Hello Christmas Break

Finals are over. Whew. I only had three exams, but they were big, ugly and challenging exams. So nice to have those out of the way.

I also wrote many major papers that were due a week or so ago.
There was lots of this going on....



I took this picture to try to capture my need for organization. Each highlight color represents a different section of the paper (left side- paper outline), highlighted parts are research findings that support that section of the paper (middle), and the little screen (right) has my actual paper being written.

I counted up all of the papers I did this quarter. By the end, without counting title pages or references, I wrote 90 pages total. (I believe it was something like 113 with title pages and references included). The good news is my professors think our class is really good at writing, twice we were told we wrote the best papers they have ever read by students! I got full points on my 20 (ended up being 23) page paper and that felt really really good.

So now one quarter is over and I am happy. I feel happy with how I did in my classes, I learned so much and have made some really fantastic friends. Starting in January I will be doing group therapy (through a program called why try) with kids in foster homes and I will be meeting clients from the local community in the school's mental health facility. After this break... I know I will be pumped for this. I can't wait to share stories on the blog.

I am already loving being on break; I've only had one day so far. I've been cleaning the apartment and it feels so refreshing. I am trying to get in the spirit of Christmas and really appreciate this time I have off. I am excited for Jon to get home tonight and I am looking forward to a lot of Christmas baking.

Studying...

is what I should be doing. But sometimes my brain can only handle so much. And sometimes my brain just has an off day.

Today is one of those days.

So I finally caved this evening and started working on some stuff I actually wanted to be doing. I figured there was no reason to keep these simple projects to myself.

Feel free to print these out, use them, share them, send them, whatever you want. I would probably print them out on cardstock or another good quality paper. Even if you print them out in black and white, they will probably turn out ok :)

Just click on the image, they are saved as JPEGs so hopefully the sizing is right.

Tis the season for giving! (If you guys have any other ideas for graphic design projects, please let me know!)


This one is a 3 inch by 5 inch card, prints out at 6in by 5in and then you can fold it in half at the gray line.


This is a 5in by 7in single note card (really recommend cardstock for this). Cut along the dashed lines.


I have been putting my graphic design to good use, making and designing some Christmas presents this year. I find it so relaxing. So, use these if you want. Or not. Whatever you would like.

What a Week...

Isn't it funny how sometimes we loose sight of what is positive in our lives? There is this term "eustress," meant to define stress that comes from things that are positive. Sometimes it is harder to be understood when you're experiencing eustress, everyone is so happy and excited for you that you feel guilty being.. well... stressed out.

Case in point: We are so happy Jon got a job. But starting a new job is stressful, especially when it is commission based. I am so happy he got the opportunity to go on a business trip to a new sales area during his first real week of being there. But I have been missing him here at home.
But hearing Jon got his first sale? Totally worth it.

School is amazing, I am so blessed to be in such an amazing program. But getting super sick during the last few weeks of class? Yuck. Having seven pages done for a paper feels amazing, but not so amazing once you realize you have to reach 20 pages until you're done.
But I know that when I am done with this quarter, I will have earned my grades.
Totally worth it.

Attitude is everything- especially when things are looking dim. I know the Lord has been looking out for Jon and I, I know we are in the right place, and goodness we are learning a lot.

Thankfully, with everything that has gone on this week, I had this stuck in my head all day...

Grateful

Its really worth a listen.

Thanksgiving

There is so much to be thankful for. I sort of feel like Jon and I are at a point in life where we have hope, things are getting better, but we don't even know how blessed we are. Someday, maybe 6 months from now, maybe 6 years, we are going to look back at this formative time and say to ourselves, "oh why did we worry so much? It all worked out so well, that time was the start of all our blessings."

We are very excited for Jon's new job but of course we worry about making money and what we should expect from this company. This job has endless potential, we have talked a lot about not being afraid to be successful. We have a good feeling about this gig, so we are hopeful.

Thanksgiving break was well needed and very appreciated. We have such sweet families who love us. Before we left I asked God to help me see all of the blessings we have in our lives. I think our families were all we needed to see.

We left Santa Barbara with a trunk full of food, leftovers, some grocery and gas money, and we even got a vacuum for our sweet Aunt. Our families mean so much to us, it is humbling to see how much they do for us.

It was also nice to see friends over break, enjoy the familiarity of home, see Harry Potter (epic), get some work done, and watch adorable home videos from both our families.

I am also very happy Jon got to see these guys...


We are now totally ready to get the Christmas season started. We are listening to Christmas music this morning and talking about getting some decorations out.

Now we are going to get ready for church, today we are teaching our little kids that Jesus is their Savior. Doesn't get much better than that.

God Bless.

Spreading Good Cheer

I know I haven't been a regular on the blogosphere, but I wanted to be sure to spread some good news.

Jon got a full time job! Hooray!

