God Works in Mysterious Ways

What a wonderful couple of days!

These past few days I have been blessed with more time than I thought possible. I'm still extremely tired and recuperating from being sick, yet have found time to get things done. Don't get me wrong, I am still WAY behind and playing catch up. Yet somehow I'm less anxious; I'm at peace.

Yesterday I had another fantastic day at work. A class was canceled for Wednesday giving me more time to study for the two exams I have this week (technically I had a third but I finished that one today). I got home from FHE and enjoyed some quality time with my roommate making homemade BBQ chicken pizza. I then proceeded to deactivate my facebook, yes world Julie Hamilton is no longer on facebook, but have no fear this is a temporary measure until I fully catch up from missing school.

Monday night was really great we had a ward FHE with the stake president and his wife, his wife is one precious lady-not to mention hilarious! Needless to say it was just wonderful, they answered questions about anything anyone had. Amazing how I didn't have any questions to ask yet all of my doubts, concerns, and feelings of uneasiness went away. President Kush (the stake president) wasn't supposed to be in town but missed his flight on sunday and was able to attend, maybe he missed his flight so he could help me personally, along with others. I am so grateful for their council and stories.

This morning began "bright and early" and by bright and early I really mean completely dark, freezing, and early. I woke up just before 5:30 am to be at the Rexburg Temple by 5:45, my ward planned a ward temple trip and since a few of my roommates had 7:45 classes so we needed to be there right away. What a way to start the day, I mean come on its almost 10pm and I'm still completely awake and going strong! (Disregard the quick nap I took during my religion class..) We got out of the temple around 7:30 it was still dark and freezing (LITERALLY). Did I mention I felt my eyebrows freeze and my hair became a bit crunchy? Well.. it did. But hey! It was SO worth it!

I have been SO productive today, and I will give all credit for that to the blessings from going to the temple. I have been able to get a lot of reading and studying done, which is so needed. I took a midterm today and even though I was nervous from missing so much I feel fairly confident in my performance. I went to the library after my last class today and although I had planned on working on my Middle East homework, I decided to spend a little time on my religion homework. Almost 2 hours later I left the library with my religion final finished.. Can you call that being productive? I'm honestly not sure. Yes, I am basically done with one class.. But I didn't study for my test this week. Productive? Yes. Counterproductive? Yes. So what does that make it?--Nonexistent? Oh but I can assure you, it is not nonexistent for my beautiful "book of reference" is sitting right next to me. *Humph* Either way, I am way proud of it :)

My roommate showed me a quote that was passed out to her in class today. It reads, "If you wait to do everything until you're sure its right, you'll probably never do much of anything." -Anonymous. Basically sums up my decision making process lately. Not to mention the fact that I am one of the most indecisive persons one will ever meet. Lately though, I've been at a stalemate, a crossroads if you will.

Yes, I finally made up my mind on where to live and got a contract living with my most wonderful best friends Jordyn and Whitney along with other friends. Although I am sad to be leaving my wonderful ward I am excited to embrace a new location, winter semester, and another journey of life.

As I am faced with millions of more decisions I hope to be more decisive and rely on others for guidance, especially the Lord. Let's face it, He does know best. I am grateful for my challenges and joys, may they continue to flood my life. May we always smile, help those in need, and find joy in the journey.

*And She Continues to Live, Happily Ever After*

The Blessings of Awetism (Autism)

Playing catch up was harder than I thought. Its really hard to do midterms, along with catching up on a weeks worth of homework and exams. I am so grateful for the weekend! Thursday was the worst day of all, 4 classes and 2 tests. Unfortuantely missing so much class is really affecting my studies because I can't even play catch up since I currently require so much sleep.

I just want to give an update on little Buzz, the boy I work with. His mom had told me when I was hired that she had a friend who said autism should be spelled awetism, like the word awesome. I must say, today I saw the reason for that completely! I worked with Buzz for three hours today, and it was the best three hours ever! For those of you who don't know, Buzz has not let any of us working with him (besides his parents) play with his toy story toys, books, or even really talk about toy story.

Today it only took about 5 min for Buzz to warm up to me and for us to talk and play! First AMAZING thing! THEN, he started showing me his Toy Story Sticker books and would let me ask questions and we would talk about the characters. After that we ate popcorn and I read his Toy Story books OVER AND OVER, with him telling me which one to read and talking to me about the scenes. Then, we went back to the sticker books and he would point to the characters and say "Do you see them? Who is that?" and quizzed me on all of the characters. Every time I didn't know the name of one he would give me this "you honestly don't know the answer" stare and I would have to beg for him to tell me the name. We did that for the whole book 3 times, plus another book! That is just amazing!

We played some games where he was completely interactive. We made faces to each other in the mirror, after which he called me weird. (haha) That is so great! He's teasing, I absolutely love seeing his personality shine through. To top off an already fantastic day, WE PLAYED WITH THE TOY STORY TOYS!! He would have me take down the bin, and I could touch the toys (as long as he was holding them) and we would talk about each toy and play with them together! How cool is that!

I feel so blessed to be able to work with this little boy and see the miracle of his progress. I always leave each session with such a love for that little guy and hope for the future. He has already made such great strives. I look forward to seeing his progress in the future. I am so grateful for the happiness he brings to my stressful life.

*And She Continues To Live, Happily Ever After*

Too many times to count.

Well this is probably the 8th time I have tried to write this post. Fact of the matter is I don't want to write another "downer post" but that's basically what part of this one is going to be.. poop. Sorry guys.

Lets talk about last weekend first because it was super wonderful! On Friday (10/8) I took two tests, got an A on one and a B on the other, starting my great weekend. I then went home and made chocolate chip cookies with my friend David Ostler from home. During the baking process my good friend Janae from my East Coast Trip who also happens to live in CANADA called me because she was in town! I was SO excited! My night got that much better when Janae and Liesl came over, we ate cookies and played the most wonderful game of curses. I'd have to say it was a pretty decent day. :) Saturday was even better than Friday, I slept in till 9! WOW that is huge, I'm usually up by 6:30 for my 7:45 class. I thought I was in college and could sleep into noon, but no not me I get up early no matter what. ANYWAYS! So, on Saturday I vowed to do NO homework because of the fact that I had had 4 quizzes and 3 exams that week. It was great, I relaxed, slept, went to the store, and just wasted time until my MATS Reunion.

Almost everyone from our east coast trip went to dinner at Brother Kinghorn's house, and I can't tell you how great it was to see everyone! So wonderful. I had a blast. Unfortunately it ended a bit sooner than we all expected so Janae, Liesl, Rachelle, Thomas, and myself had to plan to go to the Straw Maze so the night didn't end so early. We made the best choice ever! The Straw Maze was haunted which made it even more fun. Rachelle and Liesl were holding on to each other for dear life, and I managed to not be scared and actually told one of the "monsters" to SHUT UP because I was annoyed that I was lost. Ha-ha. Classic. Needless to say it was a great night. :)

The week was then not so great.. I got really sick, like REALLY sick. Couldn't go to class at all the entire week. Missed 15 class hours.. needless to say I slept on the couch. Silver lining: Didn't have to lead the music on Sunday (which is terrifying to me!) AND I lost so much weight I fit my old pants again. (Haha) I'm way behind in school which is not okay.. Especially since its Midterms are NOW.

Here's to a week of lots of naps, even more homework/studying, and playing catch up!

*And She Continues To Live, Happily Ever After*