Two posts in one day... This is getting out of control!
I haven't posted yet but I have adopted a soldier. I have felt since last spring called to try to figure out a way to help the troops. I think it was after watching that show on TV called Coming Home. I cry every episode but its such a special thing.
Anyhow, I can't say much about my soldier for confidential reasons. He is serving overseas until September of 2012. My job as a "penpal" is to write a letter or card a week for the entire length of his deployment. I am also allowed to send occasional care packages. I am in the process of sending out my first one tomorrow. I tried to send some necessities in addition to fun things and things characteristic to Wisconsin. I also had my kids that I work with in the morning make letters and color pictures and students at my internships wrote letters. It turned out really great. I think about him often and pray that he comes home to his family and friends safely at the end of his deployment. I have not received a letter from him yet. I might not ever but that's okay. Its more about making sure he has something to make him smile in mail call once a week.
If you feel like you want to get involved, the non-profit I went through is called Adopt-a-Platoon. You can click on the name and it will take you right to the website. It was really easy to sign up. They called me in a week or two and verified my information. Within two weeks I had the name of my soldier, even though they said it could take up to 6 weeks. I decided on just being a penpal because I am still in school and don't have a lot of money. You can choose to adopt completely which means a card/letter a week and at least one care package a month. I think it would be a great thing to do as a school/classroom/counseling department or just as an individual or family. If you have any other questions, let me know. All soldiers deserve to know that we are really thinking about them back here and that we really do thank them for their service of keeping us safe!
That's all I have got for today. I should get back to this presentation and paper that I have been procrastinating all break.
Jennifer
November 27, 2011
Procrastination...its the holidays...
Hey all,
I am writing this post because I am procrastinating the homework that I have been putting off since Thanksgiving break started. For some reason I am just not in the homework mode. I am in the holiday mode however. :-)
I am finally ready to listen to Christmas music even though its been on the radio for a good two weeks already. Yesterday we cleaned the house and moved some furniture in preparation for our Christmas tree. We are FINALLY getting a real tree. As a family we have had a fake tree for years but I think we finally persuaded my mother that we need a real one this year. I absolutely LOVE the smell of a real tree and I cant wait to go pick one out!
Thanksgiving has just passed and I am not ready to jump back into the real world of classes and internship and life just yet. I had an extra long break. Got to spend time with family, got all my shopping done for the holidays (yay!) and had some general down time. I have so much to be thankful for this year. My dad's mom is still with us. She is definitely slowing down but I got to spend all of Thanksgiving with her and its definitely a blessing. My cousin's girlfriend had her baby on Black Friday. Both mom and baby are healthy and happy. Its such a special blessing. First great-grandbaby on that side of the family! I get to spend lots of time with my mom, dad, and brother. Who knows what next year will bring with my brother off at college and me in the real world. I want to cherish every moment, even if they tend to drive me nuts after long periods of time together :-)
I cannot believe that in a few short weeks, I will be done with my second to last semester of grad school. Time has flown by so unbelievably fast! I mean two years, really? I can see that light at the end of the tunnel. I am thankful that the job outlook is promising, although it may not seem like it here in southeastern Wisconsin.
I hope that you all had a safe and happy holiday week/weekend. The Christmas season is officially upon us. I know that on Thanksgiving we usually say what we are thankful for. I hope that you all continue to be thankful year round for what you have. This holiday season I am going to try and do a few things for those who do not have as much as I do. I suggest you do the same. If we each do one small thing, we can make a big difference!
I feel like this post is all over the place so I hope it made sense!!
Happy Start of the Holiday Season Everyone!
Jennifer
I am writing this post because I am procrastinating the homework that I have been putting off since Thanksgiving break started. For some reason I am just not in the homework mode. I am in the holiday mode however. :-)
I am finally ready to listen to Christmas music even though its been on the radio for a good two weeks already. Yesterday we cleaned the house and moved some furniture in preparation for our Christmas tree. We are FINALLY getting a real tree. As a family we have had a fake tree for years but I think we finally persuaded my mother that we need a real one this year. I absolutely LOVE the smell of a real tree and I cant wait to go pick one out!
Thanksgiving has just passed and I am not ready to jump back into the real world of classes and internship and life just yet. I had an extra long break. Got to spend time with family, got all my shopping done for the holidays (yay!) and had some general down time. I have so much to be thankful for this year. My dad's mom is still with us. She is definitely slowing down but I got to spend all of Thanksgiving with her and its definitely a blessing. My cousin's girlfriend had her baby on Black Friday. Both mom and baby are healthy and happy. Its such a special blessing. First great-grandbaby on that side of the family! I get to spend lots of time with my mom, dad, and brother. Who knows what next year will bring with my brother off at college and me in the real world. I want to cherish every moment, even if they tend to drive me nuts after long periods of time together :-)
I cannot believe that in a few short weeks, I will be done with my second to last semester of grad school. Time has flown by so unbelievably fast! I mean two years, really? I can see that light at the end of the tunnel. I am thankful that the job outlook is promising, although it may not seem like it here in southeastern Wisconsin.
I hope that you all had a safe and happy holiday week/weekend. The Christmas season is officially upon us. I know that on Thanksgiving we usually say what we are thankful for. I hope that you all continue to be thankful year round for what you have. This holiday season I am going to try and do a few things for those who do not have as much as I do. I suggest you do the same. If we each do one small thing, we can make a big difference!
