Lessons Learned At Other Churches

This past weekend I was able to take a much needed mini vacation to Springfield.  I got to see some friends from college, do a little shopping, and just have some down time.  I also got to visit a couple of churches in the area.  I have been helping out at my church for awhile, and I needed a weekend where I just sat and soaked everything in.  I'm going to do my best to give a brief recap of each one.  I'm also going to list off some things that I noticed about church in general.

Church #1:  I went to a Saturday night service at the first church.  It was...very interesting, in both positive and negative ways.  I got there about 15 minutes early.  One person said hi to me the entire time I was there, and that's because she was behind a welcome desk.  They were still trying to set up and get ready for the skit during the service, so that was somewhat awkward and entertaining to watch.  There were some sound issues throughout the entire service, and the choices for the worship time were not ones I would usually choose.  But, all that being said, I kind of enjoyed the rest of the service.  It was a special weekend that they called Infuse, where the children, youth and adult ministries came together in one service.  They based it off of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and intertwined the makeshift game show with three different mini messages from three different people and wrapped it up with a prayer time.  It was geared toward parents and how to encourage them if they feel that they're doing something wrong, that everything's falling apart, or they just feel disconnected from their kids.  It also gave information about each ministry and how to get involved in them.

Church #2:  I got to go to church with my aunt & uncle Sunday morning.  The church has two traditional and two contemporary services each Sunday.  My aunt & uncle were nice enough to go with me to the contemporary service even though they usually go to the traditional one.  It was very similar to what we do at my home church.  There was a praise band that consisted of a few guitars, a keyboard, bass, drums, and a vocalist.  I knew a couple of the songs and thought that the overall quality of the music set was great.  I did notice that the band kind of lacked in stage presence.  It seemed like they were so focused on getting every note or every word right that they forgot to let go and enjoy what they were doing.  The sermon was over Titus 2:6-8 and focused on young men becoming Godly examples, and how everyone else was to help them in this journey.

What I got from all this:  Disclaimer--this next section might offend some people or hurt some feelings.  That is not my intention at all.  I just want you to know now that I am not focusing any of these thoughts on one specific person.  These are just things I took away from this weekend of reflection.  Everything I write about applies to myself as well.  I am in no way perfect, nor do I go to a perfect church.  I'm hoping these things can be applied to everyone that looks at this, and not solely in the four walls of a church.  This part is gonna be a little lengthy, but hang in there with me.  Hopefully we can all get something out of this.

