Post Graduation Fun

The day I had been longing for for nearly two years finally arrived: graduation. Grad school was so ridiculously stressful and overwhelming at times that it seemed like it would never end, but id did. praise God for his mercy and grace! It was a nice ceremony, nothing too remarkable or memorable, but a nice ceremony. I think I may have been more impressed had I not experienced the wonderfulness of Biola graduations. The three things that were better about SDSU's graduation: 1) it was indoors, so we weren't all sweaty and sunburned by the end, 2) Tad was able to be there to celebrate with me, and 3) I got a master's degree and got "hooded" on stage. Valencia liked this one better because she got her name called as we walked across.

Following the ceremony my department held a reception in the lobby of our building to celebrate and for our families to meet the other students and the faculty. I met up with my entourage (Tad, my parents, Stephen, Raelene, and Tad's 'aunt' Judy) there and enjoyed some refreshments. It got pretty crowded pretty fast, but we stayed long enough to take a few pictures and for my mom to re-met Charlotte, who was already clinic director when Stephen received speech therapy there at age 4.

From the reception we (minus Raelene, who had to work) went to Casa Guadalajara's in Old Town for lunch. This was an easy restaurant choice because we were all ableto take the trolley and avoid traffic. Lunch was a good chance for my family and Judy to get to know each other a bit better and for my mom and me to share a grande strawberry margarita. ;) The one other thing that was better about this graduation than Biola's was that I didn't have to do a huge move home and say goodbye to my pup for 10 days.


The celebrations continued on Saturday with a trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (FKA Wild Animal Park). Some of the anesthesiologists in my dad's department help out the vets at the zoo. As a thank you, they periodically get the opportunity to go on the caravan excursions in the park enclosures. This year the department opened the opportunity up to the family members. And that's how all 6 of us (my family and Tad) found ourselves outside the park at 7:30 am on a Saturday.

I had been on the caravan tour once before when I was about 9 with Braille Institute and was thrilled to get to go again. The 60 some of us in the group divided into 4 different safari trucks and set out for our 2 hour excursion. We had a delightful guide named Amanda who I swear knew everything there is to know about animals that I forget exist if I don't go to the zoo for a while. We saw rhinos, gazelles, Asian sheep and deer, and several antelope whose mating cries sound like belches haha. I took tons of pictures, which can be viewed on facebook.

The interactive portions of our tour came in the feeding of a male rhino named Bo-Poo and a female giraffe (whose name we were not told). We fed Bo-Poo apple slices and the giraffe Australian acasia leaves. Both were interesting experiences; on one hand, having your hand in the mouth of a wild animal, on the other, having an animal's long tongue wrap around your hand. It was a lot of fun, minus the fact that Valencia couldn't come along for that part of the day. She stayed in a kennel near the entrance and was not very happy about it.


After our tour we enjoyed a nice catered lunch of sandwiches, salads, and cookies while listening to a presentation on special equipment for animal surgeries. We had the rest of the day free to enjoy the park. My family spent the next several hours enjoying a jungle carousel ride, watching the bird show, and visiting the gorillas, elephants, and tigers. My parents and brothers headed for home in the early afternoon, and Tad and I stayed for another hour or so. We were really glad we did when we got to see a cheetah cub up close. The day really made me think about how many wonderful things God has created on this earth :).

Tad and I tried to enjoy my "no more school" days to the fullest before I moved home and was a little farther away. Bright and early Monday morning we trolleyed from the condo to County Center to pick up our marriage license. It felt quite a bit like being at the DMV, except people were (generally) a lot less grouchy. License in hand, we trolleyed back to the condo. Tad joked for the next couple days that now I REALLY couldn't back out because he had spent $50 on it, lol.

The rest of Monday we worked on packing my things and cleaning. By the time we had eaten dinner we both needed to see something other than the inside of my half empty condo. Remembering the Coldstone gift card I was given for graduation, I declared it to be time for icecream. This was a good decision on my part because when we got to Coldstone, there was a sign out front that read "Happy Hour: Mon-Fri 5-7 pm. Buy one get one free.". It was 6:00. Yay for free icecream! I got cheesecake with Kit Kat and Tad got Peach Iced Tea (which was INCREDIBLE! I highly recommend it.) with heath bar. A very tasty way to spend an evening. :)

The next day (Tuesday) we had ourselves a bit of a day trip. We left in the afternoon for Long Beach and met Krista for dinner at Subway. Upon completing our meal, Tad said he was still hungry. So, we walked across the street to Taco Bell for caramel empenadas. Once our desserts were finished it was time to go to CSU Long Beach for Becky's graduate recital. I had the pleasant surprise of seeing Karissa and Vanessa there.

Becky's recital had originally been scheduled for Good Friday, but her teacher had advised her to reschedule because there were some things that needed repairing on her clarinets. This was disappointing at first, but turned out to be a huge blessing because Becky's parents were able to come. They flew in late Monday night from the Philippines and were quite jetlagged, but seemed very happy to be able to be there. It was nice for me to see them again too.

Becky looked and sounded beautiful. I was surprised at the end to realize that she had played a 90 minute recital. That's a lot of playing! The reception that followed was delightful as well. There were several kinds of cheeses, smoked salmon, cookies, a delightful fruit salad, and two very rich cakes (one white with berries, one chocolate), plus a variety of sodas.


The next two days were spent moving out of the condo. We were able to load up most of my furniture and things on Wednesday and come back Thursday for the rest of it. It was surprising to me that the move was bittersweet. It goes to show just how sentimental I am and what a difficult time I have with change. I was thrilled to be moving out and getting away from a certain roommate, yet I still felt weird about leaving the place I had lived for nearly two years. Other than home, that's the longest I've lived anywhere. One thing that's for sure, I am beyond excited to share my next home with Tad! =D

*A side note, I created this post on May 23, but did not finish it until about a week later. I didn't predict the future, just took my time blogging, hehe*

Life at Perkins

Things at Perkins have begun to look up. Since my midterm review, my supervisor has been giving me a lot more feedback and assistance, which is greatly appreciated. I'm also starting to be a lot more confident about my sessions, which only helps.

