Freedom

Today is my first official day of absolute freedom.

The only things on my schedule today are a haircut, and a massage.

This is the life I love.

However, every now and then my brain forgets that I have no assignments,

or papers, or readings,

and it goes into panic mode again. 

Old habits die hard.

A lot has been going on around here, 

but I think after finishing 2 papers on Thursday,

the writing part of my brain refused to do anymore.

So here is a little catch up:

1) I got the internship site that I wanted!!

I will be spending the next year at Shield Bearer Counseling Centers.

This is a Christian (or faith-based) agency, not even 5 miles from my house!

My spirit, and my gas tank are overjoyed!

I can't wait to see what God has in store for me this next year!

2) I am now certified to do Prepare/Enrich with couples!

This is a couple assessment typically used with premarital couples

(hence the prepare)

but can also be used with marital couple therapy

(hence the enrich)

This is a great tool to add to my therapy box.

The certification came from a sweet friend's father, and the training took place at my old work, Memorial.

Several of my school friends came,

and it was just a great mix of a couple of my worlds.

*I don't care what you say, Sister, I'm practicing on you and Jon!

3) I finished a book in the first day of my freedom from school readings

It was Erasing Hell by Francis Chan

If you know me, you know I am a HUGE Chan fan.

I read all his books, and I always love them.

He is one of those writers that when you read his book,

you feel like he is just talking to you across a table at Starbucks.

This book was a great response to others that have tried to claim everyone will be in Heaven one day.

It was a tough read for my heart, 

but an excellent read for my soul. 

(I wish he would have finished it more solidly with baptism, but whatever.)

If you haven't read it - Do it!

And if you haven't read his others (Crazy Love and Forgotten God)

you're missing out!

4) We are in the process of becoming home owners!!

 Our closing is sometime in the next couple weeks!

We are so excited!

We are officially going to own the home we have been living in for almost a year.

We love it.

You should all come visit us!

5) We are also in the process of installing new floors in our home.

The house is pretty old (30 or 40 years)

but it has been very well kept up!

The only old carpet is in the living room,

and it was a little stained thanks to wear and tear, and teenagers.

So we are getting laminate.

But it is pretty, you can't even tell it's laminate, laminate!

We are going with the 2nd from the right.

I can't wait!

6) I only know 1 of my grades so far for the semester,

and it was in a class that I didn't think was going to end well,

but I got an A!!

It was our research class, where we did somewhat of a capstone project.

Here is a picture from our poster presentation.

I'm just glad it's over!

Well that is about it from here!

Hopefully updates will become more regular again now!

Happy Monday!