A new school year!

First day for students was today. I'm very thankful to trade in my previous first days of school in which I was paying tuition, for this one!

Today was rather uneventful, and from what I've been told, is amazing! There were no hysterical 6th graders sad to leave their cozy elementary schools to move to the big scary, class-changing middle school. There were no fights and not much of anything besides some lost students and a lot of 'I don't remember my locker combination's.

It was fun though! And all went well :) I was also told that days like this are few and far between. I'm sure once I actually learn all the ins and outs of the school things won't be as quiet.

I'm ready for day #2!!!

Another beginning

My eye twitch is going strong. Probably over a month now and I still can't sleep well... if I do I dream about work and things going wrong.

Did you ever wait tables? I used to have dreams that every one of my tables were full, but I could not for the life of me get to them and they were getting angrier and angrier!

Similar dreams, just a different occupation. I am so excited and anxious to start my new job though! I am very thankful I get to start this Wednesday, 10 days before teachers come back to work. So I feel like I'll have a little bit of time to try and get a grip on things before the rest of the school fills back up.

Tomorrow is my last day of internship. Three semesters of interning used to sound so long, but I've made my way to the end and it kinda flew by. Then Thursday is my last class of my master's education! I can't believe its been 3 years and I've gotten this far. I know that I will probably have bumps in the road this next year (because when isn't there?), but 3 years of education is a long time and a lot of training.

I know that I can do this job. I know I will have to learn a lot of things on the job and that will be okay. I will also be pursuing my license immediately after graduation so that should help with any bumps in the road! Licensure means weekly one-hour supervision meetings with my LPC supervisor, so it gives me someone to talk through things with and get advice.

Two days... until I start a new job. Two days until I move on to the next part of my life.

So, wow.... Deep Breaths!!

Looking Up

I have developed an eye twitch that has haunted me for the past 3 or so weeks. Add that to the 7 pounds that job searching has helped me tack on and I'm ready for life to calm down.

However, I was offered a job last Tuesday and as of today, have officially accepted! So it doesn't look like things will slow down anytime soon, which is a blessing.

I haven't slept well in days and have a terrible time trying to turn my brain off long enough to fall asleep. If I'm not thinking about all the things I will need to figure out with counseling, then I'm dreaming of babies. (Actually dreamed last night that I had a hysterical pregnancy and didn't find out until month 8 of thinking I was pregnant. Thanks Glee for planting that seed).

In spite of all the stress, I am feeling much better than I was a couple weeks ago! I've been in constant prayer about this job and do feel at this point that God wants me there.

Whew!

It is a huge relief in a sense (to actually have a job!) and also gives me huge anxiety. Because now I have to put everything I've learned the past 3 years to work and be a real counselor! I saw what will be my office today and will meet with the counselor who retired next week to nail down what it is I'm stepping into. I hope and pray that after meeting her I will have some clearer lines as to where I even need to start, because wow....overwhelmed.

This position is at a middle school, 6-8 graders, one counselor - me, about 645 kids, which is a lot. At 750 kids each school gets the option of an additional part-time counselor to add to the full time one already on board. It is in Tuscaloosa, 35 minutes from home in the opposite direction of my current life (Birmingham): doctors appointments, licensure supervision appointments, family, etc. THAT part makes me incredibly nervous, but I'm sure God has a plan for that also! I don't want to have to change doctors, but I'm not sure how it will all work since the last appointment my doctor accepts is at 3:10 and school doesn't get out until 3pm (an hour away). Maybe they work with another lab and I can do bloodwork, etc in Tuscaloosa instead of driving an hour to Birmingham each time. We'll see!!

I'll keep you updated.