Adoption and Foster Children

I met a woman recently who works as a secretary Biology department at Drake. Since the Biology department shares the same building with the Psychology department, I go into her office often, just to talk.

Alice is a single mom, who adopted Lydia, her daughter, from Guatemala when Lydia was only 8 months old. Alice, Christian woman who has never been married, did not let her inability to find a soul mate stop her from raising a child. In fact, she said it has been wonderful raising a child alone, because she can have more time to spend with Lydia one-on-one with no distractions.

I respect Alice for many reasons. For one, she always has 99.5 The Pulse playing on her radio in the office, so I enjoy going into her office just to hear what song is playing. Secondly, I love seeing her photos of Lydia covering all surfaces of her desk. She is a very proud mother.

 

I feel like I would be this way if I ever fostered a child. In the same regard, God would place the child in the right hands. I love those who have a calling to foster or adopt a child. What a selfless thing to do.

Papers and Passions

Have you ever experienced one of those situations where you knew you had to get something done, so you did everything in your power to complete it? For instance, you knew you had to clean your entire apartment in less than 2 hours because you knew your mom was coming to visit, so you worked your tail-end off making sure the apartment was spotless. Not that I have ever had that happen, but I have heard people talk about that before. ;)

Anyway, I really haven't felt accomplished in the last couple of weeks. In my third round of tests, my scores were all lower than the previous tests, though I put more hours in studying for these tests. I have been down for awhile about my gpa, because I know it isn't as great as Eryn's. I realize wer aren't the same person, but she is always an inspiration to me. If she can graduate with a 4.0 (which is very possible), I can at least graduate with a 3.95.

Anyway, I decided to start writing my 10-15 page paper over a psychological measurement on Wednesday, knowing the paper is due tomorrow. So I took my time researching articles (which has a minimum requirement of 15) and slowly began taking notes on the articles. By the time Saturday morning came around, I had found only 8 articles total and had not even begun on the paper. Oh boy.

So I worked on the paper from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday, with a total of about 3 hours of free time to eat, shower, and talk with Eryn for awhile. If my math is correct, that is a total of 12 hours spent on the paper. By the time I woke up on Sunday, I had 13 pages complete, with only a conclusion and references left to modify. Now that is called productivity.

I am not writing this to show you how awesome I am at writing papers or even how self-disciplined I was that day. I am writing this to give an explain how we are all willing to work hard at things that mean a lot to us. For me, grades have ALWAYS been important, so it came as no surprise to me that I am finally finished with the paper. What surprised me is that I was willing to spend an entire Saturday working on this paper, when I could have been hanging out with Matt or spending time with Eryn. Instead, I directed my focus to writing a quality paper.

While sitting in church this morning, I realize we all have many passions. We can love to go bowling and we can also be huge fans of knitting. We can be huge political junkies and we can also be amazing with kids. The important thing is that we spend time molding our passions to please God and His Kingdom.

This may be a stretch, but I feel as though working hard in school will give me the opportunity to choose a stellar graduate school for counseling psychology. Then, once I am finished with school, I hope to work in a church or Christian setting counseling those who could use the guidance. I feel led to this field and until I feel a strong tug in another direction, this is where I'm headed. :)

A Day Full of Secrets

While perusing on PostSecret today, I found several secrets I would like to share. Here they are:

I know I am obsessed with weddings and lovey dovey stuff, but this one is just cute. :) Yep, he's a keeper.

I would give almost anything for the opportunity to work in a psych ward for just one day. So many people look down upon others who deal with "demons" or other struggles in life. I wish more people understood that God made us all differently. Some of us can deal just fine with no problems, while others will struggle their entire lives. This doesn't make one person inferior to another, it just gives proof of how we are all each unique. 

I know I have been blessed with the experiences in my life to help me guide those who are lost to a better solution. I met with a woman after church today to network. She graduated from Drake with an undergrad degree in Sociology and a graduate degree in Counseling. She firmly believes we are the only ones who limit ourselves. God placed us on this Earth with the ability to do anything we feel called to do. For me, I feel led to Christian counseling and I am my own barrier. 

