Glorious Day!

Today has been a glorious day! Here's why:

My good friend Amy came over last night and we had a sleepover, slept in this morning and then rearranged my apartment. I love it! Check out my pics :)

Then we went to church. Great message about praising Jesus this Palm Sunday. Hosanna in the highest! He loves us and would have died if it had just been for me. That's pretty crazy to think about. And pretty powerful.

After church, where for once I actually knew a ton of people, I met up with my friend Nicole and we enjoyed yummy Chinese food outside...were practically attacked by some friendly ducks too! It was great catching up with her.

Now I'm home and getting ready to proofread a paper before submitting it and then studying for a theories test I have tomorrow. Haven't had a test in years. Eek! I kinda like them though... :) I'm weird like that. And if everything is done in time...hmmm...don't think that will happen. So this glorious day will have to end with studying. Looks like no Bible Study tonight.


Coming into my apartment. Moved the futon against the wall. Really opened up the room...but without my roommate's coffee table any more, I think I could really use one!


Heading out of my apartment. Moved the big calendar from my bedroom to the doorway so I only have to look at it when coming or going, instead of all of the time. At least that's my goal :)


I also moved my desk to the living room. I think I will get better use of it out there. I'm sick of only sitting on the floor, futon, or chair. I get so sore after a whole day of homework. And sitting in my room all day to study isn't fun, so I think this new arrangement will work well.




The view into the kitchen from the living room. No longer blocked by the futon.

My new cozy reading corner in my bedroom! So pumped about this!! :)


Other end of my room. My dresser is now under the window and is a good spot for my books.


Another angle in my room.


Leaving my room.


And finally, since my roommate has moved out, I decided to turn her room into a workout room. So this shelf is going to store my workout videos and weights and stuff. Maybe I will be motivated to work out with a special room for it! ha ha And when I get another roommate, this stuff will fit right into my closet.

I guess I better get on with this "glorious day" and start studying!

The Doctor is... MIA

What on earth did I sign myself up for!??! I never realized that being a therapist meant that you would need to know about REAL disorders. And not only mental health related disorders, but I need to know if a symptom is related to a mental health disorder or a physical disorder or just a side effect from a medication. And its not like there are only 2 options...there is a HUGE book explaining it all. And that doesn't even cover everything. On the positive side, I'm just going to be a therapist, not a psychiatrist. So I guess that means I really don't need to know everything. I just need to know when to refer :) And basically that can be whenever I don't know! ha ha But either way.... I think I'm going to have to resort to Lucy's method...charging only 5 cents...and putting my sign to "out" when I don't know! ha ha Actually, its probably called "volunteer experience" which I will be doing this summer and a year long unpaid internship. Hopefully after all of that I will be able to charge more than 5 cents a session so I can pay back my loans :)



I guess if all else fails, maybe I can just get a dog :)



Well. I guess its back to reading my DSM-IV and assigning a diagnosis for my case study assignment! In all reality, though, I do kind of enjoy it! It's interesting :) Happy Friday!

The Princess Gets Married!

The pictures for Zoe's book are finally here!!! I have her book all put together for her so she can take it to look at on the airplane on their way to Florida tomorrow! Yep. The Dorgans are going to Florida for the next week, so I have off, which means HOMEWORK! And I get to go home :) Anyway, enjoy the story by Zoe! It's super cute!



Once upon a time, there was a princess
with long hair and her name was Sleeping Beauty.
And she lived in a cottage where her fairies protected her.
And then her mom and dad protected her too.



And then her prince killed the dragon so she would be safe.



And then there was a lot of queens that were her friends
coming out of the tummy of the dragon and turning into
dragons and he fighted all of them and all the people
were in the cottage safe.



And then more dragons came out and he
had to fight more and more and more!



And then more helper princesses came
and more dragons came
and more princes came to help him.



Then all of them got married
and got in one big coach
and went to their castle.



And when they got to their castle,
they got married again because they didn’t kiss
when they got married before.



And then they kissed again before getting in bed
and they went “good night”!



And they lived happily ever after :)
THE END!

Yep. I'm a nerd.

