Thoughts and Feelings

I've been feeling pretty confused lately about my "direction" and "future" I've become pretty discouraged about my chances of becoming full time faculty at a local community college. I've been tossing around ideas of going to get my PhD, going to law school, just trying to focus more on family, and trying to decide where I can best use my gifts, serve my community, support my family, etc.

In the meantime, though, I am very happy teaching and being out of Saint Martin's. I feel like the things that are stressful now are worth being stressed over. I've had a couple classes "flop" or become awkward for one reason or another but other than that, it's been really enjoyable. I've been working MANY hours and haven't gained much time overall like I anticipated I would but I have gained a lot of flexibility in how I spend my time and I feel like it's been easier for me to take things "day by day" and not get overwhelmed.

I also read a couple pages of a book by Steven Covey called "The 8th Habit" (a followup to 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and one line especially stood out to me. My former supervisor would always talk to me about how I had all this unused "potential" and he was talking about managing our families and empowering our children to take responsibility and said something like, "sometimes we believe in the potential of a person and not their worth, so we think it's not worth it to take the time, patience, self-sacrifice, etc. necessary to "invest" in them" He also talked about how when we're missing parts of our own self-worth, it's hard for us to believe in the worth of others... just got me thinking...

Juan Carlos, Danali and I are going to be a "host family" for a Japanese student in a program where we invite her to do things with us but don't necessarily have to have her spend the night. Since JC's brother is still living with us and occupying our third bedroom, this seemed like a great way to be involved with the resources we have...

Danali's baptism is also coming up on October 17th! I can't believe it's nearly October already! Time has just flown by recently! She will be baptized at Sacred Heart Parish in Lacey, WA at the Spanish mass with a huge fiesta to follow! Two of her cousins (one born last week!) will be baptized with her. My sister, Michelle and Juan Carlos's best friend, Ramon, will be the godparents. We're really excited!