Graduation Festivities!

Sara = MSN

On Friday December 12th, at 1:00pm, Sara Danielle Deel graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Master's degree in Nursing.

I'm sure everybody is sick of reading me go on and on about how proud I am of Sara, but, it was a big day for her and I feel it is my duty to bring you news of it. We are so thankful for the strength the Lord blessed Sara with during the last two and a half years and especially the last nine months. Hours of studying Anatomy and Physiology, Pathology, Pharmacology, etc. Hours and hours of clinicals and for the last nine months doing them carrying our daughter Gabriella in her belly. I know she's happy for no more of the school stuff and only a little longer of carrying Gabriella around kangaroo style.

After the ceremony we went out to celebrate. It was a very special evening because we were celebrating Sara's academic achievement and it was also our last date night for a while. Regas Restaurant was deemed worthy of such an occasion with low lighting, the warm fire, and the little tray of bacon, almonds, and crumbled blue cheese for your salad. Dinner was great but before I get too carried away talking about food, I will change directions.


Sara, you've worked very hard over the last 30 months and it is no secret that I am proud of you. But what makes this so special and meaningful to me is how you did it. You did it while staying committed to me and our family every step of the way. Even though at times your work seemed daunting and I could tell it was taking a toll on you, I never felt as if I had taken a backseat to your ambition. I know a lot of the people you graduated with achieved success at the expense of not having a life and not having time for family. Not only was it the norm but it actually seemed expected. I laughed out loud when one of the speakers instructed the graduates in several ways to go out and enjoy a social life now. Has she seen your belly? I guess I just married a maverick.

By the way, even Dakota thinks that lady is funny. And he's proud of you too.

Stephen

Sara's modesty keeps you uninformed.

I want to take this opportunity to brag about my wife and the mother of my daughter (same woman).

Sara updated you on the happenings with Gabi's bedroom and how great her last appointment went, but she failed to mention that she received the results for her Nursing Comprehensive Exam. She passed it wonderfully and I cannot begin to emote through words how proud I am of her but as always, I will try.

This is a time in our lives that it is very easy to see God's hand on our lives and I am so thankful for His blessings. Whether it is when finances don't look good and then things just work out, Sara's most grueling clinical work is late in pregnancy and she has the strength to finish and do well, or just this wonderful blessing of bringing a baby girl into this world, God provides and I'm thankful to receive it and to recognize it. I know that our family and friends have been praying for us and I want to thank all of you for those prayers.

Love you all, and Gabi does too, (she told me via morse code through Sara's belly)

Stephen

Time to catch you up

Ok, so it's only been about 5 months since we wrote last, so there may be a little to catch you up on, such as; Sara's boards, Sara's school, Stephen's job, and general family news. Oh and the random pictures here are from the two trips we took to the Biltmore Estate in March and April.



Sara's boards were actually delayed until the first week of February because the school was being very lazy with sending in the students' registration information for the exams. After it was all said and done, Sara aced 'em! That's right, there were a minimum of 75 questions and everytime you answered one correctly the questions got more difficult and say if you missed one, you would have to take 76 questions, and well...Sara only had to answer 75 questions! She's so smart it hurts my head.

Meanwhile, she's been kicking butt in her classes and she's been dominating her clinicals at a family practice in Oak Ridge much like Shaq dominated in the late '90s. She'll continue her clinicals through the summer too.

Since the last few weeks of December, I have been working exclusively at my old company Sport Seasons. In January they came to me and asked me to help them manage the store at Knoxville Center mall. The commute stinks, but I enjoy the work and it's been great while I search for a new job in the financial world.

On Saturday April 19th, Sara and I went to the Dollar General in Farragut and purchased two tests. At first they seemed to each produce a negative result, but when a few minutes passed, the faintest pink line showed up. We were elated but still nervous because the tests say the results are invalid after 5 mins, and it had been around 6 or 7. Sunday we took two more tests and one was negative and the other (digital test) read "error." Having no idea what this meant for us, we went to the dr.'s office on Monday for routine bloodwork for Sara and asked them if they could run a pregnancy test as well. The nurse appeared out of the back and told us the test was negative. I was crushed, speechless and worried about Sara all at the same time. Deep down, I was embarrassed for the nurse because I knew she was wrong, I just knew it. After she saw the disappointment on our faces she kindly said she would run another test using a different method. When she appeared the second time there was the faintest pink line, but just faint enough to cause doubt and hope at the same time.



At about 12pm the next day, the lab called Sara to tell her where her hormone levels were at, and also by the way to tell her, we are in fact:

PREGNANT!!!!!!!

I'm going to be a daddy!

Sara's going to be a mommy!

And we're going to parents!

That's right, all moms and dads, you're going to be grandparents, all brothers and sisters, you're going to be uncles and aunts.

Stay tuned for more news...