The twice-a-year conference in st. george

i'm at a professional development conference in st. george with colleagues from work. it's something we do twice a year. all of the "utah professionals in student involvement and leadership" get together in st. george during the winter, and park city during the summer for about 3 days, to network, problem solve, collaborate and make plans for the upcoming year's events (i.e. conferences that we hold for the students).

today was the first time it's started to hit me that my life will be changing in about 8 more weeks. i'll be 32 weeks/8 months pregnant on saturday. i usually volunteer to do professional development sessions for students on leadership or diversity. i didn't volunteer for that today because i'll have a one-month old to take care of. i doubt that i'll even go to visit the conference with my little one because i really need to force myself NOT to do work while i'm on leave.

i haven't figured out completely what i'm going to do about "work" once i no longer have leave time available, and that concerns me. i'm not ready to stop working and i'm not ready to say "yes" to daycare, yet i don't have a whole lot of options at the moment to consider otherwise. i am hoping to find some good ones soon.

michael mailed me a letter or two last week - but i won't get them until i am home on Friday. I look forward to seeing what his experiences have been like and what he's gaining from this go-round of OCS. it sounds like his "silent leadership" style is still pretty constant, and i'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing from the perspective of his TAC.

i don't think, if i were his tac, that i'd want to see some know-it-all at OCS who stifled the leadership development of peers because they wanted the spotlight all the time. so i'm glad that michael isn't that way. i know they have a name for that type of soldier/candidate - but i don't remember what it is. usually with michael - he takes time to observe his situation, keep his head down, take in information and then make a decision. if that's what's happening and his TAC wants to see more aggression/assertiveness from him - i think once they give him some type of leadership role, they'll be impressed by what they see. he's superman when it comes to athletics and was the road guard at basic, and received recognition for his "excellence in physical performance"... top 3 in his company or something. so i think it's only a matter of time for him to shine like he always does when placed in stressful situations.

even though i don't want him to be deployed or put in harm's way with this war, i know that there's no better soldier than the kind that he is to go out and fight the good fight.

thanks to all for your prayers for and letters to him. As soon as I get my letters from him, i'll be sure to update you with highlights from OCS. :)