Emily Burnham: Rock Lobster

12 December - 18 December 2022

Monday evening, we played "Stump the Bishopric" for FHE. Everyone was asked to bring an object--the more random, the better. The bishopric then had to relate said-object to the gospel. It was super cheesy, but the fun part was seeing all the random objects people brought. I brought my iron man paper weight thing that was given to me on my birthday while I was a missionary in Brewton, AL, but they never got to my object. I've been good at socializing this week and talking with lots of people!

On Tuesday, I met with my site supervisor, Michele, to go over some questions and concerns I had about starting my internship. We took the whole hour to talk and did not get to everything, but I left feeling more informed and reassured about starting my internship. I will have a couple of weeks to ease into it and will start with individuals. She will pay for me to attend an couples externship before I start meeting with couples and families. It was kind of awkward that she didn't realize I was a marriage and family therapist intern. I believe she thought I was an individual professional counselor, so when she realized, she said, "Oh, I'm going to have to re-think the clients I give to you!" She is crazy busy and doing so much good that some things may slip through the cracks, but I have confidence the most important things will not and I'll be able to have a successful internship. That evening, I drove to Mesa for a CPR training. I passed! So now I am CPR and BLS/First Aid certified! But hopefully I won't need to use those skills.

On Wednesday, I didn't have work. Jill told me Tuesday was my last day of the year. Mom and I went to Shelli's house for a hair appointment, to get all prettied up, as mom likes to say. Shelli told me to put coconut oil in my hair after I shower. So, cheers to hair health. That evening, we had our Relief Society Christmas party at Brianna's house. It was pretty fun! We watched Three Wise Men and a Baby, which was pretty cute. There was lots of yummy treats. I spoke with lots of sisters and made sure to say hi to them all.

My hair style on Sunday. You can see the touched-up highlights Shelli did.

Thursday morning, I went to the temple to do an endowment session with a few other people from the ward. I felt SO peaceful and happy after. I was just in such a good mood, I couldn't even tell ya. I felt such peace and contentment and excitement about my future. I drove to the Mesa office to carpool with Kelli and Jill to Scottsdale for our Christmas party work lunch. We went to Maggiano's Little Italy, a fancy restaurant that did not have many good options for me. I got gluten-free noodles with dairy cheese sauce, because I figured those side effects would be better than acid reflux from red sauce. Fun times. We chatted for an hour (maybe more!!) before our food arrived, and we all got a Christmas envelope, which contained a bonus. Last year I got a $100 bill. This year... I got four times that amount! Hooray for bosses who love to spread the wealth and invest in their employees! Thursday evening, I attended institute and we had a really great discussion about hope. My favorite definition of hope is using it as a mindset to feel and express joy now for promised blessings we haven't yet received but know will come. We don't have to wait to be happy until after we get those blessings. We can live in anticipation and excitement as if they've already come.

Friday morning, I drove out to Mesa to help set up for a lady who hosts a Christmas event for children in foster homes. I set up a butt-load of chairs and tables, and I think we surprised the lady by how quickly we finished everything up! I went to a friend's house to pick up a piece of pottery as a Christmas gift in the afternoon. I got this blueish greenish glazed bowl, which I am going to use to hold papers for group games and stuff. That evening, I attended the Mulcahy Christmas party (Michele and her husband hosted one for all of us interns working in her office). I arrived on time (6pm) and felt a bit out of place because Michele was back getting ready, so I was just in the kitchen as her husband prepped food, and the next people didn't arrive until 6:30pm! Then the last few people came between then and 7pm. Michele and her husband are big wine/alcohol drinkers and have their own wine cellar. They were so disappointed by everyone who just asked for water (lol, which included me). We all chatted and ate appetizers for another hour/hour and a half, then had dinner. It was really good! We had steak and potatoes and vegetables. There were gluten-free cookies and chocolates for dessert. Then we had a white elephant gift exchange. I brought a $25 Cheesecake Factory gift card, which people kept stealing from each other, so that was good. The funniest thing was that I ended up with a bottle of wine and a wine chiller. No one stole it from me! At the end, Michele felt bad because she knew I didn't drink wine. She asked, "Do you know anyone who drinks wine?" I thought for a moment and started to say "no" before abruptly saying, "Yes! You!!" and I got up and gave it to her. She traded me gifts (she'd gotten a $25 Texas road house gift card). Even though we were there for about 4.5 hours, it didn't seem too long. We all got along pretty great and had an enjoyable time. I'm pumped to get to work with these people!

Saturday I felt so sluggish. Whatever I'd been eating the past couple of days caught up to me and I felt dead inside. So tired and achy. My stomach hurt after the Mulcahy dinner when I went to bed, so I probably got some gluten cross contamination. But I slept in so late on Saturday and lazed about, but made sure to still do the most important stuff like read my scriptures! That evening was our ward Christmas party, which was surprisingly fun! It was very professionally decorated with low lighting, candle-lit dinner plates set out, etc. There was some gentle jazz music playing. It was all quite romantic, actually. Dinner was an entire hour late! Which turned out to be a good thing because I went around and talked to EVERYONE, and I mean everyone. I had learned everyone's name by the end of the night and had introduced some people to each other. There were a few awkward encounters, but for the most part, it was really enjoyable and it gave everyone an opportunity to socialize, bond, and get to know each other better. I felt good enough to socialize, despite still not feeling good from food allergy side effects. I took ibuprofen before going, but I think God also helped so I could be an agent in bringing our ward closer. We had a white elephant gift exchange and I forgot to bring a gift, but they had extra gifts, so I got roped into playing, and it was actually pretty fun. I got a 3D printed lobster with the head of Dwayne the Rock Johnson... aka, a Rock Lobster! It was hilarious! It also came with $5. I absolutely enjoyed getting such a random gift. Plus, it came with $5. Cadence sat by me after dinner and we roped him into doing the gift exchange, so he then roped me into doing it with him, and we sat by each other in the circle and he asked me on a date. He said something along the lines of, "To apologize for roping you into this, can I make it up to you by taking you out for a soda?" I said, "Yes, but I don't actually like soda." So we planned a date and time to go out and get something that isn't soda. He is really kind and got back from his mission a couple of months ago.

On Sunday, I was so nervous to sing for some reason! We had our four-person musical number as part of the Christmas program, "What Child is This." I had a rocky start, but finished strong, and it went better than I could have hoped for. Valerie and others said it was actually quite beautiful, especially the harmonizing. I also sang in the ward choir. That afternoon, I gave Valerie her second lesson for voice lessons. She is already improving! I went to the stake choir music devotional early and joined in last minute on a practice of a song our ward was singing with another ward so I could join them on stage for the performance, and I'm really grateful I did, because I got to see some friends there. I was seated next to Jasen during the practice and it was good to be able to talk for a bit and reestablish a foundation of friendship where we chatted easily and even teased each other. The music devotional went well, and afterwards there was pie for dessert. I chatted with a few friends in the ward and then went home and straight to bed because I was so tired! Also, Lucy finished her painting of Christ looking at the sky, so I wanted to include that picture along with the one she did a while back of Christ carrying a girl.