Life as we know it

"Announcing Darwin Donavan Charlton"

Well, once again almost a month has flew by without a post. I keep thinking I will do it at lunch and then chocolate gets in the way. We have been adjusting to the new changes in life (e.g.,school & work).
Work is going well for the most part. I like the people I work with and only occasionally want to pull my hair out. For example, yesterday I had to be at Bear Fact Days. This is where high school students come to UCA and see if this would be a good fit for them. I assumed it would be a presentation about our services (this is what I have been doing up until this point). I walk into the building and there are booths set up everywhere. Do I have anything....NO!. I quickly run to my office. Our building does not have a key entry. You have to swipe your UCA ID card. I have not used mine to open the door at this point and of course my card will not open the door. I had to call the UCA police and request they open the door for me. I grabbed the brochures and ran back over whee I would at least have something on my table. I was slightly irritated at this point that I was not given more information. Since, I am slightly OCD I hate to be unprepared.

I have had a few eye opening experiences hearing the challenges faced by the students that I work with. Recently, I worked with a student who served in Afghanistan. The experiences he had over there has left a permanent a mark on his life. It breaks my heart to think this person left his country to serve and protect his fellow man and is paying for this with nightmares, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. I wanted to give him a big hug, thank you, and a life will get better. Don't worry, I didn't, that would be highly unprofessional and may even get me fired for sexual harassment. ;)

Shawn has been extremely busy. He is juggling all of his many roles at UCA and enjoying his one on one time with Jeron. His lab opens on Monday and research will be off and running. He has learned the art of homemade pizza and it has become a Friday night tradition in our household.

The trio are thriving in each of their educational environments. The boys have a gymnastics class on Wednesday's. Ashlin has dance on Wednesdays as well and piano on Thursday. They love these days and the opportunity they have to wiggle some of the excess energy from the day.

Our newest addition entered our home this week. The kids love to visit Pet Smart and look at all of the animals. Mid summer there was the cutest kitten when we were there. Shawn said he was temped to take him home. This gave the kids (Ashlin & Jeron) the opening they needed. They have been working on him ever since. I might have a little as well. Last week there were 5 very cute kitten's. We broke down and let the trio hold them to see if it would even work having a kitten in the house. They did fairly well. On the way home Jaxon decided he did not want a kitten. ( He is terrified of animals and will cry and cling to you). We decided to wait a couple of days. On Tuesday, I asked Shawn what he thought. He completely ignored me and didn't even acknowledge I had said anything. I was a little mad to say the least. That evening we went to dinner and had to run a couple of errands. He said I have a surprise for you afterwards. He took us to Petsmart & said, "let's go get Darwin." He made me very angry just for a fun surprise. I think I have forgiven him. Darwin is the perfect addition to our home. He is a very sweet and a calm kitten. The poor thing has been picked up by his tail, ears, and throat and has handled it with grace. I told him last night as we were relaxing watching television, "The good days always outnumber the bad days in this household!"