7 Quick Takes vol 3

Read more 7 Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary!

1. Last night my co-counselor and I hosted an event for our students and their parents to help bridge the communication gap between young people and adults.  We pulled this event together in one week and I am incredibly happy with how it turned out.  I get so, SO very nervous when speaking in front of people, but the night was for a good cause and I loved seeing some lightbulbs go off in both parents' and kids' heads.

2. I have been praying a lot for discernment.  Discernment of what God's will is for me when it comes to my career.  There are many perks to my job, but many hardships and difficulties as well (some that resulted in many a crying session down the BW Parkway).  What's really missing for me though is a lack of spiritual groundedness at my job, which I guess isn't surprising since I am at a public charter school.  I want to be able to use my Pastoral Counseling degree in a more religiously affiliated institute. But, like I said, my job has perks.  The hours being one, and the fact that I'm pretty certain if I were to get pregnant my boss would listen to me make a case for working part time.  Maybe.  

3.  Speaking of planning for if I become pregnant...I have been thinking a lot about how I can get ready for pregnancy before I'm even pregnant!  Is that odd?  For example, I read an article a few months ago about a possible link between folic acid intake before pregnancy and a reduced risk of autism.  So I started taking prenatal vitamins.  You can read the article here.  I also read about health benefits to mother and baby of exercising during pregnancy...so I begged Chris to join a gym so I could get into the routine now (I can't find the exact article I read now, but theres a lot out there).

4. On Sunday Chris and I will be going to a "dessert club for catholic couples married less than 5 years."  Super long name, but we've really enjoyed going.  This will be it's third week and we've already met some amazing couples through it.  A mentor of mine who is also a Pastoral Counselor started the group to give recently married couples the opportunity to have some fellowship with like minded couples.  She is also a Marriage and Family therapist (MFT- something I would like to become one day) and gives us a "marriage minute" each time we meet which is a little anecdote supported by research on how we can improve marriage.  She has been married for many years and has 11 children so there is definitely a lot we can learn from her!

5. Student' last day is next Wednesday and I'm hoping our boss will give the counselors a little time off before the summer session starts.  Which means I will have time to read!!  I am looking for some good book recommendations, particularly spiritual.  Does anyone have some good recommendations??  I'd really appreciate them!

6. I am realizing I have a very bad case of crochet project ADD.  Currently I am working on 1. a beach bag 2. Chris' Jets afghan 3. dishcloths 4. a ruffle scarf (which I'm actually really excited about because I have been wanting to learn how to crochet with ruffle yarns for a while now)

7.  Our ONE year anniversary is NEXT Sunday!  I cannot believe it has been a year.  And what a year it has been!  I am trying to think of some good anniversary presents...A couple ideas I have are a "365 reasons I love you jar - one for every day" "52 reasons why I love you - on a deck of cards" or an "ABCs of our love"  All super cheesy but they also fulfill the paper tradition.  What did you all do for your first anniversary?

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you can find your own bit of sunshine on this rainy day!  (Well, it's a rainy day in MD at least...)