Friday Letters: Week 1 in Greeley

•  Dear Week 1 of Grad School in Greeley, You are chugging along at a nice rate, and I appreciate it.  No classes on Friday, so my first week is already done -- 1 week down 3 more to go.  I really like the classmates I have met, and the work seems hard, but manageable.  I think this month is not going to fly by... but it will move steadily at a satisfactory clip.
• Dear White Cane and Blindfold, It seem we will be spending quite a bit of time together in the next two weeks.  Let's make the best of it, and work together to become a great blindfolded traveler.  Now if only, the cane or blindfold would whisper to me which Cardinal direction we are walking, I would be eternally grateful.
• Dear Cardinal Directions, I did not know I do not like you until this week.  In Michigan, the lake is always West... in Denver, the mountains are always West... in the mountains, its easy to tell the position of the sun to determine East or West -- IN THE BASEMENT of the University Library, BLINDFOLDED, it is REALLY hard to keep track of and correctly identify cardinal directions.
• Dear Miller Family, This year is so exciting.  Becky and Daniel are expecting their Nugget anytime (due July 2), and Nick is engaged to Mandy... what a big year for us.
• Dear Hubby, It has been hard to be away from you this week, but I get to see you this weekend and I am SOOOO excited!!!!  You have to NOT distract me from working on my project due next week, but it will be wonderful to have a weekend together.  Last week, we had our last day of school on Friday, and then I left Saturday for Greeley, so maybe we can treat this as our celebration-that-school-is-over weekend?  I can't wait to see you, and sleep next to you.  This week I learned that I don't sleep as well without you.  The bed feels too empty, and cold.  I can't wait to see you!
• Dear TurboFire, You and I had a great week... I got up and did my workout before class every day but Wednesday.  Let's keep this up!
• Dear Bicycle, You have been great to ride to and from class each day.  I hope the temperature doesn't get too hot because my evening rides home might be miserable, but so far, so good.  It feels great to ride the 3.7 miles to campus instead of drive.

What letters are you writing this Friday?

Thank You for your Prayers

Thank you for your Prayers.

A few weeks ago, I asked for you to join me in prayer as I hoped to arrange Orientation and Mobility placements for myself this summer in order to become certified to teach Orientation and Mobility as soon as this winter.

Specifically, I asked for the following... and I have followed up each request from early May with how, just over a month later, they have been answered.

• Please join me in prayer for the arrangements of summer placements... All summer placements are arranged as of two days ago.  I will spend three weeks of July in Tucson; three weeks of August in Michigan; and three weeks of Sept/Oct in Texas.
• Or join me in prayer that all the doors would be locked tight and I would get the message to stop knocking!  These doors were never locked.  They took some persistent, and PERSISTENT knocking... but every one of these doors has now been opened (and I'm hoping they will stay open so that I can walk through them in July, August, and Sept/Oct).
• Please pray that my will be in joyful submission to whatever the Lord wants me to do with my summer... and my life... and it will be on His time frame.  The Lord provided for all of these practicum placements, and showed me His timing for not only my earning this degree but other things in my life through this process.  So little is in my control, and sometimes I forget that this is how I want it.  His timing is so much better than mine.  My life and my future is so much better cared for in His wonderful hands.
• Please pray that I learn from this intense frustration and that it grows my character.  I think He is still growing my character through this process.  Sometimes things don't happen fairly, and people don't extended common courtesy.  That shouldn't affect how I treat them.  I need to love them despite their treatment of me.
• Please join me in prayer that something changes because I am coming to the end of my rope.  The Lord measured my strength for each day, which I know he will continue to do throughout this very busy, jam-packed, working summer.  He extended my rope as long as was needed, and provided everything I needed in the perfect timing.
• Maybe you will feel led to pray that I get a new dose of patience for dealing with organization after organization that seems intent on a lack of common courtesy...  He provided all the patience necessary, and I am so grateful.
• But please, however you feel led to pray, please join me in prayer.  All of your prayers were answered and I am so grateful.

Thank you for standing with me during this time of adjustment.

Thank you for helping me surrender these points before God as I struggled to accept His plan and His timing.

Thank you for your support. 

Please never hesitate to share your prayer requests if you would ever like me to stand with you in prayer.

The Best Dinner Ever!

Hubby and I had the BEST dinner ever last Saturday night when we first moved me to Greeley.

We were celebrating... many things... and had several gift cards to P.F. Chang's, so that is where we decided to go for our big night out.

When I find a dish I like at a restaurant, I order the same thing every time I go there.  If I haven't found a dish I love, I will try different thing, but AS SOON AS I find an item on the menu that I love, I order it EVERY TIME I go to that restaurant.

At P.F. Chang's that dish is Mu Shu Chicken.  Oh, just thinking about it makes me salivate!  Hubby and I went to P.F. Chang's and I was over-the-moon excited to have Mu Shu Chicken.  Mu Shu Chicken is this wonderful and flavorful chicken dish that you eat on these light, airy, Chinese tortillas with a DELICIOUS hoisin sauce.  Oh man!

Just imagine how crest-fallen was my face when the waiter told us that they no longer offer Mu Shu Chicken.  He said that they can still make a dish similar, but they don't have any Chinese tortillas, and they don't have the hoisin sauce.  The air just went out of my sails.  I eventually settled on ordering sesame chicken and Hubby and I continued to enjoy our dinner.

