In closing, I just want to say something to all of the 30+ year-olds who may be reading this. Most of you may have already figured this out, but for those that haven't, you ARE who you ARE now. Those of you actively trying to be someone else or change major characteristics you have, it just doesn't work. I promise I'm not being mean intentionally, but you really are not fooling anyone but yourselves. Not to mention that you really look silly to everyone who notices, if you care about stuff like that. It's impossible to truly like or truly know someone who tries to hard to go against the grain of who they are. If you're a total a$$hole who turns people off with your personality, I'm really sorry to hear that. But in my opinion the best thing you can do at this point is just own up to it, and try to choose a profession that gives you the most limited contact with people as possible. When you try to appear nice, you appear very strange. Especially because the real you is going to show up again at some point anyway, and will cause people to wonder who the heck "that other person" was. I'm speaking from personal experience. I have really enjoyed writing this post. It feels good to share things like this that have been on my mind for a really long time. :-)

Next Week At A Glance

I'm leaving work early on Tuesday to go to a doctor's visit.

I'll also have a MUCH needed visit to my hair stylist to get some cute layers cut and my hair pressed out. It's been way too long, and I'm just looking a hot mess right about now.

Let's see, what else...oh yeah, the hubby, kids and I are going on a trip to Alabama to visit the hubby's family. We haven't been down there in years, and it's really sad because we were so close to this part of the family before we had kids. At this point we have completely lost touch with everyone. Looking forward to reconnecting with as many people as possible. My hubby has 8 aunts and uncles on each side (yes, 16 total) and about a gazillion 1st cousins, so there are usually cookouts/fish-frys and the like to look forward to whenever we go down there. My hubby is the oldest granchild on his Dad's side so they always make an especially huge deal when we go down there. Something really special about the first Gran, I always hear. :-)

Ta Ta For Now, readers!!

From Bad To Worse

Let's face it...today was just one of those days. Not sure how exactly it turned into one of those days...it definitely started off harmless enough. I had the wisdom, or foresight, or something, to switch my Thursday afternoon appt w/ my gynecologist to this morning at the very last minute. Thank God I did so, because tomorrow is going to be insane! The appt went smoothly enough, but once I got back to work, I think a few little things just gradually sent me down the path to a really bad mood. Little things, that in isolation aren't a big deal, but all combined in the same day make for kind of a tough day.

It may seem a little strange, but days like today sometimes cause me to reflect upon a company I worked at in the past. I can still remember to this day how I felt when I went on the interview...it was the most "exciting-looking" place I had seen before! There were foozball tables, pool tables, television sets, and even a cool looking small library that we all had access to. The ceilings, walls and floors had the most eclectic, cool looking modern tech designs and colors!! We had free soft drinks (which was a big deal for me at the time!) and the workspace just looked extremely "new millenium" even though the turn of the century hadn't occured yet. Over the first few years there, things began to unravel a bit. We gained a new parent company and almost immediately lost access to the floor of the building which contained all of the fun, extra-curricular items that had been bragged about as selling points for working at the company during my interview. We moved to a plain-Jane, vanilla, workspace eventually that had no character in itself at all. Many of the really nice people that kept things fun and exciting in the beginning were let go (or sensibly quit) over time. I watched the huge dip in morale gradually occur, and wondered what I had walked into. By the time the dotcom bubble burst, we were all stuck at the company anyway (NO ONE was hiring and the economy was struggling at the time). So it became an "employers market", which meant that if you're an employer, you have "carte blanche" to some degree over your employees, because they're not going anywhere since no one's hiring. This is the time period where silly rules start being created and enforced. This is also the time period where morale is so low, that over time you're left with a bunch of miserable, cynical people who are all complaining about their jobs. Bad days on the job spill over into bad days at home, and the cycle just repeats itself over and over day after day, week after week, month after month.

So it is on days like today that I reflect on something told to me by a colleague from the company I just spoke of. She was much older than me, and had TONS more life experience. Whenever we would get some type of bad or unfortunate news about a "change" of some sort, she would always remind me to just be patient because In six months, there is guaranteed to be, yet, another change that would make this one not seem as upsetting anymore. Sometimes that would mean that things would get even worse, but it usually ended up meaning that our worries/attention would become focused in another area, so the initial point of worry or bitterness isn't even relevant anymore. After 12 years in corporate America, I can definitely say that my former colleague has been right....every time. I'll do my best to keep my chin up...if I can get through the rest of this week unscathed, it will be nothing short of God's grace that got me through it!!

Preparing for a new week

I've got a little on my mind right now. Not a whole lot, like normal, but just a couple of things. I got a pregnancy massage on Friday, and I feel almost completely STRESS-FREE!

