Last Post

The 20th post, seems like I just started writing in this blog. Only right to use the last post as a chance to say what I have learned from blogging. Growing up I always had a journal and I would write in it every day, sometimes twice day but as I have gotten older I do not have time. At least I thought that before I started this blog. I have found it so therapeutic to write in this blog everyday or every two days. It does not take long for me to open it up and type how I feel or what is going on in my life. I believed I will continue to blog and maybe one day I will make it available to others. I will take a different route with what I write about. I want to do an inspirational blog that hopefully one day I can connect with the people I work with in rehab. Also, with the parents from the teen parenting group I am a part of. 

When I first learned about this assignment I could not believe that we had to write a blog for a grade. I thought it was pointless but honestly it was due to lack of knowledge of the blog community and what can be done with a blog. Even though I have just wrote in this blog I have learned how to make my blog look the way I want and gotten a great idea of a future project with a blog. I love learning of new tools to help with my vision for my life. I know personally that reading or hearing the right words can turn away bad thoughts. Never do we know how we can impact others. I choose to aim for a positive impact and doing this blog has molded a previous idea into a current possibility to do so.

So this may be the last post for this blog but it will not be the last of my blogging. I appreciate this assignment for what it has revealed to me.

College

When I graduated high school and went to college I took my studies serious but I partied and wasted a lot of time on things that were not important. I went for a year and the second year I withdrew because I could not stay in the relationship I was in if I remained at school (his opinion). I ended up pregnant with my oldest so school wasn't an option. My son was 6 months when I realized love was not what I was living or feeling. It took me losing my father to realize I needed to go back to school. I went to school full time and worked full time as a single mother for a year. I was only able to attend that year before I had to withdraw to work full time. It has been over 4 years. I have gotten married and had another son as well as moved multiple times. With all of this said I take college seriously. It has taken me 4 years to realize what God has wanted me to do with my life and to get back in school. 

As I sit around campus I realize there are different types of students. There are the older students that are just trying to do well in their classes, the serious students that focus just on school work and the students that joke and play around and are here for the "college" experience. I believe I am getting more out of approaching college seriously then when I just played around. Unfortunately, this lesson isn't learned usually until life happens. I am grateful to be able to be in school and be working toward my degree. I will be the first in my family to get a degree. My husband has his BA but my immediate family never finished college. When I cross that stage it will be one of the biggest moments in my life.

Getting Direction is Liberating!

God works in mysterious ways!

Yesterday, I wrote that I changed my major to human services technology and that I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. Sometime after I wrote that blog I decided to do some research on my major to see what was common occupations for it believing God would show me something. There I found exactly what I am going to do with my major! Become an addiction counselor assistant. Working with people that have substance abuse issues it what I was planning to do with my nursing and I knew there was something along the same line available with human services technology I just was not sure what it would be. I spoke with a career services' advisor today and he stated that I was on the correct track to being what I wanted to be. I am waiting to hear from someone about a volunteer opportunity to get some more experience on my resume. Helping people has been a passion of mine for my whole life. I can not see myself doing anything else for a job.

Even though I plan to have this as my career I don't plan on stopping at that when it comes to helping others. I hope to do something with suicide awareness as well as helping parents get needed education on parenting. I believe it is one step at a time, one day at a time. Working with substance abuse will get me right in the middle of something I have dealt with since I was little. I think using what I have gone through with family members and their addictions as well as the ones I have had will be glorifying God in my life. The idea of working with criminals that have substance abuse history trying to get their life together is also a possibility of my future. As long as I can show people that have addictions the love of God and patience I believe I will be an important asset to them. Never know one day I may just become someones sponsor. The possibilities are endless.

Two a day keeps the deadline away

My youngest son has gotten to a point where when he is sleepy he wants to be near you. Instead of sitting and watching television by himself he needs his dad or me to be on the couch with him. Since I have more blogs to write it seemed like a great time to get one done. Of course he is still not sitting down he is dancing around but sitting is a foreign concept to a 22 month old I am learning. My six year old is doing his homework and nightly reading in his room. He gets ahead because he likes doing it so much but really he is currently on restriction from television and Xbox because he has been coming home with unacceptable reports from school and church (not listening). They got to web cam with my mom earlier and they love doing that. She resides in Maine and usually we don't get to see her but once a year if that so technology has made it possible for her to watch them grow. Dinner is in the oven and heating up on the stove. Psychology will have to wait until later when the kids have calmed down. Trying to take in the concepts of theory and paying attention to the family is not easy. I am very excited about next semester getting into some of my major classes. I hope to find a place to intern or volunteer with in my field to get some experience. I think anyone who is in school should be working towards the goal of their education and making the most out of it. 

