Trip to Austin

Me & Heather Shea

A few weeks ago I went to Austin (Capitol of Texas) to meet with my Senator and Representative concerning some bills that have an influence on Physical Therapists. It was a great trip! I learned a lot about the legal process and how much influence you can have on the "big cheeses" if you just take the time.

While I was there I got to see my 2 cousins whom I haven't seen in almost 2 years. Despite the distance when we were growing up my Nanny made sure we got to spend time with "the cousins". We're pretty close even if we don't get to see each other. I just wanted to share some pics with ya'll so ya'll could see how beautiful they are. Danielle just turned 21 ( I think) and Heather just turned 19.

Dani & me 

Johnny (Danielle's boyfriend), Heather, & Danielle. 

Heather and Danielle 

Danielle, Me, & Heather. 

Here's what my award looks like. Cool, huh? It's so shiny!

Sorry for the glare.

Research Day!

Today was Research Day. For a little background, the second year graduate students have to perform a research assignment. We have at least one advisor to oversee the research. I had 2 partners and mine research was on The Effectiveness of Two Physical Therapy Internventions for Increasing Pectoralis Minor Length. Ultimately we were looking at "bad" posture and the contribution of pect. minor length in playing a part. It was a really cool research project and we got some good results, even if they weren't exactly what we thought they would be. My group was 1 out of 8 that had to do a platform presentation. We had to present last... right before lunch. There were also about 12 poster presentations afterwards. 3 people are picked to judge the presentations and vote on the best from each section. This year one faculty (with no interest in a particular study), on physical therapist from a nearby clinic, and our Dean of Health Sciences who resides on the Houston campus, were the judges. The 2 best then get their name on a plaque at the school that has predecessors from the last few years on it. As I had published before, this was very time consuming and a lot of hard work. Well, my group won the platform presentation award! This year a nearby clinic (same mentioned above) Concentra gave a $100 award to each group and a group plaque (separate from the one at the school). I did not expect to win the award even though a few people had told us afterwards that they thought we would. One of our advisors had also told us previously that she thought we had a good chance. This not only makes us look good (and is a great honor), but it makes our advisors look good even though they were just there for the basic guidance and we did all of the brunt work.

Anyways, I'm real excited about the award and thought that it was really cool how our hard work was acknowledged. I thought everyone did an awesome job and I'm sure it was hard to choose the best one. Just thought I'd share my excitement!

Published...

I know that I haven't really posted anything about me lately, just neat emails I received. Life has been fairly hectic, as usual, especially as I prepare to present my research information tomorrow. I'm really excited about presenting because our research (my 2 partners and 2 advisors) had significant findings. For those of you who know nothing about research, significant means that the findings were attributed to true change and not measurement error... something like that. (If anyone has a better definition, please share.) We may have actually identified a better tool for measuring pectoralis minor length than the one previously used as well. I know this sounds boring to all you non-nerdy non-scientist people. The really cool thing is that we'll probably get published!! That you'll probably understand. There's still the writing of the article, which will take some work, but it'll be worth all the hard work and time I put into this.

Do you feel like you're in the fire?

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at the next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Another cool email I got that really hit home for me. Some encouragement for those that feel like they're in the fire.

Drowning!

I know some of you are not in school right now, but I'm sure you have pressing deadlines that make you feel like you are drowning at times. This is my feeling right now. I thought this semester was going to be laid back with a few assignments, but it's getting down to the nitty gritty right now. All of my classes (5), except one, requires at least one presentation and I also have to present on my research project in front of faculity, staff, students, and other health care professionals. And of course 4 of them are in the last 2 weeks of school. Not to mention every paper and piddly assignment... which I did get a head start on, Thank God!! So, for those of you who feel like me, I sympathize... and those that don't, count yourself lucky and say a prayer for me so I'll maintain my sanity.

The Lord's Baseball Game

Freddy and the Lord stood by to observe a baseball game. The Lord's team was playing Satan's team. The Lord's team was at bat, the score was tied zero to zero, and it was the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs. They continued to watch as a batter stepped up to the plate named 'Love.' Love swung at the first pitch and hit a single, because "Love never fails."

The next batter was named Faith, who also got a single because Faith works with Love.

The next batter up was named Godly Wisdom. Satan wound up and threw the first pitch Godly Wisdom looked it over and let it pass: Ball one. Three more pitches and Godly Wisdom walked because he never swings at what Satan throws.

The bases were now loaded. The Lord then turned to Freddy and told him He was now going to bring in His starplayer. Up to the plate stepped Grace. Freddy said, "He sure doesn't look like much!"

Satan's whole team relaxed when they saw Grace. Thinking he had won the game, Satan wound up and fired his first pitch. To the shock of everyone, Grace hit the ball harder than anyone had ever seen! But Satan was not worried; his center fielder let very few get by. He went up for the ball, but it went right through his glove, hit him on the head and sent him crashing on the round;
the roaring crowds went wild as the ball continued over the fence . . . for a home run!

