He's Not Ready Yet

Being the 27-year-old-single-Mormon girl that I am, I tend to think of marriage and having my own family often. This past year I have found a lot of joy in my life just being single and expriencing the different things life had to offer me personally. Lately, however, as happy as I am single, I have started to feel like something (or someone) is missing. I feel an emptyness and I don't know how to fill it. I have been praying to know what I can do about it and I also can't help but ask, why am I still single?

We had a lesson in church last week that talked about the Lord's timing. It was given by a wonderful girl who actually got married last night. She shared in her lesson her personal journey of finding her fiance'. Something that stood out to me in her story was that after their relationship had become serious they talked about how they had 2 or 3 almost misses in the past few years where they could have met and been married already. At first she was frustrated at the thought, but at further investigation she realized that each of those near misses one or both of them were not ready to meet their eternal companion.



The other day a thought came to me in the middle of class as I was speed building and in the zone of writing,it was kind of random, but very clear "he's not ready yet". As I have thought about that more it made me realize that I can plead and plead with the Lord to fill this void and bless me with my eternal companion, but if he's not ready yet, do I want him? Do I want someone else or do I want to be patient and trust that the Lord knows what and who is best for me? It also made me ask myself, am I ready? I know there is a lot of things I need to work on that will help me be better prepared for dating, relationships, and marriage. I know that it is natural to have feelings of emptyness at times. It is the Lords's plan for us to get married and raise a family, so I am sure our spirits yearn for it. The only thing I have control over, though, is myself and making sure that when our paths do cross I will be ready.

Progress Report

Sorry for not blogging in so long. My life pretty much consist of work and school right now with a little bit of play time if I am not completely exhausted.

I just finished the first 8-week session for the fall semester. I passed:

1 Lit

2 Jury Charges

1 Q&A

Which means I was not able to move up in any of my speeds for the next 8-week session. It's disappointing, but at the same time, I feel good that I am making steady progress. One of my teachers told me that there are some students that haven't passed any speed tests in over a year! So as long as I am passing tests, I am happy.

I realized that with the rate of passing 4 speed tests a session, I will finish school in May of 2013. That will be a total of four years, which is about average in this program. I know I can do a lot better if I practiced every day for at least two hours. I am lucky if I get in three good practices a week right now. I am going to work on that these last 8 weeks and I know I will pass more test!

W EU RB
PH E
HR U BG (wish me luck in steno)

Summer School Wrap Up

I finished up summer school by passing my last Jury Charge at 100wpm. What a great relief that was! I only had one more Literary at 80wpm to pass and I turned in two tests that were both borderline of passing. My teacher didn't grade either one before school got out, so I was left hanging on whether I passed Literary. I really hope I did!

Now I have three weeks off before Fall Semester starts and I am going to try and enjoy it as much as possible!

I had to make a hard decision this week to go back to working at the hospital part-time. When I moved back home I was able to only work one 12 hour shift a week. It has been so nice to really focus on school, go to church every week, and have a little free time. The only problem is that I am not eligable for health insurance at work. I have felt nervous this whole year not having insurance. Lately I have felt very strongly that I should have health insurance. I looked into all my options and the most practical one was to go back to working part-time, which is two 12 hour shifts a week. I will work every Friday and rotating Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights. I will either have to miss one day of school a week or miss church. I really don't want to, but as I thought and prayed about it I felt good about it, and I know the Lord will give me the strength and success I need.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do...

Dear Dr. Pepper,
It brings me much sadness to tell you that you can no longer be a part of my life. We have had so many good memories together, but I realize more and more each day how bad you are to have in my life. I am very dependent on you and I need to be a more independent girl. I cannot rely on you to get me through the day; it’s just not a healthy relationship. I know the first couple of weeks will be hard, I will miss you terribly, but I know this is what is best. I have to be strong and remind myself all the awful things you have done to me. Having you in my life comes with a price and I just can’t pay that price any longer. I really hope we don’t meet again.
Good-bye old friend.
-Emily

WHY I LOVE THE SKYLINE YOUNG SINGLE ADULT BRANCH

One Year Older...

...And wiser too?

I am not too fond of getting older, but since birthdays come each year without fail, might as well make the best of it!
My mom and sister were out of town on my birthday, but they made sure I felt special!

My mom gave me this little beauty before she left on her trip!

Its a personal blender, the top comes off and becomes a cup!

LOVE IT!

Kelsey made me a cute card and put it on the fridge before she left with a death threat if I open it before my birthday! Gotta love her!

My awesome friends really made up for my mom and sister being gone

Daja, Alayna, and I had some great girl time in the morning as we soaked up some sun at the pool.

Alayna made these beautiful and yummy cupcakes for my birthday

That night Justin, Cara, and Alayna took me to the cutest little cafe in Old Town Scottsdale called the Sugar Bowl. The food was good, the desert was AMAZING, and the company coundn't be matched!

