Oh ya.....

Dr. Leitch-Alford,

On behalf of the American Counseling Association and the ACA Ethics Committee, I would like to say congratulations to you and your students for receiving first place in the ACA Graduate Student Ethics Competition! Zachary Taylor, Erin Constable, Tara Kreider and Thomas Smith showed exemplary work in critically analyzing the case scenario and created an exceptional ethical decision making plan to respond to the ethical situation.


How beautiful is it to get this in my inbox when I get home from a long, tiring day of classes?? I'm excited right now! That thing took a lot of time and energy but this somehow makes it all worth it. I know I know winning isn't everything but just let me have my moment :) This is going on the resume!

So they hand out the awards (a certificate and a gift certificate to the ACA bookstore) at the ACA conference in March in Pittsburgh, which I wasn't planning on going to. Hmmm I may need to now.... Regardless....EXCITING!

Feeling weird.....

For all you inclined to prayer my body could use some right now. I got home last night from a friend's (I had been feeling fine all day and evening) and then I got hit with a very weird episode of dizziness. I decided to go to bed because I wasn't sure what else to do. It was intense though, I could barely walk. While laying in bed it felt like I was really drunk and had the spins. I hate that feeling, but to have that feeling when I didn't even have one drop of alcohol was really scaring me. I woke up this morning still feeling a bit dizzy and very nauseous. Perhaps I'm coming down with something? Or perhaps there's more going on? Regardless I don't have time for this right now, and it's a little scary because last night was not fun. Thank you!

Thank you....

I'm feeling the love from all of you back home and here in Harrisonburg. Makes life easier, especially during this current time where things seem all over the place. So this is a brief thank you to all of you who continue to check in, read my blog, pray for me, and just show your support in the many different ways that you do. Life would be a dark lonely place without you all and I'm just so thankful that I have your light amongst all my sometimes insanity.

Just wanted to let you know that I love you loads and I'm thankful your in my world; whatever part you play! This picture represents the light that you bring...I love the circles that are in the distance. Some are small, some big, some darker than others, some overlapping, some are on their own, regardless they are all part of the illuminating glow of the flame and therefore impact the whole in a way that cannot be explained or separated!

Week 1....

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted something. I can't even begin to explain to you how busy I've been since I got back.....

• am feeling scared for the semester, not only is it a lot of work but there is also a lot of things that I need to schedule outside of class time....for the first time I'm thankful that I'm not allowed to work in this country and not bitter
• this semester's lineup----Integrated Counseling Process (learning a million things about sitting with clients for 3 hours a week and then practice those with a small group for another 3 hours a week), Crisis Intervention and Trauma Healing, Group Counseling, Practicum (more on that later), Human Development, and Spirituality and Religion in Counseling
• Christian and I are trying not to be freaked out that we have to watch a baby being born in our next HD class......his aunt teaches it so we were trying to see if we could opt out, she said we could but called us wimps at the same time in a nice counselor way of course :) I understand the importance of this so I'll do it and probably love all of you that have had to go through this even more
• looking forward to ICP I'm really going to learn a lot, however it's going to be a huge amount of work
• for the crisis class we each had to pick a topic and do a massive presentation on it, I got sexual assault and rape and I was thankful for this since this is what I feel as though I'm being called to in my world
• practicum is 100 hours (40 direct with clients and 60 indirect) and I have already begun mine....I'm going to be working with Safe Spaces which is a group for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) students on campus. It is an activist and surface level support group that operates all over Canada and the US. It gives LGBTQ persons and allies a place to meet each week that is safe, even at EMU the meeting place and time are kept secret. So I will be attending the meetings weekly, starting a support group for those LGBTQ persons who are interested, and doing some one on one counseling out of the bigger issues that arise in the group context with those that are willing....BIG assignment, but I'm super pumped about it and I'm going to learn lots....that will be a weird moment when I meet with my first client....eek I can't wait
• flights back to the 'burg were uneventful thankfully, although I hate Dash 8 (prop) planes
• Erica picked me up at Dulles and we went out for lunch/breakfast at Cracker Barrel, which is a country cookery kind of place....basically take any country cookery that you can think of in Moncton and add loads of butter and weird things that you wouldn't even understand and you've got Cracker Barrel....so wanting to emerge myself back into my now southern ties I decided to get the big country breakfast that had everything from gritts to fried apples to biscuits and gravy....Erica was having a ball with my uncertainty of the food and not even knowing how to eat it....I will never order that again because I'm clearly not meant to eat that stuff and my heart can't take it :)
• had some friends going through some rough stuff this week and was thankful that I could support them in that, however I got whacked with something myself on Wednesday night so then started feeling like I dropped the ball....thank God for counselors!
• missing my home, it was hard coming back to my room after being in my house for three weeks
• apparently Trooper has adjusted quite well to me being gone....Jason didn't know how to answer that questions when I asked it "Erin if I tell you that he's fine you'll be sad, but if I tell you that he's acting out and not okay you'll be sad." Good point!
• I really want to go to Disney!!!!!!
• think that's it....hope you all are enjoying the freezing...it's been +10-13 here these past couple of days not that I'm bragging or anything...ha ha ha

Made me think....

'To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.' When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better!

This is soooooooo true with everything that I've learned and continue to learn from my grandmother's passing. I will try to put this all together in one blog post soon. It's rolling around in my mind right now so stay tuned.

I'd love to hear your thoughts/comments on this quote? Did anyone else connect with this?

Week 0....

So I'm going to start the countdown (or maybe countup???) next week since a new semester begins on Wednesday (CRAZY). However in the meantime here's a few things happening on the home front:

• my buddy Trev (dude that has my beautiful Honda in VA) called this morning... the Honda has had another first, it got broke into last night...unfortunately no write off damage :) and fortunately nothing was stolen but a Cherry Coke...Trev's brother's BMW was sitting right beside my old car and was untouched does that make any sense????
• my grandmother passed away on Christmas Eve for those of you that don't know (more on that in another post at some point)
• grief is a weird thing...and dealing with things as they hit is a new one for me too....I'm learning lots, why can't I just suppress memories anymore and deal with them when I'm ready? Freaking Nate!
• didn't get to connect with as many people as I wanted to when I was home (sorry to those of you feeling left out) but Grammie and Jason got most of my attention...and I slept wayyyyyy too much
• ordered my texts from Amazon...apparently the bookstore at EMU is a rip off??? would have been good to know when I overpaid as much as I did last semester.....texts still cost $400...oh well at least I read them now for this degree so it's not a complete waste
• I love my puppy.....thinking of leaving him in a few days makes my eyes fill up with water
• want to go some where warm for spring break but can't afford it :( k let me rephrase that, I want to go to Disney...there that fits better
• feeling nervous about this semester, I know I said this in my previous post but it hasn't gone away
• looking forward to finally opening Christmas presents with my mom and sister tonight
• want to make pumpkin waffles before I go back, Jason doesn't share my excitement about these though
• I hate flying and I've been having to do way too much of it lately, not that I'm complaining though because the man waiting on the other end makes it worth it every time, however with all these new "things" happening in the news it makes me really not want to fly.... hmmm can I do the 19 hour drive by myself? Nope, so I better stop complaining!
• handing EMU an $8000 cheque when I get back will be rough
• thankful we had one awesome Maritime storm while I was home, sorry everyone but I was praying for that
• got to do some baking finally....didn't have anywhere to bring it though so the Nav Canada men were happy
• have to stop thinking of things to add to this list and go get some stuff done

So it begins.....

I've been home for a little over 2 weeks now and I can't help but notice a shift in my body over this past 24 hours. I am no longer in double digits until I go back to Virginia. I am now less than a week away. That's right, this time next week I will be sitting in my bedroom in VA, not in my house with my boys like I currently am right now. I type this with a saddened heart. However as I type that I feel saddened for another reason. I don't want to leave here, I don't want to leave this beautiful life of mine and my loved ones behind. BUT I do want to go back to Virginia and see those cool kids that I've become so close to with in few weeks. So you see it's really bittersweet. I was out with a friend tonight and she said "it's like you have two lives pulling at you". That's exactly how I feel. It's weird, it's a constant conflict.

The other thing that is unsettling within me is that I'm freaking nervous to start next semester. I'm not sure why, I rocked out the last one (4.0 woot woot). Perhaps because it's going to be harder? I'm now not just learning things but am going to need to implement them in my practicum, could this be my concern? Or is it that this break from my crazy counseling sessions has been welcomed and I know I need to start digging again soon when I really want to run in the other direction. As I type all of this I realize it seems to be a melting pot of a whole bunch of different stuff. Each one of these rang true as I checked them deep within myself.

I don't know what this semester is going to be like. I can't control any of that. What I do know though is that I am one lucky girl. I have people in two different countries who love me. I have friends in two places that get excited to see me and I'm just as excited to see them. More importantly, wherever this road takes me I've got one amazing man by my side....even though sometimes he's 19 hours away.