I feel like this post is all over the place so I hope it made sense!!
Happy Start of the Holiday Season Everyone!
Jennifer
November 7, 2011
Oops
Hey y'all!
Sometimes I just feel like I should be from the south. Anyways, I realized just now that it has been over a month since I have posted something on here. Ooops! I cannot believe that we are already a week into the month of November. The weather is really starting to feel like it is moving in the direction of winter. I am not looking forward to having to bundle up and make my way out when its cold and there is snow. It can sometimes really be a pain. Ugh!
An update on internship, since its what this blog is about. Things have been picking up around here...finally!! I have a couple of students that I see on a regular basis. I am part of 3 groups. 2 girls groups (one junior and one senior) and one transfer group. The transfer group will be ending in a few weeks and I am kinda sad about it. I look forward to meeting with these boys once a cycle to chat about life. We (the other intern and I) asked how they felt about the group last week. They said that they really enjoyed it but they wished we had brought more food. Guess I am baking for next time :-) We are talking about bringing in lunch for the final group since the group runs around lunch time. The boys seemed REALLY receptive to the idea, surprise surprise. ;-) The girls groups are going really well. I even got to run one of them by myself last week. It turned out really well and I felt surprisingly comfortable doing it. I really like running small groups because it gives me a chance to talk with these students on a deeper level. I feel like I am really getting to know each of them personally.
I have a few students that I am working with on a semi-regular/regular basis. Its good to see the same kids often and be able to chart their progress. I hope that I am able to help them in some way before I have to leave here at the end of the semester.
I am going on Thursday to see the school's production of Fame. I know a few student's that are in it and I am excited to go and show support. Plus I LOVE the story line. Friday is XIXIXI (11/11/11). That means that we are scratching a day of classes to have an assembly and do a bunch of awesome activities. More to come on that and FAME once the end of the week rolls around.
I am hoping to get some stuff scheduled and do a few classroom guidance lessons before I leave here. I am going to go into a room of seniors and talk about the transition to college. I am really looking forward to this and am hoping that it comes to pass sometime before the holidays. Speaking of holidays...
My family is leaving this weekend to head down to Iowa. My cousin's girlfriend is having a baby so we are throwing her a baby shower. So while the entire side of the family is in town, we are also celebrating my grandpa's birthday AND Thanksgiving! I am so not ready for Thanksgiving to be here but I suppose it is right around the corner. It should be a good weekend filled with fun, family, and food. And hopefully some football. :-) After this weekend, I am going to try really hard to start eating healthy. I started to realize that my eating habits are getting worse instead of better these days. It needs to change ASAP!! So stay tuned. I might/will have plenty of questions for all of you school counselors out there. And anyone else too!!!
That's all for now. I will update later in the week.
Jennifer
Sometimes I just feel like I should be from the south. Anyways, I realized just now that it has been over a month since I have posted something on here. Ooops! I cannot believe that we are already a week into the month of November. The weather is really starting to feel like it is moving in the direction of winter. I am not looking forward to having to bundle up and make my way out when its cold and there is snow. It can sometimes really be a pain. Ugh!
An update on internship, since its what this blog is about. Things have been picking up around here...finally!! I have a couple of students that I see on a regular basis. I am part of 3 groups. 2 girls groups (one junior and one senior) and one transfer group. The transfer group will be ending in a few weeks and I am kinda sad about it. I look forward to meeting with these boys once a cycle to chat about life. We (the other intern and I) asked how they felt about the group last week. They said that they really enjoyed it but they wished we had brought more food. Guess I am baking for next time :-) We are talking about bringing in lunch for the final group since the group runs around lunch time. The boys seemed REALLY receptive to the idea, surprise surprise. ;-) The girls groups are going really well. I even got to run one of them by myself last week. It turned out really well and I felt surprisingly comfortable doing it. I really like running small groups because it gives me a chance to talk with these students on a deeper level. I feel like I am really getting to know each of them personally.
I have a few students that I am working with on a semi-regular/regular basis. Its good to see the same kids often and be able to chart their progress. I hope that I am able to help them in some way before I have to leave here at the end of the semester.
I am going on Thursday to see the school's production of Fame. I know a few student's that are in it and I am excited to go and show support. Plus I LOVE the story line. Friday is XIXIXI (11/11/11). That means that we are scratching a day of classes to have an assembly and do a bunch of awesome activities. More to come on that and FAME once the end of the week rolls around.
I am hoping to get some stuff scheduled and do a few classroom guidance lessons before I leave here. I am going to go into a room of seniors and talk about the transition to college. I am really looking forward to this and am hoping that it comes to pass sometime before the holidays. Speaking of holidays...
My family is leaving this weekend to head down to Iowa. My cousin's girlfriend is having a baby so we are throwing her a baby shower. So while the entire side of the family is in town, we are also celebrating my grandpa's birthday AND Thanksgiving! I am so not ready for Thanksgiving to be here but I suppose it is right around the corner. It should be a good weekend filled with fun, family, and food. And hopefully some football. :-) After this weekend, I am going to try really hard to start eating healthy. I started to realize that my eating habits are getting worse instead of better these days. It needs to change ASAP!! So stay tuned. I might/will have plenty of questions for all of you school counselors out there. And anyone else too!!!
That's all for now. I will update later in the week.
Jennifer
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