Upon my graduation in May and a year spent as a psychologist in a middle school, I decided to pursue a career in youth sports.  I worked at Stanford University for the summer doing research and evaluation for the Positive Coaching Alliance.  It is a wonderful non-profit providing training for youth sport organizations.  As much as I loved the organization and the people I worked with, it became clear that I needed a job that involved working more directly with children, parents, and staff members.  To my great fortune, UC Berkeley, having spent their first summer without me, decided to create a position for me.  At the end of August I started full time back at UC Berkeley as the Training and Development Director for Youth Sports. I am doing a lot of what I did before, staff education and development as well as program development.  I am also working on community relations bridging the Graduate School of Education with Athletics and Rec Sports.  For this time in my life it is just the perfect job. 

When it became clear that Brian finally had a job he loved and I had a job that would not pull us away from the East Bay, we decided to look for a house.  We had the help of an amazing realtor and purchased the first and only house we looked at.  We have many friends that have unsuccessfully bid on 5+ houses in the area.  That we got such a great place on the first try is such a testimony to God's love and faithfulness.  We love our neighbors and new home.

We did have a slight scare in October as our most loved cat Huey was found to have a heart murmur during his annual doctor visit.  Since 80% of cats with murmurs usually have a fatal progressive heart disease, the vet recommended an echocardiogram.  The test did not reveal any heart disease but we have to go back in 6 months.  While Brian and I know he is just a cat, we were deeply saddened as we awaited the results.  Not having any kids, all our worries and anxieties get funneled into our pets.  We have been on the list to get a reject dog from the local guide dog school for the blind but we are not sure we can manage that level of commitment.  For now, we are content with our two cats.  They are happy when we are home but also don't really care when we're not ­ as long as they're fed.

In our spare time we continue to volunteer with the high school students at church (1^st Pres. Berkeley).  The girls I have been working with for 3 years are now juniors, thinking about college, driving, and dating.  How time flies.