I no longer feel like I'd be miserable working in a school. I've begun to pay closer attention to job postings sent to us and am compiling a mental list of where I plan to apply. Thus far, I have 3 school districts, a private practice, and a pediatric position at a hospital. The fantastic thing about what's open right now, is that a lot of it is up in North County, exactly where I want to be.

58 days til graduation, and it cannot come soon enough!

As a P.S., Tad is on the job search and prayers would be appreciated. He has n interview tomorrow for a position at Sharp (where I was last semester) and is really hoping it goes through. :)

Career Minded

100 days from today, I will have graduated with my master's degree, yay!!!! But that brings up an interesting question.

What now?

The original plan (upon entering grad school, and even before) was to work in the school district I went through. I could live near my parents and be in a good school district. perfect! Then I had my internship last semester at Sharp, which I loved. I got a bit confused then, but working in that program is not an option, there are no open positions. I figured then that the plan must still be the same.

Now I have started my school internship, and I don't love it. In fact, I far from love it. I have a supervisor who has done minimal teachin, heck minimal supervising, and I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing with most of the groups I'm working with. Not only that, I love the artic kids, and the preschoolers, and that's it. I have become very frustrated and discouraged there. No one likes feeling like they're not good at something, especially if it's what they had been planning on doing as a career.

Now I'm left wondering where God's path for me is leading. I wish I could just say "well there you go, I'll work at CREP". I hate the waiting game. I'll jus thave to wait and see where I'm meant to go. And hope that the current placement gets better, cuz I'm there for another 8 weeks.

Ten Highlights of 2010

I feel like I was just writing one of these posts for 2009. I certainly have years that are filled with fun things and changes. As fun as it is, I won't mind when grad school is done and things are a little more relaxed in my life. Here are some of my favorite things from the year. :)

Family Cruise in the Caribbean

At the very beginning of 2010 my entire family took a fantastic vacation to the Caribbean Islands of Puerto Rico, St Thomas, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba. We had a week onboard the Caribbean Princess. My favorite part of the trip was seeing the joy on Valencia's face on our catamaran ride in St Thomas.

First Valentine's Day Spent with my Love

This was very special to me. In the 3 and 1/2 years we had been dating, Valentine's day had never been a convenient time to be together. Now that Tad and I live int he same city, it's usually convenient to be together. Tad planned a very sweet surprise date for me. We made a cherry vanilla cake, and then re-created our first date by going to Boomers for mini golf and go carts. After which we got our favorite appetizers at Applebee's.

On the ferris wheel at Boomers

Spring Break with my Biola Girls

For a fun change, instead of visiting my Biola girls (Becky and Krista), they came to me. We spent a few fun days catching up and exploring San Diego. We watched Walk the Line, had Rubios with Tad, and spent a day in Seaport Village. I sure do love those ladies!

The hat shop in Seaport Village

Mother-Daughter Trip to SF

In April, I happened to get a four day weekend, which happened to coincide with the California Council of the Blind convention in Burlingame. We flew up and enjoyed a long weekend of relaxing, shopping, and seeing old friends. We ate out at an old favorite Chinses restaurant one night, had dinner with friends from church another, and got to see my friends Amy and Dave as well as Valencia's puppy raisers. Oh, and I went to some convention related things lol

In front of our hotel

Elizabeth & Matthew's Wedding

My friend Elizabeth got married on April 24 at the Grand Tradition in Fallbrook. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding. It was also another fun excuse to get to dress up and go to a party with Tad. We enjoyed spending time together, meeting some new friends, eating some delicious food, and celebrating Elizabeth and Matthew's marriage with them. :)

Birthday Weekend with Becky

Becky's and my birthdays are 2 days apart and we have found a way to celebrate them together every year since we met freshman year at Biola. This year was no exception. I did the train ride up to Fullerton and had lunch with Becky at The Olde Ship (a pub!). We had our birthday dinner at Red Robin, and Krista and I watched Becky perform in the orchestra pit for Biola Youth Theater's production of Cats!. It is good to have a birthday buddy! =)

4 Year Anniversary

This was only our 2nd anniversary actually spent together, the 1st being our one year. Like Valentine's Day, Tad planned a surprise date for me, which consisted of a delicious Round Table pizza and a movie night in with mocchi to snack on. By dating anniversary 5, we will be married!

Family Summer Vacation

Our week of family vacation kicked off with a trip to the Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Bowl concert. We went with the Biola Alumni Association and enjoyed a spectacular Tchaikovsky concert complete with fireworks. Several days later, we embarked on our trip to Cambria. It was a relaxing week of tidepooling, shopping, farm exploring, Hearst Castle touring, and Olallaberry pie, yum!

On the farm in Cambria. This is the next picture I'm going to submit for the GDB calender.

Sharp Community Re-entry Internship

This fall I had my first off campus clinical experience. And I loved it. I became a part of the family at the day treatment program at Sharp Memorial. I learned a lot, met some very cool therapists and clients, and became very confused about what I actually want to do after graduation.

Me with my supervisor Joann

Engagement

Probably the happiest day of my life to date - on November 23, my sweetheart asked me to be his wife. I am thoroughly enjoying being able to call him my fiance and enjoying planning my wedding. This highlihgt to be continued in 2011 ;)

Thanksgiving Day at my parents'

Looking back, 2010 has been a wonderful year with progress made towards my Master's degree and plenty of time spent with my love. 2011 can only get better from here!

