Christmas 1998

Brian and I hope this finds you healthy and happy this holiday season.  As I think of the new things to tell you, I realize that not much has changed since last Christmas.  Brian continues to enjoy his job with Ikon Office Solutions and is now more involved with networking office systems.  He has taken a leadership role in the high school youth group coordinating the worship music for Sunday mornings.  It has allowed him to focus on his guitar skills.  Just last week on a recent visit to Chicago, he and my dad played a three-song set at Open-Mike Night at a local cafe.

I am diligently working towards graduation, May 15th, 1999.  It will be in Berkeley so if you are in the area, we are planning a BIG party!  I have so much work to do on my dissertation between now and then.  I have been continuing to work in the area of sports and recreation and will be presenting at two conferences this spring on the topic of prosocial youth sports programs.  There was a somewhat selfish component to presenting at the conferences as one of them, the National American Camping Assoc. conference, is in Chicago the first week of March.  Sport and recreation staff development is truly my interest in life and I would love to turn it into a career.  I have yet to figure out how this will all work out but I know God has a plan for me.  When I am not working on my dissertation I am a school psychologist in a middle school where I get to run groups for special ed. kids.  It is very enjoyable and a non-traditional role for a school psychologist.  Usually school psychologists do a lot of testing and rarely spend time with students.  This school is making use of my expertise and I am finding it very rewarding.  I am also the sophomore girls advisor at 1st Pres. Church Berkeley.  All the girls are great and I love them!  We have weekly small groups and do a lot of activities together.

As for what happens next for Brian and me, we do not know.  I will graduate in May and work in the summer sports camp where I have spent the last 5 summers - developing training and coordinating programs.  Over the summer we will have to decided what to do next - stay in sunny but earthquake ridden CA or move somewhere else so I can pursue a career in staff training and development.  Brian is very supportive and we will follow the plan God has for us.  We just don't know what that is right now.