Creating Planets

8 May - 14 May 2023

Monday evening for FHE, we had a country dancing night, and I stayed for the first half, but as soon as the line dancing started, I dipped out of there real quick. I was partnered with a girl because (surprise, surprise) the girls outnumbered the boys AND no guy asked me to dance (I was going to ask a guy that I feel comfortable around, but another girl asked him first, so there went all my courage). But I danced with a really sweet girl and we made it a fun time! Also, my parents got their T-mobile Tuesday hats, so I snapped a picture of them wearing their matching hats for posterity:

Wednesday I had a cool session where a child's father came into the session for the first time, and it was so insightful and went from a very light and playful beginning to a heavy and tearful end (on the dad's part). It was really cool and helped me gain a lot of insight about the son and mom. In fact, I think four of my clients cried in sessions this week, which was really good and needed. I pushed a couple of them a bit and was gratified to see some walls break down and some commitment to improve develop.

We got our new machines at work, and the guy came on Thursday to train us how to use them. It was a loonnnnngggggg day. I was grateful that my boss Mike got us lunch, because I was getting super hungry (okay, so I dropped a small hint and he was more than happy to get everyone lunch...hehe). But I worked 8.5 hours that day! I learned three new machines and it was pretty overwhelming, but at least I wasn't the only one who had to learn them and all the pressure won't be on me. But when I got home a little after five, I was so wiped that I ended up going up to bed at 6:30pm to take a "nap" but then actually ended up falling asleep throughout the night and slept til 6:30am. Guess I really needed the sleep!

Friday, I went to the office in Mesa to meet with my three clients from the group home, and the sessions went well. I did some art therapy with two of them and played games with the other one. Then I met up with my mom for lunch at Garcias and bought her lunch for her Mother's Day gift. That evening, I had an intense session with a couple over Zoom. They were literally in the same house but in two different rooms on different devices (the husband said it was so he wouldn't cut off his wife while she was speaking, which I think it did help with that, for the most part), but it was just a lot of emotions and heavy topics. I was fine, I think I just took 30 minutes after to process while I ate something, but then I wrote up my notes and moved on, watching the Mandalorian until bedtime.

On Saturday, I went to the temple for the 7am endowment session, and it was actually so incredible! I much prefer going first thing in the morning to going in the afternoon or evening. First of all, I'm more alert and awake, not having to fight the urge to nap or sleep or rest my eyes. Also, it's less stressful because I know I have the full rest of the day to do whatever I need to do and it'll work out well because I prioritized God first thing, so my time is magnified and not wasted. But I was humbled and pleasantly surprised by how much revelation poured into my mind during that session, which not only made the time go by faster, but it also helped me realize what I've been missing out on when I go just to go and not to truly and sincerely learn. I attended Paige's baptism at 11am, which was a beautiful service, and I am looking forward to getting to know her better! That afternoon, I went with my sisters to Jasen's house to do spray paint art. We made galaxy masterpieces! I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to make something that turned out quite beautiful, even with the mistakes. I feel like it's something I could get the hang of quickly and get really good at. It was a cool experience, even accidentally flaming my hand XD. But it all worked out :). I really liked how my planets turned out, especially the orangy-colored one because there wasn't any orange spray paint, only yellow and red, but I was able to make orange!

My mom had the best Mother's Day ever! We all pitched in and worked hard to make sure she was pampered. Lucy gave her a foot massage, I fed her fancy chocolate, Val planned out dinner. I helpd make the guacamole and Spanish rice, and dad grilled the steak for the carne asada tacos. Symantha, Sean, Aaron, Brie, the baby, and Grandpa Jim were all in attendance along with the rest of us who still live at home. Delicious! Plus, church was really good. I went early for FHE committee meeting, and then I left to go meet a girl the sister missionaries started teaching, Kimberly. I got to sit in on the tail end of the lesson in the chapel, and they were reading the sacrament prayers with her. It was so interesting that I was able to read her so well and see how the missionaries were missing *her.* They were focused on reading the scriptures and pointing out key things that they usually point out in lessons with others that completely did not resonate with her at all. They asked her about wanting a fresh start and she said, "not really" and instead of exploring that statement, they kept going on and kept talking about how good it can be to have a fresh start. Or when they asked if anything stood out to her and she said no, they started talking about what they liked, when I could clearly see that she was having trouble understanding what was read. Not only was it majorly distracting to have it in the chapel right before church starts, with people trickling in and talking all around her, but the language of the Book of Mormon is old and often difficult for people to understand. I interjected a few times to help with these errors, such as, "I find it so interesting that you said you don't believe in fresh starts. What do you mean by that?" And she went on to explain that she believes everything happens for a reason. I was able to explain what I meant by fresh starts by sharing something relatable, like doing something dumb in front of a guy you like and then wishing you could move past it, and she was laughing and agreeing. Then later when she said she didn't get anything from it, I asked if she understood it, and when she said "no," I validated that and said, "Yeah, it can be so tricky to understand this old-school way of talking. Lots of people struggle with it." Then I ended up sitting next to her at church because the sisters asked me too, since they were leaving(!!) and they didn't want her to be alone. I made sure to ask her directly if it would be okay if I sat with her (and then it was funny because one of the sisters piped up and said, "Yeah, that'd be great if you could," and I was like, "Yeah, but I just wanted to ask her directly if it's okay with her.") She showed a lot of signs of anxiety, and I did my best to be friendly and a comforting presence and to relate to her. Also, McKenna showed up late and she'd previously been invited by a guy to sit with him, but she chose me over him! So she came in and plopped right down next to me and it made me happy to have a loving friend! It was very peaceful having her sit next to me and to chat and make faces at each other, and she even rested her head on my (bony) shoulders (which, I'm glad she is comfortable enough with me to do that, but I've discovered that I don't like people doing that because then I stiffen up and feel like I can't move or really breathe because I don't want to bump them or move my shoulder). So yeah, overall, really good day.

Much love,

Emily Burnham