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Today while at work,

I received a call from Ernesto,

15 minutes before I was supposed to get off work.

Here is about how the conversation went down:

Him: "Hey, I'm probably not going to be getting off work on time tonight."

Me: "Why?"

Him: "because, there was an explosion in one of the apartment complex's. The one that we just left 15 minutes ago."

[he does maitenance at apartments...he also had nothing to do with this explosion. He was painting some walls in an empty unit when he was there]

Me: "What!? how!?"

Him: "I don't know what happened, but people got hurt. I saw a little kid run out with his flesh burned off"

Me: "oh my gosh!"

Him: "yeah I have to go. it's crazy here, but I love you. I'll talk to you later"

I was freaking out at this point and I had a hard time focusing on my job.

I almost started crying on the drive home.

Especially because I couldn't get ahold of anyone in my family.

When Ernesto finally called me back,

He explained to me that they think there might have been a gas leak, but they weren't sure about the cause.

He said that there were a couple people life flighted to the hospital and that there were only a couple of units that had been affected.

I calmed down a little after that.

I can't believe how lucky Ernesto was.

If he hadn't left the apartment when he did,

he could have been injured.

If he had gone BACK like he had been planning to,

He could have been injured.

I know that wasn't just coincedence.

I know he was being protected.

I know that the Lord watches over us.

That is proof.

Please pray for that mother and her son that were taken to the hospital.
I can't even imagine.

I just had to let off some of my thoughts.

That is all :)

**UPDATE: they found the reason for the fire. The little boy was playing with matches while his mom was asleep. The explosion was probably from all of the pressure.**

Not meant to be...

FIRST of all,

I would like to announce that Dustin and Andrea were finally approved to Adopt again!

Spread the word!

You can find their profile HERE!

I'm so excited for this!

****

Okay now on to what this post is for:

Last night, I worked until 11.

My mom called me at about 9 and wanted to know if I could stay up until 2:30 to pick up my little brothers because they were going to the midnight showing of Ironman 2 and she had to wake up early. 

I agreed to this and then I texted a VERY good friend of mine to see if he could do something with me until then. He agreed and that was the plan.

By the time I met up with him After work it was about midnight. I told him I was hungry. I know that eating late is SUPER unhealthy, but I was STARVING. I had been working all day. So I suggested that we should go get food at village inn. They're open late right?

He agreed. So we drove to Village inn and as we were walking in the door, the employees were walking out. It closed at Midnight. What the Heck!??! Since when!?

So,

We decided to see if IHOP was still open.

They weren't

SO,

we decided to try Wendys.

We pulled into the drive through and I began looking at the menu.

I found what I wanted and it looked SUPER good.

We were about to order when the lady came on the microphone and said

"sorry, we're closed."

I was SOO mad.

I wanted those Chicken Fingers!!

So, after thinking about it,

We decided to go to Mcdonalds.

I don't like Mcdonalds.

The only thing there that I eat are their snack wraps.

BUT I know they're open for 24 hours.

So,

we drove to Mcdonalds and pulled into the drive through.

the guy came on the Microphone and asked if he could take our order.

I was about to order when he came back on and said

"Oh, before I take your order, we are currently only taking cash. is that okay?"

umm...no. It wasn't okay.

again,

I was MAD!!

I WAS HUNGRY.

apparantly it wasn't meant to be.

haha.

But I didn't care.

I was hungry.

SO,

we decided to try Burger King.

When we got to the drive through for the place,

the lights were on.

After about 30 seconds of sitting there,

the lights all turned off.

At this point, 

we were laughing really hard. 

we were driving all over the valley to get food...this was getting ridiculous

So, 

we decided to try ONE more place. 

We went to a diffrerent Mcdonalds.

and FINALLY,

they were open and both cash AND cards were being accepted!

At least that bought some time right? 

and we had fun.

Worlds Worst Blogger.

Yes I am nominating myself for this award.

You can do the same if you would like.

I'm so sorry that I don't ever blog anymore!

My life is boring (which is fine with me!!)

I have been trying to think of things to blog about...

but I don't have any idea.

I COULD write about how hard it is to work with a bunch of women ALL the time...

cause that is really the extent of news in my life.

But, no one really wants to hear that.

I don't even want to hear it. :-)

haha

So...

I just decided to share this awesome picture:

I laugh so hard whenever I see this.

My brother with a moustache.

and a STYLISH one as well!!

Have a great day.

and if it's bad,

just remember this picture and it will make everything better.

Wrap Up

For the last day of National Adoption Month,

I am going to name 30 things I'm grateful for.

(since there are 30 days in the month)

Because ADOPTION is definitely something to be grateful for.

