Freewrite: March 7, 2011

So, yesterday I went to lunch. Not just a regular lunch- but a planned one. I don't have planned/scheduled lunches very often. This lunch was to meet with the planning committee for the first annual gala for Lifehouse Crisis Maternity Home. Lifehouse is a place that I found through dosomething.org and I eventually got in contact with the founder through facebook. Sharon, the founder, had an abortion when she was 19- something she deeply regrets. She now has 4 wonderful kids and has discovered what God meant for her to do. She started Lifehouse more than a year ago- and an actual house is now in the works so that she can provide 20 women a place to stay throughout their pregnancy if they are going through a crisis (abuse, homelessness, teenage pregnancy, etc.). Anyways, when I found Lifehouse on facebook, I was so excited. It is exactly what I want to do later in life. I want to help take care of those women and their unborn children because I feel like that is where I will be able to impact and help save the babies that I love so dearly. Sharon told me that she will mentor me- something I am very grateful for. Not only does she have experience in the field I am going into, but she has social workers, counselors, and many other people I can talk to to get more information about my future job and what it may entail. The gala is on June 17, and it is going to be held at The Veridian in downtown Springfield. It is a gorgeous place and I cannot wait to help plan this event that will help so many women in our area!! She has so much faith in me and what I can bring to this group- I hope I don't disappoint her! :)

WORD COUNT: 310

Freewrite: March 04, 2011

I got a job yesterday! I'm so excited! I'm going to be an employee of SportClips. My title will be "coordinator/receptionist," but I'll do a lot more than that. I will check people in for their haircuts, check them out, dust shelves, stock shelves, sweep, vaccuum, do laundry, clean the equipment, and much more I'm sure! Bri was the one who told me I should apply because she already works there and I'm so glad I did. Instead of only working 10 hours at the most each week, I'm going to work 20 to 25 hours! The constant flow of money will be really nice considering I'm making hardly anything right now. The owner seems very sweet and caring and I'm glad for that. One thing she told me really stuck out. She said, "You will take something away from this job. In my 40 years in the workforce, I can honestly say I have learned something from every job I've had, and you will be able to say that, too. You will be able to use things you've learned here and apply it to college and just to life in general." I hadn't really thought about jobs like that before- and by that I mean the fact that they can teach you a lot more than you realize you are learning. From the pool, I learned how to be an employee. It was my first job, and hopefully I'll still work there this summer. I learned how to take charge and do things before I was asked. I learned that there are many, many personalities that you have to learn to deal with and sometimes that frustrates me. The Rec Center has taught me how to deal with people and make sure the customer is happy. Bass Pro didn't teach me a lot, but they did teach me what a good company is like.

WORD COUNT: 315

Freewrite: March 02, 2011

Today... is Wednesday. Normally I would be going to BBBS today, but our basketball game against Branson is tonight, so i'm going to miss a week. I wish the game was tomorrow, but I really want to support our team, so I'm going to go watch them up at SBU tonight! I'm excited. Normally, as Cameron likes to point out, I don't really enjoy basketball, but I do enjoy having school spirit and how intense the game becomes when you are sitting in the student section at WHS. Our school is awesome like that- supporting our sports programs a ton. We have the best student section around! I don't know how many people signed up to ride the spirit bus today, but I'm guessing a bunch. I really hope we win tonight! It would be super exciting to be able to make it to state like we did in 2007. The next game is on Saturday- the day that percussion is going to MMPAT in Lebanon. The MMPAT thing should be fun, but I wish there was a way for us to go to the game (if we make it). I really don't know what to write today... I finished my scholarships for MSU last night at 11:35 PM- the deadline was 11:59 PM:) Hopefully I get some scholarships so that I can take all the credit hours I need without having to pay for them or take a loan out for them! I only have to fill out my local scholarship apps and then I will be done :)

