Grad School Update!

BIG news!


About 2 days before beginning my roadtrip back to GA I got an email from the Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Valdosta State. She told me that they wanted to schedule an interview with me. When I spoke with them, I was told that I could either do a phone interview or an in-person interview. The Director of the program explained that they were very interested in interviewing me as soon as possible. So, I set up a phone interview for that Friday (yes, the very day I was beginning my roadtrip).


At 10:15 am that Friday morning, Spencer and I pulled over and I had my interview on the side of the road in southern Utah. It went REALLY well! So well in fact that I was told at the end of the interview that I had been accepted. I got my official letter a week before Christmas!







Now we just wait for info on the assistantship situation AND admissions decisions from UGA and GA State. Keep those fingers crossed! Prayers are also welcome! :D

ROAD TRIPPPPPP!

On Thursday afternoon, I'll be picking up this lovely boy at the SLC Airport!




And then on Friday morning (early!) we're going to begin a pretty dang fun road trip. The first leg of our trip will take us to Albuquerque to visit this lovely family:




The Griffins have been family friends for as long as I can remember. They moved to Albuquerque several years ago and Spencer and I are pretty dang excited to see them! We'll spend Saturday with them, and go to Sacrament meeting with them on Sunday!

After Sacrament meeting, Spencer and I are gonna get on the road and plan to go all the way to Arkansas by that night. Then Monday we'll go the rest of the way to Columbus. It'll be a fun trip! We'll be sure to take lots of pictures for you, blogworld. The next post coming your way will likely be from the great state of Georgia! Until then...

Master of Blogging?

How is it that the one of us who is so bad about blogging just spent an hour helping Rachel set up her blog?

Who knew?

But I am excited that Rachey's joining in on the blogging fun...or failure (in my case)! :)

Day 30!!

Day 30 - My favorite song...


"Desperado" by The Eagles





My Daddy raised me right.




And with that...the 30 day challenge is done! :)

Days 28 & 29

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed?

Christmas 2009.

Well. Anyone brave enough to venture back to the entries on my blog from 2008 will find something really interesting. Without going too much into details (because, really...who wants the details in summary when you can go back here and here and read the details), I thought I was going to follow one career and life path...and it changed. Suddenly. And it left one of the most important relationships in my life damaged. Anyway. The year to year and a half that followed August 2008 was...trying. It involved a lot of soul searching. A lot of discomfort. A lot of prayers. By Christmas 2009, I was starting to feel a bit more direction in my life, but still felt unsettled and I was unsure why. I enrolled in graduate courses at Columbus State to get a MA in Teaching. Through Spring semester 2010 I was led back to a thought and a career that I (through to the beginning of High School) had previously considered. Thoughts of changing programs and schools began to fill my head. It was exciting. And at the same time completely overwhelming. I wasn't sure about the practicality of the decision and wanted to talk to my parents, but because I was feeling conflicted...I didn't. Initially.

Summer 2010.

This picture was literally taken like, a week after I finally talked to my parents about the idea of changing my program and pursuing a career as a Counselor (specifically a Marriage and Family Therapist). As soon as I started talking, my mom cut me off and said..."I think it's an excellent choice for you. Not that I doubt your ability to be a wonderful teacher, but I think this is more in line with your interests and natural abilities". Could I have asked for a better response? I left a couple of days later to work a session of EFY in Massachusetts and made the whole idea (as well as moving to Utah for a little while) a matter of fasting and prayer. I had 2 incredible co-counselors (who did a good bit of counseling ME that week). By the middle of the week I felt a peace about my long-term plans and goals that I hadn't felt before. So after a couple of years of frustration at not knowing...and floating...I'm making progress. And it feels great. :)


Day 29 - In the past month, what have you learned?


Well, if this topic doesn't flow right along with what I was saying right ^ there! In case you missed the memo, I moved to Orem, Utah at the end of August. I was excited about the idea of a change of scenery and even entertaining the idea of going to BYU for graduate school (and if you know me...you know that's a BIG deal!). But mostly, I was learning to be free and not feel like everything always had to be planned and detailed. I don't know when I got to the point where I felt like I needed to have a plan that I was following, but somewhere along the lines it happened. Anyway. I didn't have anything keeping me in Columbus. I wouldn't be able to start grad school until Fall 2011. AND I had a couple of friends who were talking about moving out to Utah in January. So, why not?

Things since I've been in Utah haven't really gone the way I planned. I was going to come out here, get graduate school applications in, find a job and be out here until the Summer at least. Wellllll...the job thing hasn't really panned out the way I had hoped. I'm still unemployed. But more than that...the school options in GA started looking really, really good. There are some pretty amazing assistantships that would have me making money to go to school! Long story short, I'm packing back up the Aveo and heading back east on December 10th.

So, the point of all of that (and the actual question of the entry)...what have I learned? No matter what my plan is, as long as I'm on the right path...doing the things that keep me in tune with the spirit that I'll be ok. Humility. Patience. Trust. All those attributes we talk about all the time, but are ever-so-hard to put in to practice.

Super relevant scripture coming..............................now:


"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path." -Proverbs 3: 5-6


And THAT is what it's about. With the Lord directing my path, I can't go wrong.