For one, I'm seriously trying to determine how I can stay on a steady course in my life. There's got to be a way that someone with my compulsive, extreme live-in-the-moment, obsessive, procrastinating personality can live a content life on the right track. My number one fault is that I LOVE to talk more than just about anything else in this world. This becomes a problem because it effects the things that are extremely important (such as work!) So if someone comes into my workspace to talk to me, for example, I will talk for as long as they want to talk because I LOVE to talk so much. The only two times I fare well in these types of situations are 1) if the person coming over to talk isn't very talkative and knows how to end a conversation abruptly enough, or 2) if the person talks more than I do, and I get bored with them because I don't get a chance to talk. Outside of these two situations, it's a no-win for me as far as productivity goes. It's gotten worse recently since I've become pregnant and more hormonal. There have been days recently where I left work asking myself "What the heck did I accomplish today?" I will be praying about this in a matter of minutes.

The other thing weighing heavily on me has to do with my kids. They are both extremely healthy emotionally and physically, and I'm so grateful to God for this. Here's what's burdening my heart right now. Most of you who follow my blog regularly know that my son was diagnosed a while back with a developmental issue regarding his ability to verbally express himself. By the time he turned 3, it was pretty obvious that he was pretty far behind most children his age in this area. Since verbal communication is the strongest indicator of one's intelligence to most people, it put my son at a disadvantage in school. The school he was attending last year had two pretty weak teachers in terms of dealing with a child with my son's particular developmental issue. Looking back on it, if I had my son evaluated much earlier, I could have avoided all of the guess-work and confusion that his teachers were dealing with because I would have known the exact issue and could have communicated this to them. Heck, I didn't even know what the issue was before the official evaluation with the speech pathologist, but I always knew that my son was much more intelligent than other kids his age. He just couldn't speak as clearly and communicate as effectively as they could.

Fast forward two years...he's 5-years old now, and attends a different Christian school close to home. I had a parent-teacher conference before the Christmas holidays in which his teacher expressed concern over some of his behavior in class. This really threw me for a loop because I've seen SO much progress in my son, that I sometimes forget that by "normal" 5 year-old standards some of his behavior is still difficult to understand. I explained to his teacher about the diagnosis of "expressive language disorder" and she was so relieved to hear this, because she already knew that my son had above-average intelligence compared to the other kids and that he's such a lovable, sweet boy. So some of his behavior confused her even more because of this. Ever since I explained to her, she has been more than pleased with his progress and the way that he is interacting in class because she now knows how to interact with him and how to allow him to express himself, but still within the class/school guidelines. He's doing wonderful these days, and his teacher even wants to put my son on program for the annual awards program in May. I'm so pleased that this is the direction we're going in now.

Here's my problem. When I'm out with my son and daughter, people are SO drawn to my daughter. I understand that she is a very pretty child...both of my children are gorgeous. But she is a little girl, and beauty in a female just stands out more. That's just the way it is. Plus she's only 3, and three year-olds are still considered really cute for the most part no matter how they look. BUT it breaks my heart to see this scenario play out the same way almost every time. Why? Well, my son has really come out of his shell over the past 6 months. He walks up to total strangers now and says "Good Morning, how are you?" "What's your name?" etc...He is very interested in engaging people now, because he knows that people are finally understanding what he says more often. He gets the biggest smile on his face when someone properly acknowledges something he says, and I understand why that is. It must feel like a triumph even for his 5 year-old mind. So, as his mother and number one fan on this earth, it hurts my heart almost literally to watch his face after he attempts to speak to someone, and people's response is to oooh and ahhh over my daughter while he just stands there. I'll guess that most parents feel great when someone compliments their child, but my daughter's beauty is so obvious. It's something she'll most likely have her entire life...just like her mommy. (Haha!) But I don't want one of my children to be complimented at the others expense. It even leaves me in tears just typing this out right now. Don't know how much more of it I can take.

My hubby has explained to me that, yes, our daughter is gorgeous and that people always make a huge deal out of gorgeous little girls. He keeps trying to assure me that this is just the pattern for the rest of their lives. My son will probably always be the smart kid that keeps everyone in his circle laughing. Everyone that takes the time to get to know him will know that he is full of substance and great characteristics and love him forever. And I'm sure that he will be so proud of his gorgeous little sister, who will probably also always be smart, but not in the same way as him. I hope that they will always stay best friends and always appreciate and love the others characteristics. And I also hope that I as their mommy will eventually not have such an achy heart when I witness what I interpret as one of my children being ignored or rebuffed. Such is life, and I'm going to have to be tougher, not just for myself, but as an example for my children. They will have to endure more than anything that the people of my generation could ever imagine. The last thing they need is a weak, weepy, wimp of a mother who cries every time someone isn't overly nice to one of them. I know that this advice came from the Lord, because my heart wasn't in the condition to think this way on my own. So thankful and blessed to have such a loving, wise Savior always watching over me and my family.

