What This Semester Looks Like

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

What This Semester Looks Like

My sister-in-law recently e-mailed me with some cute questions, trying to get better connected with what I am up to these days. I decided that I would just post the answers here so everyone can know what I'm up to this semester.

I totally didn't realize you were already 2 weeks into school! How has it been??

So far school is going well. It is still just a major adjustment period. We have all sorts of crazy changes happening in our schedule right now, so I feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants. In another week we should be done with all the changes and just ready to settle into the routine. I'm looking forward to that.

How many credit are you taking?

I am taking 11 credit hours and I'm kind of bummed to have so many. I only have 17 left to graduate, so I was going to take 9 this semester and 8 next semester. Unfortunately/fortunately, I realized I had a class I needed to add in for applying to the graduate program, so that threw in an extra three credit hours that doesn't help me at all towards graduation. Oh well, it's only for 4 months, right?

What classes are you taking? Are they ones you like, or do you dread some of them?

I have four classes. They are: Adolescent and Emerging Adulthood, Social Psychology, Social Work as a Profession and Field Study. They are all fun classes. The only thing I dread is trying to keep up on so many at once. I have always done best at school when I only have a few classes. My preference is to only have two at a time. Living at the U, I was required to have at least three. Throwing in the fourth class is kind of stressful for me when I still get to be the mom and do school around my kids schedule.

I have taken a lot of development classes, so Emerging Adulthood is more of the same - just about development in the teen years. I've enjoyed taking the different development classes. Last semester I was in Infant and Childhood development so I got to learn about the phase my kids were just exiting. This adolescent stuff might be a little more interesting. We'll see. This class is online.

Social Psychology is one that I am SUPER excited about. It seems to be dealing with the psychology of people in the context of different setting etc. We have a great book called Taking Sides that will give differing views of some of the major debates in the field. For example, last week we talked about whether or not it is ethical to have a study where the people in the study don't know/understand what is being studied. It was an interesting thing to consider. This class is also online.

Social Work as a Profession is the class I need for the graduate school prerequisite. It is a great class and I am SO glad to be taking it. The only problem is that it was taught at TERRIBLE times. I only had two options about when to take this class, and the one I ended up with (because it was the better of two evils) is Monday from 3-6 at the U. So basically, I am gone on Monday from 2:00-7:00. Andy works nights, so this means I need a babysitter who can get my kids from school and feed them dinner. It just makes me sick to be missing in action that long on a week night when they are already fatherless every single night. But it is what it is. I have realized that it is a way bigger deal to me than it is to Ammon and Peter. My mom watched them the first day, but I got home super early because it was the first day of classes and it just ended early. Last week I had a friend from our old ward watch them. That made it not as long because they were with me during the travel time. Yesterday was Labor Day so I didn't have my class. But from here on out they are both in school so I can't take them with me which means it's going to be the whole time. I asked your mom to watch them the next two weeks since I don't think she starts her job until after that. I had considered the idea of getting a babysitter from the ward, but that would cost a few hundred dollars over the course of the semester and tuition ended up being a lot more expensive than we had planned. Plus, I just decided I was more comfortable having them with family. My mom's house is just as close to their school as our house is (just the other way) so it shouldn't be too hard for it to work out. Right now I am just taking it a week or two at a time.

My final class is called Field Study. I am excited about this, but it makes my schedule crazy. This is the class that pretty much takes my volunteer work and translates it into credit hours. I need to do three hours of volunteer work per credit hour. I am taking two credit hours which means six hours of volunteer work every week. In addition to the volunteer work, I also have meetings for class (about one a month) and assignments (a couple of papers) that I need to do. I think just taking another online psychology elective would have been easier and less time consuming. But this will give me quality experience and also look good on my graduate school application so it's worth it. I really had to talk myself into being OK with taking on so much stuff this semester and I am partly overwhelmed by everything I am trying to do. But it just feels like what I'm supposed to be doing so I'm trying to have faith in that and just do everything as best as I can.

Are you having to travel up to the U every day?

So this basically got answered already, but just to clarify - I only go up to the U on Mondays and about once a month on Wednesdays. It's not bad. But when we moved I didn't know I'd have to do the Monday thing, so that was kind of a bummer to find out.

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Family Proclamation

The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan.Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

This proclamation was read by President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of his message at the General Relief Society Meeting held September 23, 1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah.