It has been a crazy year and I really just have no excuse for not writing anything besides that. I graduated a year ago from Weber State with my degree in Early Childhood. I have been working as a teacher at Head Start here in Ogden and I love it! My coworkers are amazing and many of the kids are very sweet and loving.
Abe got an amazing opportunity for a paid internship at Ben Lomond High School here in Ogden instead of doing regular student teaching. He is loving it and will graduate from Weber State with his degree in Spanish Teaching in April. He will get to keep his job at Ben Lomond when he graduates, as long as they continue to like him that is ;-). Many parents of his students have come to him and told him that he is their child's favorite teacher. I am so proud of him! His instructional coach said that he has great classroom management already! He still wants to continue his education and get his Master's and Doctorate degrees, but he feels less rushed now. I just want him to be happy with wherever he is and will be proud of him no matter what he decided to do with his career in teaching. He is an excellent teacher and will do very well anywhere he goes. He is extremely excited about summer vacation. It will be his first summer not having to work since before his mission. I will also not be working so we are going to have to find something to entertain ourselves. We are going to be moving apartments! That will help keep us busy for at least a couple of weeks.
Six weeks ago I went to my doctor about pain I was having and to get my thyroid levels checked. I walked out of the office after finding that I had a cyst taking over my whole left ovary that was almost 7 cm and possibly a smaller cyst in my right ovary. It is also a possibility that I have Endometriosis (Google it), because of the type of pain I have been having. I have been on a super strong dose of birth control to try and get the cyst to shrink. It is continual dosage so I have to skip the sugar pill week. My body has not been pleased with this and I have been grumpy and tired. If the cyst had not shrunk in 6 weeks I was going to have to get surgery to get it removed and check for Endometriosis.
I went to the follow up appointment this week and my cyst has completely dissolved! Thank goodness! My doctor told me to stop the birth control today and get onto prenatal vitamins because it is possible that I have been drained of folic acid. Endometriosis is still a possibility but she is going to hold off on diagnosing that because the only way to really diagnose it is to have surgery I guess. If I still can't get pregnant after trying IUI then we will look more into that. So for now we are not trying aggressively to get pregnant but we are not preventing it. Once Abe finds out if we have to pay his full tuition then we are going to start being more aggressive with trying to get pregnant again. We will try fertility meds again and IUI.
This year for Christmas we have been doing the Light the World Calendar. It has been awesome. I love the focus on charity and it really does help get us in the Christmas spirit. I would suggest looking at it and trying it out. Even if you are not active in the church or LDS! It is a wonderful way to celebrate the birth and atonement of our Savior. He made a huge (that is an understatement) sacrifice for us and it is a wonderful feeling to try and give something back.
In Relief Society this past Sunday we also had a lesson on trying to be more like the Savior and obtaining his attributes. We were challenged to select two or more attributes that Christ has and studying about the attributes for ten days. Every day you will pick one attribute and find a scripture on that attribute that really touches you. Study it and pray about it (pray like you are speaking to a friend or parent) and ask for help on becoming more like Christ and obtaining that attribute.
I loved this challenge because the past year I have had a very hard time being patient and submissive. When first starting trying to get pregnant I was excited and hopeful. As almost three years of trying to get pregnant have passed by, and I have pretty much failed at being female, I realized that I was in the mindset that I want it now so I am going to get it now. That has just made me extremely unhappy and bitter (I pretty much have to stop myself from sobbing every time I see a pregnant woman and pregnancy announcements are like a stab in the heart. And do not get me started on all of the hurtful things that people say to you or just ignore about you when you've been trying for almost 3 years).
But I have had to come to an understanding that it is not my will, but God's will and I am just going to have to be submissive, patient and faithful. It is extremely difficult trying to switch my brain over and become submissive and patient. I am neither of those things really. This challenge is really helping me and it has been a wonderful opportunity to try and make myself more like our Savior. I would also suggest trying this challenge if you are feeling like your faith may not be as strong as you would like it to be or if you are working on a specific attribute.
We hope that everyone is doing well and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
-Abe and Amanda
P.S. If anyone is or knows anyone who is going through fertility issues like we have, they are more than welcome to send me a message on Facebook. It is a poopy situation and the holidays are especially difficult. We are hoping to be more open about infertility and welcome any insights and would love to have some friends who understand and are going through this now!
Oh and my little sister Alexandria took some family photos for us. These are just a couple of them!
