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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Blessings, anyone?

Today I am grateful that I have some really amazing professors and TAs. I'm in school for 8 hours straight on Wednesdays, but because I have instructors that are engaging and who have wonderful experiences and insights, and who are all around interesting people with pleasant dispositions, those 8 hours fly by...at least compared to the alternative. I am grateful to be studying at a great university where I am learning so much from such fantastic people...honestly, the social life at BYU was a wonderful daydream, but the academic life usually wasn't engaging or challenging enough for me. Or perhaps it's just that with a few more years under my belt, I've changed and have a better approach now...either way, I am truly blessed to have the particular stresses and demands that being a full-time student at Purdue has given me.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Week of Firsts...

Paul & I had a busy week last week--and really in the last month. Last week was both of our first weeks at our new jobs, and it was the first week of school for me, as well. And I had two papers assigned on my first day! So much for "syllabus week." I got to talk to the head placement director about my student teaching placement for January and he was actually incredibly nice to me, which apparently is a first from the way my friends have talked about him. Paul & I also bought our first car. (Pictures to follow...)

I know that I am very blessed, and that there are wonderful things ahead of us, but to be honest, I am more than a little overwhelmed right now and wishing that I were someone better than me. I feel exhausted all the time, and I never get to see my husband during the week (he works late afternoons and evenings and I work/take classes EARLY mornings). We also haven't had enough time to go grocery shopping for real, so we stop by and pick up a few things that only end up making me hungrier and cost more money in the long run. So I'm tired, hungry, cranky from not seeing my husband, stressed about a $300 licensing test next week that I HAVE to pass, and overwhelmed ALREADY with school assignments and planning for student teaching...and no real end in sight. And it's only the second week. And that's only the stuff I'm choosing to tell you. *Sigh.*

Because of this, I am trying to count my blessings more (as hard as it is sometimes). So one new thing every day...today, I am grateful because on Sunday, Paul & I are going to be sustained in a totally rad new calling, in which we get to work together! So even though I may not see him for 5 days out of the week, our weekends are totally linked and I'll get to see him pretty much all the time. I think I'm going to like Sundays way better now. Also, I am grateful because my sister bought us unlimited texting, so Paul & I can send a few random messages throughout the day without actually having to coordinate our time. So at least that's something. I so totally could not have been one of those women who let her husband leave for months or years at a time, even for so noble a cause as to serve a mission. I am a very independent person, but I have become incredibly dependent on Paul for so many things, especially emotionally. I'm lucky that we get to spend as much time together as we do, and that even when we can't, there are other ways to stay close.