Good morning!!

Good morning!!

Maybe it is actually afternoon or evening as this is being read. As I sit in the storm cellar eating breakfast waiting to go to my math class I thought it would be a great time to add to my blog. Time seems to fly by way to quickly, feels like I just started the semester and here it is already past half way in and the blog is due. Honestly, I have learned so much from my first semester.

Expecting the unexpected and being open minded to what God's plan is for my life is one of my favorite lessons. I started school with the assumption I would become a nurse and work in a rehab facility. It has changed as of recently. I went to a nursing information session open minded and with the prayer that God reveal if nursing was the route I was suppose to take. I learned that there was another major I could be that would be helping people but more in the context of what I wanted to do and that is human services technology. So here I am following the will of God for my life as it comes to me and I am happy. I have no idea what I am going to do with this major as of yet but I know as I continue to take my classes God will reveal the right place to me.

I have learned that when writing a paper if I start brainstorming way before the paper is due or even on the syllabus to start I have a better outcome. Also, I learned to use what resources are available to me. The writing lab has helped me not just in writing class but my other classes as well. Still working on time management. Currently I am trying to come back from being sick and it seems everything needs work. My house needs probably a whole day spent on organizing and cleaning. Laundry will probably take 4 washers to get done and both my boys need to sit in the bath for probably an hour. Even with all this I could not have made this semester work without my husband. He has been extremely supportive and there at every corner I have needed him. I learned not to be so hard on myself when things aren't perfect.

Going to school was and is the right path for me right now. God has guided and he has provided allowing everything to fall into place. There is no other route then the one I am on.

A day of going nowhere!!

Finally, it is Saturday.

Since, my husband is off work and the kids don't have school we usually spend the whole day doing stuff. Does not matter if we have to do it or we just want to do it. This past week I have been sick and trying to get regular things done has been a challenge. School work got delayed and I even missed my math class one day. When it finally became Friday I told my husband I thought we should stay home all day on Saturday. That is exactly what we did! I had some school work to do for my interpersonal communication class and there is some psychology that is still looming over my head. So tomorrow after we get home from church I will have some school work to do as well. If I take one day off of chipping away at school work it usually creates two days of make-up. The next two weeks will be rather busy with home and church so I have to make sure I stay on top of my assignments. 

You never know what is going to come up and I will use this knew knowledge next semester. I started this blog in August and it is due this Friday and I still have a few blogs to do. I am so glad that I started early. Same thing happened with the last writing assignment, I started earlier then usual with the process and it resulted in a much better outcome. At least I think it did, we will see once I get the grade. Next semester will be more intense with classes but I look forward to the challenge. It looks as though I will be able to continue dropping my children off and my oldest will not have to go to after school care so I am very pleased about that. I do not want lose the things I do as a mother and wife and as a member of my church regardless of how busy and hectic my life may become. 

God continues to guide and provide and I continue to listen.

Apples?

 

Today, is the day I turn in my apples compare and contrast paper and I have to say I am excited. Once I got past the initial shock of the paper and started a brainstorming process it flowed easier then expected. I was sick most of the week so trying to write a paper and go to class as well as my home responsibilities was daunting but I believe with every new challenge I am growing. Having to read over other people's papers is the challenge as of right now because I racked my brain to get everything I could into this paper trying to see if someone else paper works is hard. Especially when everyone took a different approach to writing the paper. I signed up for writing lab a few weeks ago to get help with grammar and sentence errors I was continuing to make on my papers. It has been very helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of and to edit my paper. I think we get as much out of things as we put in. I am putting a lot into ever aspect of my classes so I can get out the most. I want to be able to take this semester and build upon it next semester. I am in school to gain the knowledge I need to have a career but also to be able to teach my sons. No one in my immediate family has a degree after high school so this is a big deal to me personally to do my best and obtain a degree. Learning new ways to do things is great because I can use them throughout my life. I don't see any part of this process a waste of time. I hope others realize what a privilege it is to be able to go to school to better ourselves and work towards goals.