Getting Ready

So the kids and I leave in only 19 days for Florida. I am spending the remainder of these days getting ready for the trip and packing in such a way that I can bring down the maximum amount of stuff possible during this trip. I hope to bring their bikes down now that all three are riding on two wheels, so that they can bike ride at their grandpa's house (he always ends up watching them for my ex-husband, often).

I have been anxiously awaiting my letter from FSTM. Though they did tell us that it could take as long as mid June to get a letter from them, I keep praying for more on the earlier than later side of things. I am on pins and needles and sort of in limbo until this decision is known to me, and I hate it when my life is left hanging like this, dependent on other people's decisions. I have instituted a plan B in case I am not accepted, but lets hope I don't have to go there.

Lisa from MTB asked me to come to South Carolina for the next skills weekend that she will be hostessing so that I can teach students there how to use moodle, and so that I can help Lisa learn moodle in preparation for turning it all over to her before I start FSTM. I am hoping to make it to the skills weekend, though I am currently seeking anyone who might want to car pool there with me to help me save on gas money. I am strapped for cash right now until my prerequisites for FSTM have been met.

In the mean time, I have just been cleaning and packing, and making new friends (what's that about? I am about to leave the area but yet keep making new friends as I go along!! I am beginning to see the sisterhood of midwives in Huntsville that I was carefully guarded from while I've been here...and I am deciding they are pretty amazing women.)

I am also faced with a difficult decision regarding my oldest son for next year if we move back to Florida. I realize he is way ahead of his classmates in Tennessee and that Florida public schools are even more behind than Tennessee public schools are. Soooooo....now I am faced with pushing to have him accelerated into 5th grade. I know that I could win my case about it, but I wonder if it is the right decision to make. Here in TN they wanted to accelerate him this year but I would not let them...however I am second guessing that decision now. I am going to buy him a Big Fourth Grade Book for the summer time and see how he does. If he flies through it, I will ask that they accelerate him, since he cannot attend Good Shepherd Catholic School until he's been in a Florida public school for a year.

Celebration!

Tonight I am celebrating the completion of MTB Moodle!! I finished unit 30 tonight, and am so excited to have the whole program LIVE now! This is not the end of work on MOODLE for me, as I have to upload the final exam yet, as well as add a few minor things and tweak it some..but it is the end of all the major construction for the project. This project took me longer than I had anticipated, and life got in the way at various points throughout the construction, but I had an awesome crew of students helping me, especially Taneil who did the bulk of the uploading of tests, as well as grammar editing of many of the tests for me. One of the greatest things about the MTB program is the incredible sense of community that we have with each other, and how willing we are to help each other out to improve our experiences in the program. We are a huge group of women who are close knit despite the number of students there. Even if you are going to another midwifery program elsewhere, I highly recommend using MTB as a supplemental program, as there is much to be learned about the science of midwifery but also about what the midwifery community *should* be like, helping each other. I have yet to experience a single "catty" moment on the MTB group, and really, seriously have only had Good Samaritan type experiences there. We help each other as much as we can, lift each other up when one of us is down, and stick together no matter what. Being a part of the MTB community has been life changing for me, and I am sure it has been life changing for others as well. Though I have passed my half way mark in the MTB program, I do plan on finishing it even if I decide to come back down to Florida.

But for the rest of my night, I will have some wine, and watch a movie, and relax and enjoy the fact that I have finished this major project!