God bless you and yours as we take on a new week!

New Beginnings

2008 has been some year. I spent the first few months of it trying to recover from the sudden, overwhelming loss of both my grandmother and my 10-year old dog Sheba. Later came the suggestion from my kids' pediatrician that I should have my son evaluated for a couple of potential developmental issues. So I spent the first half of the year extremely distracted. I wasn't able to function at work the way I had envisioned early fall of last year. I was on a roll back in Sept 2007, and figured I'd be at a certain point by Sept 2008 that would seriously catapult my career-path. However, I spent most of my time dealing with the heartbreaking agony of death and focused on ensuring the mental health and development of my children to the best of my ability. I have been emotionally exhausted overall. But the Lord has carried me through all of this, no doubt about that. I wouldn't even be able to type this, let alone function normally these days otherwise.



Tomorrow, I will be working from home, and Tuesday begins my son's first day of Pre-K in a new Christian school in our area. I will be praying for his continued health, safety, growth, development, and protection everyday of his life. His classroom will be on the same hall as 2nd and 3rd graders. He will be taking his lunch to school and eating in the cafeteria. He will be going to the library for quiet reading time! My little 4-year old baby boy!! My daughter just started a new school last Wednesday; I will continue praying the same blessings over her life. Both kids' schools are within minutes of our home, and will thus cut our daily commute time by an entire hour and a half!! I'm getting an hour and a half of my day back to spend with my family instead of sitting on the roads of Atlanta cursing out stupid non-driving morons and asking my kids to stop whining on our LONG drive home everyday! Thank God.

I feel like with these new opportunities comes the opportunity for growth in different areas of my life (family, job, church, friends). I will continue to pray over this and do the best I can to stay focused on the heart of God and live as a true example of His grace and love as much as possible. One thing we know for sure...tomorrow on Earth isn't promised to any of us, and I'm going to start living like it!!

Privacy is becoming a thing of the past...

This tech-savvy world that we live in is pretty cool. I'll be the first to admit this. One of the more interesting things to me about this age we're living in is how readily available information is. I'm not even referring to everyday things such as searching for "World War II" or browsing youtube.com for your favorite video. I'm talking about the fact that with the click of a button, you can pretty much find out ANYTHING you want about someone.

Let's go even further. We have Facebook.com, which is by far the BEST online social networking site of all times. Even CNN utilizes it while reporting news stories! At its inception, Facebook seemed completely unique and much "safer" than Myspace. Privacy options within Facebook are more detailed; in fact, the default privacy settings are always pretty high, which means you have to intentionally make yourself available to be found.

If you're heavy into Facebook, then you know that it has become almost a brand new animal over the past 24 months. External applications can be built by developers and hooked into the Facebook API and used by any "Facebookers" that want to install them. One such application is the "Compare People" application developed by Ivko Maksimovic.

Compare People allows you to rate your friends. Upon running the application, you will be asked 20 questions. EX: "Who is smarter?", "Who would you rather sleep with?", "Who is more punctual?" With each question, two of your friends Facebook profile pictures are randomly selected and displayed on the screen. You click on the picture of the friend that you would like to select as an answer to the question. So if, say, my boss has Facebook and has added me to his friend list, he can run the Compare People application and get a question that says "Who is prettier?". My profile picture could be one of his choices. If he selects me as "prettiest", my "social rankings" will change within the Compare People application. I happen to have the app installed; here is a list of my current social rankings:




Seems pretty slick (from a programmer's point of view) and pretty harmless (if you've already graduated from high school/college or are over the age of 25, at least). The good news is that even though you can check your social rankings, you can never actually find out who voted for or against you for any given category. Even though the anonymity is comforting, there is a caveat. Also available within the social rankings list are specific details of who you won and lost against! You may be thinking NO BIGGIE since you still don't know WHO voted for or against you. Not so fast. Take a look at specific details of who I won and lost against in the category "Who is Prettier?":



Notice, the person I lost against is anonymous. This probably means 1 of 2 things: either they don't have the Compare App installed, or they installed it and later changed their privacy settings so that they will not be shown in the Compare App or listed in the Social Rankings. That's fine, but here's why it still kind of sucks. Look at the image directly above again. The two individuals that I won against happen to be my co-workers. Both of their profile names and pictures are displayed (I removed their names and whited-out their faces) which means they have the Compare App installed. I only have a small amount of co-workers listed as Facebook friends, and an even smaller number who installed the Compare People app! Like 6 or 7 tops. So it's not difficult to narrow down who probably voted. Doesn't seem so cool anymore does it?