1. Adoption
2. Avery
3. Dustin and Andrea
4. Family
5. Friends
6. My Bishop
7. That I have a job
8. that I have a job I love
9. School
10. my car
11. The Gospel
12. My dog :-)
13. My Laptop
14. A home
15. Good Neighbors
16. A Good Ward
17. An Open Adoption
18. My Health
19. The Prophet
20. My blog supporters
21. Technology
22. A brother in law that is good with Microsoft Word
23. That my best friend is a Math Major
24. Letters from Paul
25. Our Country
26. Food
27. The mailman
28. My cell phone
29. Dennys
30. THAT I HAVE A BLOG

My Last Birthmom.

I quit my birthmom job this week.

It was really hard to do.

I've been really emotional about it.

But it was not paying my bills...and I couldn't do that, work full time AND go to school full time.

It was depressing.

It's been hard accepting that I can't do it all,

but after almost 48 hours of no sleep, I decided that it was really my only option.

Even though I'm going to miss it,

I feel like working this hospital job is what I need to be doing and I feel like I'll also be getting birthmom experience there (a little), because there WILL BE adoptions taking place there. There's already been one as a matter of fact.

It's gone really well so far and I'm really sorry I'm slacking on posting.

My life isn't too exciting right now.

I have been REALLY lacking on sleep lately though...so that's most of the problem.

Anyway,

I brought my last birthmom to the airport today.

That's the worst part.

She was a sweet girl and impressed me to no end with the strength she had during placement.

I remember while we were waiting for the second witness to arrive,

she said "I feel like I know the adoptive couple from somewhere"

(she is from the east and they are from the west.)

I wanted to cry when she said that.

I actually teared up.

I know what she was feeling,

except I knew where that feeling was coming from, and she didn't.

I wished so badly I could have just explained it all to her right there.

It's hard to keep the Gospel out of something that It plays such a big part in.

It's hard to just pretend these things are coincedence when I know that is not the case.

She felt like she knew the adoptive couple from somewhere, because she did.

I strongly believe that she did.

I strongly believe that she knew them before this.

As much as I believe that I knew Dustin and Andrea before this.

Busy Week!!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

I can't BELIEVE how busy I have been.

I started my Job at the hospital THE DAY AFTER my birthmom had her baby.

My first day working the FLOOR however,

was Avery's birthday.

It was SO wierd to go back into the room where I got to spend time with her as her mom exactly a year ago that day.

I almost started crying when I walked in...it brought back so many precious memories.

Right after work,

I went to Dustins parents house to celebrate Avery's birthday.

It was a BLAST.

I love all of them.

I loved watching how much they love Avery and I loved watching how spoiled she is!!

I took lots of pictures including a video that had her saying "doggy" for the first time.

(I gave her a build a bear dog for her present and she said Doggy after opening it.  It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.)

Unfortunately,

When I was loading them to my computer I accidentally DELETED all of them!!!

So these next two pictures from Andrea's blog...Thanks ANDREA! hehe

I can't help showing these...

She was a ladybug for Halloween and was in her costume:

I love this little girl so much!

Here is a picture of the bear I got her for her birthday...I LOVED it so I just have to share:

(If you push one arm, it says "I love you Avery Leigh" and if you push the other arm it barks)

The next day Andrea sent me this picture through text:

I love this little girl!!

Anyway,

My birth goes home Thursday.

Not sure how I'll handle it.

She is the sweetest girl I think I've ever met and she has a little boy and he is ADORABLE.

I'm also giving a presentation with Andrea tomorrow at Alta high,

then working a grave shift until 8, then I have a meeting at 10 and school at 3:30.

Haha I'm a little worried about how I'll handle that...wish me luck!

I'm super tired, so sorry if this post doesn't make sense...and is really random!

I am now off to bed!! Goodnight! :)

Nothing's Coincidence.

I have ANOTHER story to tell.

Excited?

haha well, I'm going to tell it anyway.

So for the past few months I have really been struggling with money.

(as most of us are...because of this ridiculous economy)

At one point I had three jobs,

yet I was still not making enough to pay all of my bills.

So,

I decided about a month ago that I was really going to crack down and find a way to get a GOOD, SUFFICIENT, RELIABLE job that paid enough for all of the things I needed.

One day,

after doing my daily scan of all of Intermountain Health Cares job openings, I came across a CNA job in Labor and Delivery and a CNA job in Maternity. Both at the hospital I delivered at.

Side Note:

Some of you may know,

that since I was young I have always dreamed of working in the womans center of the hospital.

For a while I wanted to become a nurse, but decided after working as a CNA for about a year, that I liked what CNA's did better.

Still,

I have always DREAMED of working in the womans center.

getting a job in there however, is FAR from easy.

EVERYONE wants that job.

