So let's see I will start with Jeff. He is currently working full time in the ICU as a nurse. So he works three 12 hour shifts a week (which are random, thankfully days though). On his other three days off he has been trying to get clinical hours in so he normally does ten hour shifts at his clinical site which right now is the Sunset Clinic with Kris Carter. She has been such a blessing because she has basically been the only doctor willing to accept Jeff that is already credentialed. See, you have to go through this paperwork process and then have someone come do a site-visit which is basically impossible(since Jeff's school is based in Kentucky) before you can do clinicals anywhere. I guess I should explain why he is doing clinicals anyway. Jeff is in the Master's program online at Frontier School of Nursing based in Kentucky. He will be working toward becoming a Nurse Practitioner.He is doing amazing. This is (hopefully) his last semester as long as he can get all six hundred something hours of his clinicals done. Our problem right now is he has to get specific types of visits. He can get most of them with Kris but there is one type of visit he can't get that he needs a specialized doctor to allow him to come for forty visits. Unfortunately we can't find ANYONE that is willing to fill out the paperwork, take a student, and if they are we can't get his site-coordinator to come do a site visit until May which is when he is supposed to be done or we get to pay another (large) chunk of money for another semester. Our plan is to be done by the end of May since we booked a cruise in celebration but we will see if it happens or not. Jeff is right on track to finish other than our little set-back of not finding this specialized NP/doc.
Jeff is currently serving in the Young Men's presidency of the LDS church as the second counselor. He is currently thinking he might want to run the marathon this year and his most recent hobby is he is working on building a model-airplane out of matchsticks.
Now for me: I'm serving as the Young Women's second counselor and adore it! I have been in Young Women's now for almost four years and hope I never get released. I am working for USDB (Utah School for the Deaf and Blind) and interpret a few days a week at a high school. I enjoy it but am grateful the school year will be over soon. I won't be doing something so regular next semester. I really want to be home with my kids more. It's funny because it is only a few hours twice a week but I just don't want to be away from my family that regularly. I also am a free-lance interpreter through a company called Interpreter Connection. They are amazing! They call me if there are assignments in the community that need interpreting. I love doing free lance because it is rarely the same thing when they call to see if I can do a job I never know what to expect. I've had some really fun assignments. They are super understanding that my family comes first. Occasionally they assign me a college class to take for the full semester, that is fun too.
Last year in October I passed my Level one Utah Certification (Novice level). I now have four years to pass my professional level test or take the National (NIC). So I applied this year for a program called ICAN (Interpreter Certification Advancement Network). It's objective is to take interpreters at level one and get them ready to take the level two test. I got accepted and started this month. It's basically like going back to school... in Salt Lake. I have monthly meetings in Salt Lake and three times during the year I go up for something called "Immersion Weekends." Basically it's intense, no talking, interpreting training (and some fun) for four days. When I'm here I meet with mentors- I have an interpreter mentor (Andrea) and a Deaf mentor (Stephanie). I do homework and meetings once a week. It has been nice in a way because for a long time I felt this pressure of I need to be studying but didn't really know what to study. Now I have some guidance and I really appreciate it. They have been super helpful this year and are paying me and Robin for travel reimbursement, the program is free, and they are getting us camera equipment so we can film ourselves and post them online for our mentors to see. So I am grateful for their effort in including us down south.
As for the kids- Jaston is 15 months and super busy. I have found that boys are VERY different from girls. But I love it. He is starting to understand a lot more, sign some more, talk a little, and is just developing a super fun personality. He is also becoming more independent which is WAY nice. He has been super clingy and dependent since he was born so I'm finally starting to feel like I have a bit of freedom back.
Skylee is 3 1/2. She is the spunkiest, thoughtful, sensitive, cute, and stubborn little three year old I have ever seen. Man do I love that girl and get frustrated with this girl. I've heard three is a tough year so I'm hoping we can get through this one in one piece.
So that's a basic overview of the family and what we are up to right now. I will update as new things come along but for now.. Ta-Ta
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