Start of the Goodbyes

Our wonderful friends from City on a Hill Church put together a goodbye bbq at a park nearby. It had Boston themed food including Boston Creme cupcakes made by the lovely Mayra. We played kickball, lounged in the sun, ate LOTS of food, played with Riggins and our beloved golden-doodle friend Cooper. We will miss everyone so much. The bbq was the perfect day. It was also the day it started to sink in that we are moving away. I have been so excited about finishing grad school that it hasn’t sunk in how much we will miss Boston and our friends. I better get ready to say goodbye to the Sun too……..

LSLS

I am looking into becoming a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist to do Auditory-Verbal Therapy. This would would allow to me to work specifically with children who are deaf and hard of hearing through using the technology (Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants) and focusing on listening so they can have an opportunity to learn spoken language. Auditory-Verbal Therapy also focuses on helping these children through helping and advocating for them to get the same experiences and opportunities that the hearing world has socially, in their education and in their future vocations. I am passionate about helping people with hearing loss and it is why I am in the field of Speech-Language Pathology. I just took my first step today in the process of potentially getting certified- I sent out an email asking for more information on certification :). It was a small step, but it was my first one, none the less. It is a long, extensive process, and honestly the thought of another “process of certification” after grad school seems…well, truly exhausting but I am passionate about it and don’t want to let this opportunity pass up if it seems right for me. There are only 500 therapists in the world specialized in this and there is a demand for it. Please be praying for guidance as to if this is the right path for my career and strength and motivation if it is. Here is a link to a short ASHA blog post about Auditory Verbal Therapy if you are interested in reading a little more about what it is

http://blog.asha.org/2012/03/29/auditory-verbal-therapy-supporting-listening-and-spoken-language-in-young-children-with-hearing-loss-their-families/

One time, and one time only

Our comprehensive exams are over. I was told on day one of grad school that we would have to do an oral comprehensive exam. I basically went into panic from that moment on. I don’t think a day, let alone an hour has gone by that I hadn’t thought about taking this test for the past year and a half. Saying that out-loud/typing it makes me sad that I could let something so trivial suck so much joy out of my life. I tried so many times to tell myself it wasn’t I big deal. I KNEW it wasn’t a big deal… but that didn’t matter, I was terrified and nothing was stopping that. I had such supportive family and friends encouraging me as I talked their ears off with my anxiety. Friday… those 20 minutes I dreaded came to a head and I did it and its over… and I feel like I am on top of the world. God got me through it and that is all there is to it, I wish I could trust Him more rather than turning to anxiety…something I will work on. He has never let me down before and He didn’t this time either. So thankful I can be the carefree version of myself again. Please remind me that I SHOULD NEVER GO TO GRAD SCHOOL AGAIN! just incase I forget

.

Big fall

the day we got Charles

My sweet little Charles fell off my parents two story deck. He is the sweetest dog that is terrified of heights and he fell off a two story deck. He was put on the deck for minute…my dad was inside.then my dad saw on the security camera that Charles was all of a sudden in the backyard (there are no stairs off of the deck). Still don’t know what happened…My dad ran to him and he curled up in my dads arms and they went straight to the vet. The vet was shocked there was nothing but a scrape. A SCRAPE! By the grace of God he come out of it with a little scrape on his snout. I am so thankful for God protecting my puppy (my parents’ puppy…although I will never stop calling him mine) and I can’t wait to get home to Seattle in May and give him the biggest hug. Thank you God!

Peter is home! Peter is home!

Best day ever. Enough said.

Paper

August 20th 2012 we had been married for one year! What a year it was. I learned so much, grew so much, went through more hardships than I could’ve ever thought could happen in one year. But I also had the time of my life with my best friend in a city across the country. He is so adventurous and has encouraged me to explore this city and to be positive through it all. He is the best grad school cheerleader out there.. and we all know I need an army to keep me in grad school. And he is working so hard to support us. I wouldn’t have survived Boston without him. Cheers to year one!

Since paper is the anniversary gift theme I cut up the cards we received on our wedding day and made this collage that hangs in our bathroom to remind us of that special day

Movin’ on up

We made it out of the basement! And up to the top floor! And… we love it. It is so bright and sunny in our new place. There are so many windows because we got a corner unit. The kitchen is TINY to say the least. Tucker and I literally can’t be in it at the same time. The bathroom sucks. But it is sunny!!!!!!!! Tucker said I feel like we are on vacation after waking up there the first morning. Let this be my note to myself… always live in a bright, sunny apartment or house. Mornings are the best here, I love to watch the sunrise.

Seattle Summer

parent’s deck

I LOVE Seattle in the summer time. LOVE it. So, when I found out that I had a month off at the end of summer…I knew right were Tucker and I were headed. We had so much fun, too much fun. We ate at all our favorite spots:
Nikos Gyros in Magnolia (chicken sylvlaki salad and greek fries)
Thai Toms in the U-District (tofu yellow curry)
Paseo’s in Fremont (cuban sandwhich)
Palisade’s in Magnolia
Maggie’s Bluff in Magnolia
Piroshky Piroshky at Pike’s
and of course my dad’s BBQ
we hung out with family, friends, went camping, went fishing, went shopping, layed out on the deck, played with the puppies, went to Pike’s and enjoyed every second of it all. It was so hard to leave. It didn’t rain once…. Isn’t the reason I was okay with leaving Seattle was because it rained all the time… rain to sun…. anyways it really was hard to leave.

fishing

Tuck and Andrew

Seattle’s new ferris wheel

parent’s deck

Kerry Park

Cowmans on the East Coast

Mom and Dad at Moogy’s where Tucker works

My parents came to Boston in July and we also took them to NYC for a weekend. They had never been to the east coast besides a trip to Georgia for Peter’s Ranger ceremony. It was a hot week that they were here but they held up well despite no A.C. in our apartment. Charles came too…. It was fun having the puppies together but Charles wasn’t a happy dog while he was here. It reassured my decision to leave him in Seattle when we moved out here. We did the freedom trail, ate out in the North End, swam at the Chestnut Hill pool, went to dog parks, did lots of walking, showed them the colleges, watched the blue angels, watched a spectacular firework show on the 4th, and gave them their first subway riding experience. In NYC, we took the staten island ferry, walked around central park, ate bagels, saw wall street, saw the new freedom tour and ground zero, rooftop view of the empire state building, grand central station and much more that I am forgetting. It was a fun trip and I look forward to them returning 

Maine

Acadia, Maine

The Dover’s took us camping at Acadia National Park. It was stunningly beautiful. The ocean was so vast, the stars were so bright and the sun rise was spectacular. It was so fun to be out in the wilderness with no cell phone service for a few days. We kayaked, played cars, swam in lakes, swam in the ocean, star gazed, saw the sunrise at the first point of view on the east coast, built fires, cooked great food, drank nasty coffee and had a wonderful time. Rigs and Dolley were pretty cute out in the wild too. Rigs looked like a wild fox.

<img

Acadia, Maine

card time