God will lead you down the right path, as long as you let Him take control. You will stray away, we all do, but the important thing is listening to what He has planned for us. We don't have to know what we want to do with the rest of our lives or even what we want to do tomorrow. We just need to focus on living every day for God and the rest will fall into place. That is the best piece of advice I received from my meeting today. What a great woman.

Freedom Coffee Blend

God is so merciful. I don't need to write anything before or after that statement. As a stand alone sentence, it explains the entire existence of the world. Why on Earth can we constantly mess up, constantly make mistakes, and constantly deny God, but the world hasn't fallen apart? Why are we all here?

Before I was a Christian, I had no answers. I had no idea who God was or how great He is. I just knew of "Him." He works in ways I cannot explain.

Tonight, for SIFE, myself and two others went to Lutheran Church of Hope to meet with Donna from Freedom for Youth. We are helping her sell Freedom Coffee Blend and wanted to see her in action, selling the coffee during the church service.

After opening her mouth, it was apparent she is a Christian. She has so much passion and heart for these kids that she would do anything to help Freedom for Youth thrive. As a retired nurse, she babysits her grandkids everyday, involves her self everyday to the church, and sells Freedom Coffee Blend on the side. She told us, "the older I get, the busier I get." She is full of life and energy. What a great woman.

Before we left Lutheran Church of Hope, she told us about a side business she has been praying about. Freedom for Youth wants to start a printing business to help the older girls at the location to gain entrepreneurial skills and a desire for something greater in life. She asked if there was anything we could do to help that project get started. I felt God's presence at that moment.

For SIFE, we were given a grant in May to help empower women, but have yet to find a location for it. After praying and thoughtfully considering where we could allocate the money, especially in the last couple of days, opportunity falls into my lap. Helping these young women to start a printing business is EXACTLY what we were looking for. Something where we could make a difference in lives of those who need it most.

How awesome is that? Freedom for Youth needs roughly $2,500 to buy the printer for the t-shirts, then they can begin the business. The grant we were given is $1,000. I told Donna about the grant and how the printing business would be the perfect opportunity for the money and it brought tears to her eyes. She was so excited for the possibility of the business starting up that she didn't care who saw her cry.

It was such an awesome feeling seeing her reaction. I have no doubt we can make these young girls' dreams a reality. No doubt. With the support of SIFE and the power of God, this dream will definitely become a reality. :)

Wedding Books and Popcorn

My favorite thing about Matt is that he is 100% okay with being boring with me. Last night, I came over to his house and he finally gave me the tour. I have a feeling he cleaned his room for quite some time before I came. :) I finally felt less lost now when I walk in.

After the guided tour, I was led downstairs in the basement, where a ping pong table sat, waiting to be played. It has been quite some time since I have played, but I very much enjoy the game. However, before playing , I found a playroom with all sorts of his younger siblings' toys, just calling my name.

I walked in and began snooping around, because I always have to know what is going on, I have recently found out. In the process, Matt began also snooping in a dresser that his dad refuses to part with. He was looking for his dad's name etched one of the drawers, when he found a drawer with personal things.

There were school photos, projects his parents had completed when they were kids, and other various albums. We looked through some of his mom's belongings, when we stumbled upon his parents' wedding book. In my mind, we struck gold.

We began reading how they met, how long they dated, what lead to the wedding, and even how their first anniversary went. His mom had written pages and pages of stories involving his parents when they first started dating. It was simply adorable. They dated for 8 months before they got engaged, but had only dated 5 months until they started looking at rings.

I could go on and on about their "love story" because it was so special. They were so excited to get married (who wouldn't be) and they knew it was in God's plan to be together forever. What an amazing feeling.

