Since I'm assuming that most of you have not partaken in the blessing (and sometimes curse) of being a grad school counseling student, I thought I would share a typical activity that one sometimes finds themselves participating in, of course, under the guise of "learning."
One of the classes I'm taking this semester is called "Psych Appraisal" which is basically on all the personality, vocational, learning, psychological, neuropsychological, etc tests that are out there for people to take to learn more about themselves. The beauty of it is that at our level very few of us will ever be qualified enough to administer these tests. Plus the class is at 8am. You're getting the picture of what this is like.
Fortunately, my teacher is pretty darn cool. He tells us all these crazy stories from years of being in private practice and working in mental hospitals. Nobody can tell interesting stories about their careers like psychologists. Well, maybe my brother's career gets a close second. Anyway, recently my teacher brought in a bunch of the Rorschach Inkblots to show us how they work. Despite what you see on TV these things actually can predict personality pathology and have a real scoring system and everything. So he would show us blot after blot on the overhead, while we shouted out what we thought the pictures were. I think we were hoping somehow hoping to be confirmed that we weren't crazy. Or that we were.
Anyway it went like this.
Teacher puts Inkblot example on overhead.
Students yell:
"Bat"
"Cat"
"Ghost"
"Gerbil"
Teacher says:
"normal"
"normal"
"normal"
"probably normal. wait, did you see one gerbils or two? Two? That means narcissism. You must be really self-focused. Hahahaha..just kidding."
Another time he gave us a memory test by having us copy a complicated drawing from the overhead, then he turned the overhead off and made us copy it again. Then 30 min later after moving on and doing other class material he randomly told us to copy it again.
It really helps your ego a lot.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Another good singleness thought
I'm just pulling through with the encouragement to all us single folks out there!
"So now we end where we began with all this Scripture in our mind. God promises those of you who remain single in Christ blessings that are better than the blessings of marriage and children.
If someone asks, wouldn’t it be better to have both? The blessings of marriage and the blessings of heaven? There are two answers to that question. One is that you will find out someday, and better to learn it now, that the blessings of being with Christ in heaven, are so far superior to the blessings of being married and raising children and that asking this question will be like asking: Wouldn’t it be better to have the ocean and the thimble full? And the second answer is that marriage and singleness both present us with unique trials and unique opportunities for our sanctification. There will be unique rewards for each, and which is greater will not depend on whether you were married or single, but on how you responded to each." ~ John Piper
To see the full article with the context of this quote click here.
"So now we end where we began with all this Scripture in our mind. God promises those of you who remain single in Christ blessings that are better than the blessings of marriage and children.
If someone asks, wouldn’t it be better to have both? The blessings of marriage and the blessings of heaven? There are two answers to that question. One is that you will find out someday, and better to learn it now, that the blessings of being with Christ in heaven, are so far superior to the blessings of being married and raising children and that asking this question will be like asking: Wouldn’t it be better to have the ocean and the thimble full? And the second answer is that marriage and singleness both present us with unique trials and unique opportunities for our sanctification. There will be unique rewards for each, and which is greater will not depend on whether you were married or single, but on how you responded to each." ~ John Piper
To see the full article with the context of this quote click here.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Good perspective on singleness
I found this blog not too long ago that's geared towards single women- it's the solo femininity blog link on the left side of my blog. I have sort of forgotten about it, but for some reason today (probably because of my convo with Jamie last night) I decided to check it out, and found this gem of an entry. Read it if you get a chance!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Song I've been reflecting on
We sang this song at church last sunday, and it was really great. I've been reflecting on it this week. It's called "Jesus Draw Me Ever Nearer". The second stanza is the chorus.
Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labour through the storm.
You have called me to this passage,
and I'll follow, though I'm worn.
May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart's testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.
Jesus guide me through the tempest;
Keep my spirit staid and sure.
When the midnight meets the morning,
Let me love You even more.
Let the treasures of the trial
Form within me as I go -
And at the end of this long passage,
Let me leave them at Your throne.
Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labour through the storm.
You have called me to this passage,
and I'll follow, though I'm worn.
May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart's testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.
Jesus guide me through the tempest;
Keep my spirit staid and sure.
When the midnight meets the morning,
Let me love You even more.
