Makes it all worth it!

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the "counseling graduation" of one the clients I counseled during my graduate school practicum. About 2 weeks ago I received a handmade invitation inviting me to the "best graduation of all time" from a 9-year-old former practicum client of mine. I began working with this little boy over 2 years ago shortly after I began my internship at The Parenting Center. At the time, he was 7 years old and had endured some pretty tough things for such a little guy. When he started coming to see me, this little boy was struggling with the fact that his mom was sporadically involved with him and his little brother because of her drug problems, his dad (who he didn't know) was trying to come back into his life to get custody, and he was having problems making friends at school because he just didn't feel like he fit in. After I had been seeing him for about a month, his mother overdosed, and we then began some grief work to help him cope with such a huge loss. I did mostly play therapy with this little guy, and learned so much while working with him. I saw him most of the year that I was doing my practicum and he was then passed on to my site supervisor to continue working with him once I graduated.

As he began approaching termination, this little boy decided that he wanted to celebrate his progress by having a counseling graduation, and I felt so honored that he thought to invite me, even though it's been over 2 years since I worked with him! I attended his ceremony yesterday, which consisted of him, his little brother, his grandmother, his current counselor and me. I was so pleased to know that he now has many friends at school and has really come out of his shell, and is a much happier child. He also is excelling at Karate, which has given him much more self-confidence. Although he obviously still misses his mom daily, he cherishes the memories he had with her. It was such a rewarding thing to hear him talk about what counseling has meant to him and how it helped him. I have such a challenging job, and sometimes it's hard to see the fruits of the work that I do or ever feel like I am helping enact change in the clients I see. This was such an encouraging reminder that I am making a difference in the lives of my clients, even if I don't always know it!

Client Quote of the Day...

...and perhaps the whole month! A client of mine, who was extremely frustrated with the Social Study Investigator assigned to her custody case, told me, "I hope that woman goes straight to hell in a pair of gasoline soaked drawers!" Needless to say, I had to struggle not to laugh AND to continue to focus on what she said next! I just never know what I'm going to hear on any given day! My job is never dull, that's for sure...


-- Post From Becky's iPhone

She has issues...

Our beagle, Duchess, just LOVES to lay in the sun, and since it is finally shining here in Crowley, she's been out most of the day. When I looked out the window to find her after she'd been out awhile, this is what I found....






What silly dog, huh?? She keeps us laughing all the time!

I'm a bad blogger....

Well my goal was to try to be a better blogger this year, but so far, I have not improved much...I am still trying to work on that! I still read blogs, just forget to update my own! Anyway, I am going to try to make a better effort from her on out (no promises though...) ;)

Today I stayed home sick...yes, I am sick AGAIN! I went to the doctor and they said it's another sinus infection....my third in 4 months! I am getting highly annoyed to say the least, so my doctor suggested some tests and a physical to check my immune system and do some bloodwork to make sure there's not something else going on. Hopefully, we will get some answers and figure out ways to help me not get sick so much!

I do know that this past year has been a stressful one, and stress doesn't help my health. I have a stressful job for sure, and I have to remember to relax and not let the responsibilities of the job get to me. Many times I feel as though I have so much pressure on me to "help" so many families, and I'm not entitled to get sick or take a break. Even today, when I was home sick, I was crying to Mike because I was so overwhelmed about missing appointments today that I will have to reschedule, and my schedule the rest of the week is so packed! Sometimes I have to remember to tell myself to relax and that I can't do everything on my own. A hard lesson to learn for someone like me who thinks I have to do it all myself and doesn't ask for help much or tell others when I'm stressed. Mike tells me that for a counselor, I don't take my own advice on stress management very well! :) He's probably right! I am going to try to make a conscious effort to tell people when I need help or when I'm stressed, and to let others help me more. I know it will be hard, as I tend to be a "do-er" and am involved in so many things, but I am going to try to rely on the Lord, my husband, and others around me to accomplish this. I know my tendency to do it all myself has always interfered with my relationship with the Lord as well, as I have a hard time sometimes letting Him lead. I know if I can just rely on and rest in Him, everything will fall into place and work as it should. Why I always think I can do it all on my own, I will never know. Planning and doing apart from the Lord will always be in vain! I hate that sometimes it takes sickness or hurt to remind me of these things, but I am thankful that the Lord teaches me during the tough times.

So here's to antibiotics, supportive husbands and letting the Lord be my resting place! :)

2009-The good, the bad and the ugly!

Well apparently a New Year's resolution of mine for 2010 needs to be to update my blog more! I thought to end 2009 I would recap our year...it was a rough one for us, I have to say, but we can definitely still rejoice in all of the ways the Lord has blessed us this year as well! So here goes...

