Dear Mother Nature,

From here on out, I am respectfully asking that you halt the rain between the hours of 8 and 9 a.m. and 5 and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Thanks.

Walking to work in the rain today was somewhat of a miserable experience. I had my umbrella and--of course--my Waynesburg rain jacket, but neither of those protected my legs. I was soaked from my feet up to my knees. I was trying really hard to be positive about the mile walk (that usually seems quite quick) but it, in a word, sucked. Hard. Luckily, the morning was not an omen to the day.

I have felt quite accomplished lately. Things are moving forward with the website overhaul, and I'm beginning to handle things with that on my own. I still need my supervisors, but I'm slowly taking the project on as my own.

I'm also slowly getting the rest of my projects under my control. I'm intimidated by the scope of the things I have to accomplish, but also grateful for the challenge and the opportunity to expand my skills. It's certainly not all daisies and roses. I still have to psych myself up to make phone calls and get nervous when I hear the phone ring, because it might be for me. But it's all about baby steps, people. Okay, maybe most of my job is about giant steps similar to Hagrid's brother Grawp, but some things deserve to be baby steps, just to balance everything out.

This weekend was all about Waynesburg! Friday night, John and Brett came up to visit and we ended up meeting up with Jillian and Jen (who I hadn't seen since she got married over a year ago!). Saturday, I had to talk to some first-year Pitt students about East Lib and all that ELDI has done in the past 10 years with all of our various partners. Then I went with Jillian and Jen to Natalie's housewarming party in Sewickley, where I got to see many more WU grads. It was also nice to meet some people who are outside of the East End. Not that I don't love having friends here, but I like expanding my circle as well. Jen, Aaron and Jillian all joined me for church on Sunday evening as well. So did Brett Probert! Hopefully, we'll see each other again in the next 6 years.

We went to the great race! My wonderful housemate, Laura, placed 11th out of all the women in the 10K. Eleventh over all! She's an amazing runner, and I can't wait to watch her run again. After her race, we went to Pamela's. SUCH an excellent decision, despite our 45-minute wait. Once we were there, our food came quite quickly.  Mmmmm. Sunday was a big day for a few other reasons--our housemate Beth got engaged, and Alicia found out that she's going to be an aunt! So a good day all around.

I can't believe we're on our 5th week already, and the 4th at our placements. It doesn't seem like much now, but we're one month down. Only ten to go! How did that happen? Thanks so much for all of your support thus far; your prayers are much appreciated! Continue to pray for us as we battle cases of the Mondays, making it through hump day Wednesdays, and enjoy the relief that comes with Friday. =)