From Sea to Shining Sea

Well, it's been forever since I've been on here. At least it feels like it. The semester has gotten off to a hectic, but good start. I'm trying to become more disciplined and better with time management, but it seems like there are not enough hours. I'm going to my GA every morning at 7:30. I scan in kids ID cards who come to Math class in the math resource room aka MRC aka math lab (sorry I've been so slow in getting back to you about that, Nan!). The math lab is the new way they are teaching math these days which is on the computer. It is a complicated mess sometimes as you can imagine when technology is involved. They go to math lecture 2 days a week and then they come to the lab 2 days a week. I also check attendence and recheck attendence and check again. Then I email students who were absent to tell them that we know they were absent and if they miss 25% of class they will fail blah blah blah. It's a lot of mind numbing busy work that I really don't enjoy, but the people who work in there are pleasant and I get a kick out of watching freshman stagger into their 8:00 classes. Kind of weird, but it's my morning entertainment. At that point in the morning I've got enough coffee in me that I'm beyond the staggering myself. By the way, I've decided I'm a big fan of cinnamon, gingercookie kind of flavored coffees. Flavored coffees in general -- Delicious!

Then at 8:45 I take off from the math lab and go to class on M, T, Th, and Fri. On Wed. I don't have class, so I work longer in the lab. My classes are definitely more interesting and relevant this semester. Not as many tests, but more reaction papers and research papers and lit reviews. Aaargh!!! When class gets out at 11:45, I go to my new job at the Center for Children and Families and am there till 4:30 or 5. This job has been great so far. Secretarial work, mainly filing and data entry kind of like what I did at Herald of Truth. It's kind of nice because this work is mindless -- not mind numbing -- but it's a nice break from thinking about school stuff. As you know I king of enjoy having things organized and that's what this is about. There are tons of Marriage and Family therapy people who work there who have been through ULM or are there presently, and somehow, mainly from them I've been given the nickname Skidmo. Another nickname several people at school call me is potato/potatoes/taters and most recently sweet potato. ha Kind of weird. As long as I like the people, I don't mind nicknames and I like these people so it's all good. They aren't calling me Jessie and that's what counts. :) Back to the schedule. On Mon. nights I have class from 5-8. On Tuesday nights I'm in supervision (right now observing 2nd year MFT students do therapy at the clinic) from 5-8. Then on Wed. nights is church. Last semester I wasn't really disciplined about going, but I'm so encouraged and energized after going that I'm building it in to my week this semester. Right now they've just started a study through Colossians that's going to be good, plus the music is always great. So that's my week presently. I'm going to start meeting with the main counselor at White's Ferry Road for supervision each week (therapist mentoring?) and hopefully I will be doing co-therapy with his wife later in the spring and then eventually taking over her clients. Soooo, that's my life in a nutshell. Kind of detailed and probably more than you wanted to know.

Thinking about the potato nicknames has brought to mind something I've wondered about a lot since I've been here. What kind of stereotypes or things do you connect with certain states? With Idaho, people always say potatoes or the Boise State blue field, but many people don't know that Idaho is the home of fry sauce and many Idahoans don't know that other states don't have it. I'd say that Arkansas and West Virginia have definite hillbilly reputations across the country. I think sometimes the things that people associate with certain states are not so much what the residents of that state might say. And then again they might. So, I'm curious which states you have automatic thoughts or stereotypes that come to mind. For example with Montana, I think milita, unibomber, and the quote, "Montana: where the men are men and the women are too." When I think South Dakota, I just think Mount Rushmore and the reptile gardens. When I think California, I think San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, and liberal. I'm especially curious about the reputation Louisiana has to you and things people think about this state in general. The more I'm here, the more interesting this state gets. It gets lumped into "the South", but the Southern states all have their differences. I'm hoping to do an EET article soon about the culture here. I love that each state has its own laws and culture and reputation and I love being in states where people have a lot of state pride. Some states definitely don't have as much pride as others, which I think is a shame. If I was a long-term native of one state, you can bet I would have some state pride. As it is, I'm just proud of all the states and their own unique characteristics. I could go on all night, but I'll stop now. :)

