Finish Year Week 8

Finish Year Week 8

Today marks the end of Week 78of FinishYear! FinishYear is a term I'm using from Jon Acuff, a Christian blogger whom I follow regularly because he is both wise and hilarious! He suggested that we all challenge ourselves to make 2012 a year of finishing things, as opposed to starting new resolutions because let's face it, dreams are great and all, but unfinished dreams accomplish nothing. FINISHING changes your life, if not the world!

So, we're eight weeks in, and here's how I'm doing on the goals I designated for FinishYear.

-Finish Master's Degree: Drafts have been finished and a date for my defense has been set! I'll defend my thesis (and potentially finish this thing) on Friday, March 23rd at 10am. Let the panic commence...

-Finish Health Psych Cert: This week was the seventh week of class. Eight more to go. It was difficult to go to class this week because Pop Pop is back in the hospital with a larger brain bleed, so I was tempted to use my one allowed "skip" this week. But, next week is an online discussion forum, so I needed to go to class to get instructions on that. I completed the first part of the discussion forum already for this week, and I hope to use some time this week to select a prevention program to evaluate for my semester paper. Really need to start that this week...

-Finish Scripture Index Cards: I feel OK about this one. I feel great about the fact that I spent more time in Scripture this week than in previous weeks. I did not, however, write down any verses in my book because 1) they didn't pop out at me, or 2) much of the time spent reading was away from home, and I did not have my cards with me. With Pop Pop in the hospital this week, I was there a lot, and much reading was done from my pocket Bible in his hospital room. That's OK, the cards can travel with me if need be!

-Finish a letter to Karabo: I got a birthday card for Karabo! Plan this week is to mail it, and hopefully it'll get to him by early April, but Lesotho is so far away that sometimes it takes months for mail to get to him.

-Finish a storage/classification system for clients' photographs: This week, I put another $10 in my hard drive envelope!

In the end, it was an OK week for FinishYear, despite craziness at work and the unexpected stress of Pop Pop's stroke putting him in the hospital for most of the week.

How's it going for you??

Finish Year Week 7

Today marks the end of Week 7 of FinishYear! FinishYear is a term I'm using from Jon Acuff, a Christian blogger whom I follow regularly because he is both wise and hilarious! He suggested that we all challenge ourselves to make 2012 a year of finishing things, as opposed to starting new resolutions because let's face it, dreams are great and all, but unfinished dreams accomplish nothing. FINISHING changes your life, if not the world!

So, we're seven weeks in, and here's how I'm doing on the goals I designated for FinishYear

-Finish Master's Degree: I submitted three more drafts this week, each with just a few more small edits than the previous draft. I just finished draft #7 and I believe it is ready to go to my committee! I started dialogue with my professors this week and I will likely defend this thing on either March 15  or March 22. Just waiting on one more professors to chime in with her availability before we nail down a date, this sucker gets emailed out, and I start to panic! Feel good and terrified about this one!

-Finish Health Psych Cert: This week was the sixth week of class. Nine more to go. Earned a 30/30 on last week's discussion forum and narrowed down a topic idea for my Prevention Plan Overview paper due April 26. I plan to review and evaluate a currently implemented plan on preventing household injuries in the special needs population. Feel good about this one!

-Finish Scripture Index Cards: I feel OK about this one. I feel great about the fact that I spent more time in Scripture this week than in previous weeks. I did not, however, write down any verses in my book because 1) they didn't pop out at me, or 2) much of the time spent reading was away from home, and I did not have my cards with me. With Pop Pop in the hospital this week, I was there a lot, and much reading was done from my pocket Bible in his hospital room. That's OK, the cards can travel with me if need be!

-Finish a letter to Karabo: I emailed Karabo this week! It's so neat that World Vision offer this option, because all of the customs laws at the post office confuse me, and there are lots of rules about names and ID numbers in specific spots on the envelopes that make me nervous I'm going to mess up and he won't get his letter. I got a birthday card for him in the mail from World Vision yesterday, it seems so early to be thinking about his 3rd birthday, which is in early April, but Lesotho is far away!

-Finish a storage/classification system for clients' photographs: This week, I put $10 in my external hard drive envelope. I now have $25 saved toward this purchase, so I'm about 25% of the way there, if I want to get a 500MB drive. I think that will be enough. 1 TB is just HUGE and since I don't keep client's photos more than 1 year, I don't think I'll need that much space. Feeling on track for this one!

In the end, it was a pretty good week for FinishYear, despite craziness at work and the unexpected stress of Pop Pop's stroke putting him in the hospital for most of the week.

How's it going for you??

