Alcatraz
Beautiful Old building.
Tiny slice of the Golden Gate bridge.
This was a mall!
Casey found it interesting that on this church in this sinful city there is a verse from Ecclesiastes: "Son, observe the time and fly from evil." Oh, that we would.
Chinatown
Beautiful architecture, isn't it?
Well, okay, this isn't where I've been (though perhaps vicariously:). San Fransico was the site of Case's business trip last week. (VMworld 2009, if you care to know. It means nothing to me.) If you know Casey very well, you already guessed that this cannot be where I've been, because my pictures would have been of people, while Casey infinitely prefers still life. (And I do love the architecture there!)
There is a reason behind why I haven't been posting much lately. I miss posting and I want to give an explanation to my readers as well as let you know a tiny smidgen of what's going on in the Cowart household lately. I'll post some stuff here on this blog, but the main reason I'm not blogging much is better explained on my other blog, on which I hope to elaborate soon. (I'll post a link when I get to it.)
And that reason is that I am in the process of completing certification as a childbirth educator, namely, a Bradley instructor. As some of you know, I have had three children with "The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth." Being somewhat cautious and not liking to commit to something unless I am prepared to follow through, (see my previous post if you don't believe me on this one) I have waited several years (well, five--one doesn't want to rush into these things) to see if my passion for natural childbirth would wane or if I would still love learning about it and studying it and doing it and seeing it and helping with it. . . you get the picture.
Well, turns out my passion is stronger than ever, five years after I first caught it. So, in May I signed up for the Denver workshop and have been dutifully completing the requirements since then. Still being cautious, I decided not to mention it on my blogs until I knew I would complete the requirements and attend the workshop this month. To be honest, I didn't mention it to many people at all. Someone would come up to me and say, "I hear you're working on your Bradley certification," and I'd say, "Who told?" It has become a joke among some of the ladies at church that I am the "Church Doula." (Which I have to say I'd be overjoyed to be! I'm here for you, ladies!)
Only God knows whether I will indeed make it to the workshop, complete it, pass the exam (I'm not worried about that part) and have my packet approved (that, I am a little concerned about.) I can't bear to say something I don't mean, yet I feel pressured to not rock the boat in my book reviews and such. "This book was so poorly organized!" "I could hardly do an outline without getting dizzy.". . . "No, I would not recommend this book to a student unless she was on bedrest for the entirety of her pregnancy and had exhausted all birth-related reading material and wanted to go through it with a red pen to sharpen her proof-reading skills."
I'm not sure that would go over too well; there's a rumor that the person who grades the packet was involved in the writing of the book. But I cannot turn a blind eye to such poor quality. A conundrum I'll have to work through . . .
In spite of the smack that I talk, I am pursuing certification through this company because the name is well-recognized and the goal is natural childbirth, and 80% of Bradley students go on to have completely unmedicated births, with little to no routine interventions. (Not to mention my own personal experience that includes my strong suspicion that this method spared me many unnecessary interventions with my first birth, possibly including cesarean. That itself resounds with me.) There are some choices that I think will hurt the company in the long run, but despite the differences of viewpoints on some non-birth related things, I believe Bradley is the best match for me. And I believe that what is not up-to-par can be tweaked and helped along. God willing, I will start teaching my first 12-week course in about a month as a provisional affiliate!
As a cherry on top of the busy-ness, as of yesterday, I have also enrolled in a doula training workshop with toLABOR (formerly ALACE) which will be held in November. (I will be certified this month as a Doula w/Bradley, but I don't know how well-respected that is. I've personally never heard of a licenced "Bradley" doula.) Thankfully, these certification requirements do not need to be completed before the workshop, and since I do not plan to use my doula training as a business until my children are quite a bit older, (if not grown) I can take a couple years to complete the requirements (one of which is attending 6 births). The great news is that for those next couple years, my friends in need of a doula for their natural births will now get a passionate, dedicated, caring, FORMALLY TRAINED doula for FREE, thanks to my hubby, who over breakfast yesterday insisted that I get all the training/certifications over with at once! Hence, my going from "I'm not going to pursue certification for five to ten years" to, "Sign me up!"
So, that explains why blogging (e-mail, phone calls, contact of any sort from me) has fallen by the wayside these last few months. Most of my assignments cannot be done while my children are awake (come to think of it, almost nothing outside of caring for and tending to them can be done while they are awake . . . we are still at a very needy age/stage here at Casa de Cowart.) That leaves the evenings, which is when I blogged once-upon-a-time.
