Thrilling!

I just finished taking my final for my CPT-4 coding class. I am SOOO excited! I am happy to declare an A in the class! This course has kicked my behind for the whole session, and I finally "got it"! I only have one class left and I will be finished with my courses. Then I will start a 4 month internship.
I am trying to decide whether or not I want to get a job before I finish my internship. If I do, some of my hours will be credited toward the internship. But I'm not sure if I can keep up with both of those and my family too. I guess I will wait until the internship starts and see how time consuming it is.
God has given me so much grace to do this. Thank you, Lord!

My 10 year old girl

My sweet Rachel turned 10 on Feb. 9. I haven't had much chance to write about it, but we had a great weekend. Her birthday always lands on the birthday weekend of our fair Community. So she had an extended celebration.
Friday night, there was the Community birthday party with games for the kids and cake and ice cream.
Saturday, Rachel's actual birthday, we had a women's prayer breakfast, and they called Rachel up on stage to sing to her. She looked super cute that day. We had curled her hair, and took extra time the night before to pick out an adorable outfit. She was so excited! That night, we had a Lord's Day Meal, and I made her a cake to have at our table.
Sunday, there was a Mass, then breakfast, then our Community's covenant signing. That evening, we had grandparents and godparents over for her family celebration. She asked for a book shelf and lots of books, which she got, and is currently spending every free moment devouring said books.
This weekend, we are having some of her friends over for a sleepover. I wish I could let her have all of them, but I know myself, and I just can't handle that big of a group. I limited her to 6. We will have pizza and karaoke, among other things. She is extremely ecstatic. Lucky girl, there's no school tomorrow, so we can spend the whole day preparing for her friends to come.
I plan to take lots of pictures, so I will post some after the party.
Thank you, Lord, for my wonderful girl. She is lovely, talented, imaginative, outgoing. I can't imagine my world without her.
I love you, Rachel!

Prayer Needs

My parents returned from Arkansas last night, where they were visiting some longtime friends. Mom has come home with a terrible cold. Her doctor says it's the same type of stuff everyone else is dealing with, but I still worry about her. She has in immune deficiency, and she tends to catch things, and hang on to them, a little more often than the rest of us. Please pray for her quick healing.
Also, my friend Patti's niece, Amanda, was in a terrible car accident at the end of January. I knew she was in bad shape, but I just didn't realize how bad. Amanda was thrown from the truck she was in, the truck rolled, severed a tree, and the tree fell on Amanda's abdomen. She can use all the prayers she can get. Patti has a blog, but for some reason I didn't think to look at it for updates until today. If your would like to know the details, go to http://www.mercydropsfalling.blogspot.com.
Another who needs prayer is our friend, Father Ted Hochstatter, who is a missionary priest in Africa. He lives right in the area where all the violence is happening over there. Please pray for his protection. He is a precious, wonderful man of God.
To anyone who reads this, thank you for your prayers!