Let's start with the bad, so I can get it out of the way and end this post on a good note! :)

1. Obviously, first on the bad list is losing my Dad on June 7, 2009. It was so sudden and unexpected and really shook our family. Apparently, it was due to his emphysema, although he had been dealing with that for 2 years prior to his death. This is the second family member I have lost to cigarettes (my papa in middle school) so if you are reading this, beg anyone you know that smokes to stop! :) It's been rough going through all of the "firsts" this year without Dad, but I hope and pray He is with the Lord in a much better place now!

2. The next would have to be losing my Great Gran in October, 4 months after losing Dad. Great Gran was an amazing lady and such an important part of the Smith family. She died just a month and a half short of her 100th birthday, but she lived a long, wonderful life and I know she is rejoicing with her Savior, being reunited with her husband, 2 sons and 2 grandsons. All in all she had 3 sons, 9 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren, and 4 great-great grandchildren! She was truly blessed and is truly missed!

3. My crazy sicknesses in 2009 have to make the list...I mean I always have been pretty succeptible to illness, but this year was ridiculous! It began with my awful food poisioning that turned into an abdominal infection, then later a second bout of food poisioning, bronchitis after my Dad died, 2 sinus infections and a cold! The second sinus infection I have now will hopefully be the last for awhile!

4. The shadiness at Crowley ISD...it has been getting worse and worse, but now with the principal and Mike's head football coach getting fired and the superintendent high-tailing it out of town, we think it's time to leave. We hate that Mike may have to leave behind his awesome FCA program, but we know the Lord can use him anywhere he goes!

5. The Leidners moving to Lubbock-even though it has been a great thing for Christen and Ronnie, and we know it was the Lord's plan, it has been hard to go from seeing them everyday to every couple of months! It was so awesome having them 5 minutes away, and I know it probably won't be that way ever again, so I will just cherish the 2 years they lived so close! :)


NOW...on to the good things from 2009!

1. Mike won Teacher of the Year! Although Mike tries to minimize this achievement by saying he won the award voted by the students and not the teachers, I take pride in this award because it reinforced to me even more how amazing Mike is at impacting high school kids! I know teaching and coaching is his calling for sure, and I am so proud of him!

2. We took lots of great trips this summer! Mike and I had an amazing anniversary trip to San Antonio, we took a fun road trip to Lubbock/Colorado with Christen and Ronnie, and ended the summer with an awesome trip to Boston with my parents to see Rick's daughter, son-in-law and beautiful kids! We were so blessed to have the means and the time to take these trips and had so much fun!

3. My amazing job! I celebrated one year with PCHAS this October, and I have been truly blessed by this agency and the people I work with! They supported me through the rough times personally, with at least one person from PCHAS coming to my Dad and Great Gran'a funerals. My awesome supervisor and co-workers allowed me to vent to and learn from them, and I truly feel that I have grown so much as a person and a therapist this year. I am so thankful that I can say that I LOVE my job! What a blessing!

4. My husband-Mike has always been such a blessing to me, but this year he has really come through for me during the hard times. He is such an amazing husband and seeks the Lord with all of his heart. He has been such a rock and comforter to me this year, but he also reminds me to continuously rely on the Lord and seek my ultimate strength from Him. I am so thankful for my husband and my marriage.

5. All of my friends who had beautiful babies/getting pregnant this year! I may not include them all because there are so many, but will include those dearest to my heart! Shea had little Anslee in January, Nikki had London and Holland had Kyla in April, Kendall had Hadley in June. I also got to know Kendra's little girl Kesley better even though she was born in 2008! Also, my girls from Northwood, Deborah and Joy, became pregnant and will be having a little boy and little girl (respectively) to add to our home group! Also, 2 of my co-workers are pregnant after several miscarriages, so we rejoice with them! I have also been blessed to be around Mike and Colleen's little girl Julia and see her grow and change so much! Although we are not expanding our family just yet, it has been so much fun to rejoice and play with all of my friends who have been blessed with little ones this year! :)

I think that about wraps up our 2009! It was a long post to make up for not blogging for over a month! This year had it's ups and downs, but overall we are blessed beyond measure and look forward to more great things in 2010!

With love, Mike & Becky


-- Post From Becky's iPhone

More Christmas pics

For some reason, my blog app is only letting me post a few pics at a time, so here are the rest!



Family Christmas pic at the hospital!



Crazy boys!



Mike and me



Evans family Christmas!

Christmas 2009

Although Christmas was a little different this year, with Dad being gone and my mom being in the hospital, we still had a wonderful Christmas! Mike spoiled me, as usual, and we had a great time celebrating Christmas together by going to see the Grinch ICE display at the Gaylord. Overall, this Christmas we had a wonderful time with our families! Here are some pics from the festivities!



My siblings-Nathan, Danielle & Roger



Laura and me at Smith family Christmas



Mike and me at ICE!



It was a white Christmas! Duch and me in the snow!

-- Post From Becky's iPhone