L'Oreal had it right in their slogan...

This morning I was thinking about all of the awesomeness that God has blessed me with recently: my amazing(ly beautiful) wife, our great families, my affectionate dog, our first home, my sweet job, and our wonderful church…to name a few. At first I was thinking that I deserved only a small fraction of the blessings and then it dawned on me that I deserved none of it…at all. There are been many things that have caused me to stumble and fall in my walk but that is part of the beauty of Christ…I don’t deserve it but I am worth it.

Repeat that phrase with me…

I don’t deserve it but I’m worth it

Despite everything that I have done and will do, I am still loved by Christ, bought by his blood, and covered in grace. Relient K has a great song, Be My Escape, that captures what I'm thinking...

I’ve given up on doing this alone now

Guess I failed and I’m ready to be shown how

You told me the way and now I’m trying to get there

And this life sentence that I’m serving

I admit that I’m every bit deserving

But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair

Did you catch that last line?

But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair

If life were fair, we would all be royally screwed...but God loves us and showed us that we are worth the pain and heartache...we are worth it. Even though we do make those mistakes, grace allows us to have a another chance and another and another and another, etc...

In a nutshell

Well, I've been at the job for about 2 weeks now and things are starting to pick up...to say the least. I think that my case load will be better once I have started all my cases and do not have to keep rearranging my schedule. I long for that day! This week was crazy because of 2 manditory meetings. One was on Weds from 9a-1:30p about de-escalation. The other is Fri from 9a-5p doing my CPR and First-Aid training. I am kinda looking forward to the CPR and First-Aid because I get to sit back and be told what to do...which is a nice change of pace. Don't get me wrong though, I love my clients and look forward to seeing them regularly.

I'm keeping this short so that I can spend time with my loving and neglected wife. She's the best for putting up with this rough time...especially since she has been at home all day. Glad that she is starting work soon! Yey!

It's better to give than to receive...

I have grown up with that phrase my whole life and I have recently found out that it is total crap. If everyone gives but no one is willing to receive, then no one can give. It takes a lot of self-respect and humility to receive a gift, regardless of how large or small it may be and it is often more difficult to receive than to give, especially when the giving is outside of birthdays and holidays.

I used to think that the mature people did not accept gifts and then realized that they were actually the immature ones. I love to give because of the feeling of doing something right and providing for someone, not to mention seeing the joy of getting the gift. When you realize the joy of giving it is important to learn about the joy of receiving. By refusing gifts, you are depriving people of the joy of giving. Imagine the joy of giving and the heartache of having it rejected...now transfer that to the other person.

"It's better to give and receive...freely"

"X" marks the spot

I had the greatest treasure hunt today...and my greatest, I mean worst. Since the weather was super awesome today, I went around the back yard and picked up poo. I know that a lot of people do this and it could be worse, like for our neighbors who have 3 dogs, but it still sucks to spend time actively looking for poo in your yard and going towards it when you find it. I am not looking forward to that when it is 100 outside...yikes.

I'm a real boy!

I have a week of my career work under my belt and it's pretty exciting. Most of the week was spent in orientation meetings, some supervision sessions, and doing some shadowing. My first client starts up on Monday, which is anxiety provoking. I think that it's going to be fun but I also know that it's going to be a challenge and starting up things is always the hardest.

I have 3 other cases that I am working on and I'm doing some shadowing for one of them on Tuesday with a possible session at the end of the week.

I have to say that it is very liberating knowing the staff that I am working with and how it is not anything like the previous job I had in seminary...which will go unnamed. Everyone is focused on work but they also care about how we are doing as well. During the supervision session (where taped sessions are shown and reviewed) the supervisor asked the therapist what was making it hard for her to do something. It's not just about the client getting better, but the therapist learning about the garbage that we bring into the sessions as well. Awesome stuff.

First Day of work...

...Or that's what today should be. However, a couple of inches of snow fell last night. It was pretty powdery snow, so it wasn't too bad but my orientation for today was canceled and rescheduled for tomorrow at 3pm. Dang it! I actually want to go to work and I can't. Now I have to sit at home and do what I've done for the past 2-3 months...nothing. This was our first snowfall, so that was pretty exciting. The dog loved running around in it. I think Danessa is going to be posting some pictures on her blog, so you should check those out too.