It's Saturday. And what do I have planned? HOMEWORK. All day. And the sad thing is, while I have procrastinated getting started all morning, I am actually excited for the boat loads of reading I'm about to do today!! I'm getting to learn actual applicable theories and practices for therapy!!! FINALLY! Despite how much I have hated seminary thus far, I am now loving it!!! I would say "It's all in God's timing" but honestly, while life really isn't all about me, I really think that this has more to do with me than with God. I wasn't waiting on Him to come through. He has been there all along and wanted me to love this experience and really take advantage of it. So instead of waiting on God, I have really been waiting on me. Waiting for me to get on board with this "Plan B" God has given me. And surprise, surprise! It's great!!! :)

Oh. And not only do I get to read case studies for therapy today, but I'm also getting to read from the DSM! Yep. I'm the proud new owner of a DSM IV. Such a nerd. I actually was laying in bed reading from it (for fun...) before going to bed the other night. This is one of the ways to tell that you ARE indeed a nerd. At least that's what I decided. I was always called a nerd in high school because I did well in class, but for the first time I'm actually excited about learning. Now THAT is what makes a nerd. I guess it has been in me all along.

Well, I'm off to start reading!! No more putting it off.



Pictures for Zoe's book coming soon!!! :)

The Princess Gets Married!

Today at work I encountered an angel child sent straight from heaven. Seriously. I'm not sure where she came from but I sure loved it!!! Zoe was soooo well behaved I couldn't even believe it! She acted like such a big girl and was an amazing listener! Ah! I loved it! Well behaved children really are possible! :)

So as part of this amazing day with the angel child, we wrote a story together (word for word from her mouth) and it was so cute I couldn't help but share it!
We are going to put it together into a book and she is going to make pictures and everything. Should be fun :)

The Princess Gets Married
By: Zoe

Once upon a time, there was a princess with long hair and her name was Sleeping Beauty. And she lived in a cottage where here fairies protected her. And then her mom and dad protected her too. And then her prince killed the dragon so she would be safe. And then there were a lot of queens that were her friends that were coming out of the tummy of the dragon and turning into dragons and he fighted off all of them and all the people were in the cottage safe. And then more dragons came out and he had to fight more and more and more. And then more princesses came and more dragons came and more princes came to help him. Then all of them got married and got in one big coach and went to their castle. And when they got to their castle they got married again because they didn't kiss when they got married before and then they kissed again before getting in bed and they went "good night".
THE END!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

THIS is what I'm excited for this summer. Sitting at the beach with friends (hopefully) and listening to music on my ipod while I bask in the warm sun's rays and possibly soak up some knowledge from a good book. But the question I find myself asking is: How do I enjoy the summer and find time to relax before going full boar back to school in the fall, plus make money, PLUS start getting clinical experience working with families and individuals in therapy type settings? Again, its all about balance.

Today I'm trying to decide what route to take. To work 2 jobs, not have to take out loans in the fall, try to get experience and end up burnt out by the time fall rolls around. Work only 1 job and find a meaningful volunteer experience, take out loans and have time to relax and have fun before starting back in the fall. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Balance

Balance. What does that mean??? And how exactly does one find "balance" in life? When I started this blog and called it "Balancingn Bethel and Believing in the Best" I knew that I was going to need to learn balance, but I didn't really know the magnitude of such a learning experience. And its not something that I have learned yet. I'm still trying to figure it out. How do you find equality in all areas of your life and yet be fulfilled and not just giving of yourself?

My first quarter of seminary lacked balance to the EXTREME! Taking 4 classes and working 30 hours a week was NOT a wise choice. Not sure why I thought that would work. By the grace of God I made it through and didn't even flunk out! ha ha Winter quarter I decided to take a few less classes. VERY wise. It was a much better quarter. Actually just finished up and I'm now on Spring Break and will be starting Spring quarter (the last quarter besides my week of summer school) in a week. Although life has been better taking fewer classes, I still don't have this balance thing figured out. Mainly, how does one balance work, school, and friends? Especially when friends aren't the focus of your life like they were in college....

I definitely feel like this tipsy stack of rocks....Balancing.... but maybe this stack is more of my goal. i think MY stack has more of a lean currently....