An Update on My Internship

I am down to just 5 weeks left at Sharp, which seems crazy. I love it so much there, it makes me sad that I have to leave soon. I've recently been hinting that I would be interested in a job, so I'm keeping my figners crossed that there will be an opening for me.

Some highlights of the last few weeks:

We have now discharged several clients who started the program after I did, one of whom was pretty much my client. This is a happy fact, though the sad part is that in his final week, my client seemed to be slipping back into his habits as an aalcoholic. Last week was the losest I've yet been to working full time. My supervisor was out for the whole week, which left me and the per diem SLP. Boy that was a trip! I went in all 5 days, half days for Tues/Fri, and was busy busy busy. The plus side is, I'm really feeling confident in my abilities to treat on my own now. I know the staff really appreciated me filling in too. At the end of the week , I received WOW's (Sharp's employee rewards program) from 4 of the other therapists, all with very sweet and encouraging notes.

Also, most recent favorite client quote, comes from one of my clients (who is not very sociable) to the per diem SLP. His name happens to rhyme with another client's, and she frequently confuses them. During goal setting she called him by the other name and then said "I always get you two confused, I need a way of keeping you straight." To this my client replies "Well, I'm your favorite aren't I? It shoudl be easy!" *everyone in the room bursts out laughing

Oh yes, never a dull moment at CREP. :)

Walking with Jesus

I have been going through a lot of spiritual transitions over the past year. Last year was very difficult for me and only through the summer did I start to feel "normal" again. Recently, God has been working in me through the college Sunday school group at Mission, and I now feel that I am in a place where I can put this working into words.

We wen tthrough a unit talking about the passages surrounding Jesus walking on water in Mark. The passage immeidately before walking on water is that of the feeding the 5000. The disciples are grumpy during this miracle because they thought they were going to have a rest. Jesus performs the miracle and there are 12 baskets of food left over. They then get in the boat and are supposed to go to Bethsaida. It is while they are on the lake that they see Jesus walking on water. They don't recognize him and are afraid. Jesus had meant to pass by them, but since they are afraid, he gets in the boat and they don't end up at Bethsaida. The next passage is feeding the 4000. This time there are 7 baskets left over. Again afterwards they get in the boat, and the disciples have a conversation about not having any bread. They reach Bethsaida, and Jesus performs the miracle of healing the blind man where at first he says he sees people but they look like trees.

Discussion with the group is where things really fall into place for application. The disciples missed the whole point of the feeding of the 5000. Jesus can provide everything a person needs in abundance. This is even demonstrated by the fact that there was a basket left over for each disciple. He wants them to understand that he, as God, provides for them. But they don't get this, which is why they are terrified when they see him on the water and don't make it to Bethsaida. Jesus does the feeding of the 4000 to try to tell them again. This time the 7 baskets symbolize completion and wholeness. It seems that the disciples still don't quite get it, because they complain about not having bread. There is more conversation int eh boat that we don't know about, but Jesus must decide that they are ready for Bethsaida, because that's where they end up. With the blind man, Jesus makes it a point that it isn't enough for him to see, but not see clearly. Jesus wants him to see everything in perfect detail as it is.

So, summary of application, God can and wants to be our provider. He provides abundantly for us both with physical and spiritual needs. When he teaches us something, he doesn't give up if we don't get it the first time. He works to show it to us in different ways so we understand and learn more about him. And even when we think we see something (like the blind man seeing people as trees), he keeps working to make it perfectly clear for us. There is always something new for us to discover about God.

Now personal application to my journey. The trips int he boat that the disciples and Jesus mke made me think about the Footprints poem. Graduating from Biola, Jesus and I were walking along the shoreline together. Then grad school and roommate issues hit, and I feel flat on my face. I spent quite a while lying face down in the sand. At first I cried out and began to reach for God, but the pain overwhelmed me, and very quickly i dropped my hand and resigned myself to lie there. I felt alone and abandoned and felt as if I were drifting from God. As soon as I realized this consciously, I reached out to God and he picked me up. Throughout the summer he carried me, and I clung to him. I was terrified of falling on my face again. At the same time, I felt ashamed that I wasn't walking, simply being carried. But the suppor tof others, and God's reassurance made me understand that it is ok to let yourslef be carried for a time.

Now, entering year 2 of grad school, and with a better elader of college group, I feel ready to walk on my own feet again. I am stillleaning heavily on God, but this is a good thing. He is more than able to support me and provide for me. And I realize now, tha tthough I was walking on my own, yet next to Jesus, when I graduate drom Biola, I believed that I had learned everything about him.

I see now that I am only seeing trees when I want to see people.

I pray that he continues to show me more and more of his character as I walk with him.

Sharp Community Re-entry

I have just completed my first week at my first off campus placement. Never again will I have to do clinic in a university clinic. I have made my first steps into the real world of speech language pathology, and it is very exciting!

The CRP (Community Re-entry Program) works on functional goals for clients with brain injuries with the intent of returning them to school/work/driving/regular life. It is a team of speech pathology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and social work. As an intern, I am currently mostly observing and helping out with scattered therapy activities. By the end of the semester I will be doing full time therapy for the clients.

My schedule fits the perfect balance of busy, but not too crazy. I am in Mon Wed Thurs from 8:00-4:30. Of course, to manage this with public transportation, I catch my first of two buses at 7:00 am, and don't count on getting home until about 5:30 pm. I really like that my placement is actually at a hospital. It feels very professional, but since we are completely outpatient, I don't have to worry about the blood and guts stuff.

I'm really loving getting to know the clients. Each has their own amazing personality and sense of humor. There are currently about 10 in the program, and most of them will be discharged by the end of this month, but I look forward to getting to know the new ones who will be coming in as well.

