Graduate School: First Couple of Weeks of School

 

 

 

I have been SO in love with my new campus..

 

I think that all of the work I have had to go through to get here, with how hard it has been for us to pay for everything, with me having to cry make decisions about the new program they replaced the one I  orginially was in with, and with the uncertainty of if we will even be able to afford for me to go back next semester..

I have been SO indescribably grateful everytime I am walking to class.

My heart feels so full to be here..

 

I love the wonderful, smart, motivated people that are in all of my classes and the educated experienced teachers that are teaching the program.

I also love that I am finally able to learn in school what I have WANTED to do for a career..

The whole program is focused on how I can help others myself and others have a healthy view on life.

 

& Because I don't think I have even explained this to very many people yet, the program I am getting my Masters Degree in is..

Clinical Mental Health Counseling with an emphasis in Marriage and Family

 

 

Also.. I want to point out.. that I am definitely not at BYU-Idaho anymore..

:)
If you have ever gone/experienced it there you would probably know why this picture kind of made me laugh. This was my first day of school.. and at the school I got my undgraduate degree in they have a pretty strict dress/honor standard which meant that not even the girls were allowed to wear shorts,  so I just took this picture so I could give Blake a smile and say..

"Todo.. we are not in Kasas anymore..."

 

[Just in case we hadn't already figured that out by the mere 30 degree increase in weather temperature]

And this is the face of one HAPPY graduate student that just survived finshed her first day of class!

 

It's definitely going to be different getting back into the swing of school and studying.. but I just feel elated to be here. I have dreamed of getting my Masters Degree in Counseling for as long as I have ever seriously pictured what I could want to do for work when I was "grown up".

I think this degree can be such a tool to bless others lives around me.. as well as my own family's.

 

I do have to say though.. that I feel like being a Mom is the most important calling I have been given in life and one that not only do I not want anyone else to do but that I feel like no one else can do the same as I can with my own children.

SO if there is anything I can do about it I don't have any intentions to work until it doesn't take away or affect my first priority of my family. And I am praying that I can get through this program with just my once a week (per class) night classes, so we will have to see [& pray and work my tail off] how everything works out.

 

Also.. this new stage of life that Blake and I have entered in we have realized is going to be a poor one. Which even though I have definitely been stressed I have realized that we have SO many blessings and so many more things to be grateful for than to worry over..

And I think that focusing on the things that you want and don't have will never lead to a happy or satisfying life.

So for the next 4 years (or more) while things are very tight and we have to eat a lot of pasta and scrimp and save.. I am going to be grateful for my sweet husband, my baby girl my Heavenly Father has blessed me with, the good family and friends in my life, our opportunity for education, and all of the wonderful things we DO have.

 

 

"May I assure you that there is no shame in a couple having to scrimp and save. It is generally during these challenging times that you will grow closer together as you learn to sacrifice and to make difficult decisions.... be assured that almost anything can be worked out if you are resourceful and if you are committed to making your marriage work."

-President Thomas S. Monson

 

This quote is a lot about marriage.. but I think that there isn't shame in anyone having to save while they are working for a better life. This has been something that has been comforting to me entering this new chapter..

 

Good luck to everyone else who is starting back at school, starting a new job, or starting a new phase in their life.. sometimes it can be scary but you have to be out of your comfort zone to grow.

:)