Anyway,

back to my story.

I came across these openings.

Quickly, I applied for both of them, but continued looking for other jobs.

I never really got my hopes up too high, because I have applied for other jobs at IHC and all of them have told me that they found someone else.

In the meantime, all of my attempts to find a job were failing miserabely.

I had an interview from time to time, but never got further than that.

(I have NEVER in my life had such a hard time finding a job.)

So on Fast sunday, October 11th,

I made finding a job the main point of my fast.

Later that day, my mom informed me that SHE was also fasting for me to help me find a job. I was so grateful to her for that...and I knew how badly she wanted me to find one too..

So,

that night when I went to bed, I again, prayed extra hard that I would find a job.

The next morning,

I woke up and checked my email inbox.

I had a new email.

From Intermountain Health Care,

Telling me that they would like to interview me for the CNA position in the Maternity unit.

I was in complete shock!

It is beyond difficult to get an interview from IHC, much less for the MATERNITY position!

I had an interview on Wednesday.

I ran upstairs and told my mom about the interview, this whole time thinking how crazy it was that this was happening just the day after my fast.

The next day,

I woke up to a phone call.

It was someone from the Labor and Deliver unit asking me if I was interested in coming in for an interview. I immediately responded and was scheduled for an interview on Thursday.

I went to my interview on Wednesday (for the Maternity unit) and there were about 9 other people interviewing for the same job. When I saw this, the excitement that I might have a new job almost completely diminished. I was competing against 9 other people...I had a 1 in 9 chance I was going to get this job. great.

So, for the next hour and I half I forced myself out of my comfort zone and did everything in my power to stand out. The group interview was first and I worked HARD on standing out.

Next were the one on one interviews.

After they asked me a number of intense questions,

The converseation went something like this.

Interviewers: "Okay, do you have any questions for us?"

Me: "well, no but I just want you to know that have not wanted a job so badly in my life. If you hire me, I won't let you down. I have wanted a job in the womans center since I was a little kid and I won't let you down."

Interviewers: "wow, that is good to know. (smile) this is going to be a very difficult choice."

Me: "I think everyone there is great...I love your staff, I had a baby there a year ago and they were great to me. I love the doctors and I know I would do great with this job."

After the interview finally ended, I got in the car and could not believe some of the things I said. "I have wanted this job since I was a little kid..."? and I told them that I had a baby there. That's great.

I can honestly say I have never tried so hard in my entire life to get someone to choose me for something. I have never tried so hard to make myself look good or to make other people think I was better than someone else. IT WORE ME OUT!

So,

the next day I went in for my interview for Labor and Delivery.

I was quite nervous for this one and became even more so when the interviewer said "There were 130 applicants. We only chose 10 to interview so I would like to congratulate you all for being here."

WOW..I was lucky. I KNEW I didn't qualify like these other people. They were all actually MAJORING in nursing or SOMETHING of that sort...and then there is ME who is majoring in Social work.

However,

I felt a lot more confident after this interview.

I felt like there was a chance I would actually get it!

well...now was the waiting period.

and oh how much I anticipated it.

I have been STRESSED OUT OF MY MIND.

I even had a dream the other night that I was anticipating the job...and even in my DREAM I didn't find out if I got it.

Well,

yesterday I finally called them to find out if they had made a decision.

The person I was directed to wasn't there...so I left a message.

Well...today...I was getting ready to go give a Presentation at a high school about adoption with Andrea...when my phone rang.

My stomach leaped when I noticed the first three numbers...which were IHC numbers.

I answered, just expecting them to tell me that I did not get the job.

Here is (about) how the conversation went:

Me: "Hello?"

Caller: "Is this Andrea?"

Me: "Yes" (trying really hard not to sound discouraged)

Caller: "I this is ____[I can't remember he name]from the intermountain health care recruitment office. I am calling for Nina because she is out sick."

Me: "Oh Hi." (still trying to sound somewhat friendly)

Caller: "I am just wondering if you are still interested in the CNA position for the Maternity Unit?"

**a pause of complete astonishment**

Me: "YES!" I said it almost TOO excitedly

Caller: "great! I was just calling to let you know that we would love to have you join our team then."

Me: (I could have started crying now of compelete joy) "No way! Oh my gosh you have NO idea how excited I am! Thank you!"

Caller: (Laughing) "well I'm happy to hear how enthusiastic you are"

Me: "You have no idea!"

The call went on with her explaining to me what I needed to do and when I would start.

after getting off the phone I flew upstairs to tell my mom and texted my entire family.
I still haven't heard back from Labor and Delivery, but I don't care anymore! :)

I NOW HAVE A JOB IN THE WOMANS CENTER!

