Positive

The first "two lines" that I see I really don't believe, so another test is in order. The second set of "two lines" are a little more believable, but not totally convincing. Now the third test does not have lines, but instead has words and the test reads "pregnant".

CASA

CASA is not just spanish for "home", it is also the name for the amazing organization that I now get the priviledge to work for. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. At the basic level we are the voice for children of abuse and neglect cases in court. Our responsibility is to ensure that no child falls threw the cracks of what we can honestly say is a very flawed system.

My internship in college was with East-Central CASA in Brookings, SD. The cool experience I was exposed to was getting to work not only with several counties and their courts, but also the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe. CASA was my first exposure to child welfare and it helped mold the passion that I still hold in my heart for abused and neglected children.

When I started working at the YMCA preschool/daycare I knew that I was missing something in my life...my child welfare fix. I contacted Becky from Kendall County CASA and told her about my child welfare background and before I was sworn in I had a case. I love being a CASA. It has been 2 1/2 years of volunteering my time and heart to those who really need it...children.

Then the opportunity came up for me to work as a case manager for CASA. I feel as though all of my expericences have helped shape me into the person I need to be to be successful in this position. When I was at the preschool I liked going to work, enjoyed my co-workers, adored my preschoolers, but at the end of the day it was a job. Now I get to go to a place that pays me for using the gifts God has given me, a place where my passion is what I live everyday. I am so incredibly blessed.

"I looked around at all the children suffering in the world. I saw the abuse, neglect, and pain.

I looked up to heaven and asked Why?

Why don't you do something to help these children? "

Then a reply came back. "I did do something, I created you."

Paying Attention

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

It is true that children are always paying attention to what the adults around them are saying and doing, but even as a preschool teacher I forget how much my students are watching. The other night I was at my friend's house and her daughter is in my 3-4 year old classroom. While I was visiting with my friend, her daughter asked us to play "school" with her. She was the teacher and my friend and I were the students. Everything thing she did from circle time to trying to get her students to "quiet down" was modeled after things I say and actions that I make. It actually brought tears to my eyes. On one hand I didn't realize how bossy I really do sound, but on the other hand it helped me remember what a responsibility we have as adults to lead our children. They want to be shown how to act. The question is, are we up to allowing them to follow our example?

It is in the water...

When I was finishing up with college I had my heart set on getting a Jeep Liberty. It is a funny thing when u want something...all of a sudden u see what you desire everywhere. Whenever I was out I would see at least one if not hundreds (or so it seemed) of Jeep Liberties.

I am now seeing pregnant women everywhere. So everyone I know is having a baby...or so it seems. I go to Target and I see pregnant women, I go to work and someone else is announcing they are pregnant, I am shopping at IKEA and I am bumping into preggo bellies everywhere. So my question is, what water are they drinking? At work alone there are four women pregnant and I am convinced that they have the secret concoction floating in their water bottle. I was eating at Panera the other day with my family and a friend and there was the cutest family with a young boy and the mother was pregnant. My friend suggested that I drink from the lady's cup...maybe she has magic water too.

Thanksgiving

I can't think of one holiday since Reid and I have lived in Illinois that we have not traveled. That is one of the downfalls of living where we live. Now we have never offered to have festivities at our house, but who really wants to come to Illinois...I'm just saying.

So normally we would be traveling to Fargo, ND for Thanksgiving at our Aunts' house and then spending the rest of the weekend at Reid's parents'. We were given warning at the beginning of the week that the weather west of the Mississippi was not the greatest so our plans to travel changed.

Reid and I put on our big boy pants and went to our local grocery store and bought the fixings for a Thanksgiving dinner for two, only it could have honestly feed way more people then we had chairs in our home. Now my husband was insistant that we have a real turkey, not a turkey breast, not a cornish hen, but a turkey. So we bought a prize bird, or at least the bird that weighed the least. Reid made it his job to prepare the Thanksgiving Bird. Now if you know my husband at all you know that preparing the turkey as directed per instructions that came with the bird would not suffice. Instead he researched the best possible way to prepare the his first Thanksgiving Turkey.

Of course Reid did not disappoint and we enjoyed a wonderful meal just the two of us...and our beagle Maggie who also really enjoyed Reid's turkey.

Braces

So when I was in college I got braces. Now I was so worried that I was going to look 12 with regular braces so I got the new line of invisible braces called Invisaline. When I went in for my consult they told me that my treatment would take two years...five years later my "treatment" was done, but my teeth were still not straight. Now that orthodonist I went to told ne there was nothing they could do for me unless I was willing to pay for another treatment. Needless to say I was very upset not only because of the fact that I had been commuting from Illinios to South Dakota for my braces, but the end result was not what I was told...straight teeth.

I may have an emotional issue with my teeth being straight. I remember in high school that certain individuals would make fun of my smile and one person even went as far as to draw a picture of what he thought my teeth looked like and glued it to my locker.

So fast forward to today...
My teeth started to shift back to their original state so I had to make a decision; to get a retainer to keep my teeth where they were or to finally straighten them. So today I got braces. Old fashioned metal braces. My treatment is scheduled to take a year, so we will see :)

I saw my favorite neighbor girls, Fiona and Chiara, after I got the braces on. Chiara sweetly asked me, "Mrs. Hamann, why do you have bracelets on your teeth?" My response, "So I can have beautiful teeth like you."

Humane Society

My sister and I were walking around the Dubuque, IA mall looking for my mother and we decided to go down by the Dubuque Humane Society (not to find my mom, but to see the dogs)which has a location at the mall. The dog in the front window was a little dalmation puppy. He was wagging his tail and very happy to see people stop by the window. I could see his ribs and it broke my heart. It reminded me of when we first brought Maggie home and she was skin and bones (not the case anymore!).

When we walked further into the store we saw more dogs and all with the same look...ribs and hip bones in full view. If anyone asks me about wanting to get a dog my first response is always to look at the shelters. The easiest thing to do is go to www.adoptapet.com and search the shelters in your area. It is so heartbreaking for me to think that Maggie was rescued from a shelter that keeps dogs for 72 hours before killing them. Now I know that Maggie is not my child even though I may treat her as such, but if we treated all living things as though they were family this world would be the place it was created to be.