• First impressions are vital.  We tend to overlook this.  We get so comfortable in just walking in, saying hi to people we know, and getting trapped in our own bubbles.  I felt so awkward at that first church when no one said hi to me.  I sat in a row by myself for the entire service.  I saw some people look and me and wonder who I was, but no one took the time or effort to introduce themselves (aside from the welcome time where I turned around and shook hands with three ladies behind me).  I am just as bad about this at my church.  It's not in me to regularly go up to people I don't know or don't often see and introduce myself or ask how they are or ask if I can do anything for them during their visit.  Even the smallest gesture can change a person's outlook on the entire visit.  At the second church, people smiled at me, said hello, held doors for me, asked me how I was, etc.  One man almost ran over another guy to open the door for me on the way out.  It was precious.  But anyway, first impressions are super important.
• We're all in this together.  If High School Musical just popped into your head, I'm sorry.  If the scene where the dad from Modern Family is dancing to that song popped into your head, you're welcome.  Anyways, we should all strive to work together.  One thing I noticed about the first service I went to was that everyone was involved.  It wasn't just a two man show where the worship leader sings and the lead pastor preaches.  The children's minister got up and danced with some of the kids during one of the worship songs, and then she gave the first message about how much time parents have with their young ones before they graduate, how to make the most of that time, and how they can be plugged into the church.  Another guy helped with the dance and sang, then he played the Cajon for the last song.  The creative arts guy gave the second message about today's perceptions on the youth and how to get them plugged into youth activities.  The lead pastor opened the service and closed it with a special prayer time geared toward parents.  The youth pastor led the game show skit.  They were a unified group that came together to make a cohesive service that displayed the different ministries of the church and put a face with each of them.  I would love to see my church do something like this; have a service where we have kids, youth and adults participate and bring something.  It puts a face to each ministry, forces us to communicate with each other, and come together for the greater good.  I have to confess, I get a little disjointed from everything going on in my church.  I get so caught up in helping with the worship ministries or the youth that I forget about the children's ministry, the women's ministry, the small groups, etc.  I honestly have no idea what goes on with the kids or what Bible studies are being led.  I fear that sometimes we all get caught up in our own little areas of service that we forget about the big picture.  We forget to talk to other people, work together, communicate, and reach out.  I'm glad that we're doing a 40 days of prayer with specific requests for all of our church areas.  It helps me remember that I'm part of something bigger than myself in my own little service bubble.  As a church, we are the body of Christ.  If one part is broken, we are all broken.  A broke leg can't mend itself.  It has to rely on the other leg to support more weight while it heals.  We can't expect to make changes by ourselves.  We have to unite with the rest of the body to make the greatest impact.
• Less ideas, more action.  This is something that I've been noticing in different areas for quite some time now.  And this isn't necessarily just in church; this is life in general.  We get all of these awesome ideas and the big, grand visions of something awesome and amazing.  We get pumped up talking about it to and with other people.  We get people on board with our idea, they get pumped, but then what?  I've noticed that we miss out on the practical application.  You want to see more people in your Bible study?  Great!  How are you gonna get them there?  You're tired of being a clique and want to reach out to new people?  Fantastic!  What's the first step to that?  You have a passion for a discipleship ministry and want to have everyone in the church in this program?  Super!  Who are the first people to make this happen?  It's almost like we get so focused on the Sunday School "Jesus answers" that we forget about that all important first step of making it happen.  I'm exactly the same way.  I get that spiritual high of a great idea, but then don't see it through to action.  If we want to grow, we've got to stop this.  We've got to actually make things happen.  Otherwise we're nothing but empty promises.  We've got to have practical applications to what we talk about.  In both services I went to, they gave simple, every day things for people to do to go along with the message.  The children's minister at the first church told the parents to talk to their kids and get them interested in what they're doing and learning at church.  How do they do that?  The kids go home with two papers each week:  one for the parents to look over with questions to ask throughout the week, and one for the kid that has devotionals, memory verses, reminders of what they talked about, etc.  The pastor in the second service told young men to live wisely, find models, and build integrity.  How?  Start by surrounding yourself with mature people and peers who are following Christ.  Find someone you respect that can be your mentor and keep you accountable.  Practical applications people!
• Get to the source.  So we all go to a perfect church that doesn't need any changing, right?  HA!  You let me know when that exists.  If you're like me, you're always seeing things that could be even just a little different.  As humans, we can be very pessimistic at times.  We focus on all the negative things and forget to see the things that are going right.  But the worst part about all of this?  We don't actually talk to the person that can fix or change it.  We talk to everyone around us about what's wrong or what needs to change except for THE ONE PERSON THAT CAN ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  I learned in all of my counseling classes in college that if something is bothering you--whether it be at work, school, church, whatever--that you go to the person directly involved with that situation.  If nothing happens after that, then seek outside opinions and reinforcements.  This goes for both negative and positive situations.  You can't stand the perfume your coworker is wearing and it gives you a headache?  Don't tell your best friend, ask that coworker to not wear it anymore.  That saves you and your best friend a headache!  Your kid told you that someone gave them a high five and told them they were awesome?  Tell that person thank you and to keep that encouragement going!  Otherwise they may not realize that has such a positive impact on people.  You don't like the songs being sung on Sundays?  Don't tell the people sitting beside you.  Talk to your worship leader.  Nine times out of ten, they WANT to hear if you enjoyed your worship experience at the church or if you have a specific song request (unless they're a complete jerk and don't care about other opinions :-P).  You really enjoyed the prayer time at the end of the service?  Tell your pastor so it can be incorporated into more services!  You see a specific area for growth?  Don't form a little possey and gang up on the person leading that area.  Go to them and give your honest opinion.  We get so afraid of hurting people's feelings that we talk to everyone but that person, then they find out that people are talking about them, and they get their feelings hurt anyway.  I'm just as guilty of doing this.  I love a good passive aggressive rant as much as the next person and will tell five different people about something that bugged me on a given occasion, but I won't actually talk to the person that matters and that can change it for next time.  But I think we'll get a lot more accomplished if we step up, be honest, and have meaningful one-on-one conversations.
• Go at it with all your heart.  Whatever we're doing, we need to give it our all.  It's very apparent when we just do enough to get by.  We ourselves may not notice if we're doing this.  Just like the band in the second service I went to this weekend.  Most of the musicians were so focused on the literal music that they were stiff and somewhat disconnected from the actual worship experience.  The technical guys in the first service didn't get there as early as they probably should have, so they had sound issues the entire time, which was very distracting to me.  I have this problem as well.  If I try to pick songs for our Wednesday night youth service two hours before we're supposed to play, it's not near as awesome as it is when I pick the songs a few days before, have time to think about if they go with the theme, if they flow together, etc.  We can't just give 60% and hope for the best.  We have to have a passion for what we're doing.  People notice when we're doing things just because we have to.  People notice when we get burnt out even before we notice it ourselves.  If you need to take a step back and reevaluate your role, go for it.  That's kind of what I did this weekend.  I gave myself a chance to just sit and enjoy rather than worry about where I was and what I was doing.  But whatever we do, we have to be authentic.
• Remember why we're here.  It's not about us.  It's never been about us.  We are disciples of Christ, the ultimate servant.  He came to serve, not to be served.  He came to further the kingdom of God, not to lift up himself.  This has to be our goal as well.  We can't be in this to pull and Anchorman and say "Hey everyone!  Come see how awesome I look!"  Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. 

