Life has been somewhat of a roller coaster as of late. The last life update I gave was back in february when my plans to attend WVU for grad school fell through (It’s a Funny Story). Fast forward a few months and a lot has happened!

Earlier this month I was accepted into the National Catholic School of Social Services of The Catholic University of America’s graduate program (quite a mouth full, eh?). I excitedly, yet hesitantly, accepted my position at the school and am happy to announce that in twenty-seven days I will begin my journey as a graduate student. The Social Work Program at CUA is a one year program that starts in the end of May and ends in the beginning of next May. I will be taking an online Summer course and then in August I will start a full time load of courses as well as a six hundred hour internship.

When I first decided to go to CUA I had hoped to squeeze all of my classes into one day so I could commute and then complete my internship locally. Unfortunately, it is not quite possible to take twelve credits worth of classes all in one day; therefore, it became two days of classes. Then, I was trying to decide where I wanted to apply to intern and I realized that it would be more beneficial and convenient to complete an internship near the school. So, it looks like I will be moving come August. I am not a hundred percent sure how I feel about moving on campus in the fall, but I know that God has a plan and He will use me whether I am at home or on campus. I am excited about the idea of moving out and being able to explore an area that I am only vaguely familiar with, but I am also appropriately nervous.

Life is full of surprises. Three months ago, I did not even know that CUA existed. I had begun to give up on one-year graduate programs and was beginning to believe that I would not attend graduate school. However, God knew what He was doing, because here I am now, just fourteen days away from graduating with my bachelors in Social Work and I have a rough plan of what the next year will look like. God has blessed me beyond belief and has made it clear that His plan is better than mine. I look forward to seeing how He will use my time at CUA for His glory.

While school has been the biggest update people have been asking me about, I also finally have some updates as far as health goes. For about five plus years now I have been having frequent dizzy and occasional fainting spells as well as always feeling incredibly dehydrated no matter how much water I drink. Finally, after a year of testing, I might finally be getting some answers. It seems to come down to the fact that my body doesn’t absorb the water I drink and I need to increase my sodium intake to help my body absorb the water. I find it kind of funny that over the last several years I have seen multiple doctors, had several tests done, and every kind of blood test done and it may be as simple as consuming more salt. I have six weeks to test the theory before I have a follow up to determine if increasing my sodium intake is really the answer. The first few days I tried to just eat the salt, but I had an impossible time getting my intake up to even half of what the doctor recommended and felt pretty sick. Luckily, I was able to get some sodium tablets and am currently trying those out. Who knew it could be so difficult to consume the right amount of salt!

All in all life is good. I am thankful for all I have in my life and am excited to see where life takes me! I am hoping to work as a nanny this summer and am waiting to get an answer about a nanny job I interviewed for last week. This job search has been much more difficult than I had hoped, but I know there is a reason for everything and it will all work out in the end. It has just been wonderful to finally have answers about grad school and my health, the rest will get worked out over time.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”