Nice Comments

After notifying me of getting an A in her class, post final, one of my instructors emailed me this lovely comment:

"Thank you April for being an outstanding student and peer (our paths have crossed and I was honored to know you through the Alzheimer's Foundation (Dee Fester, founder) & Home Instead - I resigned and moved to Bay Area in 2009 - I use to work with Margery Minney (Valley Caregiver Resource Center) and ran OASIS (under Fresno Pacific University and transferred it to VCRC) since 1998)
My best wishes and hopes for you and your children - Keep in touch! Have a wonderful summer! You should be proud of your accomplishments-SMILE"


This is the same instructor who told me that my research paper was excellent and asked if she could use it for an example for future classes. 


It's nice to have an instructor who notices that you're working hard and doing your best.  :) 

Photos

I was looking around my house yesterday and I realized that all the photos on my walls are WAY outdated.

I'm talking toddler-ville.

I'm talking family photos of the kids and I with their dad. That was 8 years ago. Kelly was 9, Joe was 7, Laine was 5 and Johnny was 3.

I didn't have a stitch of gray hair. Ahem. Wait, scratch that...gray hair? What gray hair?

I seriously need to get some wall-worthy photos taken.

Two down, four to go!

Yesterday, I finished my Multicultural Perspectives on Aging course and took the very hard final. I also took my final in my developmental psychology class, right after we listened to a talk by a transsexual individual named "Emily." The final in that class was collaborative and we were able to work with our "shipmates" (remember this instructor had a pirate theme to her class). I said a fond farewell to Chelsey, Morgan, Emily and Kamran.

Today, I am taking my Psychology of Aging class final, which I don't think will be too hard. Tomorrow I just have one final in my Social Psychology class. Since it's a normal chapter test, and I only need 15 points to have an A in the course, I'm not anticipating much difficulty there.

Thursday will be a rough day. I have my cognitive psychology final (my hardest final by far) at 11, then I have a comprehensive essay final in my Applied Behavior Analysis class at 3:30.

I should have no problems getting an A in five of the six classes. I'm very worried about my cognitive psychology class because our grade depends completely on three tests, and even though I've gotten A's on the other two tests, I might blow it on this one and mess everything up. I hope not!

Gifts from my mother

Every year on Mother's Day, I think of all the ways I have been blessed by my mother. This year I have been particularly blessed to have her as my own cheerleader, encouraging me to finish my education, rooting me on in my efforts to be a good mom, and giving me a nudge in the cheerful direction when I am feeling discouraged, overwhelmed and down in the dumps.

My mother blessed me through my youth by always serving others. She listened and loved so easily that I don't think she ever had an enemy a day in her life. She taught me to cook, to be frugal, to be helpful. I think of her every time I say stuff that I swore I never would say as a mother, only to realize why she must have said the things she said. God grants me a little more insight each year into the heart of my mother. I'm so grateful to blessed enough to have her as my mother!

Saturday

My Saturday began bright and early, putting the baby birds out to play. I ate some cherries right off of the tree and cleaned the kitchen.

Kelly had a practice AP test this morning, so I drove her to Hoover; this was immediately followed by fast and furious texting about where her teacher was, where the test would be given, etc. She couldn't find her teacher or the class, and finally, just when I was about to turn around to go get her, she discovered her teacher who was running late.

I went home where my home teacher was ready with chain saw and dolly to help me in my yard. For the next few hours, the kids and I helped clean up the big pile of wood and branches right outside my back door. I took motrin before the big event, hoping to stave off the migraine I felt building, and I took an allergy pill since I'm very allergic to the Modesto Ash trees we would be working with. However, the whole time I was sneezing, my eyes were watering and my headache just kept getting worse. I sneezed in my yard, 200 feet from my neighbor's house, and I heard "God bless you" shouted across the yard!

We were able to finish the task finally, with the help of Joe who returned from his Father-Son Camp-out (less his father, who attended a Giants game instead of going on the camp-out) just in time to help with the last little bit. We filled two green waste bins and moved the wood to the front where it can be chipped at the appropriate time. We also moved some pots to the garden area with the dolly.

