Last days of grad school

Monday was unbelievable. My two final group presentations were amazing and I am so proud of my group members. In the first one we shared the story of a Mormon couple who had lost a child at age 2 and were still recovering two years later as they morn the sudden loss and try to cope with parenting the child who was born soon after and reconciling their faith with the fact that the wife does not feel like she can have another baby. Classmates were in tears as we walked them through key points to be mindful of and what an intervention with this couple might look like.

In the second one, my research group who I have spent more time with than most of my family members in the past year rocked the house. As the final presentation of a long day of presentations in all of our classes we were able to keep everyone's attention with our pretty interesting findings and a sense of humor. I really love that group and am so glad we are going to continue to get together for fun now that one of the scariest and rewarding journeys of our grad school career is over. I don't think I have shared what that project was on but we interviewed local youth resource workers to try to figure out why there are more non-white youth in the juvenille justice system and yet studies show more white youth are using substances. We found that race and class were linked and those with money had lawyers and parents to help them stay out of the system. We also found that those with the most contact with youth had the least knowledge about substance abuse and treatment options and were more likely to leave it up to the parents to manage the issue privately. This one finding that made me the most frustrated because it is such a difficult issues not to reach out to parents or get the experts involved in cases where the use is a serious issue. Most workers felt like parents or another caring adult in the child's life is the strongest protective factor. All kids need someone to love them, teach them, motivate them, spend time with them, and keep them on track!

Yesterday I took a break from it all to have lunch with the boys and to catch up with Christen. I am so blessed to have such a close relationship with them. It was so nice to escape from presentations and papers and job aps oh my! Then last night was my first small group since leaving both churches. I missed having my place filled with a group gathered together to grow in the Lord. It was so nice to meet some of the girls I will be working with and to know that more will be joining us soon. The girls started off kind of shy but quickly opened up and I can definitely see that God is going to do some neat things through this group. Samson was a pretty big fan of having new friends over too:)

I'm off to my second to last set of lunch groups and am doing my best to stay focused on the kids since my time with them will be up all too soon. I will miss them so but my brain and heart are going in way too many directions right now. I am really excited about the party on Saturday, thinking about the job aps I need to turn in, realizing that Spain is coming quickly and I need to do more planning, and reality is hitting that Ry and I only have so much time together before the big D. One thing at a time and for the rest of the day, the time with my students is top priority.