My niece or nephew's first pictures!!!

Thank you to my sister, Tonya, for giving me permission to post this picture!

Tonya is 13 weeks and 5 days pregnant as of today. My mom and I went to her first doctor's appointment with her on August 30. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat (159 beats per minute), and when she had her first sonogram, we got to see the baby for the first time. We could see the head, including the two hemispheres of the brain, in those pictures, as well as the legs and spinal cord.

In the monitor, we could even see the hand where the baby seemed to be waving at the camera!

This kid is going to be a performer. He or she was moving all around during the sonogram, waving... very active. It's almost amazing that my sister can't feel all that movement, but I guess the baby is still too small for that.

I'm guessing my brother-in-law, Nick, took the picture of my sister's profile. See her cute little baby bump!

Baby is due on March 3, 2007. Nick and Tonya should be able to find out the sex of the baby at her next appointment, which will be at the end of September.

Congratulations to the soon-to-be mommy and daddy of a very active, healthy baby!

Finding humor in tragedy

I'll probably add more to this post at a later time, as I find more topics that suit the title, but for now, this little gem:

I was listening to the police/emergency scanners at work when I heard the dispacher send a call out that sounded something like this:

"Two vehicles have hit a house, again, that's two vehicles versus a house."
An officer chimed in, "Was the vehicles moving, or was the house?"

By the chuckle in his voice, I could tell he was obviously joking. But, if the "house" was actually a mobile home, I guess the house could have been moving, too.

Celebrations all around!

As we prepare for the wedding of one Random Dan to one Intolerant Elle, and send them our congratulations, I am reminded of other wedding-related celebrations occurring this month and next:

My husband and I will be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary on August 31!!!! If I can get enough time off, we might be able to go to a bed and breakfast in Little Sweden, USA! How cool would that be? On our wedding night, we stayed the night at a castle bed and breakfast here in town, which was cool! I can't wait (and hope) to see what a Swedish bed and breakfast is like!

Also, a good friend of mine since high school is having a bachelorette party this Saturday evening, and she is getting married on September 9. She and her fiance have been together just as long as Ron and I have, and they've been engaged a little longer than we've been married! That's a long engagement!

And then, on September 12, I will be celebrating my 26th birthday. Not that that's a big birthday to be celebrating or anything, but it's just another celebration that's happening soon. It also means, if you did the math, that I was less than two weeks away from my 22nd birthday when Ron and I got married. When my sister and brother-in-law got married, my sister was only a couple of weeks away from her 22nd birthday, too.

And the day before our anniversary, my sister has her first appointment with her OB, and will probably be able to hear her baby's heartbeat for the first time! She's about 11 1/2 weeks along now, and is just barely, barely starting to have a little bit of a baby bump!

So many happy events happening very soon! Congratulations to Dan and Elle, Congratulations to Lori and Chris, and congratulations to Nick and Tonya! And a big Wahooooo!!!! for Ron's and my 4th wedding anniversary!

A Complimentary Comparison

I went to the radio station this afternoon to record a phone interview with the State Treasurer for another At Issue program. This time, it's about unclaimed property and money, and how to find it and collect it.

Anyway, I was a little bit early, so I decided to drop by my boss's office to say hi. (He likes me and doesn't mind people dropping by without notice.) He's been going through old interview audition recordings trying to find someone to replace a part-time lady who recently quit, and he asked me what I thought of a couple of recordings.

After he let me listen to a couple of them, he said, "There's just something about it that's just not there. I can't put my finger on it. But when I listen to yours..." And then he played my audition recording, which I haven't heard since I was hired. "I mean, there's just no comparison!" I smiled and said, "Thank you." He smiled back and said, "You're welcome!"

Every once in a while, he turns on the radio while one of my news broadcasts is on, just to listen to how I sound, what I've included in the newscast, to see how I'm improving, etc. He said he was listening to my 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. newscasts this last Saturday, and he was very impressed. I told him at my interview that one of my biggest strengths was my ability to take constructive criticism very well, and since then, he's dropped me a couple of e-mails with constructive criticism in them. But today, it was all compliments.

I told him that I like what I'm doing at the station really well. In fact, I said, I think I like it more than newspaper work, and I was doing that for seven years! He got the biggest grin on his face, and said, "Really? That's good! I'm glad!"

I'll tell you: Of all the places I've worked, I have never had such a cool boss. Even my co-workers are cool. No one has a bad word about anyone else there. They really do treat everyone with integrity and respect. . . like family. . .family that gets along really well. I like it!

The calling of a pastor

The original post, which was published on August 8, has been removed by the author by request of those involved in the story. If you would like to read the post and/or comments, or would like to make a comment as to its contents, please e-mail me at mrs dot t dot swede at gmail dot com.

Independent at last!

I'm at a point right now when I can transition from my cam boot back into shoes, and my foot is strong enough now that I can depress the clutch in my pick-up. You know what that means: I can drive again!

Ron got me behind the wheel to practice depressing the clutch tonight, and I ended up driving all around the apartment complex. No pain, whatsoever. Unlike driving before I had my surgery, when the plate in my ankle would cause a cramp that would not allow my foot to move. There were times that I would be driving and my foot would cramp up, but I couldn't stop because I was in the middle of traffic, and I just had to put up with the pain of the cramp when I depressed the clutch. Never again!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!