After my home teacher left, I drank as much water as I could and tried to be quiet until Laine's friends arrived at 1:00 for a swim party. By that time, my headache had become a full-fledged migraine, and it was all I could do to be the proper supervisor for swimming in our beautiful pool.

We made a bit of pasta as a late afternoon snack (with meat, much to the dismay of Laine's vegetarian friend. I'm such a bad mom...) and Laine and her guests made brownies. When they departed, I rested for a few minutes to try to kill the headache once more. It refused to leave, so I took Kelly with me to the grocery store, where we purchased a few necessities for Sunday and I managed to cook dinner, then collapsed into bed again.

Later this evening, I went out to the yard to check on the chickens, and felt HUGE gratitude when I saw the empty spot where carnage and chaos had once reigned in my yard. I feel so blessed!

The Miracle of the iPod

I've had an old first generation iPod nano for many years. It wasn't until recently that I began to use it again after a long time on hiatus. I really wanted one of the new nanos, with the built in pedometer. (See my previous log about trying to get up to 10,000 steps a day.) About five times this semester, I've been about to buy one of them, but stopped myself because I could think of a great many things to spend that money on besides an iPod, built in pedometer or not. It was a luxury that I dared not dwell on, and we were focused on necessities.

This is a testimony that God answers prayers that we think are too dumb or too selfish to pray.

A few weeks ago, Kelly came to me to show me something on her computer. It turns out that my iPod was recalled. The battery would overheat, start fires and cause injury. And rather than replace it with a first generation iPod, or just change the battery out, Apple said they would send me a new iPod nano...with the built in pedometer! I completed the online form, skeptical that it would actually happen. A few days later, I received a package in the mail with a mailing label and envelope. I sent my old iPod in, and in less than a week, I received my new nano.

I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to wear my new iPod and watch the steps accumulate. It keeps track of each day, resetting automatically, so I can look back over my workout history! And when I run, it can keep track of distance and time for me!

God blessed me, yet again. How lucky can a girl get, to receive not only her necessities but an extra every now and then?? It was my little private miracle. God knows us personally and individually. He even knows when one of his daughters wants an iPod. :)

These Dreams

I awoke this morning, haunted by a dream. I was certain that I'd had this dream before. I was uncomfortably panicked and desperately grasped at the waking threads of what the dream was about before I lost them in the madness of the day.

In the dream, I am living in my house, which was not exactly like this house, but I knew it was home. In the dream, I was frantically trying to put plastic on all the windows of the house to keep the cold out, and I sent the kids to gather fire wood and stack it everywhere we could. I also ran through checklists of supplies, including matches and water and oil lamps. You see there was about to be a blizzard.

For my friends who haven't lived in Fresno and are possibly unfamiliar with the climate here, let me just tell you, there are NO blizzards in Fresno. In fact, I've only seen snow here twice in the 18 years I've lived here, and both times, it looked like someone sprinkled powdered sugar on the ground. It melted as fast as it landed.

So back to my blizzard preparations. I remember feeling anxious. And making all of these preparations was hard, navigating the ladders was hard, and carrying heavy things was hard, because, after all, I was pregnant.

Again...no. In the dream I kept thinking, there's no way I'm pregnant! No biological way whatsoever, yet my tummy was round, my hips ached, and I had sciatic pain shooting down my leg. I felt protective of my baby and worried that something would go wrong. I felt an urgent need to put everything right, do everything perfectly and I felt fear that I wouldn't get it done in time as I heard the radio blasting out storm updates.

Then I woke up.

I had a counselor who told me once that most of us can figure out our dreams if we take an image or an idea from our dream and ask ourselves what we associate that with. That's exactly what I've done.

As near as I can tell, I'm afraid (cold). I feel like things are beyond my control (storm). I'm uncertain about what the future holds (preparations/storm), and I am trying to carry out something that is very important to me (pregnancy). I feel like everything is at risk and I feel foolish at times (awkwardness, roundness). I'm still gathering information and looking for signs (windows, radio).

So is this just a dream about trying to finish my degree? My rush against diminishing resources and time itself to try to bring to pass what seems impossible in my life? My struggle to trust the Lord with my financial future while I carry out what he has told me is possible if I will have faith? I'm still pondering the layers of meaning.