I AM NOW WORKING BOTH OF MY DREAM JOBS AT THIS TIME IN MY LIFE!

I am a CNA and a Case Manager.

I will be spending a majority of my life in the womans center. :-)

My Testimony on Fasting has just been stregnthened.

My prayers were answered...and quite quickly.

Nothing is coincedence.

and here comes another Rainbow after the storm <3

I start Monday. :)

Sometimes...

It's hard to put how I feel in
words.

so many emotions and feelings..yet so
little words that can express any of them.

I experienced...

My first 'relinquishment' as a case manager today.

Yesterday,

at 2:30 am,

I received a phone call from the birthmom I have been taking care of.

Her water broke.

SO,

we go to the hospital

and within 2 hours, they were prepping her for a C-section.

I am quite shocked as to how well I was able to control my emotions.

The only time I have cried even a little through this process, is when the baby was born...

This birthmother broke down when the baby cried for the first time.

That moment.

Just that small moment.

hearing the sweet baby cry, and seeing this birthmom break down in tears,

brought back the memories of the first time I saw Avery and heard her cry.

It brought back the feelings I felt.

The "How in the world am I going to do this?" feelings.

I was completely choked up and all I could do was hold her hand and rub her hair as this baby continued to cry.

Since then,

I have not shed another tear.

(at least not yet..!)

Even today when I was in the room as she signed relinquishment papers,

everyone was able to control thier emotions.

This birthmother is an awesome girl.

most of the people in her life do NOT support this adoption, including her mother.

It amazes me how people can do this without very much support.

I sat in her room with her yesterday as she cried. She kept saying how she wanted so badly to parent this child. She wanted so badly to just be this childs mother.

She called her mom for comforting words and all her mom said was "bring me my grandbaby home. You don't have to do this." (her mom wasn't ANGRY at her for placing, but she didn't agree with it)

It broke my heart to see her have to deal with all of this without even her mother telling her that she could do it and being there for her when she just wanted encouragement.

Still as she talked to me,

she started naming off all of the reasons that she SHOULD place.

she named off the reasons that would make it hard for her TO place, but the reasons as to why she should, outnumbered the reasons as to why she shouldn't.

I have learned a lot from this girl in the past few days.

She is a very strong person. Stronger than I could ever be.

When I placed,

I had 100% support from like 99% of the people in my life.

This girl had support from about 10%..and that includes me, her social worker, the adoptive parents and everyone that I work with.

I think my favorite part of this whole experience so far has been seeing this birthmom interact with the adoptive family.

I loved seeing both of them relax as they began their first conversation.

I loved watching as the adoptive mother held her baby for the first time and seeing the relief in her eyes as this birthmom explained to her that she was still 100% sure about her decision.

I LOVE MY JOB

Well...

I guess I forgot to mention this...

but I am no longer going back to Utah State.

LONG story and you don't want to hear it.

trust me.

SO I'm going to Salt Lake Community College instead.

because of this I am a little sad.

My best friend Keara is going to China along with Chelsey.

My other best friend Terri is married.

Brittany, Mandy, Megan, Elicia and all of the rest of my friends are up at Logan.

This is really not the best thing ever.

I've been having a really hard time with this.

Especially with Keara leaving.

Thank heaven for Skype.

I haven't really posted very much lately because I don't want to be a horrible pessimist all of the time when I blog and I don't have much good to say.

So sorry about that!

My Case Manager job is going well..so that's good.

I GOT IT!!

So for the past couple of months I have been working on getting a specific job that I have wanted...since I heard about it.

Job:
Case Manger.

Description:

A Case Manager takes care of birthmoms that come to Utah to deliver their babies because of the Utah adoption laws.

A Case Manger does the following:

• Picks Birthmom up from the airport
• Takes her to her apartment,
• Takes her grocery shopping
• Takes her to her Dr. appointments and any other appointment she may have
• Entertains her by going to a movie, dinner or something entertaining twice a week
• Takes her to the hospital for delivery
• Is there for her during Delivery and when requested and Is there for relinquishment
• takes her back to apartment
• Is there for emotional support
• takes her back to the airport to go back home.
• and helps with anything else the birthmom may need.

&

GUESS WHAT!?!?
I GOT THE JOB!!

I am now officially a Case manager for birthmoms.

I meet my first birthmom on Sunday,

and

I CAN'T WAIT!!

WOOHOO

I'm getting my hair done today

(it's been WAY to long since the last time i've had it done)

I died it brown in December, but I think I'm going to go back to blonde this time.

WHAT DO YOU THINK??

oh and thank you to all of you awesome blog readers that gave me dieting advice.

I lost two pounds after trying one of them, and then my dad introduced me to Icogenix.

I started that yesterday and have lost FOUR pounds since yesterday!