Ohio Women's Wellness Symposium

I am really lucky to have the job that I have at this point in my life. Of course there are days when things are stressful and just hearing the stories that many of our clients have can be tough to listen to. BUT I have gained a lot of knowledge from working in the substance abuse field. I have the greatest boss, great vacation time, great health insurance benefits, etc and the opportunity to work a flexible schedule so I can attend school as well.

This past week I was fortunate to attend a conference for work with a few other co-workers. My boss took me along and I for that I am so grateful!! We had some great presenters and I learned a lot! I didn't take too many pictures during the conference but I took some of the lovely facility we were at. The conference was held at Cherry Valley Lodge in Newark, Ohio and it was beautiful there! So peaceful! Here are a few pictures:

Beautiful Pond & Waterfall outside our room

View from our patio at our neighbors patio

One half of our room with our nice TV

Gazebo at the Pond

Momma duck and her babies
Sweet little baby duck :)

Me, Robyn & Rebekah at the conferenceMy Boss with our cool poster!!

The cool Longaberger building we saw on our way to the conference

Joyful News

How do you start a blog about something so special?!?! A few weekends back my family participated in the Multiple Sclerosis Walk in Massillon, Ohio. This weekend was the weekend before my Mom's birthday, so we decided we were going to celebrate it since we were all going to be around for the walk. After the walk we got cleaned up and were getting ready to go to dinner to celebrate. Me, Lisa and Ben had purchased tickets to the musical "Jersey Boys" for my Mom's birthday and Mother's Day! However, my sister had brought down a small gift bag for her as well. I was a little upset with her seeing that we agreed the only thing we were going to get her were those tickets. I wanted to go to dinner and have Mom open her gifts there but Lisa insisted that we open them at home, so I gave in and let Mom open her gifts at home. :) Lisa gave her the gift bag and told her to open the blue package first. It was some item that was wrapped in blue tissue paper. I was totally unaware of what was happening or what my Mom could be getting so I paid little attention. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw my sister hold up her camera to take a picture of my Mom and it was then that I looked down on the table and saw a cute green and white ONESIE!!! Oh my gosh, it hit me, she was PREGNANT!!! I flipped out! I started screaming, jumping up and down, running around the living room....you name it, I probably did it at that moment!! I wish they would have had a video camera to capture that moment!! haha! My sister said "Now you see why I wanted to do this at home?!?" haha! The onesie for my Mom said "My heart belongs to Grandma". They got one for my Dad as well that said "Grandpa's little sidekick" and Lisa made a bib for me that says "I love my Aunt"! How sweet!! So for the past few weeks we have had to keep our mouths shut and not let the news slip. Lisa wanted to wait until she saw the doctor and had her first ultrasound before sharing the big news with people!

On Tuesday May 13, 2008 Lisa had her first ultrasound and found out she was 7 weeks 1 day pregnant and her projected due date is December 29, 2008! YAY!! I took a picture of her yesterday:

Lisa - 8 weeks pregnant

How exciting?!?! It's hard to imagine that in just 7 months my sister will be a new mom and I will be a first time aunt! I'm so excited for her and Ben! They will make amazing parents!! Lisa finally shared the news with everyone at church and now the word will spread! The Belle's and Baranovic's are so very blessed!!

So with this great news, we also received great news from Lisa's best friend Jenni since grade school. Jenni gave birth to her first child on Friday May 16, 2008. Here are a few pictures from the hospital! Madison Ann is her name and she is so precious and petite!

the results are in......

so the semester is finally over and the grades are posted, here are the results:

Here they are everyone, my grades for the Spring Semester 2008:

Articulatory & Phonological Disorders = A-

American Sign Language IV = A-

Hearing and Speech Science = B

World Civilization: China = B-

GPA = 3.331

Thanks for all of your support this semester! I will post other stuff soon!! :)