I'm not trying to make something out of nothing. Just wanted to point out that we still have to be socially responsible and sometimes pick things apart a little bit deeper on our own to discover what we're making available. Happy Facebooking! :-)

Spousal Advice of the Day

My husband gives the best advice. The times that I have heeded it, I have been saved lots of heartache and potential disaster. The Lord has blessed him with a lot of foresight and wisdom that most people just don't have. As an example, I think of all of the times years back that he told me not to worry over certain stressful situations at work with certain people based on what he knew would be the resulting outcome. He was right EVERY SINGLE TIME. I can now sit back and smile when I think of the people that I could wasted my time stressing over who are now having to face the consequences of their actions. I am not smiling due to happiness that they are suffering; it's purely a satisfaction that the Lord is true to His word and will not be mocked. Ever.

This afternoon, the hubby and I discussed my goals for our family and my career. He noted that I have a propensity toward living my life on a roller coaster...only highs and lows. I don't live my life with a normal, natural progression of learning and growing as I should. For example, I decided last week that by the end of August, I want to complete two technical books that I own (high). So I was planning to read two technical books, take care of my two toddlers, keep my house in order, work 40 hours per week, and spend time with my family and friends from time to time. My husband pointed out that this would leave me NO time for sleeping, eating or exercising. LOL! But if he hadn't pointed this out to me, I would have attempted this feat doomed for failure, and by mid-September, I'd be convincing myself of why I suck and will never, ever be successful (low). This is the story of my life; it's so cyclical. At the end of each cycle, I'm that much more convinced that I will never successfully reach my goals.

So my soul-mate gave me sage wisdom that I want to share: less is more. We can all stand to improve. Choose one thing to improve upon, and focus on that one thing. The key is to get better, and that only happens gradually. Okay, sure, if pack your brain with a lot of information at once you may pick up enough knowledge to impress others temporarily. But long-term, how productive will you really be with bits of knowledge that you rushed through? Exactly.

Hopefully this advice will actually stick, and won't roll off and out of existence as soon as I get to my desk tomorrow morning. Because heeding this advice could really be what I've needed for a very long time.

Weekend Roundup

The Good:

Work - This was an exceptionally productive week. I got about 10 different tasks completed this week that were each slated to take close to a week each to finish! Actually, I put in a lot of time in the evenings this week since I couldn't sleep due to Cassie's cold. Turner got their money's worth and then some out of me this week! :-)

Home - Cassie is feeling MUCH better now. This morning, I noticed that a molar is cutting through, so I wonder if that was a major contributing factor to her horrible cold. Praise God for two healthy kids! Also, Chris finally completed his oral argument this morning in front of a few judges. He called me to tell me that they were very impressed with him!! YAY!!

Church - Tomorrow might be the first day that I get to teach Sunday School in over a month!! You would really have to be in my shoes to understand the sadness that takes over me when so much time goes by without me seeing my kids. They are so honest, and full of innocence (regardless of their individual situations, they are still pure at heart at this point in their lives). I also miss my adult friends that I have very strong bonds with. My life has had a huge void for quite some time, and I will pray that this much time never passes without me seeing my extended family.

The World - I was very encouraged by the way political pundits on all sides have come together to lift up prayers and send well-wishes to Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, who just found out that her cancer has returned in an incurable form, according to doctors. I am NO fan of John Edwards as a politician, but I was very proud of the way he and his wife stood together with such strength when making the announcement to the world. I wish God's blessings over the both of them as well as their family.

The Bad:

Work - Since I got so much accomplished, I've finally been pulled into the most high profile task going on at CNN.com in several years. This is great news to me, but I'm absolutely terrified due to the strain it has taken on several of my co-workers who are the best we've got at CNN. Do you believe that a few of them have actually quit due to the stress this task has caused? And they don't even have children!! YIKES!

Home - The house is a complete disaster. A wreck. The kids are napping, so once I post this, I will try to begin cleaning up this place.

Church - I feel very out-of-the-loop since I've been away for so long. I haven't been to any of the kids' plays, and I won't be able to attend ANY retreats this year since I've already used half my vacation time in the first quarter of the year! This makes me really sad. :-(

The World - Cathy Seipp passed away this week. She was a well-known freelance writer of the weekly column "From the Left Coast" for National Review Online. She succumbed to lung cancer on Wednesday, March 21, 2007. R.I.P. Cathy. My prayers go out to her family and friends. (Note: I'll post more about Cathy Seipp a little later. She and I definitely have something in common in our personal lives).


Wow, I hate to end on a bad note like that. Um, let's see...it's 82 degrees outside and I'm wearing summer clothes WOO HOO!!!