Clinic

Just for a glimpse into my days @ MGH

.......................................

Even though my classmates and I all have a full load of classes, we all find ourselves spending about 80% of our time with "clinic"...just everything clinic. We each have two clients that we see twice a week. This involves weekly lesson plans, progress notes for data, parent handouts, and...the 'prep work'. Can't tell you how many hours I've spent with scissors, crayons, and tape in my hands thinking, "waaaiitt, don't I have like a paper due or something I should be working on? but instead I'm cutting out caterpillars?...hm" (but it's so fun!)

With the little ones (like 4 and under), having a theme to center each session around helps to focus the objectives and often produces better results.

This week? The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Basically, this theme is allowing me to target:

-attending to a storybook

-showing proper handling of a book

(independent page turning, etc)

-contrasts Big vs Little

-spacial concept 'through'

-entity+location (caterpillar is ON...)

~ Happy Times ~

~~~Thanksgiving~~~

This was a special and unique Thanksgiving for me, as it was my first holiday away from home. Honestly, it was such a blessing because I had such a wonderful time with friends. Plenty of us are far away from home, working and doing school, and going home just isn't feasible. So a small group of 8 gathered together and lived the single's dream.

~The Beautiful Finished product~

...let's see how we got there.

Every group needs at least one man...for the carving of course.

Calvin very much claimed an entire leg, and I wasn't about to get in between that. Later in the evening (I forgot to take a photo...sad) he brought the wish bone to me and we pulled it apart together...I got the bigger half! He must have overheard me mention how I used to pull the wishbone apart with my cousin Karin when we were little, and he went off to find and clean the bone and bring it to me. Love~

T.H.E rolls

So Mel (the master chef behind this all) asked me if there was something that just 'made' thanksgiving for me that we should make. I said, "My Aunt Ellen's orange rolls!" So, thanksgiving day, upon arriving early to help prep, Mel informs me that they did in fact make my orange rolls...and then proceeded to eat them all already! Ha! Naturally, I made the next batch. I've never made rolls before, so I am very proud of these.

*beautiful*

Oh, so while I'm takin a break on the sofa, my friend Nishan sees me and apparently decides it's time me and him break what he thinks is my comfort level 'touch barrier' of our friendship by pretty much enveloping me in his hug. Hmm. yeah he stayed like this for a while, till I convinced him I felt much closer to him and we were definitely better friends because of this 'experience.'

Boys

OOOhhh the Pies

{Another "first" for me}

Late the night before all the festivities, I went to Mel's place to help her make the pies. She's just amazing at all this stuff. Nothing is store bought when it comes to food. It's all from scratch, all the time, every time.

{sorry blurry. Pecan Pie}

We laughed cus it came out looking like one giant cookie, but it tasted sooo yummy.

Lemon *meringue*

Allison (or Miss Mitton for me) with the whipping cream.

And, she made these cute little turkey place settings. Apparently a family tradition that 'made' thanksgiving for her. Her mama even sent her one in the mail for all the roommates. Sweet.

Their home is so cute.

I'm so lucky to live really close to them. It was not really planned when we all moved out of the Nottinghill house to live so close to each other, but it has worked out so great. It's my second home here.

Used mason jars for cups.

And, as I think is fitting for young single adults on their own for thanksgiving, we sat on the sofas and floor for the 'feast'. We tried to get tables from the church, but apparently weren't the only ones with that idea. I thought it was perfectly appropriate for our age group!

Me, Miss Mitton & Mel

We may not have had our moms and family, but we are all so blessed with friends that feel just as close and good as any family :)

The Bog Blog

So you know that Ocean Spray commercial where those guys are standing in a pool of cranberries?! Well, I learned that that "pool" is called a Bog and it's how they harvest the little guys.

Steffanie, Lauren, Jennie, Katherine, Aubrey and I

went to the Cranberry Bog Festival.

Happens once a year for only one weekend.

You get to walk on a little wooden overpass they build to see a close view of the process. Men wade in the water, throw the berries on the conveyer belt where they are washed then spill over into the truck.

Just beautiful colors

(I got a kick out of this man...just hangin' out in ma overalls waitin, ta hall away the berries!)