Let the treasures of the trial
Form within me as I go -
And at the end of this long passage,
Let me leave them at Your throne.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
My new friend Mary
Unbeknownst to me, CFA celebrated it's 40th anniversary last Friday.
I found out randomly because I went to the CFA on Jimmy Carter last Friday a.m. at around 9:30 while my car was in the shop at Tires Plus. Fortunately it was only about a 10-15 minute walk, so I went while the experts were trying to figure out the most important thing for me to fix out of the list of things that could be, and probably were, wrong. But the car is 12 years old, so, that's what happens.
It makes me exceedingly happy to walk places. I feel like I'm overseas. Plus, I had never been to this particular CFA before on the inside, so, "neat" I thought as I walked through the door. That's when I found out about the anniversary. There were crazy amounts of balloons everywhere. I just wanted a chicken biscuit and coffee (they have great creamer there too) and to sit down and read something to pass the time. I brought a school book which I should have been reading, but when I sat down I spotted a whole AJC newspaper sitting on a nearby table. "Sweetness" I thought, grabbing the paper and starting to catch up on the local Hotlanta news.
I was halfway through an article about a female pastor that was recently installed at a Baptist church in Decatur, when an older woman, probably in her 70's, with a cow necklace called out "who took my paper?? Who took my paper??" Ohmygursh..for the love of pete I was reading her paper. "Ma'am I'm so sorry. I took your paper. I thought it was Chik-fil-a's!!," I admitted, shamefully, to the woman. She responded, which a grandmotherly, southern voice: "OH honey, don't you worry about it. I've got the sports section of Gwinnett county and that's all I really wanted. You keep it until you're done." Fortunately, I seemed to be out of hot water.
The funny thing was though...she kept talking to me. And it was, kind of, interesting. She was the one who told me about how she came here for the anniversary, and that's why she was wearing the cow (the symbol of CFA), and how everyone who worked there was so nice and how she worked out at Bally's down the street and isn't exercise so good for you? She left me alone at this point, which was probably good because I didn't want to get into my personal vendetta against Bally's. But soon I was done eating. And she noticed. Plus, my car wasn't done yet. And I sort of paused in my paper reading because I noticed I got a section a bit wet and I wondered what she would think. Next thing I know she says "honey, do you want to come sit over here and talk with me?" Hmmm..why not?
I probably sat with her for about 30 minutes. She was delighted to find out that I went to Berry for college, because one of her sons did, and Berry is indeed such a fine school, but yes, quite expensive now. We talked about her family, how her son was suddenly going to be deployed to Iraq and he had two daughters and a wife and they were devastated. She talked about her husband who had passed seven years earlier, her church, etc. It was really fun, actually. I felt like that guy in the Kleenex commercial who's out in public armed with a couch and kleenex, listening to everyone's life stories.
Finally, I did need to go and check on my car. When I told her this she said "I think God sometimes brings us such fine blessings. I know that you're outgoing and so am I. I can just tell. So this was such a blessing to me." It was hard to leave. I think she could have sat with me for another hour at least. Maybe. It's funny because really it was just the company I provided, which I guess, she needed.
I have no idea if I'll see Mary again. But it would definitely be a blessing.
I found out randomly because I went to the CFA on Jimmy Carter last Friday a.m. at around 9:30 while my car was in the shop at Tires Plus. Fortunately it was only about a 10-15 minute walk, so I went while the experts were trying to figure out the most important thing for me to fix out of the list of things that could be, and probably were, wrong. But the car is 12 years old, so, that's what happens.
It makes me exceedingly happy to walk places. I feel like I'm overseas. Plus, I had never been to this particular CFA before on the inside, so, "neat" I thought as I walked through the door. That's when I found out about the anniversary. There were crazy amounts of balloons everywhere. I just wanted a chicken biscuit and coffee (they have great creamer there too) and to sit down and read something to pass the time. I brought a school book which I should have been reading, but when I sat down I spotted a whole AJC newspaper sitting on a nearby table. "Sweetness" I thought, grabbing the paper and starting to catch up on the local Hotlanta news.