After 6 long months of searching, penny pinching, and frustration- something came up. Despite all of the networking, interviewing, testing and applications Jon had been working on, this job seemed to come out of thin air. He applied Monday, interviewed Tuesday, had a second all-day interview on Wednesday and got offered the job that afternoon. After all of that work to get a job it was almost insulting how quickly it went ;)

Jon's job is with a company called Business Consulting Solutions. They basically maintain smaller business for bigger business. Jon is in sales, he goes around to small businesses, see if they are happy with whatever product the bigger business offers, and then sees if he can find any promotions or discounts for them. If you're going to be in sales, this is probably the best kind, there are no lies or bad deals in the system. Also the company encourages a lot of progression and promotion- that helps mix things up and keep it interesting.

It seems like Jon will really fit in with this group and he is excited to get started. We both think he will be very successful. And we are both incredibly happy that a job has come his way!

I am proud of Jon for being so diligent during these last six months. He has kept himself busy, applied for jobs out of his comfort zone, really put himself out there for networking, and gained a lot of interview skills. Jon and I have learned a lot of lessons through this process. This is the tightest money has ever been for us. We didn't even realize how lucky we were in undergrad. That life seems extravagant now.

We celebrated last night by going to BJ's and fantasizing about what it will be like to not worry about money as intensely as we do right now. These ideas included things like: "maybe we will go to a movie every once in a while," and "maybe we will not be as afraid of strange noises from our car."

Yup. We are thankful Jon got a job.

Halloween and other Crazy Things

Halloween was a treat this year- we thoroughly enjoyed going to church on Saturday for the "trunk or treat." We had a fun time seeing what the kids dressed up as and we sneaked two candies into each of our primary kid's buckets. They were shy on trunk-or-treat night but were hyped up about the experience during our class on Sunday.

I signed up to bring dessert for the dinner held after the festivities and couldn't resist making these owl-cupcakes. So cute!



Last week was incredibly busy for both Jon and I.

Jon had a job interview (yay!) and got called for another interview, which will be next week (yay!). We are praying that one of them comes through, both are exciting opportunities. Jon has also signed up to volunteer with the Ronald McDonald house by the children's hospital, and to be a volunteer at the hospital itself in the child life department. He is currently working on personal statements, the MCAT of course, some work for his dad, and his weekly tutoring (including studying SAT vocab so that he can tutor more subjects). He is definitely keeping himself busy! And he has proved himself to be a jack-of-all-trades.

Last week I had two midterms, a paper, and two quizzes to prepare for. I also had three interviews with clinical placements sites that I will start working with in January. The good news is that I feel I did well on my midterms and quizzes. More good news is that I have been offered placements at all three of the sites I am interested in. The bad (but still good) news is that I have NO idea how to choose, they are all amazing opportunities.

Jon and I are enjoying ourselves this weekend, taking it pretty easy. We are having some friends over for dinner tomorrow and are planning on making some delicious homemade pizzas (of course). We also are hoping that next week we will have some real news regarding work and placement sites. Please pray for us!

That about sums up what is going on at the Van Wickle's. Happy November!

The Past Two Weeks

Here are some highlights from the last two weeks...

Two weeks ago, for my friend Jacqueline's birthday party we were going to carve pumpkins. Jon and I decided to hollow out my pumpkin the night before and have him carve one as well.

Jon's pumpkin...



I love it because it looks happy.



Here are all the girls, all of whom are from my program:



Alex and I attempted to do a pattern that had this cute owl... it proved to be kind of difficult. But we had twin pumpkins.



Jon and my pumpkin outside our door, ready for Halloween!



This past weekend Jon and I were able to go home. It was so nice to get a quick visit in with our parents, Amy, and we even got to see Rory!

I was able to attend Chelsey Neeley's (a life-long fiend) bridal shower. It was so beautifully done and I was glad I could attend- we had a good time laughing over all of the "dirt" we have on each other's families from knowing them for so long.

Jon is still being amazing by studying for the MCAT and is doubling-up by also studying chemistry in order to tutor more kids. He is also studying to tutor SAT prep (he has to re-learn all of that vocab, yuck!). He hopes this will create some more hours for him, also help him in his future test taking and make him more helpful at Merigroup.

I am still plugging away with school- we are already applying for trainee sites, which might start as early as January. That means I will start meeting with clients and attempting to do therapy. We already have midterms next week! The quarter system flies by, it is amazing how fast it is going. But I am loving what I am learning and am growing as a student.

This weekend we get to attend a devotional at one of my professor's homes. It will be about Christian counseling. We will get dinner and are able to bring our families, I am excited to attend.

We will also be going to trunk or treat at the church. I am excited to see our little primary kids all dressed up and having fun.

And then of course, Sunday is Halloween. I don't know if any kids will come to our apartment (there are definitely kids in the complex) but I hope they do!

Happy Halloween to all our families and friends!