The break was so great! Really loved it. Had a blast in Oklahoma with Dad, Mom, Tricia, David , Matt, Brittany, and Nat, in David's apt. in Edmond for Christmas. It was one of the best Christmases ever! Christmas Eve we ate breakfast burritos and played games. That might have been my favorite evening. The night before we ate out and went to see this great Christmas light display in Chickashaw(sp?). I really, really enjoyed David's graduation -- more the party afterward than the food. He has some great friends. It was fun watching them together.
Then Lubbock was super fun as well. I told G and G this, but I always enjoy being at their house. Ever since I was little, I love going to see them or have them come see us. As with many things in life, I appreciate them more, the older I get. Also Nan and Billy came over. Got to see more of Nat, Chrissy and her sweet kids, Ethan, Uncle David and Janet, and Uncle John. I'm so thankful for lovely family. Oh yeah, I can't forget one of the highlights on the way back to Lubbock: getting to drive Nat's truck. That thing is great!
On the 31st I drove over to spend New Year's with Heather. We went to singing night at church with her family. Gotta love the old hymns, especially when they're led by 3 year olds. Possibly every male of every age in the church led a song. Then she and I went to the Cheescake Factory for dinner. I got an "Incredible Grilled Eggplant Sandwhich" or something like that. Yes, sounds weird, but it's something I would never fix for myself at home. It was pretty good, but I probably wouldn't order it again. We got back to the house just in time to see the ball drop and then we dropped into bed for a few hours of sleep. Then, she so kindly took me to the airport early the next morning so I could fly to Boise.
Ahhh, Boise how I love thee. It would be nice to somehow transplant that city right here for the rest of the time I'm in school. Mom, and Dad, and I played several good games of scrabble, walked, shopped, and drank coffee, and... not sure what else, but it was relaxing. They've just started small groups at church and the first one was excellent. Very challenging. I got to hang out with my friend Gina a lot. It was good to catch up with her. We went night skiing one night. So, so fun. And I didn't fall a single time! Also we went and ate dinner with her and her husband one night. Saw several other friends also and enjoyed seeing people at church. Man, I'm overusing the word "enjoy", but no other words are coming to mind right now.
So, here I am, back in Monroe. My flight back was very enjoyable (can't stop using it). The first flight I sat next to a girl who's in grad school in Omaha, same age as me, very similar family background, and altogether a delightful person. My dad told me when he dropped me off at the airport that he prayed I would have good conversations on the plane. I kind of thought with dread, "Oh great." When I pray or others do when I fly, pretty much always, I will talk the entire flight and often talk with people about God. Should be a good thing, right? I pray; God answers. Should be good, but I had a bad attitude and was tired and didn't want to have that kind of in-depth conversation. The first person who struck up conversation was a somewhat creepy middle aged man, and I thought to myself, "Well, this is the guy Dad prayed about. Here we go." In a few minutes though, he fell asleep and the girl next to me started talking. Have you ever talked with someone and walked away feeling refreshed and enthusiastic about life? This was that kind of situation. I am fired up about the semester after talking with her. It is still amazing to me how faithful and generous God is to me even when I have the opposite of an attitude of worship and love for him. I did not want to listen to someone's life story or talk to them about the Lord. In my selfishness, God was gracious to me and gave me encouragement. I didn't see myself in need of encouragement at the time, but wow, was I refreshed afterwards! God knew what I needed, when I needed it better than I did. I'm thankful for my dad praying. I'm thankful for Bekah who was very obviously intentional about sharing what's important. A couple of things God showed me through our conversation was how I need to love my classmates and coworkers. Sounds simple, but is not so simple to live out. One of the ways I can do that is to speak positive encouraging words to them and about them to others rather than being part of negative gossip. Last semester I saw and was part of in some ways, I think, some very destructive gossip. In a class with 15 females and 2 males of first year mft students who love to talk and analyze people, you can imagine that gossip is rampant. I've been wondering recently, what is it about me that will make me stand out to others as being a follower of Christ? More than that, am I the kind of person who is expressing God's love in the true and healing way his love is expressed to me? Being committed to God is a radical way of living life (see Nat's blog. it's good.). This means a little self-sacrifice, and probably a lot. For me, it means not taking sides or participating in the drama and divisiveness that goes on. I get sucked in all too easily. It's always easier to get wrapped up in the content rather than the person. The content is often a distraction from what's real and what's important in life -- loving people and dishing out as much hope as possible.
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24