The Lord's team won!

The Lord then asked Freddy if he knew why Love, Faith and Godly Wisdom could get on base but couldn't win the game. Freddy answered that he didn't know why. The Lord explained, "If your love, faith and wisdom had won the game, you would think you had done it by yourself. Love, Faith and Wisdom will get you on base but only My Grace can get you Home:

'For by Grace are you saved, it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

Psalm 84:11,"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."

A cute email I received today... Thought I'd share it.

Me & Science

I love science! I'm not sure how it happened, but it's some inate quality that I have. I remember saving $50 when I was 10 so I could buy a microscope. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but when I got it I "experimented" with it and even made my own slides. Through my studies in high school, at SWU, and TWU I have learned so many things about science, the human body, and life. The more I learn the more I know that God is. Everything about life points to Him. One of my professors from SWU, Dr. Labar, wrote a blog about Scriptural Principles that Relate to Science that really impressed me. The fourth (God is revealed to us through nature) and fifth (God is a God of order) principles were of special significance to me because it's one that many scientists miss. The world, and the human body for that matter, are so complex. How can a "scientist" state that all of this happened by chance? When taking Human Gross Anataomy it amazed me how there could be slight differences in which artery/nerve branched off where, but yet the human body still works. Is this chance? I think not. Maybe I am only aware of God in science because I first believed in Him, and then in science.

Cartoons

Check out some funny cartoons! More to come...

Another Week

Well, I've made it through another week of school! I don't have much longer until I'll be out in the "real world" working. My mom has also made it through her 4th week of radiation... she has 2 left. Despite the uncomfortable complications that have been involved with her radiation treatment (her mouth blistered up pretty bad) the cancer is dying quickly and her sores are beginning to heal. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. (For those that want more explianation look at my post Murphy's Law, March 07th).

My school work seems to be busy work and there's tons of group projects. I barely have class at all which is very deceiving but have tons to do. Motivation has not exactly been my strong point lately, because I do like sleeping in. It's going to kick my but come May when I start my next internship and have to get up at 5:30 am. Other than that everything else has been awesome. God has really blessed me!

A Different Life

I was watching a rerun of a once favorite show of mine Dawson's Creek. Today's story was about how the lead girl and the lead guy were saying bye to each other because they were both leaving home to go their separate ways. While they loved each other, were once a couple, but have always been and still are best friends saying goodbye was the hardest things they had ever done. The next episode was the next time they saw each other when he surprise visited her at college... which by the way rarely happens in real life. Anyways, this show made me reflect on the past. I remember how hard it was to leave my friends, even with the anticipation of college. At the time of my starting college at SWU I was "in love" with my high school sweetheart. He was hard to leave, but it would've been worse to stay. I remember talking to my good friend Jason about high school sweethearts a few years after and he made a comment much to the effect "Who marries their high school sweetheart?" While I do have 2 friends that married their high school sweetheart the odds are still against it. I think I once heard 1 in 7. I'm not saying all of this to say that I wish that things had happened differently because I don't. I just think it's weird how that seems like a different life time or reality. You watch these shows and ask yourself "who really lives like that?" I think in one way or another we all do, even if only for a breif moment. At the time of Jason's comment I thought it was almost heartless, but looking back I know more what he meant... You don't even have a clue who you really are, what your capable of, and where you're going in high school. (Thanks for the honest input, Jason.) I guess I'm glad God had a better plan for me than I had for myself.

"How did I get on this path?"

I think it is really cool when in your life journey God places in front of you the path to your dreams. Let me start from the beginning...

A few months after moving to Dallas I began to lead a life that was not Godly in nature. I am not going to go into detail, but to make a long story short I spent about a 6 months down that path, woke up one morning and asked myself "How did I get on this path?" I think this is an important question to ask yourself when you find yourself in a situation like I did. It's important to know what the first "mishap" (or sin if you like) was that led you away from your God chosen path onto a worldly path inorder to keep it from happening again. After months of analyzing and reevaluating what my goals were and what God's purpose for me is I was headed back on the right path. I say all of that to say this...

It has been a long time dream of mine to work at the Olympics as a physical therapist. For an assignment I had to visit a clinic where a PT was working out of the ordinary and then read an article about another setting. Well, the article that was the 3rd in the notebook the professor had provided was about PTs working at the Olympics. I had not forgotten that this was a dream I had, but more had thought about how undeserving I am to have this dream fulfilled. This article went into great detail about who to contact if interested, the training schedule, etc. and therefore is God reaffirming that "He will give me the desires of my heart" however pushed to the back burner or neglected it may be. It's awesome to know that I am in favor with God and that He has plans to use me and to incorporate my dreams in the path that He has chosen for me. Isn't God's forgiveness awesome!!