Busy - Quick Post

Hi all!

Happy Wednesday! How are you all doing today? I am pretty good today, plus I adore the weather. It truly looks like fall here, leaves have changed color and are falling to the ground, plus the weather has been between 40 and 60. This is my absolute perfect weather and I wish it could be like this all year round.

This week I am trying my hardest to complete all of this weeks work, plus put the finishing touches on my final and maybe get a head start on my week 1 assignments for next week. My goal today is to finish my paper's outline and then write out some, if not all, of my paper. Let's hope that I can get that done today because it would be awesome to finish my final tomorrow and still have 3 days to get a head start on next sessions assignments. This morning I wrote out all of week 1's assignments and looking at it this way is relieving my stress a bit, for which I am thankful. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things to do (3 discussions, 3 discussion responses, 3 journals, 3 written assignments, and reading 15 chapters in various books). So, working ahead is pretty crucial.

Yesterday I bought all of my books for the spring semester and I saved a ton of money. Thank God for other places having the books that I need because I would have spent $450 on my books but instead I only paid $208. I saved more money than I spent and that is a beautiful thing. :)

I am going to cut this really short because of my homework. I hope that you all have a wonderful day. So until next time!

~Sara~

I'm back and Happy Easter! (Day 556)

Hi all!

Happy Sunday and Happy Easter! How is everyone doing today? It's been way too long since I've last posted, but I've been staying busy. I made it here to Texas on Thursday afternoon/evening and we've been doing random things since then. But I'm the only one up right now so I thought I'd write a post and update you all. :) I have so much to tell you all. Let me start with Thursday.

My mom and I left our house at about 6:30am to head to the airport because we live about an hour or so away from the city where the airport is. So we got there by around 8am and I went through security, thankfully that didn't take too long. But then I was stuck with an hour and a half of waiting for my first flight. It went by fairly quickly because I have 5 books with me and my new journal. I didn't feel like reading any of my books for school, so I pulled out a book called Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. (I’ll get more into this a little later). So then they start boarding for my flight, I get all settled in and we take off. And of course, the lady I’m sitting next to is sleeping almost the whole time (good thing I didn't need to get up). Seriously, I was almost too tall for the plane; I needed to duck my head while I was walking so I wouldn't hit it on anything. All in all, my first flight went well and it went quickly. So at this point I’m in Dallas and stuck there for 2.5 hours, thankfully the airport is big. I went and got some lunch from Subway and then plopped myself down on the ground, ate my lunch and read my book some more. Then it’s time for my next flight, this is a really short flight, only about an hour. But my seating arrangements were much better this time (the plane I was in had 3 rows of seats, A on one side and B and C on the other). My second flight I was in seat A, so it wasn't as crowded. We landed and then I was able to see my friend Ashley and her fiancé John. It was about 4:15pm then, so we went to this store that my friend has wanted to show me. Then we went out to dinner to this yummy Japanese restaurant, one where they cook the food right in front of you. Dinner was delicious. And then they had to go get some groceries, so we did that. It wouldn't have been so bad, but they live over an hour from that city (it’s the nearest one). So we headed back to their place and didn't make it there until almost 9:30 pm  Ashley and I stayed up until about midnight talking and John went to bed almost right away because he had to get up for work early. That about sums up Thursday, it was long, but fun.

Now onto the book I was talking about before, it talks about love and respect (obviously you can tell that by the title), but more specifically how women desire unconditional love and men desire unconditional respect. And more often than not we are not doing things to show each other the thing we most desire. I was ‘taking notes’ in my new journal and writing about a few other things and I feel as if I have learned a lot from the book already. This book is made for people in relationships, typically a married couple but I thought it would be beneficial for Abid and I, even though we’re not married yet. Many times we are almost speaking a foreign language to each other because we are wired differently. Women are typically more emotional and very big on communication; now men on the other hand are not as much. In the book, Dr. Eggerichs talks about some national statistics that were done and I believe it was about 70% (give or take) of men would rather be in an unloving relationship than be in one where they felt disrespected on a daily basis. To me that number is staggering and it really shows how important respect is to men. I have learned so much from this book and I’m not even half way through it yet. It’s sort of funny because this whole unconditional respect concept is something that I have been trying to give Abid even before reading about it. The main example that comes to mind is when he decided to take that job in another city and then we wouldn't have internet on a regular basis. As much as I would have like him to talk to me about it first, I respect him and his decision because I know that he was only doing this out of good will. He was not trying to do anything negative, in fact it’s very much the opposite, he was doing what he believes to be best for our future. The most important thing that I've learned so far though is that we need to give each other unconditional love and respect even if the other person is not giving it back. We do not need to ‘earn’ love or respect; we need to be willing to give it openly and unconditionally. No strings attached.