The funny thing about being an intern, is your supervisor has the liberty to ask you to do little things that don't exactly relate to what you're studying to do. Though I imagine in some cases this could become aggravating, I kind of enjoy being asked to file things or run little errands. I guess it really makes me feel like I'm in the real world instead of the fish tank that university clinics tend to be.

In any case, I have immensely enjoyed my first week and can't wait to get more client contact hours in the weeks to come.

Free At Last

I finished up everything clinc-y on Monday, officially ending year 1 of grad school. WOOHOO!!!

Anja and I did some heavy cleaning of our share of the apartment, I packed up my stuff, and Tuesday morning I headed for home. First stop on summer vacation was pedicures for me and Mom. We were both adventurous and went for purple shades on our toes. I selected a blue-ish purple from the OPI Shrek collection called "Funky Dunky" while my mom went for a lighter purple...slightly crazy for both of us, lol.

Wednesday and Thursday were cousin-tastic. My second cousin Jennifer and her little boy Jason came over Wednesday for lunch and swimming. Then my cousin Kim and her girls Jordan and Madison met us at church for the VBS carnival. We watched the program, and then hit the carnival fun: pizza dinner, cotton candy, and carmel apples, oha nd some games and crafts for the kids. I really wish I had been able to do VBS at PLC this year, dumb clinic schedle. Oh well, hopefully next year.

We did jacuzzi when we got home, and the 3 of them spent the night. Kim had a convention in LA on Thurs, so mom and I watched the kids. We played, had lunch, watched Cats and Dogs with Tad when he came over, and then went swimming. The girls are adorable, but full of energy, so we were happy to relinquish them to their mom when she returned.

Yesterday I ran some errands with mom, which included our favorite sandwich at the Nordstrom's cafe. In the evening, my dad, Tad, and I went to the SD Biola send off event at College Ave Baptist. Ironically, we ran into a family from Mission there.

Throughout the week I've been working on finishing up my high school trips scrapbook and reading. I'm about half way through The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm really enjoying it, as I do most historical fiction set in the South. On the scrapbooking front, the highschool book is almost done, and I hope to get working on the cruises book, and eventually Biola.

All the while, I am NOT thinking about anything school related! =D

My Crazy Schedule

At one point, one of our professors observed that they only tell us that the next semester will be easier so we don't quit the program...I'm starting to believe her.

You would think that with only one class and clinic, life would be less hectic. But it's one class and clinic, squeezed into a very short amount of time. I am fortunate, however, in that my schedule is all squeezed into Mondays and Wednesdays, so theoretically, I have 4 day weekends. The downside is that Monday-Wednesday is a blur.

Here's the breakdown of my schedule:
Monday
12:00-1:00 staffing
2:00-2:45 client with autism
3:00-3:45 client with artic disorder
4:00-7:40 class
Tuesday
Prepare for clients on Wednesday
Wednesday
8:30-1:00 Regional Center (diagnostics with little toddlers)
2:00-2:45 client with autism
3:00-3:45 client with artic disorder
4:00-7:40 class

My class at least only goes through June 30th. July will just have clinic, which will help tremendously. Also adding to the hecticness of June is the fact that we're doing our interviews for our adult off campus placements. I had one this morning (phone interview), have another phone one next Tuesday, and an in person one the following Tuesday.

In the meantime, I've been spending as much time as possible at home to at least pretend that I'm on summer vacation. I think it's been working pretty well :)

Celebrating Biola Style

This year, instead of heading down to San Diego from LA after finishing finals, I did the opposite. I was at home for a day, and then headed up to the Biola area for the weekend. And what a weekend it was.

I rode up to Orange County on Friday morning with Anja. We had fun talking in the car, espeically about how wonderful it was to not have school for a month. She dropped me off at Krista's house where I hung out with Krista's brother and sister while Krista got ready. Soon as she was ready we joined Becky at her place where the rest of us got ready to go to Biola graduation.

Dorothy (the graduate among us) picked Sizzler for dinner, which is conveniently between Becky's townhouse and Biola. I shared a combination plate of steak, shrimp, and ribs with Dorothy. Yum, I had forgotten how much I like Sizzler! We ate quicky since we were a bit short on time. Becky's and Dorhty's rommate Melissa and I went ahead early to the gym to save seats. It was wonderful (as it has been every time) to be back on campus. I became very excited when we walked past the Biola Christmas tree.

The gym was decorated festively with more Christmas trees. The ceremony was nice. I knew a few of the other graduates, mostly music people. Afterwards, we went with Dorothy and her family to the reception in the caf. The caf was also decorated with Christmas trees and such, and had delicious dessserts, eggnog, and cider. My dad made the point later that if you lived in the area you could make a point to go to that every year, lol.

After the reception we went down to Hart to pick up Becky's sister Jen, and happened upon a lot of Hart alumni. I got to chat with Beth for a while about grad school, and compare the programs at SDSU and Redlands. It's a bit of a relief to know that I'm not the only one who's thrilled with graduate coursework, haha

Saturday morning (after walking to Albertson's for milk) Becky made pancakes for her, me and Jen, which we ate with apple butter, very tasty. The rest of my Saturday was spent at Amy and Dave's wedding, which was beautiful.

I love weddings, love them, oh my goodness. Amy and Dave are friends I know, in a round about way, because of Valencia. Amy has a dog from GDB, and she was visiting Dave (who just graduated from Talbot) one week, and they came to a Symphonic Winds concert. My mom and Amy met in the bathroom with the two dogs. Amy and Dave are the couple that Tad and I went on a double date with to Hermosa Beach back in March (which happened to be the night before they got engaged).

