I am presently dressed as a fairy xD
I'm more excited about Halloween this year than I have been for a while because I get to spend it at home with my family. This has not been a possibility since high school. Halloween fell on weekdays my first 3 years at Biola, and I had a clarinet club party on Halloween last year.
But this year, it is a Saturday, and I am still in San Diego, so yay that!
Kind of funny though, most of the girls in my program are either going downtown, or to Monster Ball in Balboa Park, or parties, and I'm just excited to be home passing out candy. I seriously feel like my evening is more fun though. :)
This morning my mom and I went to a fundraising event for GDB at an assisted living home in PQ. Valencia went dressed up as a hippie, complete with tye dye tshirt, peace sign button, and headband, and Nigel went as a king. They served a very nice brunch complete with pie for dessert, and had a doggie costume contest. They gave Valencia a prize for being the only working guide there. It was a really fun event, and the residents loved seeing all the dogs.
Presently I am *supposed* to be working on homework before my grandparents come for our traditional chili and cornbread dinner.
And then, trick or treaters!
Hope everyone else is having a fun Halloween :)
Edit: After the trick or treaters
Tonight was a lot of fun. My grandparents came for dinner, which was yummy, and we had pumpkin pie to celebrate Steve's birthday (which was Tuesday). We finished dinner just in time for the trick or treaters to start. Favorite costume of the night was our adorable little neighbor Stephanie (not quite 1 and 1/2) whose mom made her a Mary Poppins costume, complete with crocheted scarf and carpet bag. Toddlers are absolutely precious!
I spent the time in between groups of kids working on my clinic case summary, which prompted my favorite quote of the night from a kid in a box with a helium balloon...I should've asked what he was..oh well
"Whoa! A fairy on a computer!"
"A fairy with homework...unfortunately"
"Cool, a fairy that goes to school"
"Happy Halloween"
Oh kids, gotta love 'em. Also gotta love daylight savings time :)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
A Light in Sight
I was having a very mediocre week until Thursday afternoon when Tad got an email frm the guy at Point Loma.
A little review, Point Loma said no several weeks ago, and Tad has been trying to get some sort of information about what he can do to reapply. He sent an email Monday asking if he could perhaps take some undergrad prereqs and then reapply.
Answer from Point Loma man: If Tad takes a grad level religious studies course, and passes with at least a B, he can reapply for the MA program and will most likely be accepted. It can be any religious studies grad program, but here's the thing...the closest one to where Tad is liiving, is 2.5 hours away. Which means
He HAS to move.
And if he's moving anyway, it might as well be to San Diego, that way he can do a class in the program he'll be in, oh, and be with me, hehe
I am so incredibly excited. I've been on cloud nine for the last two days. I don't know if I've felt this way since the first time Tad told me he loved me. Ok, maybe it's not *quite* as good as that feeling, but it's prety close.
We don't know exacts yet, but he's hoping to move somewhere between Christmas and New Years. I can't believe it, two months. After over 3 years, I can handle another couple months.
Thank you Lord.
In other news, I've been busy, but having fun when I can. Two weekends ago Raelene and I went to Bates Nut Farm and picked out pumpkins, which we carved last night. Last weekend I helped Raelene with a surprise 50th birthday party for her parents. And in just a bit I'm going to head up to watch the Mt Carmel tournament.
7 weeks left to the semester, I can make it!
A little review, Point Loma said no several weeks ago, and Tad has been trying to get some sort of information about what he can do to reapply. He sent an email Monday asking if he could perhaps take some undergrad prereqs and then reapply.
Answer from Point Loma man: If Tad takes a grad level religious studies course, and passes with at least a B, he can reapply for the MA program and will most likely be accepted. It can be any religious studies grad program, but here's the thing...the closest one to where Tad is liiving, is 2.5 hours away. Which means
He HAS to move.
And if he's moving anyway, it might as well be to San Diego, that way he can do a class in the program he'll be in, oh, and be with me, hehe
I am so incredibly excited. I've been on cloud nine for the last two days. I don't know if I've felt this way since the first time Tad told me he loved me. Ok, maybe it's not *quite* as good as that feeling, but it's prety close.