I miss blogging. I have so many thoughts mucking about and would love to hash it all out and "relieve" myself in that way. Blogging can be so therapeutic. As I can tell after having spilled all this information. Ahhhh.
All this is meant to say that this very well may be the last time I post until I get back from the workshop at the end of September. Just wanted you all to know that I do not plan to continue in this lack of posting. Rather, it is a season of busy-ness. I would not call the certification requirements rigorous, but they are quite time consuming. There's a ton of work left! I'll update here and on my birth blog whenever I'm able!
And that reason is that I am in the process of completing certification as a childbirth educator, namely, a Bradley instructor. As some of you know, I have had three children with "The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth." Being somewhat cautious and not liking to commit to something unless I am prepared to follow through, (see my previous post if you don't believe me on this one) I have waited several years (well, five--one doesn't want to rush into these things) to see if my passion for natural childbirth would wane or if I would still love learning about it and studying it and doing it and seeing it and helping with it. . . you get the picture.
Well, turns out my passion is stronger than ever, five years after I first caught it. So, in May I signed up for the Denver workshop and have been dutifully completing the requirements since then. Still being cautious, I decided not to mention it on my blogs until I knew I would complete the requirements and attend the workshop this month. To be honest, I didn't mention it to many people at all. Someone would come up to me and say, "I hear you're working on your Bradley certification," and I'd say, "Who told?" It has become a joke among some of the ladies at church that I am the "Church Doula." (Which I have to say I'd be overjoyed to be! I'm here for you, ladies!)
Only God knows whether I will indeed make it to the workshop, complete it, pass the exam (I'm not worried about that part) and have my packet approved (that, I am a little concerned about.) I can't bear to say something I don't mean, yet I feel pressured to not rock the boat in my book reviews and such. "This book was so poorly organized!" "I could hardly do an outline without getting dizzy.". . . "No, I would not recommend this book to a student unless she was on bedrest for the entirety of her pregnancy and had exhausted all birth-related reading material and wanted to go through it with a red pen to sharpen her proof-reading skills."
I'm not sure that would go over too well; there's a rumor that the person who grades the packet was involved in the writing of the book. But I cannot turn a blind eye to such poor quality. A conundrum I'll have to work through . . .
In spite of the smack that I talk, I am pursuing certification through this company because the name is well-recognized and the goal is natural childbirth, and 80% of Bradley students go on to have completely unmedicated births, with little to no routine interventions. (Not to mention my own personal experience that includes my strong suspicion that this method spared me many unnecessary interventions with my first birth, possibly including cesarean. That itself resounds with me.) There are some choices that I think will hurt the company in the long run, but despite the differences of viewpoints on some non-birth related things, I believe Bradley is the best match for me. And I believe that what is not up-to-par can be tweaked and helped along. God willing, I will start teaching my first 12-week course in about a month as a provisional affiliate!
As a cherry on top of the busy-ness, as of yesterday, I have also enrolled in a doula training workshop with toLABOR (formerly ALACE) which will be held in November. (I will be certified this month as a Doula w/Bradley, but I don't know how well-respected that is. I've personally never heard of a licenced "Bradley" doula.) Thankfully, these certification requirements do not need to be completed before the workshop, and since I do not plan to use my doula training as a business until my children are quite a bit older, (if not grown) I can take a couple years to complete the requirements (one of which is attending 6 births). The great news is that for those next couple years, my friends in need of a doula for their natural births will now get a passionate, dedicated, caring, FORMALLY TRAINED doula for FREE, thanks to my hubby, who over breakfast yesterday insisted that I get all the training/certifications over with at once! Hence, my going from "I'm not going to pursue certification for five to ten years" to, "Sign me up!"
So, that explains why blogging (e-mail, phone calls, contact of any sort from me) has fallen by the wayside these last few months. Most of my assignments cannot be done while my children are awake (come to think of it, almost nothing outside of caring for and tending to them can be done while they are awake . . . we are still at a very needy age/stage here at Casa de Cowart.) That leaves the evenings, which is when I blogged once-upon-a-time.
I miss blogging. I have so many thoughts mucking about and would love to hash it all out and "relieve" myself in that way. Blogging can be so therapeutic. As I can tell after having spilled all this information. Ahhhh.
All this is meant to say that this very well may be the last time I post until I get back from the workshop at the end of September. Just wanted you all to know that I do not plan to continue in this lack of posting. Rather, it is a season of busy-ness. I would not call the certification requirements rigorous, but they are quite time consuming. There's a ton of work left! I'll update here and on my birth blog whenever I'm able!
