In which I post a LONG update (To avoid homework/so I can do homework)

I realize it's been a while since I've posted... sorry. I apparently am a lot better about posting the random things of my life when I'm using tumblr. I shouldn't be posting now. I should be studying, since I have a test tonight. But I find I can't focus, so I turn to you, blogosphere, in hopes that if I get out what's in my head I'll be able to focus on my studies. So an Update. I have finally and officially started my graduate degree in Marriage and Family therapy through Liberty University. Thus far it's pretty awesome. We (mark and I) just got back from a week long, intensive class that I had to go to Liberty's campus for. Mark, being the most awesome, and caring husband EVAR!!! came with me. Which meant he spent a lot of time playing video games, though he did do some hiking and town exploration. Guys, you don't know what kind of awesome-sauce (HE's the MOTTS!) guy I married. I'm going to take a moment to brag truthfully on him, since sometimes I give him a jokingly hard time. He spent most of this week on his own, but was always ready and willing to do whatever I needed this week. Couldn't get dinner because we had a group project that kept us busy till 9 or 10pm? No problem, he had dinner ready and waiting for me AND a friend! He got up every morning when I got up and dropped me off at class (except the one morning I was all, NO STAY HERE AND REST YOU WONDERFUL AWESOME MAN! I"LL CATCH A RIDE WITH MY FRIEND OR THE SHUTTLE!) He'd pick me up everyday (and some of my friends) and was always happy to do it. Not once did he say anything about being bored, or having nothing to do. AND (get ready to be jealous women of the world) He'd listen to me complain, expound, or rave about what I was learning, what I wasn't learning, what I was doing, what was frustrating me, et cetera. Yeah, I know. I got a good one. I had less than zilch time for anything other than school. They call it an intensive for a reason. I learned a some about myself. ( I don't like not knowing why I do things, and if you ask I'll snark an answer to give myself time to think about why I did something.) I learned that I can be a good advice giver, but I can also be a good listener and that those things are not the same to me. (THANKS mom for teaching me to listen and not to always try to fix things.) I know that as I reflect and watch my video counseling sessions I will realize I learned a lot of things, but as of know it was a great confirmation experience. I am on the right path, and I doing what God wants me to do, and it will all be ok. If it's not ok, it's not the end. This week also really helped solidify what I want to do with my career. And I got some great encouragement from others about my goals, which was fantastic, since I hadn't shared my goals with many people because I was afraid it would make them uncomfortable. (NEWSFLASH: it has made some people I've told uncomfortable. You know who you are.) But, I want to be a Christian Sex therapist. I want to get my Doctorate in Human Sexuality. I want to do marital and premarital counseling. I want to help Christian couples have the physical (and emotional) intimacy God desires for them. I don't want them to continue in their marriages with the baggage that the Church (as an institutional whole) tends to leave people with regarding sex. Who knows maybe one day, I'll even be an educational speaker about sex from a Christian perspective. I learned this week that if I'm being graded on my interaction as a counselor, I'm going to be so in my head that I'll be nervous and worried and not 100% focused on my 'client' but that if I don't feel that I'm being graded or judged, then I can focus wholly on my client. One on One I'm not fearful, that I can rest in Christ and trust that no matter what I say, it will be what needs to be heard. But throw in a teacher/observer, and I'm worried about what they will think and did I say the right things? Did I listen well enough? But you know what, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if they would say something different, they weren't counseling. What matters is did I do what Christ would have me do.