what a relief!

Here's the post that I promised to write when I announced that I was FINALLY finished with school. I started graduate school at RTS in August 2006...right after getting my BS in Psychology from MC. Kevin and I had only been married a few weeks when I started the Marriage and Family Therapy program. The first semester was really hard and I thought about quitting before the semester was over. I was incredibly stressed out and felt like I was taking some of that stress out on Kevin (which wasn't fair). We talked about it a lot and I definitely felt like I was supposed to get the degree, so I decided to stick with it.

In February of the next semester, we found out I was pregnant with Mattie Leigh...something we weren't expecting but were thrilled about at the same time. Again, there was a thought of quitting school but we decided that I needed to follow through with what I thought I was supposed to be doing. Mattie Leigh was born October 5, 2007...I took a full class load (minus a seminar class) that semester but only saw clients through mid-September and didn't start seeing them again until January. That decision set me back a good bit in the clinic. Added to that was the decision to not have a full client load after I started back in the clinic so that I could be there to keep Mattie Leigh on a fairly consistent routine. I knew that would mean at least one extra semester if not two before I was able to get my client hours.

I didn't realize that I would have even more trouble than that getting my client hours...I had a lot of inconsistent clients and clients that just wouldn't come. Added to that, there weren't a whole lot of clients that were able to come at the times that I was able to be in the clinic. Because of that, the extra semester or two turned into almost two full extra years of just trying to get client hours.

During those two years, I hated having to leave Mattie Leigh, especially when she was having really hard times with separation anxiety. There were times that she cried until she made herself sick because she wanted me and only me. It was so hard to not cancel everything I was supposed to be doing and just sit and hold her.

When I found out I was pregnant with Allie Grace, I talked to my professors to see what could be done to get me finished with my hours as soon as possible. We thought I'd be able to finish in just a few months. That few months turned into 8 months. I'm so thankful that they allowed me some special privileges in finishing so that I would be able to finish before Allie Grace is born.

Needless to say, I've had lots of highs and lows while trying to get my master's degree. I am so very glad to be done. Now I'll be able to focus on being a mom for a while before I try to get licensed and start working.