I absolutely love being here with Ashley and John; I've missed Ashley so much. But it’s hard seeing them together, they make me want to be with Abid even more. I always try to put on a happy face when the three of us are together because it’s not their fault that Abid and I aren't together right now, but it’s still hard. Seeing them together, how they interact, seeing how much they love each other, it just makes me yearn for Abid. I really hope that Abid and I are like that too, just enjoy being around each other, have so much fun with normal day to day things, and have our love overflowing for each other. Honestly, I cannot wait to share these things with Abid. I do really wish he could have traveled with me and just be experiencing all the things I am. Some day that will happen, I just hope that it can be someday soon. That man is seriously so sweet though, he called me yesterday morning while I was waiting for my first flight. He just called to tell me that he loves me, that he hopes I have a great flight, how much he misses me and wishes that he could be with me. Make my heart melt a little more, why don’t ya. :) This is just one of the many reasons why I love that man so very much.

Yesterday afternoon we went to this place called The Canyon, it is a big canyon (surprising, I know :) ) with many walking trails. We hiked 5 miles in 2.75 hours, it was a great workout but very tiring. Well, I've walked a 5K now, plus another 1.9 miles. But I did get a sun burnt on my shoulders, chest and upper back (near my neck). At least it will turn into a tan in a few days. It'll be nice to actually have some color to my skin instead of pale and white. :) 

But I suppose. I should get ready for church and then work on a little homework until we head out. I hope you all have a wonderful day and an even better Easter! So until next time!

~Sara~

Year 1 Day 159 (Day 524)

Hi all!

Happy Wednesday! How is everyone doing today? My mind has been renewed and I'm ready to figuratively kick some butt! Not sure if this new found confidence has anything to do with the pants I'm wearing today (size 20's, oh yeah!) or not, but I'm mentally renewed. I woke up to this huge snow storm this morning and thankfully it's finally stopped (it's almost March for goodness sake).

I'm getting to the point where I'm so ready to start working out again. I have a physical therapy appointment tomorrow morning so I'm going to talk to her and see if she thinks its a good idea to start walking and maybe do some upper body strength training (as long as it doesn't aggravate my back/hip). Honestly, I'm missing my daily workouts, and I just want to start them up again. I'm fairly certain that she'll say walking is okay because she has me warm up our PT sessions by walking on the treadmill. But I just want to run my idea by her before making any decision on it and of course I wouldn't be walking very fast. I probably really got the itch to exercise because one of the people I follow on Facebook posted a March fitness challenge and I really want to do it but I probably won't be able to because it deals with the thighs (and having an issue with my back/hip  right now probably won't allow that).

Today I'm getting a bunch of homework done. I finished my first reading assignment and when I'm done with this I'm going to proof read my paper and then do my two other chapters that I have to read. The one book that I have read for my class so far is really interesting, I love it. It's called Courage & Calling: Embracing Your God-given Potential by Gordon T. Smith. The book talks about finding our personal vocations which dealing with different issues that life throws at us. I would definitely recommend it and I'm so glad that it was required material for my class.

My classmates are being really slow with posting in our discussion (our initial post was due last night, and only 3 of us have posted so far). It's frustrating but I suppose if they don't mind their grade being docked, then who am I to judge? But it's hard because we have a group thing due on Sunday and I'm the only one who has posted anything about it so far. I hate procrastinating, so I'm hoping that the other's will post something about it soon.

Time to go proofread my paper and get more of my reading done. Oh by the way, I'm doing a weigh-in tomorrow (since it's the last day of the month), just be prepared to hear the results of that. So until next time.

~Sara~

Year 1 Day 144 (Day 509)

Hi all! How are you all doing today? I went back into the doctor today and he's fairly certain that my pain isn't caused by a ruptured ovarian cyst, but he does this that it may have to do with my sciatic nerve. He is thinking that there is inflammation around the nerve which is causing the pain, so he is starting me on an anti-inflammatory and some pain medication. The only bad thing about the medication is that it will make me very drowsy, so the doctor doesn't want me to be driving while on these medications. That means I'll have to rely on other people to take me to the doctor for the next week or so.

I've got to be honest, the past few weeks I have just done horribly with my nutrition. I know that it probably has to do with the stress, sickness, and pain that I have been experiencing. The sickness and pain, you all know about. But the stress tends to vary from day to day. I've been able to come to terms, to an extent, with Abid not being able to come online. And that being said, it's still a major struggle each day. We do get to talk on the phone a little but it's not really enough. Believe me, I realize that this is probably just as hard on Abid as it is on me, but I'm trying to remain strong. But anyways, this is playing a role in why my nutrition is going off course. It is something that I need to work on, starting now.

Today I was finally able to get all of my books ordered, I wish I would have realized it yesterday when I ordered my other book but it's better late than never. My enrollment counselor told me that I would only need to order a specific book, so yesterday that is the book that I ordered. And today as I was going through my assignment that's due in a few weeks, I realized that I need another book. So I decided to go through all of the assignments and see what books I will all need. There were 3 total books that I needed and now all of them have been ordered. Until I receive my books, I cannot continue to work on my assignments. So I am hoping that my books will arrive here in a few days.

I'm feel very tired from my medication, so I think I'm going to go lay down for a little while. Until next time.

~Sara~