As of about two weeks ago I started coming into work at 9am instead of 10am like I had been since starting here. Inititally I thought it was going to be tough to adapt to the extra hour, but on the contrary I find myself to be so much more productive with an earlier start. Now I wake up to have breakfast with my husband every morning, and I usually have time to squeeze in a chore or two before heading out the door myself.

I'm so glad it's Friday. This week, to my delight, has actually gone by quite fast. I'm anxious for 8pm to finally get here, even though I know that this weekend is going to fly by. Tomorrow is going to be a long day for sure, as we'll be driving up to Jaén, one of the northernmost provinces in Andalucía, for the young adult Christian music concert I mentioned a while back. The concert will be held in the city of Linares, which is about a 3-hour drive from Almería. Since there are a number of us who will be attending, the original plan was to hire a bus. But for whatever reason, that idea has been shot down and we'll be carpooling instead. Chechu has offered to take the truck, and I'm really not excited about the idea of him driving six hours to Linares and back in one day. Obviously I'd help with the driving if I could, but since I'm just now learning to drive stick shift I'm not exactly the best candidate to be out on the highway. I suppose that'll be my next big project- getting my Spanish driving license together since US licenses aren't acknowledged here.

So I'm hoping that another driver will be able to accompany us on the trip tomorrow. Aside from that issue, when I was at Fátima's yesterday her son (who is helping to set up all the audio/visual equipment for the concert) informed us that the tent where the concert was going to be held has been damaged due to bad weather and now the idea is to have the concert in a 200m hall somewhere that only has a holding capacity of 150 people. Apparently there'll be an estimated 300 people attending, which obviously poses a big problem. So, needless to say, I'm praying that everything will be worked out. To be completely honest I was never that excited about going to this concert to begin with, and the fact that all these issues have come up at the last minute has dwindled my excitement down to 0.

Last Sunday my Mom informed us that our great aunt isn't doing well. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about 6 years ago, and given the degenerative nature of the disease she's now bed-ridden and completely unable to communicate. Over the past year she's been at a nursing home close to where my Mom lives up until about a month or so ago when my Mom decided to bring her home. Last Sunday my Mom got in touch with us to let us know that Aunt Bertie had taken a turn for the worse. According to everyone she's nearing the end of her days, and at this point it's just a matter of time before she passes on. At this point, I'm mostly concerned for my Mom and how she's handling all of this. For her, Aunt Bertie has been more of a mother than an aunt, and it's got to be devastatingly tough to have to come to terms with the passing of a loved one that close to you. I feel bad that my sister and I are so far away from home right now, and that neither of us are able to be there right now to share the load. All I can really do is pray and leave things in God's hands.

Diet-wise, things are continuing to go well. No workout yesterday though, hopefully I'll be able to squeeze one in today.