Anywho

Their wedding was at the church Dave has been interning at. It's a small baptist church, with a tall steeple like a classic old church house, and very nice people. It was a beautiful ceremony, Amy sang a duet in Mandarin with her maid of honor, the wedding party read 2 Cor 13, they wrote their own vows, and at the end we all sang hymns together.

Immediately following the service was picture time, the favorite of which was the guide dog picture. Including Amy's dog Donna, there were five guides present. Donna was the star among the dogs, donning two different party dresses over the course of the afternoon and evening.

There was a reception in the church fellowship hall after the ceremony. Since they were also having a dinner reception, I assumed the church one would be just cake and punch. But they had a full array of food, including fruit and veggie platters, teriyaki chicken, california rolls, and several kinds of Chinese pastries. They had a slideshow of pictures of Amy and Dave and had a number of people say a message to Amy and Dave.

The dinner reception was at a restaurant across town called Happy Habor Seafood. Amy found a ride for me with one of her friends. We got a bit lost on the way, but found it a lot sooner than most of the guests.

The restaurant was a very nice, elegant, Chinese seafood place. Between receptions, Amy had changed from her traditional western wedding dress, into a traditional Chinese dress, red with beautiful gold embroidery. She and Dave looked great together with his matching red button down shirt. They're such a great couple!

Dinner was incredible, all nine courses of it! I tried several things I had never had before. Course one was jellyfish and a cold slice of beef. It was followed by delicious walnut shrimp. Then came the shark fin soup. Then there was shitaki mushrooms, bak choi, and abilone. Then there was the lobster, after which was the Peking duck. Next was the baked fish, and we finished off with a bowl of fried rice. Dessert was lotus paste cookies and red bean soup, both were amazingly delicious!

Amy and Dave came around to each table individually to toast and I got a chance to chat with them a bit. They sent me home with a vase of beautiful red and yellow roses from one o the tables. Presently, they are in Waikiki, lucky ducks :)

There were several things I decided from the day. 1. I want an afternoon wedding, 2. I want a slightly fancier reception locaiton than a church fellowship hall (though I want the ceremony in a church) and 3. White cake with straberries in it makes a delicious wedding cake layer.

Sunday I wrapped up my visit with church at Grace EV Free with Krista dnd Jen and then lunch at Panda Express.

Below are a few pictures from the weekend:


I am no longer in the most recent graduating class from Biola, weird


What a beautiful bride Amy is :)


the centerpiece at my table at their dinner reception


me with the happy couple, isn't Amy's dress gorgeous???

Preparing for Christmas

Celebrating Advent is so hard when the first 3 weeks are overshadowed by finals :/

As is evidenced by my life all semester, this year is especially difficult. I only have 4 days left in the semester, and yet so much to do. Add in that I am still slowly adjusting to my new again secular surroundings.

Nonetheless, I am almost finished with this darned semester, and have been doing my utmost to enjoy the season.

Last weekend I went with Raelene and her new boyfriend Nate to "December Nights" in Balboa Park. This is a San Diego tradition my family has never done. None of us are much for crowds, and as I discovered that night, all of San Diego (and their dog) goes to December Nights. It was fun though. We didn't actually end up getting there until 8:30 (we had been aiming for 7, and it ended at 10), but it didn't matter too much. I got a good chance to get to know Nate a bit and it was cold outside anyway.

The park was beautifully decorated with tons of lights strung everywhere and multiple Christmas trees. We had brotworst for dinner and enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate while watching some of the jazz choir performance at the organ pavillion.

Raelene dropped me off at home, where I spent Saturday and Sunday helping my family put up the Christmas decorations.

Last week (since clinic was finished) I spent a large amount of time at home working on projects...and rinking eggnog *mmm*. I finished up some Christmas shopping yesterday morning, and enjoyed a Starbucks (courtesy of the starbucks card from my landlord).

4 more days:
EMonday: diagnostics exam
Tuesday: research methods presentation
Wednesday: Phonology project due 4 pm, language project due midnight
Thursday: Online Neurogenics exam

Then, Christmas break!!!!

Survival in a Foreign Place

The second blog I've written during grad school with the word "Survive" in the title, hmmm, do we see a trend here? haha

This was going to be just a blog about what I've been up to lately, but there was some profound thinking that went on in church today. Thus this shall be a mixed blog entry. Let's begin with the thinking and end ith the recap.

Today's message at the Flood was about growing to know God when we're in a foreign place. A foreign place can be just about anything, things that are painful and things that are happy. Physically being in a new place, entering a new stage in life, mourning, anything that puts you somewhere you haven't been (physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc) before.

Immediately my brain began listing all the different ways I'm in a foreign place. New stage of life? Check: it's called grad school. New location? Check: condo in a part of San Diego I didn't grow up in. New environment? Check: surrounded by non Christians post high school (much more different than I thought while still at Biola New place financially? Check: I'm broke and living month to month.

You get the picutre, I'm in an almost completely foreign place right now.

This got me to thinking, it's not wonder I've been feeling so completely out of my element. The speaker this morning (we had a guest speaker, it wasn't the pastor) likened these "foreign places" to the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. We aren't happy about them. We want to get straight from point A to point B, but God specifically puts us in those times to learn and grow closer to him.

All of this was comforting in a way. I've been feeling pretty lousy about my faith the last couple months, running around like a chicken with its head cut off makes making time for God even more challenging than it already is, and I've felt like I was starting to drift. But that's not necessarily it...I'm just wandering in the wilderness right now. I'm ok with that though, I know it means I'm supposed to be learning and growing, and I know God won't let me stay here forever.

