No, I did not write "homophobes".  I'm referring to the infamous there, their, they're and your, you're challenge.  It makes my skin crawl, well, I guess more accurately it really annoys me. 

Wedding number 4 of 6 is this coming weekend.  My "little" brother gets married in less than two weeks and it seems so incredibly odd.  We're all growing up...I'm incredibly excited for them both and have been buying wedding presents like crazy

I think I've decided to not go back to grad school - at least for school counseling. 

So, it really just hit me about a week ago how little I pray.  Throwing fits, whining, pouting - all roll off my tongue with ease but praying about the situation instead...not likely.  About two weeks ago I was just incredibly fed up with everything.  Life wasn't going the way I thought it should and I was ticked at God for letting it be that way.  While I was in the midst of that little pity party I realized that I had done nothing productive about the situation.  It's almost like God was hurt that I would be so mad and frustrated when I hadn't even asked Him to make things any different.  Have you ever gotten to that point?  The world is just going nuts around you and you don't even ask the One who can make it better to do something...

I don't hold that God is this friendly uncle living in heaven waiting to give you what you ask for but He does want us to come to Him with our burdens and heavy loads because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Hope you're all doing well.

Love (and a shout out to the patent leather shoes I got today),
Steph

Right now it seems as though these are the two things my life has boiled down to.  My last test in my techniques class covered the difference between natural helpers and professional counselors: counselors are bound by their codes of ethics which are established by the laws, general morality of the time, and leaders in their fields while morals are usually spiritually based (for me, definitely).  Up until last night I've been able to see how the two can coexist and even work in tandem because we need believers in public schools... 

Unconditional positive regard I'm great with.  I completely think that's what Christ had for everyone - He loved while here in person and still loves quite literally from heaven as well as through the Holy Spirit.  He loved everyone, period.  Everyone is worth everything and that's what I believe positive regard teaches us. 

Where I get hung up is when it comes to counseling a student toward what they believe is best for their life yet what I (and the Bible) think to be wrong.  True, a lot of counseling does come down to your own values and if I were working toward having a private practice I could simply refer a potential client to another counselor if that client were wanting to go in a direction I didn't agree with...but if I'm counseling in school there's no where else I can send them.  It comes down to what they think is best for their lives and I can't go against that unless it will be causing harm to themselves or to others.  Granted, "harm" is relative but I don't think the moral issues I'm referring to will be accepted as "harm" by a court of law. 

When I refer to "moral issues" there really isn't one I'm singling out...it's more in the broad sense of being able to call sin, sin.  Granted, I'm not stupid, I know I can't walk into the school and start preaching to these students, but there does have to be a way for them to hear the truth... 

If I don't help these students in the way my code of ethics sees fit, I can be "dis-barred" in counseling terms.

Now comes the struggle of knowing whether or not I should even continue in the program.  Becoming a school counselor isn't something I've had my heart set on forever and ever but it is an area where I was really hoping I could make a difference. 

At the end of the day, I just don't think there's any way I could encourage a female student's choice to have an abortion and the list goes on...

I won't lie, it would be nice to have that $300/paycheck again that up until now has been going straight to grad school so I wouldn't have any student loans.  I have some friends who are moving to Paris who invited me to come see them and it would be great to have the chance! 

This deciding time is the worst.  I wish there was just someone who could tell me what to do. 

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This past weekend was Elizabeth Nalley's wedding.  Sadly enough I don't have any pics of her looking absolutely beautiful...just the one of James and I below from the reception: