SURPRISE!!!

So I am at home in Florence! Hooray!! and it was a complete surprise to Rebecca, who is really hard to keep secrets from so double success!  She was supposed to come with the parents to Florida before I leave for Morocco to celebrate her birthday on the 17th as well as to send me off and for them to bring Layla back to Florence for a stay at camp Skinner.  However, because she starts her brand new big-girl job on the 15th, she cant come down to see me anymore before I leave or party hardy for her birthday...So I decided to surprise her and come home instead.  To be honest I never thought I would pull it off because I'm a bad secret keeper about stuff like this anyway and because she's really good at knowing when I'm hiding something.  :)  But we did it!  Also, papa was surprised because he didn't think I was coming until tomorrow morning!  It is so nice to be home...you forget sometimes that you can get homesick, even when you know that you're old enough to be out on your own!  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and fully appreciates their families as I plan to this weekend!

Travel tips???

Hi readers! So today I just thought I'd throw a question out there and see if anyone has any advice...I'm starting to prepare for my trip to Morocco in August and I was wondering if anyone has any good trips for overseas travel??  I will have long plane rides, lots of different hotels, and even a night in the desert so I have to be prepared for anything! 

Thanks in advance and I hope everyone is having a great week!

Weekend!

So it's getting harder and harder to see the weekends end...I'm not sure why because I'm getting closer and closer to the end of the semester I suppose I should want them to be over more quickly so that they can just be done.  Oh well, at least this weekend I got to do something completely fun and not school related at all! HARRY POTTER!!! :) I have been a Harry Potter fan since I was in the 7th grade when I read the very first book.  For the last 10 years or so there has always been another book or movie to look forward to about some of my favorite characters and this weekend ended the era.  Isn't it amazing how someone can write a story that is so involved and memorizing that you think of the characters as real people? It is such a gift and I hope that in the future there will continue to be authors (who don't write textbooks) that can catch my attention so fully and take me to a whole new world for entertainment and escape!  Thank you JK Rowling and I hope all of you have a story that you love and that makes you as happy as the tales of Harry and his friends have made me! Happy Monday!

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth...

Hello readers! I'm so sorry I have fallen behind on updating here but the last couple of weeks have been really busy.  I think last I wrote, I had just gotten back from visiting Salkehatchie and was of course preparing for a test...which is all I feel like I've done since then.  In case y'all didn't know this grad school thing is hard! However, I think  I've turned a corner.  We are now over halfway through the semester and through our first year! And although I think I took one of the hardest tests I've ever taken to date this morning, I'm feeling pretty good about all that I have learned over the last 7 months.  

I'm also now done with my fieldwork component for this term.  I spent the last 4 Fridays traveling to Gainesville, Fl to shadow an occupational therapist at an outpatient clinic called Shands for Kids.  It was awesome!!!  I loved every minute of it (even if I did have to get up at 4:30 am to get there on time)  I learned so much and got good feedback about my interactions with the kids and about my interest in the population.  It's so reassuring to know that there is a field out there that I so enjoy and that I'm hoping I have the right tools and personality to excel in.  Plus, in what other job could you ever finger paint, scooter board, play wii, swing, and have a dodgeball war all in the same day?!

Also, just a quick update on Morocco...the trip is getting so close that I'm starting to get all my ducks in a row (and starting to stress about my declaration to make it there with only one bag!) I have been so awed by all the love and support I have received from my family and friends in regards to this trip.  Although traveling abroad always comes with some level of anxiety, I am so at peace with this decision and so excited to go learn and grow as a therapist and as a person, and a lot of that is due to those that I have here at home that support me through anything!

Ok, I think this is long enough for now! Love to you all!

Bittersweet weekend

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." Jeremiah 29:11-12

Yesterday was the first day of the 2011 Penn Center Salkehatchie camp on St. Helena's Island, SC. Although I cannot be there for the work and service during this upcoming week, I did go for the weekend to see my family and my friends that will be working hard all week. This would have been my 10 summer working at Penn Center camp and it was quite a sad and strange feeling leaving today knowing there is so much to be done and I can't be there to help. (ok, I cried like a baby!) However, I have faith in the wonderful group assembled in the low country this week that they will do God's will and serve those in need and grow in their relationships with others and with God. Since I can't be there physically with them I have decided to take on the challenge of improving my "purposeful prayer moments". A time to actually devote to talking with God and especially this week focusing on the Salkehatchie group. I hope y'all can take a minute this to week to also send up a prayer for safe work and strong faith for all those serving both on St. Helena's and across the state of SC. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

DOMS

DOMS: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

So I may have learned about this in multiple classes but we all know experience is the best teacher and let me tell you, I have had some up close and personal experiences with DOMS over the last 2 weeks.  I started a training program 2 weeks ago called Crossfit.  If you haven't heard of it, it's a high intensity program with its primary focus on weight training at rapid speed to incorporate cardio workouts as well. And it is tough! I'm just in the introductory class right now which is 3 days a week for 4 weeks, and its basically to teach you all the motions so that when you start going on your own you can complete the workout of the day without having to ask a million questions.  We have two trainers that yell at us so we don't stop! And also so that we are doing it right so we don't hurt ourselves. All that said though, I really am enjoying it. It's tough and I'm usually still sore from the previous workout when I start the next one but I like that its structured. You know exactly what you'll be doing that day because they program the workout.  And I have someone there watching, pushing and encouraging me.  And hopefully one day soon I will climb the 3 flights to my apartment without my quads bursting into flames at the top! :) Happy Sunday everyone!

Help the needy children of Morocco!

Just wanted to make a shameless personal fundraising plug...I have added a button to the left-hand sidebar of my blog that will take you to my donations page for my upcoming service trip to Morocco.  I have truly felt called to go and serve during my break in August and your support of any kind would me so much to me! Even if you want to use that as a link to explore the cross cultural solutions website and all the good work they do around the world each day! Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! God bless you and keep you all!

 This is from our fundraiser the other night!