School Daze :)

Good Monday morning to you all! I should be working on schoolwork, and I promise I will be soon, but I thought I'd write a blog and catch you up on what's happening with school so far. I'm just past the halfway point in the semester, which is kind of cool. I finished my first class this past Thursday night (YAY!!!) and start a new class this Thursday. Here is a rundown on each class and what I am learning...

*My Tuesday night class is a counseling skills class. We are learning all sorts of important skills on how to counsel people well - asking questions, reflecting back what they have said, observing body language, etc. We have been put in triads, and each week we practice counseling each other with what we are learning. Each time you are in your triad, someone is the counselor, someone is the client, and someone is the observer. We spend about 5 minutes at a time in a "session", and then we switch roles. I've really enjoyed this so far. After reading so much about counseling, it's fun to actually get to try it. It's also cool how much you learn about yourself and your own personal style in watching others counsel. Even though there are skills to learn, it is also emphasized that counseling has to be authentic and real. I love this because each person is a different type of counselor, just based on personality and such. I am definitely learning a lot about myself through this experience.

*My first Thursday night class was a foundations of counseling class where we learned about the history of counseling - where we've come from, how we got where we are, and where we're going. We talked a lot about worldviews and the importance of knowing who you are and what you believe. On the last night, we had to do a group presentation, showing a movie clip that portrayed a worldview we were presenting. My group used the movie Napolean Dynamite, and we even did a little dance. Here's a picture of my group...

*My next Thursday night class is on theories of counseling, and we will be learning about the various theoretical orientations that are used in counseling. I think this will be an interesting class to take. It will be slightly weird at first because we will have a different professor. We've had the same professor for the first two classes, and now it is time to branch out! I'll share more about this class as I get into it.

*Overall, this program should take me about 2 1/2 years to complete. It's going by quickly though! I can't believe it's about to be November already. So far this semester, I have read hundreds of pages in books, written and turned in 4 papers (one that was 20 pages!) and completed one group project. Not bad while also working full time! I have A LOT more work to do to finish out the semester, but I'm trying to take things one day at a time and not worry too much about it. I'm trying to stay really organized and still have fun every now and then, but I'm mostly just working and doing school stuff.

*One thing that is making school even more awesome is that my classmates and I are really starting to connect. Friendships are growing, we are hanging out some together, and we are having a blast. Having that community makes everything better, and I am so thankful that I am getting to share this adventure with some amazing people.

*Finally, going to school is just continuing the healing process in me. I am learning that in order to be a good counselor, you have to know yourself really well and work through your own stuff before you can be much help to another. I have already begun this process by being in counseling this last year, but everything is continuing to be refined and I am being challenged and stretched even more through my classes and interactions there. It is not always fun, but it's good, and I am thankful for the work that God continues to do in my life as He prepares me for what He has for me to do.

So there you have an update on school! I must go get some work done before heading to work for the evening. Have a great week!

Monday Musings

Greetings, readers of the blog! I have to head to work in a bit, but I thought I'd give you all a quick update on the happenings here. It's been a CRAZY two weeks, but I have survived, and it'll be cool to see what happens next. For now, here are the highlights...

*I will finish my first graduate school class on Thursday night!!! It's amazing that 8 weeks of class have already gone by. I start the next 8 week class the following Thursday, but I'm still excited about the accomplishment of finishing the first one. I finished my last paper for that class today, and then I have a group presentation on Thursday night and we'll be done!

*I am learning so much through school right now, which is very cool. I'll write a blog soon that is just about school and what is happening there. It's neat to see how God is using school to continue His healing of my heart.

*I kind of hit a wall last week where I was totally over the insanity of my schedule. Working 40+ hours each week and going to school full time and writing bunches of papers leads to some exhaustion and feelings of being overwhelmed. However, I took some time in these last few days to take care of myself a bit and do some fun stuff. I am feeling much better about where I am now and am thankful for friends and Disney who help me remember to still enjoy life. :)

*I miss fall. I took this picture when I lived in Boston, and I wish I could see sights like this around here....

However, the weather has been cooler, which is awesome AND I am going to visit my brother and sister-in-law next weekend in the Great White North! Can't wait to see them and I'm hoping that there will be a few leaves left on the trees for me to see. Either that or maybe it will snow since I certainly won't get any of that down here. Don't tell my brother I would love to see snow fall though - he'll get mad! :)

*I know a lot of you read my blog and don't like to leave comments for multiple reasons. I understand this. However, if you could, I've love to get some comments from some of you, even if you just put a smiley face as your comment. It's nice to know sometimes that you're not alone and that people have your back. Thanks in advance!!

Must run now so I can read for a bit before heading to the Chick for the night. More to come soon... In the meantime, have a great week!