We headed over to Jesterz Improv after that to laugh off all the calories we ate in ice cream. If you have never been to Jesterz Improv in Scottsdale, I highly recomend it. Its clean and very entertaining!

me.alayna.cara.

I wish I got a picture of all four of us. Even though Justin is missing from these pictures I will always remember his enthusiasm for the number 85! It was a wonderful day and I felt very special and loved.

As if that wasn't enough, I also got some great birthday gifts


My Aunt Debi always gives me the best gifts



I love my owl from Justin and Cara AND I am so excited for my trip to Hobby Lobby


Alayna has always amazed me with her crafting skills

I am so grateful for good friends and family.

Last year had its share of ups and downs and I am looking forward to starting a new year with hopefully more ups than downs.

Go! Go! Go!

I passed another test this week! This time it was a Literary Test at 80wpm!

I am only taking Literary and Jury Charge this Summer. I did not get any financial aid this summer, so I had to drop Q&A. This gives me more time to work at the hospital(bitter sweet) and more of a summer vacation (just sweet!).

In order to pass my summer classes I have to pass three tests in Literary at 80wpm and three tests in Jury Charge at 100wpm. I just finished week 5 of 10 and I only have one test left to pass in Jury Charge and Literary. Can I do it? I think so!

I CAN do HARD things

Today I passed a Jury Charge Test at 100 wpm!

Court Reporting School is so different than any other program. It is so hard to measure progress, especially when passing a test can be few and far between. So when I do, it is cause for celebration!

Welcome to my Court Reporting Program:

Semesters: Fall, Spring, Summer
-Fall & Spring: M-F 8:00-12:00
-Summer: M-Th 7:30-11:30
Classes:
Monday - Literary
Tuesday - Jury Charge
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - Question & Answer

Testing: Two test are given everyday during the last hour of class
Steps to Pass a Test:
1. Teacher dicates at a particular speed for five minutes
2. Student has 75 minutes to transcribe steno notes into English (Can be done any time within a week of the test)
3. Student listens to the test on tape and grades it
4. Student must recieve a 97% or better to turn in to be graded by the teacher
5. Teacher grades it for grammer errors and looks for any other mistakes
6. 97% or better = Pass, otherwise try again tomorrow

Tests: Must pass three tests at each speed with 97% accuracy:
Literary: 40, 50, 70, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180
Jury Charge: 60, 80, 90, 100, 120, 180, 200
Q&A: 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 200, 225
Blue = Pass! Red = Working On Black = Someday

As of today I have passed 30 out of 78 tests! Yikes! I still have a ways to go!

Simply Steno

If you are a court reporting student that is quite the oxymoron, but for those that are not, I want to explain court reporting in the simplest way possible.

Stenographer: Trained professional that uses a form of short-hand to accurately transcribes verbal communication into a written form

Stenography Jobs:

1. Judicial Court Reporter - transcribe verbal speech into written text for judicial processes such as trials, hearings, motions, sentencings and depositions

2. Broadcast Closed Captioner - using specialized computer software to provide instant translation of what is said on TV. Employment is found within TV/broadcasting stations and captioning companies

3. CART(Communication Access Real-time Technology) Provider - reporters that specialize in real-time writing, working for the deaf community in schools, conferences and other environments. Job opportunities are found in school districts, churches and convention centers.

Education: No specific degree is required to become a court reporter, however, I am working on getting my Associatiate Degree in Judicial Reporting at Gateway Community College. It takes the average student 3 years to complete the court reporting program.

RPR (Registered Professional Reporter) - Requirement to work in the State of Arizona
To earn your RPR, you have to first pass the WKT (Written Knowledge Test) a 105 question, multiple-choice test that focuses on four areas:

reporting (48%)
transcript production (44%)
operating practices (4%)
professional issues and continuing education (4%).
You get 90 minutes to complete this section of the exam. You must pass with a scaled score of 70 or better.

Then pass all three sections of a skills test in these three areas:

Literary at 180 wpm
Jury Charge at 200 wpm
Testimony/Q&A at 225 wpm

After a five minute dictation of each, you have 75 minutes to transcribe your notes from each section. You must have 95% accuracy on each leg to pass

So Where Am I???
I have been in school for TWO years now and I am somewhere between 80wpm to 120wpm. I had a rough start in Theory Class, but one day back in November of 2010 it just clicked and I have been doing a lot better ever since.

Life Is Now In Session

I decided to create a new blog for two reasons:

1. I am no longer "future nurse Emily"

2. A fresh start -- "You may have a FRESH START at any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down." -Mary Pickford

There was a time that I felt like my life had not truly began because I wasn't married yet OR I hadn't figured out what I wanted to do 'when I grow up' OR I wasn't done with school yet, but I am starting to realize that although things haven't worked out like I thought they would, life is happening, and its up to me to find JOY IN THE JOURNEY.

“Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily.” -Horace