Going back to the thought on being surrounded by non Christians, I had a sad realization about that. I definitely feel like I don't quite fit in my grad program. Not in terms of academics, I fit just fine in terms of the actual content of the program, but socially I don't. I don't drink (at least not more than a margarita every once in a while), I don't live or sleep with my boyfriend, I don't swear, for me "going out with the girls" is going to Cheesecake Factory...to get cheesecake, and my idea of a party is making cookies, eating lots of chocolate, and watching a chick flick, and if we're talking a CRAZY party there are also boys and a rootbeer keg.

I'm not the only Christian in the class. Out of 38 of us, there are at least 4 or 5 others, but the majority is definitely non Christian. Anyway, I realized, I'm *never* going to fit in, not with the girls in my class, not with future coworkers. Being a Christian sets us apart, lights are clearly going to stand out in the darkness. It saddens me to not be able to fully bond with a lot of the people around me. Thank goodness though for being connected at church and being surrounded by fellow believers there!

This concludes the "thoughts" portion of this blog, now on to what I've actually been up to.

The week after Halloween was awful in terms of workload, which made my second trip up to Biola this semester very refreshing. I rode up with Anja and James again and got dropped off at Krista's house. Becky met us and we went out for sushi followed by the most amazing Italian ice I've ever had.

Becky had a concert to go to that evening at Long Beach, so Krista and I watched hulu at her place until it was time to meet up with Charlotte for Boba. I don't like boba proper, but I love the teas, especially Thai milk tea. Yum! Once finished with our drinks we went back to Hart to hang out. I got to see Tia and Raeleen, and I hung out with Charlotte until Becky picked me up.

Saturday I had lunch at Chick Fil A with Amanda, who tag teamed with Krista and Diana. After they had eaten, the 3 of us went and wandered around Bed Bath & Beyond, smelling candles and finding interesting things like dog snuggies and marshmallow launchers. We spent a couple hours at the Biola library (me working on homework, Krista job searching) until it was time to meet Becky for dinner.

Krista had picked out Taps Fishhouse and Brewery for her birthday dinner. It was a very nice restaraunt, with quite good food. We shared a glass of white wine between the 3 of us and the complimentary baked Alaska they brought out for Krista. After dinner we spend over for the Symphonic Winds "Japan" fall concert, which was wonderful, as expected. And after that it was to the Fellers' house to feast on amazing Japanese food and yummy desserts.

Sunday morning I went with Becky and Jen to Redeemer (which was wonderful, as usual) and met Krista for lunch at Daphnes. Becky and I went to a fun "Viv la France" free orchestra concert, and then it was back to San Diego I came.

Last week wasn't so bad in terms of work (helped by the fact that we had Wednesday off) and I've had a very relaxing weekend. Last night I got to go out to In N Out and the last home football game with Raelene, Anja, and James. I hadn't seen Raelene for several weeks, so we definitely needed to catch up!

And that's my life right now...4 more days and I'll be with Tad again, and have a week off school. Life is pretty good right now :)

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!

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

Surviving Bootcamp

Today is the last day of SLP (Speech Language Pathology) Bootcamp for us first year MA students at SDSU.

Thank goodness

It has been a crazy two weeks. Last week we had class from 8:30-4:00, with a lunch break in the middle, every day. Bootcamp is designed to get all of the grad students up to speed and at the same starting point before regular classes and clinic start. We've had our diagnostic methods and clinical methods classes, and have been meeting with our clinic supervisors.

I am so thankful I have the background from Biola. I feel so much farther ahead than a lot of the other students. Most of the Diagnostic and Clinic methods classes have been review for me, plus I'm not spazzing about clinic like everyone else is. Biola's comm disorders program is amazing!

I'm super excited about clinic, scared about classes though. I'm registered for 19 units. I never took more than 17 a semester at Biola! AHHH!!! I'm also having a bit of a difficult time adjusting to being in a public school again. Hearing people talk frankly about "hooking up" isn't exactly what I'm used to anymore. *sigh* Welcome to the world Lindsey.

Anyway, I had a very nice relaxing weekend (despite the crazy heatwave we're having). Raelene and I had dinner at Ruby's Diner Friday night, window shopped at Express, and came back to do a bit of facebook stalking. Saturday I got to hang out with a couple of friends from a ministry I was in freshman year, and spent the rest of the weekend staying cool and hanging out with Anja and her boyfriend James.

We tried out The Rock on Sunday, and decided we're a lot more comfortable with the Flood, as opposed to a rock concert rather than a worship service.

Oh and Tad helped me fix my computer so I can upload pictures to the internet again, so I'll be adding pics to my last few entries if you want to check them out :)

One more class, and then a four day weekend, yay!

Behind Enemy Lines

Part 2 of the 6.5 page journal entry.

"This has been an emotionally crazy week. I think ti can be best summarized by something Ryan Low said in the senior prayer Sunday night, something Dr. Corey said Tuesday night, and something I said 4 years ago. Chronological order ready go. When Ryan was praying for us, he described us as 'lights planted behind enemy lines'. This really struck me. We are most certainly in a war, but not only that. We are fighting amongst the ranks of the enemy. And not quietly and sneakily. What do lights do? They shine.

Yes we are not to fear. We didn't just happen to wander across the battlefield and end up in enemy territory. God planted us there, and He has his hand of protection on us.

Fast forward to Tuesday night.

Dr. Corey described our path through life through the analogy of crossing state lines and being greeted by 'welcome to ___ ' signs. He said when they had moved out to CA, after they had passed the 'Welcome to California' sign, he looked at his son Anders who had tears running down his face. Anders said 'Dad, turn around, I want to go home.'

That's how Dr. Corey said we all are when faced with something new. One chapter closes, and we see the next "welcome to" sign and panic. We want to go back to the familiar, but that chapter is over. We can never go back. We can only move forward. But we never move alone, God is always with us.