We don't know exacts yet, but he's hoping to move somewhere between Christmas and New Years. I can't believe it, two months. After over 3 years, I can handle another couple months.
Thank you Lord.
In other news, I've been busy, but having fun when I can. Two weekends ago Raelene and I went to Bates Nut Farm and picked out pumpkins, which we carved last night. Last weekend I helped Raelene with a surprise 50th birthday party for her parents. And in just a bit I'm going to head up to watch the Mt Carmel tournament.
7 weeks left to the semester, I can make it!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Valencia's Thoughts on Grad School
Dear Diary,
I don't think I like this thing called "grad school". Mommy is so busy all the time! Several days a week we're at this new school for the whole day. Sometimes Mommy remembers my bone and I get a little time off, but most of the day I spend trying to nap under tables and desks in different rooms until Mommy takes me to a different room.
The days we're home, Mommy is busy working on her computer. Apparently she's doing homework, sometimes I'm not so sure. She takes breaks to play with me, but I still spend a lot of time sleeping.
It hasn't been so bad, except yesterday. Yesterday was not a fun day. First, Mommy made us run down the path by the river walk. We were going so fast I didn't even get a chance to sneak in some subtle sniffing! I waited all day for my favorite thing in the world - dinner time.
But, horror of horrors, when we finished Mommy's second session and went to the bathroom where she usually feeds me, all I got in my bowl was water. At first I thought Mommy had just forgotten, but no food appeared. I drank some of the water and then we left.
"Very funny Mommy" I thought, Mommy must be playing a joke, I'll get my food when we come back from McDonald's.
But I didn't. Mommy forgot my dinner and because she's so busy, didn't have time to go home and get it!
It was awful diary, I had to wait through 3 hours of class on an empty stomach. I couldn't even nap I was so hungry.
Finally at 8:00 (4 hours past my dinner time!) I got to eat.
I miss Mommy's old school. This new one is no fun!
Sniffs and licks,
Valencia
I don't think I like this thing called "grad school". Mommy is so busy all the time! Several days a week we're at this new school for the whole day. Sometimes Mommy remembers my bone and I get a little time off, but most of the day I spend trying to nap under tables and desks in different rooms until Mommy takes me to a different room.
The days we're home, Mommy is busy working on her computer. Apparently she's doing homework, sometimes I'm not so sure. She takes breaks to play with me, but I still spend a lot of time sleeping.
It hasn't been so bad, except yesterday. Yesterday was not a fun day. First, Mommy made us run down the path by the river walk. We were going so fast I didn't even get a chance to sneak in some subtle sniffing! I waited all day for my favorite thing in the world - dinner time.
But, horror of horrors, when we finished Mommy's second session and went to the bathroom where she usually feeds me, all I got in my bowl was water. At first I thought Mommy had just forgotten, but no food appeared. I drank some of the water and then we left.
"Very funny Mommy" I thought, Mommy must be playing a joke, I'll get my food when we come back from McDonald's.
But I didn't. Mommy forgot my dinner and because she's so busy, didn't have time to go home and get it!
It was awful diary, I had to wait through 3 hours of class on an empty stomach. I couldn't even nap I was so hungry.
Finally at 8:00 (4 hours past my dinner time!) I got to eat.
I miss Mommy's old school. This new one is no fun!
Sniffs and licks,
Valencia
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Pursued
"By Your Side"
Tenth Avenue North
Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
(Chorus 2x)
Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go
(Chorus 2x)
There's often a deeper layer to issues that only surfaces after you've removed the top layer. I realized last week I was holding onto this whole mess. I realized today that I'm angry at God about it.
Angry at the Almighty...not really a place I want to be.
But I'm tired of waiting and having my hopes crushed every time something doesn't work out the way I think ti will. I'm tired of hurting about this.
The bright side: God is completely leading me through this. I'm a step farther than I was a week ago. I've felt entirely lost, and I think I have been for the last few weeks. But God never ceases pursuing his lost sheep.
"I'll be by your side Wherever you fall...My hands are holding you"
Tenth Avenue North
Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
(Chorus 2x)
Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go
(Chorus 2x)
There's often a deeper layer to issues that only surfaces after you've removed the top layer. I realized last week I was holding onto this whole mess. I realized today that I'm angry at God about it.
