Back in the real world

Since getting married I've been on vacation, or at least that is how it has felt. I've been able to sleep in and play with Brett whenever he was not working. And I'm not going to lie, it has been nice. Sure it also involved numerous hours spent looking for job openings, dozens of e-mails with my resume attached (one of which resulted in my new (!) e-mail getting spammed. I now get 20-40 unwanted e-mails a day. yes, every day. Luckily Gmail has an excellent filtering system and I never have to see or deal with any of them), and more than a handful of interviews. Oh and then there was the boredom that was inevitable and the frustration with the economy and the moments of concern about my future. But even with all of that, my laid-back lifestyle was pretty dang good. I say "was" because it is no more. I am now officially a working woman again! Don't get my wrong, I was enjoying my "vacation" but I'm super excited for this new adventure!

I started yesterday working at a residential treatment center here in the state. I can't say too much without breaking confidentiality, but I will say this. I've spent all day reading 45 pages of the training manual (there are over 80 pages total) and I'm actually enjoying it! It is great to see all the values and principles I've studied being put into action. I'm far from experienced with implementing many of the techniques but I'm excited to get the practice -- hopefully not at the students' expense. Right now the position is just over part-time (about 25-30 hours a week) but there is room for advancement and as I said before, it will be great experience! I get practice interacting with the students, writing case notes, following their therapeutic intervention plans, and hopefully making a positive influence in their lives. Plus, they are always doing fun things. They have recreational therapy and other off-campus events all the time (ie: biking, fishing, movies, horseback riding, hiking, swimming, park visits, sports etc). And yes, I get to participate. Sure there are some downsides. One being that I work Friday nights and Brett works Saturday nights. But that's nothing that we can't work around....Tuesday night is now our official date night!

I'm just so excited and grateful. Once again, God's plan has surpassed everything I expected. :)

In other news...

• We finally got a desk for our bedroom
• Corn on the Cob is our new favorite side-dish
• I'm officially addicted to playing Mexican Train Dominoes online
• Yesterday was my dear mother's birthday (mine is in 2 and 1/2 ish weeks!)
  
• BYU now knows that Brett and I are married (another BYU success story documented)
  
• And we aren't dead yet.
  

Lots of good news :)