And the third piece: wisdom from myself

The final thing came with the return of a letter I had written to myself as a freshman. The entire 3x5 notecard (in very sloppy handwriting) was covered in questions. 'Am I in band?' 'Do I have friends?' 'Are they lifelong friends?' I realized that how I have felt in the last couple weeks is exactly how I felt at the beginning of my Biola career: torn in so many different directions and anxious about what to expect.

Now to tie all this together

What I have been feeling is the dread of a new life chapter. I see the 'welcome to grad school' sign, and I want to run as fast as I can back to the 'welcome to Biola' sign. But I can't. And besides, I felt the same fear of the 'welcome to Biola' sign when it appeared on my horizon anyway.

God has been with me in my time at Biola, and I have no reason to believe things will be any different at SDSU. Christians aren't supposed to live permanently bubblized.

'Planted behind enemy lines'

It's time to leave the bubble.

I think that's why my trip to Romania comes at such a perfect time. I've benefited immensely being at Biola and grown so much. It's time to share that with the world, it's time to shine."

Romania journaling forthcoming.

Words Can't Bring Me Down

It has been an interesting week. For starters my mom and I got to check out housing stuff down at State (SDSU) last Friday. One is a studio type apartment attached to someone's house, which a friend of a friend of my mom's has been renting. It's a very nice family and a nice apartment, but it's a little expensive. From the housing office on campus we got a list of nearby apartments, and I've been talking with a few other Biola girls who are or will be students at SDSU.

My favorite part of the day was getting to see my department's building and talk to people there. It's a brand new building as of last semester, which is great. I ended up getting to talk to my program director for a little bit and she told me about the program. It sounds like there are about 90 people total in the graduate speech pathology program, 40 in each class (they have about 30 people at a time who take 3 years because they had backgrounds in other areas). Apparently I'm going to be extremely busy the first year because it's mostly academic stuff along with 1 or 2 clients. I have two courses and two clients in the summer (one in June, one in July) between the 2 years. And they'll send out a whole lot more information in June. I also got to tour the clinic, and I'm really excited to get to work there.

Once Steve was done with classes, we came home and went to dinner to celebrate at Yen Chim Garden. Chinese food definitely holds a special place in my heart. Saturday I packed up my stuff and came back up to campus with my mom and a gil from my church who's thinking about transferring to Biola. We showed Brooke around campus and took pictures for my graduation announcements.

Then came the time to scramble to get homework done. Things were going along fine, until I had a suddenly very angry and upset boyfriend.

Once he had calmed down enough to have a coherent conversation, I found out why.

It started with the words "we need to talk" from his parents. They concerned (to put it nicely) about him finding a job. A fair concern since he's been out of school for not quite a year now. He has looked for a job on several occassions with no luck, but mostly we've been waiting until he could move down here to be closer to me. Mentioning that in this conversation was a bad idea. They don't approve of this idea. In fact, they apparently feel that I am one of many factors that are "destroying" his life. He is on a destructive path, and he must find a job by the end of next month or lose his phone, internet, and car.

Well, don't hold back, tell us how you really feel about me.

Now what? I'm not a fan of the idea of scorning parents and tearing apart families. But...what did I do? I just want to be able to have a normal relationship with my boyfriend. Getting a job there means he won't be moving for quite some time. Not getting a job there means I will lose all contact with him and possibly all hope of ever seeing him again. If he runs, that may open up a whole brand new can of worms.

The most surprising part in all of this to me; I haven't been despairing. I have felt myself turn and cling to God for support. I'm certainly worried, but I've been able to remain clear headed. I have no idea what's going to happen in all of this, but I'm sick of worrying about things I have no control over. God has a plan for me, for Tad, and for us, and I trust that His plan is good and for the best. Perhaps God's lessons this year about patience are finally starting to sink in.

I definitely welcome prayers for guidance and wisdom

In San Diego to Stay

I got the email this morning that I've been accepted to the speech language pathology program at San Diego State! The relief and excitement is incredible. God is so good, he has blessed me with acceptance to my frist choice for undergraduate and graduate school. This means of course that apartment hunting can begin. Oh my

I had a fun visit with Amanda. She came down Monday evening and had dinner with my family and watched Waking Ned Devine. Tuesday we adventured down to Old Town with Raelene, did some exploring, and had lunch at La Pinata. Back at home we made some very yummy oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies and then decorated bookmarks to take to the kids in Romania. She left yesterday morning and last night my mom and I took a CPR class together.

This also means Tad could start the moving process now, but it's his initiative, so we'll see what happens. As for my housing, we have a potential studio apartment that we're going to check out when we pick Steve up for the weekend.

Grad School, Capstone, and Life

All I really need to say to explain everything in this post is senioritis. Oh man, I'm glad I never really got it in high school, because it is BAD. Right about Wednesday this week I started feeling completely and entirely apathetic about school. I had a Spanish paper due yesterday and my capstone pages due tonight (working on those while I type this) and I did no homework between Tuesday afternoon and yesterday afternoon. yeah...bad

I suppose grad schools are the biggest update right now. I got into Chapman, yay!!!! I did not get into San Francisco or San Jose. That leaves Fullerton and the final word from San Diego. I don't feel too bad about San Fran and San Jose; San Fran was my last choice, and San Jose said they had almost 300 applicants and were only able to accept 20. Once I receive my official letter from Chapman (they called to tell me I was accepted) I have two weeks to notify. If I don't get in to SD, and I haven't heard from Fullerton before the Chapman window closes, that's where I'll go. But I think Chapman is still after Fullerton because of cost.

In other news, capstone is chugging along, my current page count is 24, that leaves 16. Our rough draft is due sometime between next Wed and the Monday after Easter break. I would really like to have it done by Wed so I don't have to work on it over Easter, but we'll see.