Book Review - Surprised By Laughter: The Comic World of C. S. Lewis

Surprised by Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis is written by Dr. Terry Lindvall and examines how C. S. Lewis incorporated humor into his writings. Dr. Lindvall covers four types of humor utilized by Lewis and gives examples of how these types of humor were manifested in Lewis’ writings and in his life.

Honestly, I didn’t love this book. I enjoyed parts of it (even laughed out loud at some of them!), but overall, it was difficult to read. The beginning was very slow for me, and definitely written at a PhD level. Dr. Lindvall is very well written and makes excellent points in his writing, but this is not “leisure” reading. It is also quite lengthy, so prepare to spend quite a bit of time in this book if you choose to read it. The good parts, though, really do offer the reader a look at who C. S. Lewis really was, on a level that feels almost private, intimate, and privileged. It is refreshing to learn that one of the great thinkers and writers of the 20^th century was really such a fun person, too!

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book to review from Book Sneeze.

Finish Year Week 6

Today marks the end of Week 6 of FinishYear! FinishYear is a term I'm using from Jon Acuff, a Christian blogger who I follow regularly because he is both wise and hilarious! He suggested that we all challenge ourselves to make 2012 a year of finishing things, as opposed to starting new resolutions because let's face it, dreams are great and all, but unfinished dreams accomplish nothing. FINISHING changes your life, if not the world!

So, six weeks in, here's how I'm doing on the goals I designated for FinishYear

-Finish Master's Degree: I got draft #3 back this week and I got the green light to schedule my oral defense! Paper is all formatted except for one table that needs special formatting. Awaiting instruction on that matter, then emails will go out to schedule defense! Whoa!

-Finish Health Psych Cert: This week was the fifth week of class. Ten more to go. Completed an online discussion forum and I think I did well.

-Finish Scripture Index Cards: I added two Scripture passages this week.

-Finish a letter to Karabo: I planned to write to Karabo this past week, but I dropped the ball on this one, because I was focusing on my thesis and Health Psych Cert goals. Glad this is a monthly goal, it definitely needs to happen this week. Or tonight, as soon as I post this.

-Finish a storage/classification system for clients' photographs: This week, I was not able to put any money in the envelope for the external hard drive, but I did research some options at Best Buy and Amazon.com. 

In the end, it was an alright week for FinishYear. Most of my work went toward my Master's Degree goal, and I feel excellent and very excited about that one. Once it's finished, I might add some goals to FinishYear.

How's it going for everyone else? Anything going particularly well or needing more attention for you guys?  

FinishYear Week #5

Finish Year is a term I copied from Jon Acuff, a Christian blogger who I follow regularly because he is both wise and hilarious! He suggested that we all challenge ourselves to make 2012 a year of finishing things, as opposed to starting new resolutions because let's face it, dreams are great and all, but unfinished dreams accomplish nothing. FINISHING changes your life, if not the world!

So, some friends and I sat down and made our Finish Lists for 2012 and I will share mine. In 2012, I will:
-FINISH my Master's Degree
-FINISH my Clinical Health Psychology Certification
-FINISH a book of index cards that I purchased two years ago for the purpose of filling it with Scripture verses that were meaningful to me. I started, and it's time I finish. But, in order to fill it with Scripture, guess what I have to read? That's right. Scripture. Double bonus on this one!
-FINISH at least one letter to my sponsored child, Karabo in Lesotho, each month.
-FINISH plans for a classification/storage system for my clients' photographs.

Today marks the end of Week 5, so it's time for an update! Here's how I did on each of my goals:

-Finish Master's Degree: Last night, I turned in draft #3 and I think it's really good! I know that it still needs some work, but I believe it will be mostly formatting. I learned how to make APA style tables this week and also attached all my tables, figures, and measures to the end of the document.



-Finish Health Psych Cert: This week was the fourth week of class. Eleven more to go. I learned I received a 25/25 on my presentation from last week. This coming week we won't be meeting in person but we'll do an online discussion forum.

-Finish Scripture Index Cards: I added one verse this week. Better than last week but I can do better.

-Finish a letter to Karabo: This is a monthly goal, which I plan to complete this week.

-Finish a storage/classification system for clients' photographs: This week, I saved  only a few dollars toward my external hard drive, but again, it's FinishYEAR, not finish month, so I have quite some time to save this money. I'm going on a missions trip to Jamaica in July, so most of the money I would have saved for external hard drive got allocated to a fundraising envelope for that trip. 

In the end, it was a so-so week for FinishYear. Most of my work went toward my Master's Degree goal, and I feel REALLY good about that one.

How's it going for everyone else? Anything going particularly well or needing more attention for you guys?