 If you made it through this entire thing, congratulations, you possibly have no life.  Haha just kidding!  Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings.  Like I said, I did not write all this to upset anyone, just to get us all thinking, including myself, if there are areas we need to work on, things we need to do differently.  I am so thankful for my home church and all of the people in it.  I really can't imagine myself anywhere else at the moment.  This is all just some stuff I feel that we can all apply to make us even more awesome.  If you want to talk to me about any of this, challenge me, question me, whatever, I'm up for it.  Let's go get coffee.  I'm a Starbucks Gold Member, I loves me some coffee.  But most of all, I hope that you can get something out of this, whatever that may be.

Hello 2013! MTNWA Update

Since  I put this on my MTNWA blog, I figured I'd share it on here too!

I can hardly believe it is already February of 2013!  I'm glad to see we all survived the end of the world!  ;)
One more thing I can hardly believe:  the Cardinal Care Center and office for MTNWA have been open for six months already!  It's crazy to think that I've been a business owner for half a year already.  Even though it seems like things are moving slowly at times, looking back a lot has been accomplished.  Here's a little summary of all that's happened at MTNWA since August:

• I am currently working with two nursing home groups and one individual client.  Both nursing home groups are so much fun.  I'm hoping to be able to see them more than once a month in the future, but we shall see.  My individual client is able to come once a week.  He is a great person to work with.
• I've teamed up with InsideOut Music Studios in Farmington and am teaching piano lessons.  I currently have 13 piano students and one guitar student at MTNWA.  Needless to say I am making some sweet moolah off all these lessons!
• As far as media/publicity goes, there has been a picture in the local paper about the CCC grand opening and an article about music therapy.  There has also been an article in a college newspaper about music therapy and my services.  You can check all of them out on the Media page.
• I've had the privilege of a few people being able to observe some of my sessions.  A student from Farmington schools has job shadowed me, and a MT student from Drury University was able to observe a few of my sessions as a class requirement.  I've also had a few other students e-mail me about information for class projects and becoming a music therapist.
• January was Music Therapy Advocacy Month.  There was a huge push for social media advocacy.  I've been trying to post as many articles and videos on the MTNWA Facebook page as possible.  Stop by and check some of them out...lots of great information and entertaining ways to answer some questions you may have!
• I've paid most of my yearly dues for the new year.  I'm once again a member of AMTA.  I've gotten my business license for MTNWA for 2013.  I've set up insurance on the office.

And now here are some things to look forward to in the upcoming months:

• TAXES.  This is the first time I'm having to get all of my finances together.  In years past I've only had to turn in W-2s or 1099s.  Now I'm having to go through and get together all my expenses, income, etc. to send off.  Luckily my family has a wonderful tax accountant that I get to use.  I love being an adult...
• Next week I have the privilege of going to the monthly AIM meeting.  It is the local Autism support group.  They've invited me to speak about music therapy and autism as well as my business.  I've also been invited to the AIM 5K run/walk in April.
• Last week I had a call from a mom in the area interested in music therapy not only for her child but possibly in a local school district.  So, I may be scheduling a meeting with the special education task force of the school to possibly get a contract!
• There is a possibility that I could present about music therapy to a class or two at Farmington High.  I talked to one of my high school teachers at the beginning of the school year, and he seemed interested in having me come present about music therapy to a couple of his classes.

Well, I believe that's about all I have for now.  Thank you all for your support, prayers, and good thoughts.  I'm looking forward to what's in store this year for MTNWA!  Feel free to drop me a line, ask any questions, or share any information with people who are interested in music therapy!

