10/27/2024
Life sure has been busy these past few months (but then again, when is it ever not? I just did not prioritize writing in my blog...). Let me just hit on some highlights from the past 3 months!
September 20-21, I attended the annual ANWA Conference (American Night Writer's Association) and it was a good time! I was able to spend time with some of the authors from my monthly writer's group meeting as well as meet new people. Allie Condie was our keynote speaker and we had some other well-known authors attend and give workshops. Plus, I won a free book! Always a plus :). They did well accommodating for food allergies, which I always really appreciate. Friday night was the gala, and the theme was intergalactic, so we had people dressed up as characters from all kinds of shows. I went with Eleven from Stranger Things because I figured I could reuse it as my Halloween costume, lol.
I also resigned from CLEAR Counseling after receiving a new job opportunity with Restored Counseling & Wellness Center, which I am very excited about. The owners are incredible, friendly, and talented. I am going to learn so much with them and be able to get EFT Certified! The onboarding process was a little overwhelming, as was juggling three sites for a month as I transitioned away from the one (had to give 30 days notice, so I couldn't stop right away) and started onboarding at the other place (I pretty much started the week I got hired!). Three emails & three calendars to juggle (since I am still keeping my site at AZ Connection Counseling), plus lots of new things to learn. But I've made it through!
In other big news, our stake split up into 18 to 25 year-old YSA wards and 26 to 35 year-old YSA wards. Basically, eveyone over 26 within the stake boundaries got put into one HUGE ward, and the other wards got a bit changed around to make them a good size. Some wards got split or combined into other wards. This Sunday was my first time in the new ward, now called the Innovation Ward, and it was so crowded! We had chairs lining all the sides of the RS room and chairs in the hallway that some sisters had to sit on! It was crazy!! It also kind of made it difficult to meet people, but I'm hopeful that with my new calling as FHE co-chair, I will be able to meet lots of cool people. During my setting apart blessing, two things really struck me. The first was the reminder that God knows me better than anyone else, including myself. The thought that followed after I heard that was something along the lines of God knowing my potential for good and knowing how amazing I am better than I do and having so much love for me. I think I am often my harshest critic and can limit myself or put myself down or think I can't do certain things, and it was humbling to remember that One who knows me even better than myself is calling me to do these things and has a perfect plan for me, better than I can imagine or prepare for myself. The second thing that stood out was him saying that through my calling, I will have the opportunity to meet lots of people and make good friends, which I felt like the Lord was saying, "See, I gave you this calling to answer your prayer to make some really good friends." Because I will admit that when I first got this calling, I was like, "Bleh, been there, done that. Kinda sick of FHE, to be honest..." So again, the Lord humbling me in such a loving way.
I've also been working on making my Korean journals/books/logs. I have two up for print on Amazon now! One is a drama log to track and review Korean Dramas (or dramas from other countries) and the other is a Hangul Writing Practice book (for practing your Korean). I have two more that I plan to create, one is a K-Pop Artist/Group Tracker and the other is a Korean Word Search book. Then after these are created, I will move on to something else, though I don't know what. But probably therapy related workbooks... well, and I have my actual novels to be working on. I love that I joined my writing club just for the community and friendship, but they are all so diligent in their writing so it is inspiring me to want to get back to it (and also overwhelming at times since I can't always devote as much time or I sometimes feel inadequate).
Lucy came down from Provo between semesters and I planned to make sushi with them. I had learned from my cooking class so I wanted to teach them. They enjoyed it and the sushi turned out even better than they expected, so go me!
