Jonathan helped me figure it out...

Like always, I have had to turn to Jonathan's expertise to help me get my blog started. It has been 8 months since I last made an entry. Eliza is has now been married for almost a month and I have started my food storage. Let's see maybe I should do a little summary of each month.

November 2006: This is when I was deep into my first semester of graduate school. Jonathan and I took a vacation and went to Megan's wedding. It was in Nauvoo of course!! She looked beautiful and it was a lot of fun to see everyone. It was a Japanese theme and they even had goldfish swimming in the centerpieces. It was really neat to see how calm and collected Megan was. She was so happy and had prepared everything. This is also when we found out that Jonathan's med school application was incomplete. That AMCAS had found an error with his A.P. credits on his transcript. It was scary to think that this may influence whether his applications would go through. Thanksgiving was the weekend before Megan's wedding and we had it at my mom's house. Then on the way to Nauvoo we went to Aunt Merilee's house for Thanksgiving dinner and unfortunately were only there for a couple hours. We had to leave to meet Emily and carpool to Nauvoo.

December 2006: I finished my first semester of graduate school with a 4.0. I was very proud of myself and had worked my butt off. Jonathan, found out that the application would not go through in time to meet the deadlines of the 5 schools he had selected. We found out the day after Christmas and he spent the rest of our vacation emailing and calling people for extensions. We spent Christmas at my house. I hadn't been home for 3 Christmas's because of my mission and the wedding. It was so good being at home. Then Christmas night we went to the Dunford's for dinner and to spend time with them. We spent at least a week and a half of Christmas break with family.

January 2007: School started again and I had been assigned my second clinical placement at Renaissance Head Start with Mrs. O'Leary as my supervisor. Everyone had talked about how hard she was but I learned a lot from her and was grateful for all the advice that she gave me. I also realized during this experience that I was good at working with kids. I loved working with them and seeing their eyes light up when I came to get them. I had 4 clients. The boys were very severe. A.J. was always sick and had severe expressive and moderate receptive language delays. B.N. was even more severe. He was 5 and had maybe 20 single words he produced. He had behavioral issues and yet was one of the sweetest little boys I worked with. He had been diagnosed as being cognitively impaired but I still think he was just smart and didn't want to talk yet. The girls were a lot higher functioning then the boys. I had a mild receptive language delay and a developmental stutterer. The girl who stuttered had a little attitude. She was just barely four and a little bossy. She was adorable and after the first session didn't really stutter with me. We had to put her in a group since she felt so comfortable with me. Having the two girls paired together for therapy was a lot of work. It was during this time that I realized that I didn't want to work with adults any more. That I had fallen in love with litte African American preschoolers. It was really hard working with the kids. I found out that it would always be a challenge and very rewarding.

Feburary 2007: School is a blur...Jonathan got an interview at Wayne State...I sent in my scholarship applications....

March 2007: I went to my first MSHA conference. It was interesting going to the kids classes. I figured that I should work in the schools since they only had to work 9 months out of the year and got really good money. However, I was discouraged by all of the paper work that would have to be done. Not to mention the caseload of 50-60 kids. I didn't feel like i could take the responsibility of all those little ones. Jonathan had his medical school interview at Wayne State. Jonathan's interview went very well and his birthday was not so great. I didn't do anything special for it since I was so busy with school. I am still feeling bad about it.

April 2007: Jonathan was forgiving and threw me a surprise birthday party at the Adamson's. They are a young couple in our branch that we hang out with all of the time. It is a lot of fun since they live right down the street. They will come over and ring our bell and we end up playing through the night. We taught them how to play Euchre, Shrek Super Party, and Mario baseball. I finished my second semester with flying colors. I had gotten another 4.0 and was sure that I would get the full ride scholarship for another year. This month was very hard for me. We found out that Jonathan was wait listed again after all of the hard work and sacrifice he had put in to making his application more competitive. We didn't understand how he wasn't accepted. I was very disappointed. I felt like Heavenly Father had let me Jonathan down. I couldn't fathom it and was angry for a week or two. I had never felt so angry before, at any degree. I hated feeling that way and kept telling myself to stop. I soon realized that the peace and comfort I had been feeling the months prior to Jonathan getting his answer were a blessing from my Heavenly Father. He was telling me and preparing for that moment and I still let him down. However, I learned that he has Jonathan in mind and that he didn't disregard my prayers. I had been praying for him to open doors for Jonathan. I had been very vague and always said, "if it be thy will" after requesting for Jonathan to get into med school. It was a good growing experience for me.

May 2007: The scholarship didn't work out the way I planned it. I was baffled when I got the news. I figured I had deserved it. Then a week later I was given another half scholarship and the department was going to pay for another 2 credits each semester. So instead of a full-ride I got a 3/4's ride. I also became a lot stronger in my personal scripture study. I started reading the Book of Mormon again and studying the April Conference talks. I have fallen in love with the scriptures and have noticed a great difference in my attitude and happiness levels. Jonathan, despite everything, has been a rock. He is so optimistic and keeps plugging away at his research and business pursuits. He really likes business and is not burning any bridges this Fall. He is going to apply to lots of programs in Health Management and Med School. Eliza and Christopher had their wedding. It was beautiful and a lot of fun. We went to Nauvoo of course. She had a really fun bridal shower. Everyone was supposed to bring shoes along with their gift. Emily, Roxy, and I did "a romantic evening in" and got her pretty red shoes and lots of romantic evening things like placemats, music, candles, and what not...

June 2007: Eliza had a huge reception in Michigan. Roxann and Phil came with Charlotte. Roxy is prego. Charlotte knows all of our names now and was so cute!!! I am barely staying afloat in school and therapy. I had a internship interview with the Children's Hospital here at the DMC and got it. I will start that next winter. It is hard to believe that there are only 5 more months of school classes left and then I will be done forever!!! It is very exciting. I love what I am learning but I can't wait to accomplish my goal.

Important note: Before I end my updated blog, I just want to mention that although the past year has been very difficult and we aren't exactly where I thought we would be at this point. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have come so close to Jonathan. He is my best friend, and treats me like gold. I know that we have both grown so much and have needed this time to realize that no matter what happens in life, as long as we are together and striving hard to live the commandments and establish a righteous home that nothing else matters. We will be able to make it through whatever trial and become stronger for it. I love him with all of my heart and pray that I can become more like him.