An End and A Beginning

The time has finally come.  I am leaving Springfield, MO for good.  I'll begin packing up the apartment here in a little bit, I'll drive home tomorrow, and I will stay there.  I don't have to worry about getting back here on time for a class, session, lesson, or whatever.  And it feels pretty good.

I had my last MT session for Drury yesterday.  I turned in my keys and didn't look back!  I will admit that I'm going to miss all of my clients.  I worked with some really great people.  This was the first time that I actually had the same clients for over 5 months.  I really got to know them and see significant progress.  I will definitely miss them and the families I worked with, as well as my colleagues.

But now it's time for me to move on.  For those of you that don't know, I am in the process of starting my own private practice.  It's been hard to work on it since I've been in MO and I want to start the practice in AR, but I've made some progress here and there.  I at least own my business name:  Music Therapy of Northwest Arkansas (MTNWA for short).  I've set up a website, Facebook page, and Twitter account for said business.  I've worked on all of the start-up documents.  And I've met a great lady from my church at home, and along with a couple other people, we're working on getting an office/clinic together.

 I'm really excited about the next few months.  I'll actually be home and able to get things rolling.  I can get all my PR stuff ordered (business cards, flyers, etc.), I can attend more of the group meetings for the clinic, and I can really make my presence known in the NWA area.  These next few months are gonna be nerve-wrecking as well.  On top of getting all the private practice stuff set up, I'm going to Super Summer for both JV and senior high, and my family and I have to move my sister out to LA at the beginning of August.  It will be a busy summer to say the least!

I'm no amazing blogger in the least, so it will probably get even worse now.  But check on the MTNWA website for updates about the business!  

http://musictherapynwa.com

 

Spring Break 2012

Ok, so since I'm not in school anymore, I guess I technically don't get a Spring Break.  But I took one anyway!  I originally had plans to go to Florida with a few friends, but that all fell through.  So since I had already cancelled sessions and lessons for the week, I decided to go home for the week.

Last year, I went skiing with the youth group from my church at home.  This year I stayed home all week...and it was glorious.  Since mom found out I would be home for so long, we decided it would be a good time to paint my bedroom.  I have wanted my room painted for years now.  Mom being the funny person she is, she had practically repainted every other room in the house EXCEPT MINE.  The time had finally come.  Here are some pics of my room right as it got underway.

 My room was a pale yellow, but it was so bright in the morning!  And here you can see our 3 final contestants for the new color.  Which one did we pick???

 We moved out most of the furniture, except for the bed (which is a beast to move) and the tv.  No sense in painting in silence!

We started the project Wednesday night.  We got all the furniture moved out and put on the first coat.  You'd be surprised how much it took to cover up all the yellow!  Thursday we put on the final coat and painted the trim and doors.  Friday we managed to get the room put back together, and mom put a new stain on the furniture.  And here's the finished product!

 I don't know if you can tell, but we went with the green color.  I was a little worried at first; it looked like army green, but it dried with a little more brown tones.  We also rearranged the furniture a bit.

 My "new" tv...thanks to my bro!

 We bought those new little cubey things!  Mom loves Lowe's too much, and I love her for that!

I love my room!  We boxed up all the old things (3rd grade science fair pic and medal, all my high school medals, OM stuff...it was so sad how old all the pics were in my room) and are working on getting new stuff in there.  I completely forgot to get a before and after shot of my closet.  Let's just say I was on the verge of being a hoarder.  I cleaned out folders and papers I had from senior year of high school.  That's over 7 years of papers!!!  Ridiculous, I know.  I haven't started on the clothes yet; that will be a project in the near future.

The fam also got some new furniture for downstairs!  We had a couch and chair from my great-grandmother's house.  They were big and bulky; tan scratchy material with orange pineapples on it.  I wish I was kidding.  They weren't so bad after we put covers on them, but they were still kinda uncomfortable.  So mom and my bro found some great replacements!

 Here's our new couch!  It's got recliners on both ends.

 And here's our new recliner!  Of course it rocks too...quite comfy.

 And here are the new pillows to go with it all!  Yay!

Sooooo...my "Spring Break" was full of DIY projects, cleaning up around the house, and family time.  It was a much-needed break away from Springfield.  I was able to chat a little more about future possibilities for the private practice, got to hang out with friends, eat at all my favorite places, and was just plain lazy.  It was fantastic.  Now I only have a little over 2 months before I move back to AR for good.  The time is a flyin'!