I was halfway through an article about a female pastor that was recently installed at a Baptist church in Decatur, when an older woman, probably in her 70's, with a cow necklace called out "who took my paper?? Who took my paper??" Ohmygursh..for the love of pete I was reading her paper. "Ma'am I'm so sorry. I took your paper. I thought it was Chik-fil-a's!!," I admitted, shamefully, to the woman. She responded, which a grandmotherly, southern voice: "OH honey, don't you worry about it. I've got the sports section of Gwinnett county and that's all I really wanted. You keep it until you're done." Fortunately, I seemed to be out of hot water.
The funny thing was though...she kept talking to me. And it was, kind of, interesting. She was the one who told me about how she came here for the anniversary, and that's why she was wearing the cow (the symbol of CFA), and how everyone who worked there was so nice and how she worked out at Bally's down the street and isn't exercise so good for you? She left me alone at this point, which was probably good because I didn't want to get into my personal vendetta against Bally's. But soon I was done eating. And she noticed. Plus, my car wasn't done yet. And I sort of paused in my paper reading because I noticed I got a section a bit wet and I wondered what she would think. Next thing I know she says "honey, do you want to come sit over here and talk with me?" Hmmm..why not?
I probably sat with her for about 30 minutes. She was delighted to find out that I went to Berry for college, because one of her sons did, and Berry is indeed such a fine school, but yes, quite expensive now. We talked about her family, how her son was suddenly going to be deployed to Iraq and he had two daughters and a wife and they were devastated. She talked about her husband who had passed seven years earlier, her church, etc. It was really fun, actually. I felt like that guy in the Kleenex commercial who's out in public armed with a couch and kleenex, listening to everyone's life stories.
Finally, I did need to go and check on my car. When I told her this she said "I think God sometimes brings us such fine blessings. I know that you're outgoing and so am I. I can just tell. So this was such a blessing to me." It was hard to leave. I think she could have sat with me for another hour at least. Maybe. It's funny because really it was just the company I provided, which I guess, she needed.
I have no idea if I'll see Mary again. But it would definitely be a blessing.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
There is more then one way to be happy
Last weekend I was one of the thousands of folks who attended a wedding on 07/07/07.
This particular wedding was for a friend of mine from my school. We've had a few classes together and have always enjoyed great discussions about the class and our own personal lives. The wedding was taking place at a church about 10 minutes from my house, and I went alone primarly because I am not dating anyone and also because I wasn't sure who else from my school would have been invited. I assumed I would know no one but the bride at the wedding.
In these types of situations it really bugs me to be single. What I mean is, the kind of situation where I'm attending something and it's implied that a date would be important. It's culturally awkward to go to a social function, not knowing hardly anyone, on your own. I was excited about the wedding but was sort of unsure of how the reception especially would go, which is when the "alone" part would come in more obviously.
As it turns out, the usher who led me down the aisle ended up dropping me off at a pew where I immediately saw Becky, a girl I do know from school who is awesome and very friendly. She also came alone. At the reception, we then spotted Cheryl from my school who also came alone and sat with us at a table. Not only did I not feel alone at this point with two other gals to talk to, but I was able to talk with Cheryl about short-term missions for a long while. Score. That's a pretty darn good reception right there!
Last Friday I also found out that my grandmother (mom's mom) had surgery to relieve some blockage in arteries in her neck. I was kind of anxious about it and prayed about it a lot. I'm fortunate to still have all four of my grandparents alive and one great-grandmother. My grandmother pulled through just fine, praise God! I called her yesterday to see how she was recovering. I had a nice chat with her, my grandpa, and granny (great-grandmother). I always enjoy the conversation with them, but inevitably two questions are usually brought up: "are you dating anyone?" and "when are you moving back to Minnesota?". I know it's their way of saying they love me and miss me.
All of this has reminded me of how much God provides for me in my singleness. I have so many friends, I have family that lives 30 minutes away in Marietta, I have family far away that loves me and emails and calls, and I have God who promises to never leave me or forsake me.
I would be lying if I said I wouldn't love to get flowers or a great free meal, or the company that a boyfriend or spouse would provide. But I don't feel like I am lacking companionship at all.
Happiness can be found in either, which is what I meant by saying, "there is more then one way to be happy."
This particular wedding was for a friend of mine from my school. We've had a few classes together and have always enjoyed great discussions about the class and our own personal lives. The wedding was taking place at a church about 10 minutes from my house, and I went alone primarly because I am not dating anyone and also because I wasn't sure who else from my school would have been invited. I assumed I would know no one but the bride at the wedding.
