Babies, babies everywhere! (I'm ready to be a grown up)

Oh my goodness, so many people I know are having babies it is ridiculous. One baby was just born to a mission trip buddy and his wife, my sister is pregnant with her second, a friend from church is pregnant, a former neighbor's wife is pregnant with their third, a friend from elementary school is pregnant and due any day now... it is outrageous! Maybe the craziest part is that I don't feel the need to have a baby right now like I used to feel. I am excited about half of these pregnancies, and nervous about the other half. I guess I just want to be such a good mom that I want to be completely ready before we even start trying. I know things happen that are outside your control, like God choosing to give you a child much before you thought you were ready, but so far that hasn't been our situation. Of course I would be thrilled if God wanted to give us a child right now, but that is not in the plan or a while. We are going to be one of those couples that is married for 4 or more years before we start having kids, and I never thought that would be me. I always thought you graduate college, get married, have kids, all within like 2 years. Well obviously we did things a little out of order for that to be the plan, so I have had to develop a different idea of a timeline for the next stage in my life. In fact, Jason and I have decided that we can't even make a plan, so we are truly in wait-mode for right now. We have no idea what the next couple of years is going to look like, and we are hoping that God will guide us along nicely so we don't have to guess. We are praying about all of the timing for everything, including where we live, where we work, and when to have kids. But again, we are still waiting to see what the plan is before we can comply with it.

On a different note, I have started to think about my certification exams. I have to take like 4 of them, so I need to start as soon as possible. Actually, these exams hadn't crossed my mind until I got an email reminding me that I should start taking them THIS semester, YIKES!! So, we move home like May 18th-ish, go to St. Lucia May 28-June 2, then my test is June 6 for my bilingual certification! That should make for a very interesting few weeks. I then have to take the TExES and PPR exams on June 27. I will be starting a sign language class at UNM VC June 9, which will just add to the chaos. I had hoped to not have to go back to Lubbock too much over the summer, but it looks like that is not going to happen, at least not in June.

I am just so ready to graduate and start my life. I want a house that Jason and I can call our own, that we can decorate however we want, and that we can remodel in any way, shape, or fashion that we desire. I want Jason to have a job so we don't have to worry about money, and so we don't have to live with Jason's parents any longer than necessary (not that I don't love them, because I do, but I will be ready for our own space). I want to be able to start thinking about having a family without worrying about needing to graduate first or whatever. I know in the future I will probably look back on this time and wonder why I was so anxious to be out of this phase of my life, but I really am ready to move on. I think I am finally ready to be a grown up, which I have not been able to say, and it is kinda weird. Ok, that is enough for one night. Toodles!