Random update on the whole private practice thing:  it is near IMPOSSIBLE to pick a name for my business.  I am just stumped.  I think of a name, throw it out at people, and it gets rejected.  I think of another one, and I end up not liking it myself.  I feel that this is the first big step I need to make.  Once I think of a name, I can register the business name, fill out all the necessary paperwork, make business cards and a website, and really start to market myself.  So I'm sort of at a standstill for now.  Hopefully I can really get things rolling here in the next few weeks.  And I'm currently looking at different office possibilities with a lady from church.  We'll see how that goes!

I hope everyone else is having a good March!  Until next time!

A Weekend of Ups & Downs

So I don't really do posts like this, and it may not stay up for long.  But there has been a lot going on these past few days: lots of emotions, lots of words said, and lots of thoughts to think.

I suppose everything started to get rocky around Wednesday.  One of my friends had invited me to go to the Rock & Worship Roadshow with him and his college group.  They had one extra ticket, and out of the friend group he felt that I would be the one that wanted to go the most.  Well, one of our other friends in the group found out he was not invited, and threw a little temper tantrum.  Now, I know it was a joke, so I just shrugged it off.  And I shrugged it off again the next day.  And the next day.  And then that night, I had had enough.

Let me just preface this next part of the story by saying, I WAS NOT MAD AT THE FINAL JOKE.  My friends make jokes like it all the time, and I'm used to things like that being said about me and the rest of us.  The joke just happened to be the detonator to a situation that was bound to blow up eventually.  But again, I WAS NOT MAD AT THE FINAL JOKE.

So, back to the story...Friday night/Saturday morning, this said friend made a joke to one of my other friends about me.  I did not appreciate it, and it was just the final piece of the puzzle in my head.  This friend has a tendency to take jokes that he makes too far.  Some have been piling up for a few months now, and I had had enough.  So I lost it...over text.  First mistake there; never ever EVER start a fight via text.  It will never end well.  Anyways, the joke was made, and I confronted him in the possibly worst way possible.  I completely lost it.  I was text screaming, calling him names, and saying things I shouldn't have.  And of course he can't tell if I'm joking about being mad or not, since all of this stemmed from him joking about being mad about the concert.  I finally get frustrated enough that I just stop trying to talk about it around 3am.

Next day, everyone in our friend group is talking to each other about this situation.  Except for the fact that he won't speak to me, and I won't speak to him.  Everyone is talking to me about it or to him about it, but we can't talk to each other.  I tried to talk to my best girl friend here about it, and I completely broke down.  I could barely get three sentences out without just breaking into furious tears.  I was so frustrated and upset, and I knew that I could never get my feelings across to him about all of this that I just cried.  And I NEVER cry!  Except at a really cheesy chick flick...or an adorable animal...but that's neither here nor there.

So, after a day of sitting on this hot mess, I decide to write him a letter.  I attempt to explain that I'm not just mad at the joke, I'm mad about his attitude toward me and how he treats me.  I basically tell him that I deserve a better friend than what he has been lately, and if things can't change, I'm going to have to walk away.  I apologized for going off on him via text at 2am and that I left him confused about the whole thing.  And I sent him this letter.  I know, it's probably a cowardly thing to do, but I really feel it was the only way for me to be able to get all of those feelings and thoughts across to him.

After all this, I am exhausted; physically, mentally, emotionally, you name it.  It is exhausting trying to be an adult!  I prayed to God that night that he would restore joy to my soul; remind me about the good in life; give me something to keep going through these next couple of months.  Sunday morning, I get a text from not one, but TWO of my best friends telling me they were both in town.  I was able to spend the day with Stephen and Mandee and of course my cosmic twin Brittany.  We went to eat, went bowling, played N64...it was just the perfect end to a terrible weekend.  It really lifted my spirits.  Bottom line, GOD IS AWESOME!  He totally has my back.

Looking back on all of this, there is so much I would have done differently.  I would have tried to confront said friend earlier about how I feel about our friendship.  I would not have started it over text.  I would have somehow found the composure to talk about all of this in person.  Maybe this whole situation is God's way of saying "You're time in Springfield is most definitely done.  It's time for you to move on to bigger and better things.  I promise there are people out there that can love you and accept you for who you are without any regrets or compromises."  It just sucks to think that the few friends I had left here are possibly gone from my life now.