WORD COUNT: 260

Freewrite: January 31, 2011

Today is Monday. Ugh. Mondays are my least favorite. I get to spend the weekend sleeping in late, but then I have to get up early to come to school. Gross. This weekend, however, was a lot of fun. On Friday night, I stayed home and did nothing. It was wonderful. Even though I could have gone out and done something, I really felt like just sitting at home with my family. My Saturday was kind of busy. In the morning, I went for a run and did my chores so that I could go into town with Lindsey for a few hours! We went to Anna Sophia's (really odd store) and then we went downtown and walked around. We are going prom dress shopping this weekend, so we decided that we would go to Gracie's Bridal and a few other places to look at dresses and get an idea of what we wanted. I found one that I absolutely fell in love with and she found one that she loved as well. Hers was a navy mermaid style dress that fit her perfectly. Mine was a white dress with a huge blue floral print across it. IT WAS GORGEOUS. The dress was a size 18, though, so I didn't get a true idea of exactly how poofy it would be, but it is the dress that I want to buy. However, at almost $350, it won't be coming home with me even though I want it to. I have to find a less expensive one. Oh well- shopping on Saturday got me and Lindsey really excited for this Saturday! On Saturday night, I babysat two boys. They live in a golf community, so the houses were fantastic. The boys were rowdy, but a lot of fun. I'm hoping to babysit them again sometime soon. On Sunday, my whole family came over for my Aunt's birthday. Cameron came over, too, and it was just a wonderful day :)

WORD COUNT: 328

Freewrite: January 28, 2011

I'm not really sure what I want to write about today. This weekend I'm not really doing anything, which will be kind of nice! I love having nothing to do. It makes the weekend so much more relaxing. Next weekend, however, I'm going prom dress shopping with Lindsey! I'm really excited for that. We are going to go up to Joplin with our moms and try to find some cute dresses that you wouldn't find around here. I want something different for my senior prom. When I realize how close we actually are to graduating, it kind of blows my mind. I think about it a lot these days... how close we are to graduating, I mean. We have less than 4 months until we are thrown out into the big bad adult world. It's kind of scary, but at the same time, it's really exciting! I will be in college in less than 7 months! Insane! I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I'm excited to have a little bit more freedom (hopefully), but since I decided to live at home to save some money up, I don't know how much freedom I will really be getting. I also talked to Mr. Grauf the other day about changing my mind and I am now going to be a double major for Elementary Education and Social Work! As tough as it may be, I'm really excited. I'm hoping it will open more doors for me as far as job opportunities go and I think I would love either of those positions. However, taking 20 hours a semester is going to be difficult. I'm sure I can do it, but it is going to stress me out. Teaching already takes more credit hours than MSU actually requires to graduate, so adding on a few more hours each semester is going to be hard. Oh well! I will get the opportunity to possibly have one of my dream jobs and it will be worth it for that :)

WORD COUNT: 340

Freewrite: January 26, 2011

I have recently been thinking a lot about what I really want to do with my life (because of the newspaper article the other day)... and I think I've found something that fits me better than teaching. Although I love teaching, I think what I love about it is the fact that I'm working with kids and helping to make them better. However, I don't think teaching is the way I want to impact childrens' lives. I think I want to be a social worker at a place like the Pregnancy Care Center. I want to talk with people that are going to be parents and have either chosen to keep their children or give them up for adoption. I think that social work can open a lot more doors for working the type of job that I see myself working. I see myself working with troubled youth, and even more, I see myself working with pregnant teens, teen parents, and their children. I want to help provide them with things they wouldn't have had otherwise like resources for child care and things like diapers, wipes, and bottles. I don't just want to work with the teens that have accepting parents and a good support system- in fact, I'd rather not work with them. I want to work with the kids whose parents don't support their decision or teens who just have no place to turn. I want to be that place, and I think social work can really help me with that. Although I love teaching and I love the kids that I work with when I cadet teach, I really think that I can impact more lives the way I want to if I were to become a social worker. I'm pretty excited :)

WORD COUNT: 296

Freewrite: January 24, 2011

I have been thinking a lot this weekend about what I want to do with my life. I know for sure that I want to get married, go to college, have kids, etc., but I have been a little thrown off my path when it comes to deciding what my career will be. I was reading the News-Leader on Sunday morning and the main articles were about the homeless and how they were shelterless as well. In the Springfield area, there is not a place for them to stay year-round. The only time they have a place to stay is when the weather is below 20 degrees! That seems really insufficient and sad to me. The articles were talking about how Springfield could really use a shelter that would be open all year for the homeless to stay- and one that would be boundary-less as well. That would mean that all types of people could stay there- men, women, children, drug addicts, drunks, etc. Right now, the churches and other places that sponsor the emergency shelters have boundaries regarding who can stay there, so they are really in need of someone to open a shelter that will not have the boundaries and just let all who need a place to stay for a while come. As I thought about it, it actually seemed like something I would be interested in doing. I know it would be a ton of hard work, but it would be so rewarding knowing that I am helping people who can't help the situation they are in. I also know that I was thinking of leaning more towards helping teen moms, but I think helping in general is what will make me happy. I need some more freewrite time and a chat with Mr. Grauf to see what exactly I would need to do to prepare for a career in non- profit business/shelters :)

WORD COUNT: 318