A Blog On Baseball

So the Braves' season ended last night. I thought it would be appropriate to give them a little shout out on my blog, as well as explain exactly why it is that I love baseball. Plus, this is a nice break from writing my massive paper for school...

I grew up in a sports family. My dad played every sport imaginable in high school until he blew out his knee. My mom's dad was the voice of the Atlanta Falcons the first ten years they were a franchise. And I was the only girl with two brothers who both loved sports. I actually played t-ball when I was little but that was as far as my baseball experiences went personally. When I was a kid, I used to wish that I had been born a boy so that I could be a major league baseball player. :) But that is not how God made me, so I did the next best thing...I learned the game.

My brothers both played baseball growing up, and as we were a family that supported one another, that meant we all grew up at the little league field. I spent more hours, days, weeks and years there than I could count. I figured if I was going to have to be there, I might as well get paid, so I took the classes and was trained as an official scorekeeper. And it was there that I fell in love with the game.

A lot of people think baseball is really boring. It's actually not. There is so much strategy and thought and analysis that goes into each game. When you know the game, you see much more than what is happening on the field, and it's really fun. My brothers and I grew up as Braves fans. We used to go to games in the 80's when they were absolutely horrible. You'd pay $5 and everyone would sit behind home plate because no one would be at the game. It was a bonus if they won the game - just being there was magical.

So as a true fan, it was an amazing experience for them to win the pennant in 1991. Baseball fever took over Atlanta, and when we lost the World Series in seven games, you would have thought we won. They had a parade for the team, and my mom let us skip school and took us to the parade in Atlanta. I was in 7th grade at the time.

My favorite way to watch a game in person is with headphones on so I can hear the announcers. There is nothing like it! For those of you who go to games with me and I don't do this, you should feel honored. :)

I've never been a huge superstar kind of person. I love the team as a whole. And this year's Braves team has been one of my favorites. It was Bobby Cox's last year before retirement, and this team was so much fun to be a part of as a fan. There were many dramatic moments in the season and if we hadn't had so many injuries, who knows what would have happened. But we did, and the season is over, and with it, the end of an era. I can't remember a Braves team without Bobby Cox as the manager. It'll be weird to start next season with someone else. I wish him the best as he moves forward in life.

I know a lot of people don't understand my love of this sport. I'm okay with that. And yes, I know there are a lot more important things going on in the world than baseball. But for today, I'm celebrating an amazing year, a fantastic team, a great manager, and what it means to be a fan. And when spring training starts down here in February....I'll be there. :)

An Update From Me :)

So I should be working on my 20 page paper that is due next week. But my brain is mushy at the moment, and so I am taking a break to write a blog instead. Here are my random tidbits for now....

*I stopped by Five Guys on my way home tonight because I was craving beef and am currently eating a delicious cheeseburger. Let's face it, a girl can only eat chicken for so long before the very thought of chicken makes you want to gag. No offense to my fabulous employer of course...

*I turned in my first graduate school paper last night! I was quite proud of that, I must admit. It's been a lot of years since I wrote papers, so it was cool to get that first one handed in. I have another paper due Tuesday that is already written, and then I have this 20 page paper due next Thursday. It's about worldview and spiritual disciplines and counseling and what we've talked about in class. This is part of the reason for my brain mushiness - it's not an easy paper to write, but it's also a fun challenge. After that paper is done, I have another paper and a project due the following week. But this should be the hardest one to write.

*Another reason for my brain mush is that I went to counseling this afternoon. My counselor is awesome - I love her! But sometimes I feel like I need counseling after counseling so that I can process what I just processed. Hahaha...try to figure that one out! Perhaps I'll just stop thinking for a bit and eat some chocolate. :)

*My Braves made the playoffs!! This is cause for much celebration and rejoicing!!!! I mean, in the grand scheme of life I realize that there are far more important things happening in the world than baseball. But I think it's okay to love it. I think God might be a fan Himself. And can you imagine the baseball games we could have in heaven??? Seriously though, I'm excited about the playoffs beginning tomorrow night. I love my team. I think they have a great story. It's cool that they're sending their manager out on a winning note. We might get killed in the playoffs, but it's still been a fun year. And I love this picture from the other night when they clinched...

*My cat is insane. She makes me smile. I caught her saying her nightly prayers the other night before she went to sleep. I wonder what she was praying for?? :)

*Finally, I shall close my blog with a picture I took on my last visit to the Great White North as a shout-out to all my Boston peeps. I miss you guys! And I miss the glorious scenery from the fall. The weather is finally starting to cool off here, and it's awesome outside right now.

Have a great week everyone! I'm off to work on my paper some more....and to eat some of that chocolate! :)