Paul is in a preschool that he loves. Anna is starting to be more independent at the ripe old age of 19 months. She is also smiling more. I have to attribute that to the fact that she FINALLY has cute all of her teeth. That child has a WHOLE mouth full. It has been a hard painful journey for the whole family but we are right there at the finish line. She has just one little tooth left that has already cut through but still needs a bit more pushing. Man oh man it is so nice to not have the constant screaming. Turns out she is a lovely child!!
Roger is working a job he has always wanted, full time ministry. He is learning so much while working with Pastor Jim. I'm so glad he gets the opportunity to work along side a man that has so much experience within the church. He has also been taken under the wing of two other well known ministers in a mentoring relationship. Church work is emotionally straining at times and I am glad that he has been surrounded by so many wonderful people that he can lean on and learn from. He is also thoroughly enjoying his seminary time. It can be horrendously challenging with a full time job, and family, but he is doing great! He is becoming what I feel God has always intended him to become. It is has been transforming to me to watch the process from the time he was in middle school talking about working in missions to now, in seminary, working in the mission of the church.
As for me, I am doing what I dreamed of as a little girl. I have two beautiful children whom I get to spend every waking hour teaching how to love, honor, and respect themselves, those around them and the beautiful environment God created. Watching them grow, picking them up when they fall and laughing with them on a daily bases can be challenging, oh boy it can be challenging, but it so rewarding.
Another thing that has been so rewarding this past year is going back to school. After graduating with my BA in psychology I was incredibly confused. For five years I had worked non stop, going to school full time, working part time, taking care of little Paul and trying to squeeze in some sort of social college life. what was I to do know. I was handed my diploma along with a whole basket full of "what now." After a rough year of pregnancy, bed rest, job loss, house buying and postpartum depression something snapped. I decided to give seminary a try. I told myself I would just take one class, just one class, then apply for grad school at UK. But something appealed to me. Pastoral Counseling! A therapy that took into account a persons spirituality as well as their psychological state. "Pastoral Counselors are not only mental health professionals but persons who have in-depth religious and theological training." - Interfaith Counseling Center. It fit!!
What I am most nervous about is the CPEs. I will be working for free as a pastoral counselor within several different settings; church, hospital, hospice, clinic. It will be a learning process in which I will have a person to check back to and learn from but I will actually be seeing patients. It kinda scares me to think that one day I will be handed several charts of patients and told "Ok, go introduce yourself to your patients. You're on call tonight on the pediatric unit." Isn't that weird!?!?! I'll probably start with hospice because I was advised by a very bright professor that having young children and working a pediatric unit can be very difficult. "You can get what they call the intern disease. You come home thinking that your children have everything that you witnessed at the hospital. It can be troubling." Good point.
Even though I am nervous I am soooooooooo excited!!!! It is so nice FINALLY having some direction! It's also nice to know that once I get my degree there is an endless amount of opportunities. I can work in a church, in a clinic, in a hospital, in a shelter. It's so exciting!!! I'm also really enjoy taking classes and getting this degree. So, I don't have that "gotta hurry and get out of school so I can start my career" feeling. My career has started. For example, I want to work with children and families, so why not start with working with my family. My home is a GREAT lab!!!
Ok, I've typed way to much but I'm just so darn excited. As I was typing this the kids have piled Baby Dolls all over me and around me. "We are going on a trip. Can you watch our children?" What great role play!!! and they're playing together!!!
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