Angry at the Almighty...not really a place I want to be.
But I'm tired of waiting and having my hopes crushed every time something doesn't work out the way I think ti will. I'm tired of hurting about this.
The bright side: God is completely leading me through this. I'm a step farther than I was a week ago. I've felt entirely lost, and I think I have been for the last few weeks. But God never ceases pursuing his lost sheep.
"I'll be by your side Wherever you fall...My hands are holding you"
Monday, October 5, 2009
Wrestling with God
The message at church yesterday morning was about Jacob wrestling with God, about how it took wrestling with God for Jacob to find what he was seeking and to be headed in the right direction.
Something I really like about The Flood's pastor is that all of his sermons come straight out of scripture AND are then related to things that would be going on in our lives.
Of course, I didn't even need examples to figure out what I've been wrestling with God about: my relationship with Tad.
After over three years, we are still long distance. This on its own kills me. Now add in all the failed attempts at having him move.
We both thought that when he graduated from NNU he would move down to southern California to be with me while I finished at Biola, and then we would go from there. Well, you know how the best laid plans of mice and men go...
He graduated, finished up a couple classes, and went home. When he visited me for my birthday, we found jobs in LA that he could apply for, and he sent in applications. Not only did none of those places ever call back, but in July he got into a massive fight with his family. He was forbidden to move and told to get a job in WA.
Ok, we thought, he'll work there til I'm done with Biola and then he'll have money to move and maybe his parents will be more open to moving. Over several months he applied to at least 20 different jobs.
Nothing
But, he did get his medical things worked out, and discovered a calling to youth ministry through volunteer coaching a middle school basketball team with his church.
That's when he began applying for the fall semester at Point Loma.
Great, I thought, his parents will be supportive of his pursuing more education to go into ministry, he'll be able to move by the end of the summer.
Again, best laid plans...
Things didn't work out like we hoped with Point Loma. They didn't accept him based on his GPA, which is lower due to all the medication changes he underwent in the last two years at NNU. And the deal with his parents was that he could move IF he got in. Remember that he still has no job.
He would like to move down in the next couple months anyway. Look for a job here in SoCal where the market is a bit better than it is in WA. But his parents still forbid it, and have threatened to report his car as stolen if he leaves.
All this is more than enough for me. But of course there's more. In the last month we've suddenly been averaging two fights a week, when before we only fought once every couple months. Tad has always asserted that fighting is healthy for a relationships; that it's better that we fight and resolve it easily than if we didn't fight at all. But that's a drastic change. It coincides with me starting my grad program, but I can't figure out why that would cause us to fight more.
So, back to the whole point of this entry.
I know I'm supposed to give this all to God. I know I need to.
But I don't know how.
Every time I try, I let go and grab back on again, or I think I'm letting go but have this thought in the back of my head "The second I let it go, Tad and I will be together."
Dear Lord, show me, because I just don't know how.
Something I really like about The Flood's pastor is that all of his sermons come straight out of scripture AND are then related to things that would be going on in our lives.
Of course, I didn't even need examples to figure out what I've been wrestling with God about: my relationship with Tad.
After over three years, we are still long distance. This on its own kills me. Now add in all the failed attempts at having him move.
We both thought that when he graduated from NNU he would move down to southern California to be with me while I finished at Biola, and then we would go from there. Well, you know how the best laid plans of mice and men go...
He graduated, finished up a couple classes, and went home. When he visited me for my birthday, we found jobs in LA that he could apply for, and he sent in applications. Not only did none of those places ever call back, but in July he got into a massive fight with his family. He was forbidden to move and told to get a job in WA.
Ok, we thought, he'll work there til I'm done with Biola and then he'll have money to move and maybe his parents will be more open to moving. Over several months he applied to at least 20 different jobs.
Nothing
But, he did get his medical things worked out, and discovered a calling to youth ministry through volunteer coaching a middle school basketball team with his church.
That's when he began applying for the fall semester at Point Loma.
Great, I thought, his parents will be supportive of his pursuing more education to go into ministry, he'll be able to move by the end of the summer.
Again, best laid plans...
