A quick update

Life has been a whirlwind with so much change lately.  Yesterday, Philip and I moved out of my parents' basement!  It was a monumental step in our relationship.  however, we are still not independently living on our own, we now live in Rick and Janet's basement.  They are the parents of Philip's brother's wife, Rachel.  They are really nice people and they are renting out their basement to us until we move into Philip's brother's condo to rent from him when he and his family move to California.  The estimated time when we move to his place in Pleasant Grove is mid-October.

I got my diploma!  Now I am officially a Master, and that means a Master in everything...  NOT.  I also received my license as a Certified Social Worker.  This means I need to work under supervision of someone who has their LCSW (licensed clinical social worker) for two years/4000 hrs and then I will get my LCSW.

I have been searching and applying diligently for employment.  I have tried several places, interviewed at some, and am waiting to hear back on others.  I am impatient to start working again, but I need to remember I only officially graduated three weeks ago...  I am trying to enjoy my time off but I get bored easily.

My current position as a respite provider for VMH has come to a close as well.  It was difficult to say goodbye to my girls.  The process of working with them has been extremely challenging in the beginning.  Ask Philip.  I have seen them grow and progress and make improvements in their functioning and behavior.  Myself, I learned so much patience.  Perhaps the greatest lesson I learned was that you cannot coerce a child into good behavior for long, what will make the change is to develop a positive and trusting relationship with them.  I would find myself getting so upset and frustrated with them, and this simply would not work.  With time, I was able to form attachments with all three girls, and they respected me and would do as I asked.  If I had more than a year with them, I assume that I would not have to ask them to do much, they would know my expectations of them.

I have gotten to spend time with family as well, here I am with the nieces and nephews.

I am in love with this new addition.  Don't you want to squeeze his cheeks?

I hope that my next post will be a review of our trip out to Oregon next week...