In these types of situations it really bugs me to be single. What I mean is, the kind of situation where I'm attending something and it's implied that a date would be important. It's culturally awkward to go to a social function, not knowing hardly anyone, on your own. I was excited about the wedding but was sort of unsure of how the reception especially would go, which is when the "alone" part would come in more obviously.
As it turns out, the usher who led me down the aisle ended up dropping me off at a pew where I immediately saw Becky, a girl I do know from school who is awesome and very friendly. She also came alone. At the reception, we then spotted Cheryl from my school who also came alone and sat with us at a table. Not only did I not feel alone at this point with two other gals to talk to, but I was able to talk with Cheryl about short-term missions for a long while. Score. That's a pretty darn good reception right there!
Last Friday I also found out that my grandmother (mom's mom) had surgery to relieve some blockage in arteries in her neck. I was kind of anxious about it and prayed about it a lot. I'm fortunate to still have all four of my grandparents alive and one great-grandmother. My grandmother pulled through just fine, praise God! I called her yesterday to see how she was recovering. I had a nice chat with her, my grandpa, and granny (great-grandmother). I always enjoy the conversation with them, but inevitably two questions are usually brought up: "are you dating anyone?" and "when are you moving back to Minnesota?". I know it's their way of saying they love me and miss me.
All of this has reminded me of how much God provides for me in my singleness. I have so many friends, I have family that lives 30 minutes away in Marietta, I have family far away that loves me and emails and calls, and I have God who promises to never leave me or forsake me.
I would be lying if I said I wouldn't love to get flowers or a great free meal, or the company that a boyfriend or spouse would provide. But I don't feel like I am lacking companionship at all.
Happiness can be found in either, which is what I meant by saying, "there is more then one way to be happy."
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Survived another Peactree Road Race!
The largest 10K in the country is located none other than in the city of Hotlanta! The Peachtree Road Race is "fun" for many folks each year on the 4th of July. I was in Kenya last summer so I unfortunately did not have to get up at 5:30am to run for 6.2 miles with 55,000 of my closest friends. So of course I had to do it in 2007!
These were the shirts that my friends and I made to run in. In years past we have featured Ken and Jeremy, and this year the center of attention was Jamie. It was a painful decision for some reason to come to a concensus on what the shirts should say. Finally we went with a Dwight Schrute quote which says "I am faster than 80% of all snakes." So our shirts said "Jamie is faster than 80% of all snakes." Yes, we got a lot of quizzical looks from folks. And a lot of questions. It was hilarious.
Laura ran and I ran/walked it in 1 1/2 hours, which was sweet. It was great to be greeted by our friends that has already finished and were patiently waiting at the AJC tent (thanks Ken!).
Although running does have it's elements of "fun" I have decided to hang up my shoes for a while. I'm taking up biking. I think I just need a change exercise activity. So I got a starer bike from Target and went for my first ride yesterday. I don't know why I thought it would be super easy. But in no way was it easy. I give props to all those bikers out there because it is intense! I'm going to stick it out though. My friend Angie informed me today at church that there's a 30 mile bike ride race in September that I could do with her.
I told her I've only been biking one day.
But....who knows. Looks like I'm never far from the next race.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
John's email to us pre-Peachtree Road Race: the wisdom we needed
For anyone who is a little nervous about the Peachtree, I was digging through the archives of old Jeremy Ware emails and found something to help you out. If you're worried about not being the best one out there or not impressing the racing scouts, just remember this poster.
John
Monday, July 02, 2007
Fun pics from Gina's wedding on June 9th!
I couldn't get the captions to work so here's some descriptions of the pics!
1. This is me and my boss and good friend McKenzie who was the wedding coordinator. I've known her since college and now I work in her department!
2. This is me, Gina and Michelle at the rehearsal dinner. Michelle was a bridesmaid and Gina's good friend from childhood.
3. Dave and Gina- aren't they really really ridiculously good looking?
4. Carrell and me. This is a good time to remind everyone that this is the same dress I wore for my sister-in-law's wedding last September! Yes, I am way lucky.
5. Lots of us MTW folks that were there including three of the 6 bridesmaids and the bride!! I love working with them =).
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