Things didn't work out like we hoped with Point Loma. They didn't accept him based on his GPA, which is lower due to all the medication changes he underwent in the last two years at NNU. And the deal with his parents was that he could move IF he got in. Remember that he still has no job.
He would like to move down in the next couple months anyway. Look for a job here in SoCal where the market is a bit better than it is in WA. But his parents still forbid it, and have threatened to report his car as stolen if he leaves.
All this is more than enough for me. But of course there's more. In the last month we've suddenly been averaging two fights a week, when before we only fought once every couple months. Tad has always asserted that fighting is healthy for a relationships; that it's better that we fight and resolve it easily than if we didn't fight at all. But that's a drastic change. It coincides with me starting my grad program, but I can't figure out why that would cause us to fight more.
So, back to the whole point of this entry.
I know I'm supposed to give this all to God. I know I need to.
But I don't know how.
Every time I try, I let go and grab back on again, or I think I'm letting go but have this thought in the back of my head "The second I let it go, Tad and I will be together."
Dear Lord, show me, because I just don't know how.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Valencia's Birthday
My baby dog turned 3 on Thursday, and I'd say she had a pretty good day.
She got her birthday present early on Wednesday from my mom, a stuffed bunny that has no stuffing. They're called "skinnies" or something like that. She loved it, I think mostly the fact that it has squeakers at both ends, haha
Thursday is one of the days I spend on campus from 8 am to 8 pm, but I think it was the most fun for her that I could have made it. She got lots of "happy birthday"s from the other girls, and I brought her bone with me to campus. I may start doing this regularly on long days. I feel bad because Tues/Thurs I'm inside basically all day except for when I take her out to go potty. Valencia doesn't need to be in harness that whole time. I've started letting her have a couple hours off while I'm frantically working on things in the student work rooms.
...Anyway...
Session Thursday was designed to be a birhtday party for her. On the first day of clinic I had my client read a story about planning a surprise party and mentioned that Vaelncia's birthday was coming soon. In the following sessions he asked if we were going to have a party, so we did.
Emily, my coclinician got some extra balloons from one of the other girls that we decorated our room with. We acquired even more decorations when my client and his mom arrived. They brought a whole bag of dog birthday supplies, including a happy birthday banner, pictures of dogs, dog books, and a ziplock of doggy treats.
Everything we did in session revolved around a story I had written about Valencia having a birthday party. At the end I had candy for us, and let my client give Valencia one of the dog treats. It was a really fun session.
Valencia's day was rounded off with receiving a milkbone from the resource room attendant Kim and playing with Brady at home.
I think the only thing that could have made it better for either of us would have been for Valencia and Tad to get to spend their birthday together.
She got her birthday present early on Wednesday from my mom, a stuffed bunny that has no stuffing. They're called "skinnies" or something like that. She loved it, I think mostly the fact that it has squeakers at both ends, haha
Thursday is one of the days I spend on campus from 8 am to 8 pm, but I think it was the most fun for her that I could have made it. She got lots of "happy birthday"s from the other girls, and I brought her bone with me to campus. I may start doing this regularly on long days. I feel bad because Tues/Thurs I'm inside basically all day except for when I take her out to go potty. Valencia doesn't need to be in harness that whole time. I've started letting her have a couple hours off while I'm frantically working on things in the student work rooms.
...Anyway...
Session Thursday was designed to be a birhtday party for her. On the first day of clinic I had my client read a story about planning a surprise party and mentioned that Vaelncia's birthday was coming soon. In the following sessions he asked if we were going to have a party, so we did.
Emily, my coclinician got some extra balloons from one of the other girls that we decorated our room with. We acquired even more decorations when my client and his mom arrived. They brought a whole bag of dog birthday supplies, including a happy birthday banner, pictures of dogs, dog books, and a ziplock of doggy treats.
Everything we did in session revolved around a story I had written about Valencia having a birthday party. At the end I had candy for us, and let my client give Valencia one of the dog treats. It was a really fun session.
Valencia's day was rounded off with receiving a milkbone from the resource room attendant Kim and playing with Brady at home.
I think the only thing that could have made it better for either of us would have been for Valencia and Tad to get to spend their birthday together.
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