I don't know how things will turn out between me and said friend.  I'm not sure that we can be friends anymore, which sucks, because we really did all have a good time together...when it was good.   Maybe there will be some way to mend all of this and make these next few months great.  Maybe I will just have Brittany left from this group, which for now is more than enough.  Brittany has been awesome through this whole thing, and I'm feel so bad that she got caught in the middle of all this.  But no matter what, I know God's hand is in all of this.  I'm daily praying for his guidance about all of this, and about my future.  I just know I have to be patient and wait for his decision.  I feel like I've done all I can for now.  And now it's time to wait.

Wow...this was a longer rant than expected.  So sorry!  I doubt that anyone will read this, but I had to get it off my chest one last time.  Maybe it will serve as a learning tool for me in the future, a reminder of what to do in situations like this.  Oh well.  Until next time!

Greeting the New Year in Style!

Hello one and all!  Here's my first post of 2012!  Can you believe it?!  This past year seemed to fly by.  I am so glad to see it gone though.  2012 marks a big new start for me.  But more on that later...time to talk holidays!

For Christmas, I was home Friday & Saturday.  The fam went to the Christmas Eve service at our church, opened a few presents, put on our jingle jammies (family tradition...we get a new pair of pj pants), and watched A Christmas Story.  Sunday morning we finished opening presents and headed back to MO for the big family dinner.  We ended up spending the night, then I came back home with mom and the bro for a couple days before heading to Chicago.

Chicago was a BLAST!  I was fortunate enough to be invited along by a few of my friends to spend Thurday through Monday at the Trump Hotel and Tower.  We had way too much fun.  Lots of fine dining, crazy times, and toasting the New Year!  Here are a few of the pics from the trip.

 The view from our hotel room

 The girls' room

 The girls' bathroom...complete with a tv in the mirror

 View from the living room

 The delicious chocolate-covered strawberries waiting for us when we arrived

 My friend Brittany and I getting ready for dinner the first night

 Our outfits for New Year's Eve

 Goodies waiting for us at Rebar...where we spent New Year's Eve

 The boys from the trip!  Bobby, Nick, & Zach.  They are crazy awesome.

 The gang!

 Gotta have champagne to toast the New Year!

 Big ole sushi boat!

 This is one of the many fights between Batman (Bobby) and Bane (Nick).  And of course there's Zach.

 Our group with the awesome DJ for the night.

 And this is what happens when we're told to make crazy faces.

 We left this morning to snow and frigid weather outside.  Glad to be back in MO where it's a little warmer!

And now here's a little clip of us toasting the New Year!

It has been an awesome holiday season.  But I'm glad that the traveling is dying down and I'll be back into a routine.  After a couple days in Springfield, I head back home for about a week.  Then I'll get back into the swing of weekly sessions and piano lessons.  These next 6 months will be interesting for sure.  This is the first semester that I'll be out of school.  The plan for now is to be in Springfield until June, during which time I plan to figure out how to start my own business.  Hopefully by the fall I will have started my own MT private practice in the NW AR area.  I've got some great resources to help get me started, and it's a brand new market, so I'm really hopeful!

Well, that's about all I have for now.  I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Here's hoping and praying that we all have a great year with many blessings to come!  Until next time!

Done and DONE! For Real This Time...

Hello all!  As I am procrastinating finishing up some documentation, I thought I would update you all on what's been happening the last month.

Well, I graduated!  Again!  I completed my degree and got my MMT!  (Master of Music Therapy).  Here are some pics!

 Me being hooded by Dr. Cassity

 Class of 2011 (Winter Commencement)

 I'm so cool...

 Me and the cuz...he graduated the night before from the Police Academy at Drury.

 As you can tell, we really like taking pictures...

 Me and Maw (my grandma on dad's side)

So proud!

My holiday plans are crazy!  I'm in Springfield until the 23rd, then Laura and I will travel home to Fayetteville.  But we're back in the Springfield area Christmas day to have the family get-together at my uncle's house.  I go back to AR for a couple of days on the 26th, then I leave for Chicago the 29th with a group of friends for New Years.  We stay there until the 2nd, and then I come back to Springfield to start up sessions again.  I'll probably go back home one more time before Drury starts back up, because that will be when most of my sessions get underway again.  Crazy crazy!  And now for some holiday pics of the fam!

 Our friend Hayden was over for the cheesy family photo hour, so we made him jump in as the adopted son

After all of the holiday shenanigans, I will get back into the swing of sessions!  I'll only have a few until June.  It's weird to pick up new clients and only see them for 6 months.  I won't have any school though, so I'll have lots of free time.  It will be weird to say the least.

Now I'm off to record a CD for one of my clients as a Christmas present!  I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  May this time be filled with friends, family, and of course, remembrance of the best gift of all!  God bless!