An update on my life for friends and family

Dear ___________(insert your name here...see, it's personal!),

I know it's been awhile since I've given many of you an update on my life, so I thought I'd send you all an email (sorry it's in mass form). As you will see, if you take the time to read this email, I have been staying EXTREMELY busy, and I apologize for not staying in as good of contact as I should. For those of you who just want to skim, I've bolded and enlarged the main points. :o)

I am currently working at Wasatch Mental Heatlh again, but now working as a therapist in the Children and Family Division. It's definitely a big change from working as a case manager for adults. I still haven't decided if I like it or not. I guess it's enjoyable enough, but still not what I plan to stick with for a career.

Some of you have asked about my D.C. trip, and I haven't really told you anything, so here's the super short Reader's Digest version. (For those of you who don't know, I went out to DC for 5 days to present research at the Global Awareness Society International conference.) The trip was AMAZING!!! I absolutely LOVED D.C. and I really didn't want to come back. I'll be honest, it took a few days to get used to how crowded and loud and crazy it was, but then I loved it. We saw and did a lot of amazing things and met a lot of amazing people. We made it to Virginia, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Some of the stuff we did: toured Philly and the historic sights there (Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin's grave, Betsy Ross' house, ate Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches and a million other things), saw Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian at the Smithsonian, toured some of the Smithsonian museums, went to Mt. Vernon, saw Washington Monument, Abe Lincoln Memorial, and several of the war memorials, went to the conference we were there for of course :o), wandered the streets of D.C. exploring, rode planes and taxis and metros and buses and trains and did lots and lots of walking, did some shopping, met up with some of my friends that live out there, and ate tons of food that was out of this world! I met several awesome friends on our flight, train rides, and just in the streets of DC and Philly, and am now keeping in touch with my new friends. I'm currently considering moving out to DC while I work on my LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker license).

The week after I got back from DC, I had the honor of being named Editor in Chief for Clergy Bridge!! I am SUPER excited, although the responsibility is a bit overwhelming. My main responsibilities right now are to edit the manual we have created and to do extensive revision for our next edition. I also need to find a team of writers and editors to work for me, so I'm not rewriting the entire manual by myself every year! If you want to check out our organization, go to clergbridge.org or clergybridge.com. We should be up and running as a non-profit come Fall semester.

Towards the end of Winter semester, I was elected as BYU's representative for the National Association of Social Work (NASW), and so I am starting to fulfill those responsibilites and get acquainted with my duties. Some of the stuff I will be doing, is attending NASW meetings and orientations, conducting a NASW membership drive at BYU, putting together a lecture series at BYU, and getting BYU students involved with lobbying and policy making at the state capitol. I'm already loving it and am excited to get more involved!

I'm also serving as an assistant to our program's activity coordinator, Suzette, which is a blast!! We've had some really fun activities such as roller blading/biking down Provo Canyon, picnics, temple trips, weekly lunches during the class semesters, and hikes. Next week, I will be heading a class bonfire (our last one was a huge success!), and for Indepedence Day, we will be putting on a breakfast at the Provo Balloon Festival. It should be awesome! We're also looking to plan a graduation trip for our class. Our two main ideas for consideration are Disney Land (a lot of my classmates have kids) or a family cruise.

A few weeks before DC, Jesse (one of my best friends in the program), Dr. Norman, and I got our plane tickets for Ukraine!!! Jesse and I are WAY excited to go, and he and I are working on preparing our presentation as well as a paper for publication on mental health in Ukranian orphanage children! It's so much fun, and I am in love with the research as well as my kids over there!! Also, I'm am still working on the sock drive for the kids. We have 600 pairs of socks so far, and my goal is 2,000. I am determined to make it! I have recently had several people and wards enlist their help in raising socks, so that's exciting! I even have some friends in Spokane interested in helping, so that helps solidify my plan to fly up in August to surprise my nephew, Jabe, for his 10th birthday! I'm psyched! By the way, if any of you want to be involved with raising socks or know anyone who does, let me know!!

I also recently got enlisted to help with the production of a series of meditation CDs. I will be writing all of the music for it and have about a week and a half to do that! I am working with Jesse, a professor from UVU (Dr. Lloyd White, one of the pioneers in youth treatment programs), and Lloyd's son-in-law, Geno, who has done a lot of work with biofeedback. Lloyd has also invited me to write part of his next book. I told him I would think about it...I'm not sure I have time.

In the fall, I will begin my research/PhD emphasis in the program. I am so excited about it! I never knew how much I would fall in love with research!! I am currently looking into different PhD programs, which I plan to begin 2 years after graduation (when I will licensed as an LCSW). I am considering all of the top 10 schools including Washington University at St. Louis, University of Michigan, Columbia, University of Southern California, University of Washington, UC-Berkley, and a few others.

So, yeah, those are a few of the things I've been doing. :o) Of course, once in awhile, I take time for my personal life and go on dates, hang out with friends, go to movies, go swimming, church activities, etc.

Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well! I'll try to be better about keeping in touch!