On the other side, in a separate field, you can see how the berry bushes look before they are harvested. There's a machine that floats on the water (very small in the background) that goes around sort of ruffling the bushes so the berries come loose and float in the water. (The good ones float, the bad ones sink). I think Monet' could have worked wonders with a paint brush here too, just like with his lily pads in the ponds.

They had them all packaged up and I'm assuming in these boxes? I don't know, they were just pretty so I took photos!

It was a beautiful fall day activity...

...even if the age bracket was slightly skewed to either a very young population (had little booths for kids, hence the strollers) or a very old one.

So, next time you drink cranberry juice....

picture this!

At Water's Edge

I spent this weekend in New Hampshire

for a tri-ward campout.

Very very fun and nice, just to be outside and get to meet and make many new friends.

This morning we held our church meeting in the amphitheater area over looking this beautiful water. As the testimonies were being shared, I found myself having a "conversational dialog" in my head. A small part of me loves poetry and occasionally I find myself writing some of my thoughts down in that form.

I thought I would share what I wrote, because it means something to me, and perhaps it will mean something to somebody else as well :)

At Water's Edge

Dear Savior I’m peaceful, it’s quiet and still.

I’m trying to listen, to learn of thy will.

My child I am calm as you watch me this day

You rest in my palm and there you may stay.

My child I am steady, constant I flow

With patience please watch me, my ways you will know.

Dear Savior I’m watching, please help make it clear

The reason for living and why I am here.

My child I am ready, come unto me

Will you watch, will you listen, will you look, will you see?

My child I see in you an increase much more

I’ll show you the purpose, which you were made for.

At times I’m alone here, dear Savior please stay

When all I can do is to kneel and to pray.

My child I am with you, my presence remains

Doubt not, fear not, my comfort sustains.

My child do you feel me at waters edge?

Do you trust me to keep you safe far from the ledge?

Dear Savior I trust you, but how do you know

Of the cares and concerns of one child below?

For sometimes I falter, my sandals grow wet

As I walk on the water, nearer thee to get.

My child I am wide, I encompass all

Let my arms protect you when you feel far too small.

My child I’m all knowing with stars in my hands.

The moons and my worlds still obey my commands.

I rule ‘or through heaven, the cosmos attend, but

My child from my throne did I once descend

And now with all glory for my Father above

My child do I raise you through matchless love.

For time without measure and space with no end

My child you’re my glory, my treasure, my friend.

No force could diminish, nor power could break

My child from my watchcare, not one I’ll forsake.

So dear child be calm as you watch me this day

And know that I love thee, and am not far away.

Be patient and steady so one day you’ll see

Just how to return and live always with me.

Something to me

...because it means something to me~

When I was home last, I told daddy about something I've always always wanted to do. I love my home. I love Turlock. And I wanted to photograph it.

I was so blessed to grow up surrounded by beautiful things, and I don't feel like I've ever taken it for granted. I have always loved looking at the fields of corn, vineyards of grapes, orchards of nuts and fruits, or rows and rows of whatever else we grow, not to mention all the cows!

But there are certain places I'll never ever get tired of seeing; places that mean "home" to me. Places that even now, thousands of miles away as a desktop picture, can make me calm just looking at it because of the memories and emotions of home embedded in them for me.

How many hundreds of thousands of times have I driven down Taylor and crossed over this canal...

...or taken puppers on a walk and unlatched the gate overgrown with ivy?

How many years has this been my view walking out my front door to go watch the boys play catch at the park, run over to the Falke's for a second, or meet mama as she comes in with groceries or daddy from work at lunch time?

How many seasons of harvest have I watched; measuring the what-seemed-like-daily growth of the corn until one morning you all of the sudden realize, "hey! they cut the corn down today!" (always pretending that some of it ends up at Raley's to buy, even though you really knew it was "for the cows")

And how many times will it take turning down this road...

for my heart to stop aching with that wonderful happy ache that you only get when you turn down the familiar road to home....

for me not to feel like I can suddenly breath deeply and properly again knowing that home is just down the road...

for my eyes to stop soaking up every bit of the land, like if I don't trap it all in my memory I may one day forget how the warm sun looks on the open fields...

Hopefully another hundred thousand times or more.

Because this is my home,

this is where my heart truly forever will be,

because it means something to me~