In the meantime, I find it curious that Kelly also had a dream on the same night about snow. Hm.

Maybe a snowstorm is coming after all?

Farewell, Maurice Sendak

“And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.” - Maurice Sendak


RIP

Photos of outdoor life in our back yard

These grapevines are growing so fast right now you can almost
hear them. Early each morning I go out and wrap the vines and tendrils
around the trellis wire so that they don't overtake my fruit trees.
We set a lot of fruit this year...does that mean I finally pruned correctly?

I can't wait for these apricots to be ready. I LOVE apricots! The tree is filled with them.
We also have peaches, TONS of plums, nectarines, four cherry trees,
and an apple tree that has yet to produce a ripe apple. They all fall off for
some reason before they are ready.

This little bird set up a nest in our peach tree, only about 5 and a half
feet above the ground. There are three little eggs in the nest.
She even lets me touch her!

Abby watches over the nest from below the tree. She lays here almost all day.
She loves baby birds. She's been known to watch over ones on the ground, laying
next to them and watching them. On the ground you
can see some of the peaches I pruned from my peach tree. Each year
I have to prune 3/4 of the crop or my branches break off.
Last year, I pruned and pruned, then we had a windstorm that broke all the
branches anyway. We had maybe six ripe peaches last year.
Such a shame because these peaches are AMAZING!

The big ugly bird in the foreground and the one just like her behind the yellow one
are turkeys. I almost regret getting them...they stink WAY more than any chicken.
They're also dumb. And I don't mean just a little dumb. I mean REALLY dumb.
The yellow chick in between is a buff orpington. She's a sweetie! Almost out of the picture is a
Rhode Island Red (right). The little head you see sticking up in the back is a Silver
Laced Wyandotte. She's a lot younger.

Here's the coop I made. We can carry this anywhere in the yard.
The chicks loved their first day outside. It's 4x4x2. The lid comes off
so we can get inside to gather up the chickens when it's time to go to bed
at night.

A close up of the buff orpington. She's very cute!

Purpose Project

Our attendees working on their purpose worksheets. 

In my developmental psychology classes, we are expected to carry out a group project, informing the public about an area that we feel is important. My group and I decided to do a project on the importance of purpose. We were intending to do it for both college students and the elderly, but ended up only working with seniors.

We put together a power point and made an appointment at Carrington Pointe. We prepared worksheets for the residents to do that would help them think about their purpose, and we also prepared a survey.

When we first got there, I was very nervous that we wouldn't have anyone show up. Kamran and I went out and talked with the residents as they finished their dinner and were able to recruit people to come with us to our seminar. Kamran is six foot seven and very attractive, so all the ladies were flocking around him anyway.

By the time we were done recruiting, the room was filled to capacity. Our typical attendee was late eighties, early nineties. There were three men and the rest were women. We had thought that the presentation would be about 30 minutes, but it ended up being about an hour. Our power point had slides of various senior family members from some of my teammates and I. We each shared stories about seniors with purpose in our lives who touched us and impacted the lives of others. We also discussed how important contributions can be small things or big things. The participants asked questions of us, and shared stories from their own lives. It was truly, truly amazing.

The primary message was that having a sense of purpose can help us get up in the morning, fight off depression and illness, help us work through grief, bless the lives of others, keep us motivated. It was all based on research and materials from our text, and it hit home with many of the seniors.

Some of the comments we received were very touching. They said they couldn't believe that there were young people who cared enough to come and talk to them. One sweet lady said that she had forgotten about her purpose in life. Another said she was so glad to have her purpose written down where she could see it. Several people told us that this workshop was very inspiring and made them feel young again, in the sense that there was still more that they could do in this life rather than just wait to die. All of us were really moved by the experience. It was so worthwhile!! I loved it so much, I'm thinking of working on a presentation to use in all of the facilities here locally, for staff and clients, and calling it the Purpose Project.

What if you could change someone's life? What if you are not done touching the lives of others, but only beginning? What if God's plans for you are bigger than the plans you have for yourself?