When our meal came, the waiter brought us our dinner... and then set down a dish that looked exactly like the chicken part of Mu Shu Chicken.  And then he set down a sauce that looked exactly like hoisin sauce... and then a plate covered with a napkin.  Our curiosity was perked.

The waiter then announced that the kitchen had made me the Mu Shu kitchen dish... and they had some hoisin sauce (the waiter didn't know that they use it in another dish on the menu)... and then he said, "I don't know how they will taste, but we have some Mexican tortillas from On The Boarder, the Mexican restaurant next door."

Hubby and I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!!!  We were speechless, and completely excited!!!!  All of our food that night was delicious, but our Mexican Tortilla Mu Shu Chicken was the best thing we had!

We later found out that the manager ran next door to On The Boarder and ordered a side of tortillas just for us.

We felt like the most important people in the restaurant, and we felt like our celebration dinner was something that the whole world was celebrating with us.  Our dinner last Saturday will go down in our history as the best dinner ever!!!

Treasuring the Present: First Day of Class

Yesterday I had my first day of my intense June class.

I always start a class ready to jump into a new routine and desiring to be as ahead of things as possible.  Today, I found out the various assignments I'll be completing during this month... and my urge is to START ON THEM!!!  COMPLETE THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

There are 445 points... within about 5 assignments to complete this month, and I just want to jump in and BEGIN!!!

The problem is, I don't have the knowledge I need yet to complete the assignments... at the very least, I need the RUBRICS for the assignments.

So, today, I'm treasuring the first day of class -- where I'm excited to begin, but I'm not overwhelmed, overloaded, and stressed about a deadline.  Today, I have begun summer classes, but I am joyfully stress free, as the work has not yet begun.

So Blessed!

Hubby and I are SO Blessed!

• We are so blessed that we do NOT want to spend the majority of the summer away from each other.  We are so blessed that we LOVE each other's company, and want to spend every day, every night, every adventure together.  We are so blessed that when we have to be a part, we miss each other and want the time to pass as quickly as possible.  We are so blessed.
• We are so blessed that we will ONLY be a part for a summer.  Neither one of us is away for six months or a year fighting for our freedom, risking his/her life every day.  We are so blessed that we can talk any time we need, and we are only a car ride (albeit a long car ride, but only a car ride) away.  We are so blessed that when one of us says "I love you," the other can answer back.  We are so blessed.
• We are so blessed that we both have opportunities to expand our education and professional resumes this year through classes and experiences.  We are so blessed to have jobs, to have jobs we love, and to enjoy learning more so we can do our jobs better.  We are so blessed.
• We are so blessed for the couple I am staying with in Greeley who have opened up their homes and their hearts to me for this month.  This woman is a sister in PEO (so her husband in a brother-in-law :-D) and they are such dears.  I am so excited to get to know them while I am here, and I know they will take extremely good care of me.  We are so blessed.
• We are so blessed to have families that love us and support us and would do anything for us, including show up, at a moment's notice.  With Chris and my union, our families have really merged and we're all one family.  Our parents are friends, Chris' siblings respect my parents, and Becky and Daniel (Chris' sister and bro-in-law) have even said they are excited to introduce their little Nugget (coming in July) to Grammie and Papa Sanden.  We could not have imagined or dreamed of a more precious and wonderful family.  We are so blessed.
• We are so blessed that Chris used to live in Greeley so he has already plugged me in to his old church down here and a few of his old church friends.  Isn't it interesting how, when our time is limited, I often use it most effectively?  We are so blessed.

Chris and I are so blessed.

As I begin today, my first day of a month-long, intense class, I am focusing on our blessings.

1,000 Words

1,000 Words from last weekend

Mr. Rose

The first day of 9th grade, my history teacher, Mr. Rose, had a quote written on the board when we walked in the room.

 

"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." - 

He had a different quote on the board for every day thereafter, all the rest of which I've forgotten, but the quote from that first day of high school, I have always remembered.

Mr. Rose specifically called our attention to that quote and told us that today we were starting high school and that our worlds were changing forever, but that we would be just fine.

He was right.  I loved high school... not that it was the highlight of my life or anything, but I really had a great time in high school.  I loved Mr. Rose's history class, and he was right... although my world had changed forever, I was just fine.

 I do not remember all the history that Mr. Rose taught me, but without fail, EVERY major change in my life has the same phrase ringing in my ears...
"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."

 When I graduated high school, started college, finished college, studied abroad, started graduate school, moved, started jobs, ended relationships, through weddings, funerals, births... the same phrase, and Mr. Rose's assurance always comes to mind.

For me it is comforting to acknowledge that yes, it really is the end of the world as I've known it... but I am prepared, I am equipped for what is next, and I will be fine.

This is what I am trying to tell myself tonight as I treasure my last night in my little home in Rifle, with my wonderful husband.  We leave tomorrow to move me to Greeley for June and I will be living with a lovely couple, attending a whirlwind Orientation and Mobility class, I will be blindfolded much of the month and learning to use a white cane, and I will be living away from my husband.

It is the end of the world as I know it... and I do not feel fine, but I do have faith that I can do this.  The Lord measures my strength for each day, and is my comforter and my protector.  I do not want to do this... but I will be fine.

Mr. Rose, I am sorry I cannot still recite the 4 or 5 factors that caused WWI, but thank you for equipping me so well at such a young age with words that would serve me for life.