His mom called us upstairs because she had made some popcorn for us, which was so nice of her. I am not used to having a family act like a family. His parents were both enjoying the snacks with us, just as a married couple would. They were also talking about their upcoming 25th anniversary and how they are going to Cancun. It made me smile from ear to ear when his mom was telling me about the trip. She is so excited. I hope God blesses me with a man I can share that feeling with one day. :)

A Case of the Mondays

My schedule next semester may either be the best or worst decision I have made in quite some time. I may either love the way my classes are set up or absolutely hate them. Either way, this is how it's going to be, so I better be happy with it. Here is how my classes are laid out:

Mondays:
8:30 - 9:45 Drugs and Behavior
11:00 - 12:15 Theories of Personality
12:30 - 1:45 Marketing Management
3:00 - 5:50 Comparative Psychology Lab
6:00 - 8:50 Psychology of Aggression

Wednesdays:

8:30 - 9:45 Drugs and Behavior
11:00 - 12:15 Theories of Personality
12:30 - 1:45 Marketing Management


If you can't tell, I don't have classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays (oh yeah....), but I am in class for 9 hours and 45 minutes on Mondays. That may be killer. I plan to work from 9 - 12 on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, along with a couple of hours in the afternoon on Wednesday. Hopefully, this ample free time in the afternoons will give me time to work on homework (yeah right), run psychology labs (very likely), and take much-needed naps (most definitely).

I have no doubt I will enjoy my classes, but we'll see how exhausted I am after my full days on Mondays. I am so ready to graduate right now and move on with the rest of my life. I may, quite possibly, graduate a semester early to save oodles of money. We'll see how that goes.

A Midnight Surprise and FroYo

Matt has a pretty set schedule at Orange Leaf. He typically works on Monday and Thursday evenings, and Saturdays. As a newly promoted shift leader, he will start closing or opening the store on his own and will get to wear a snazzy polo (whenever his boss remembers to order him one.) 

Anyway, knowing he has certain days blocked off, I know those are the days when I have to be insanely productive. So on Thursday, I decided I wanted to work on all the SIFE stuff I had put off for a couple of weeks. Yes, I said weeks. Unfortunately, I have lost interest in SIFE lately, because we are moving in a new direction. Once I get the hang of it, I think I will gain the momentum I once had. 

After I decided to get all the SIFE things done I had put off, I was, for some reason, insanely tired. I mean, I was ready for bed at 10:30, which is not okay on my productive night. I need to take advantage of the free time to do homework until late in the night. Nu uh, that wasn't happening.

So I went to sleep early and was awoken by a text at midnight from Matt asking if he could stop by for a bit. Of course I said yes, especially knowing my place is right on his way home. That's definitely a benefit of his new job in West Des Moines. :)

He greeted me with frozen yogurt. At 12:30 in the morning. Two afters after I had already brushed my teeth. In my PJs. In most, scratch that, all I cases, i would have turned down the froyo. I mean, that was totally inconvenient. However, this time, it was totally different. I was super happy he thought of me and he got the last batch of my FAVORITE flavor, before they got rid of it the next day. How could I say no?

I read something a while back that said all the things that drive you nuts suddenly don't matter when you are in a relationship. This is quite true. I know that I would not typically enjoy being woken up just to say hi for ten minutes with an early class the next day. However, none of that mattered. We are only young once, so we should take advantage of it, right?

Aren't You Just So Smart?

In my Psych Assessment class, we have recently been talking about intelligence testing. As we learn more about intelligence tests, I enjoy the class more and more. Apparently, all you need is a Master's degree and  you can be an "official test administrator." I'm not sure what kind of school that entails, but I think it would be worth looking into.

Anyway, while on this subject, I found an interesting article on Psychology Today's website that talks about how humor is related to intelligence. This instantly caught my eye, because we when first began talking about intelligence in class, my professor asked the class examples of people we thought were intelligent. I thought of those people in my lives that have a witty sense of humor as intelligent, because they are quick thinkers.

My best friend from high school, Blake, has such a witty sense of humor. He is always the first person I think of when I the topic of witty humor is brought up.

Anyway, the article talks about the direct relation between having the trait of being "funny" and possessing a high level of intelligence. Men, who typically deem themselves as "funny" more often than women, also have no preference for seeking women who are "funny." In other words, funny men don't want their limelight stolen; rather, they prefer someone who enjoys their humor and is their number one fan.

Likewise, women rarely deem themselves as "funny" while they would prefer to find a "funny" mate. I can agree with that statement. Nothing in the article really came as a surprise to me, I just thought I would share it with you.

Now that I am writing about this class, I realize I am putting off studying for the test I have on Wednesday. Ughh...motivation, please come to me.

That's all for this post!