Couple random fun things, well, I was home last weekend for my grandpa's birthday. I went Tuesday evening with Krista, Raeleen, Charlotte, Tia, and a few other girls to Cheesecake Factory just for fun. I got chocolate raspberry truffle, it was delicious. This morning we had another "No Make Up Wake Up" with our brother floor. The girls go to breakfast in their pjs (I didn't, I don't go outside in pajamas) and the guys are all dressed up and give us roses and serve us in the caf. It was a lot of fun.

And now it's back to finishing my chunk of capstone for the week...joyous

The Lord is Gracious and Merciful

...slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

And he gave me another wonderful week with my wonderful boyfriend. As predicted, Spanish on Tues was painfully slow, it did however eventually end. Raeleen took me to the airport and a slightly amusing story ensued.

When we got there, Tad was still waiting for his bag, so Raeleen suggested I go in and find him and surprise him. Great idea, except that neither of us had noticed we were at the drop off section, not pick up. I was greeted with ticket counters upon entering the terminal. I called Tad and was told "ok, do us a favor, stay right where you are, I'm coming to find you." I did as I was told and several minutes later received a phone call "Are you upstairs, or down?" "Down" "No, you're upstairs." "what? no I'm not, I can see escalators going up-" At this moment I was glomped behind by a very attractive young man. Long story short, I was a level above where he was. Luckily he was smart enough to figure that out.

We had dinner in the caf with a large group of Hart people and then hung out in the lower lobby with Justine for a couple hours. Then it was time for our funk-tastic all hall. Seriously, Hart is amazing. People were dressed up like out of the 70's and it was a totally lower campus all hall. Dancing, drinking, an gambling...kinda, haha. Mel and Beardo were our fabulous "bar tenders." Shirley Temples, Sprite with margarita mix, and Sprite with rainbow sherbet. It was basically a casino night: bingo, craps, black jack, and poker (with chips, not money). And the dancing...well, some of it was choreographed, no comment on the rest. ;)

Highlights from the evening include Tad getting "drunk" off a Shirley Temple, Justine teaching me how to par-ty, "hey, stop spooning me in the lobby!", and Ryan Low singing play that funky music white boy.

Wednesday brought the opening session for Missions Conference. "Fragrance of a New Covenant" was the theme for this year. Tad, Becky, and I sat in the gym for the opening session with the parade of nations and George Verwer (our graduation speaker this year) pouring a bottle of water over his head, frying a mic. I absolutely love Missions. We switched to Crowell for the afternoon session with Marilyn Laszlo (amazing!) and checked out the mission organization booths. After dinner Tad and I took advantage of there being open hours; he napped and I worked on homework. We finished off the evening by raiding the International House of Drinks and hanging out in Eagles.

Thursday we went to a really cool seminar on missions at home in America and enjoyed the ethnic lunch on Metzger. We timed it just right to get through global awareness. This year's rooms were Uganda, Honduras, Iran, China, and Burma. Poor Valencia got very frightened in Burma because of the army kidnapping people.

The afternoon speaker was Grant Porter, an Aussie who has been working on the field in the Middle East. I slipped out a little early from the ession to get ready and go to my interview at Chapman. It went really well, and I'm rather excited to hear back from them now. The sad part was that they were running 45 minutes behind schedule, so I missed Marylin's second session. I also missed the capand gown buying time in the bookstore, but Tad was amazing enough to get mine for me, before I called to ask him to do that.

Friday morning Tad wasn't feeling well, so I went with Justine to Marilyn's final session. I really enjoyed her. I bought her book and had her sign it for me. I ended up collecting 4 books over the course of the week. After George Verwer's first session I bought "Amazing Faith" which tells little bios about a lot of different people, including George Verwer. Tad and I got "Revolution in World Missions" free from the Mission for Asia table in the missions booths. They gave out free copies of "The Skeptic's Guide to the World AIDS Crisis." And of course Marilyn's book "Mission Possible" about her work with the people in Papua New Guinea.

After lunch Tad and I got ready and met up with my friend Dave and went to meet his girlfriend (now fiance) Amy at the CSUN technology conference at the Marriott in LA. Us two couples went our separate ways to check out the exhibit halls. I found a couple of things I was veyr interested in: a *good* portable CCTV and a portable zoomtext-like program on a flashdrive. I shall look into both of these things further. The exhibits closed at 5, and at that time we went to Amy's room at the Marriott to feed our doggies. Amy has a yellow lab guide dog named Donna. Donna and Valencia were overjoyed to get to have some play time.

Once the pups had eaten, it was time for the people to. Dave drove us to Hermosa Beach where we walked the pier. It was overcast, but still beautiful. I will never get over how amazingly gorgeous the ocean is. One of Dave's friends from back home in Wisconsin, A.J. met us for dinner at a seafood place called "Sangria." Amy and I discovered that the couples had ordered the same things. Amy and I both got shrimp scampi and Tad and Dave both got chicken picante.

Anyway, so Dave's friend A.J. does a comedy magic sketch at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach (the club where Jay Leno presents his weekly sketches) and offered to get us in for free to the show that night. We certainly couldn't have said no to that! We had a little while to wait after dinner and move our group to get gelato. It was very tasty! The show was really enjoyable. I was very happy that all but one of the comedians had very clean routine's. After the show we got our picture taken with Larry Miller, the headliner, dropped Amy off at her hotel, and returned to Biola.

Saturday and Sunday were a little dull, as they were spent catching up on all the homework I hadn't been doing. Sunday we did get to church at Redeemer and had lunch at Panera with Kathleen. And (to my inevitable sadness) Tad flew home yesterday.

So yes, a very, very fun week. I'll post pictures in another entry, as this one is plenty long enough already :o)