Twice in One Week!

Today I woke up at the crack of dawn (5 am) and headed down to San Antonio to babysit for Merced. He is a lot easy to take care of than I thought he would be. I has no self harming behaviors, which is really typical for autistic kids. He is also a lot more talkative than most autistic kids. Unfortunately, he is a huge sensory seeker, which means he is constantly looking for sensory input, which also means that he is ALL over the place ALL the time. Its fun, but it definitely wears me out. If you don't know a lot about autism, and want to learn more, click here. Its just the Wikipedia site on it, but its got good basic info.

He is also outrageously smart. He can read, use the computer, and do a lot of things that most autistic kids at his age would not be able to do. He is also dang good at the Wii. He kicked my butt today at Wii bowling (p.s. I totally want a Wii now).

Merced also has the weirdest stem I've ever seen in an autistic child. Stems are repetitive behaviors that autistic children perform in order to calm themselves or get the sensory input that they desire. Autistic kids have tons of stems that they perform throughout the day. Stems can include rocking, making a particular noise over and over, rubbing their hands together, stroking an object over and over, or stacking blocks and knocking them over repetively; pretty much anything that the child can come up them. Most autistic kids have a favorite stem. Most of the kids I've seen have a favorite stem of stacking blocks and knocking them over, or rubbing an object.

Merced's favorite stem? Watching the seconds 16 thru 35 of this video over and over and over and over and over.
I added the hyperlink for extra suspense. I wouldn't want you guys to get bored.

After work I went to class (the last day!) and did reviews for all the finals I had next week. Then, I went and checked out a car for Jaron in San Marcos. It's a nice car and a good deal I think, so I hope everything works out.

After that I came back to Georgetown (I have to get more blood drawn tomorrow, boo).

BIG NEWS IN THE COE FAMILY HOUSE: As I recently wrote, my family was interested in getting a foreign exchange student in the spring, but today the woman from the agency called and said that a girl the same age as my sister was on the plane to America today and going through her training in the next couple of days when the family she was going to be staying with had to cancel because the mom lost her job. The woman told my mom that she didn't want to have to send the girl home, and asked if we would take her.
Tomorrow, we have an interview with the agency to make sure we aren't total weirdos, and as long as we pass (cross your fingers, we are a little weird!), Martina will be here on Thursday.
She is from Italy, speaks Italian, Spanish, German, English and a little Chinese and seems really nice. It should make for an interesting year.

Last thing and then I'm done. Tomorrow I have an appointment to get my haircut. I have big decisions to make, and I thought I would turn my haircut into a democracy. Here are my choices.

1. Leave my hair at shoulder length, trim it a little and add some layers.

2. Do a litle something like this:3. Or pull a Victoria Beckham and go with a little something like this:
Except for not as long in the front and sans tats.

Anyways, your votes and opinions are greatly appreciated. Until next time!

Big Decisions!

So I've pretty much decided that it is impossible for me to blog on a daily basis. I am simply too busy all the time. Maybe one day I will get to a point in my life where I will have the time to blog on a regular basis, but until then, you will just have to take what you get.

The past couple of days have been spent catching up with school and working at Kactus Kidz. Tomorrow I have a presentation worth 50% of my final grade in the course, so say a little prayer for me and my presentation. Also, my hours got cut back at Kactus Kidz, which required me to get a new job, after very little searching, I was able to find a job working with a family in San Antonio that has an autistic 6 year old boy, Mercede, and a 4 year old little girl, Paloma. They pay outrageously well, are extremely nice, and my friend Laura and I are splitting the hours, so it doesn't require a huge time commitment. Also, the mom is the President of the Autism Society of San Antonio, which will make for a great job reference (ps. can you believe I'm talking about job references? I graduate in a little over a year...I'm not ready to be a grown up), and it will give me great experience working with an autistic child everyday. To be honest, autism fascinates me, and it is my favorite disorder to treat. The kids are so intelligent and fun, they just have problems communicating whatever is going on in their head. If I were ever to get my doctorate in occupational therapy, I'd do my thesis on autism.

I'm blabbing and letting my nerdy side out. Sorry if I bored you.

Anyways, this weekend I am coming home, so Georgetown kids get ready to hang out with me. I have to get more blood drawn to make sure everything is back to normal after the sickness (see previous blog) and on Saturday I'll probably make my way up to Lampasas for a family reunion. In other Coe family news, my family will be getting another foreign exchange student (we had one from China when I was in middle school) in the Spring. Should be interesting....

Jaron is leaving to go back to Stephenville after this weekend. Also, because of gas prices and busy schedules, we are only going to be able to see each other every other weekend. I am extremely not looking forward to this at all.

Now you're caught up with my life, so we'll turn to the real reason for this blog. At the end of August, I have to decide where to do my rotations in the fall and spring of next year. I have many choices as there are hundreds of places across the country I can go to. Here are my options summed up:
1. I could go to somewhere really cool and interesting and different, because you only get this kind of opportunity once.
2. I could go to the Dallas/Fort Worth area because it is different but still close to home. Also, it offers great job opportunities, I know some of my friends are moving there after they graduate, and it is a bit closer to Jaron.
3. I could go to the Austin area and live with my parents.

Unfortunately, my parents have told me they can't afford to send me somewhere cool and interesting right now, which means I would have to foot the bill myself, which will be pretty hard to do when you're working a 50 hour a week job for free.
This makes number 2 the ideal, but my parents have told me that if I pick something in the Austin area and live at home, I could have the money that they would be paying for rent.

Anyways, I don't know what I am going to pick yet. I've been praying for God to give me guidance...please pray for me too!

I Bet You Missed Me!

So I havn't blogged in quite a while, but I have several very good excuses. The rest of Mission Arlington went really well, and was quite drama free. The kids had fun and did a great job of spreading the Word. Thursday, I celebrated my 21st birthday in a very uneventful, but fun way at the Rainbow Expresses.

On Friday we went to Six Flags. I actually rode the Texas Giant! We got fast passes which made it possible for us to ride all of the big rides without waiting in line. Theoretically, its a great idea, but when you don't stop in between, it can make you very sick. I almost lost my lunch! We also met a really nice guy who let us sleep in the Sam Houston theather once we were done with the rides. Overall, I think it was my favorite trip to Six Flags.

Once we got back, I had a 90s birthday party at my house. Overall, it was a ton of fun. Thanks to everyone that came. Pictures are as follows:

The next week I spent the week playing catch up at school after missing a week while at MA. I had 3 different tests and 2 quizzes plus a couple of papers. Working at the same time left pretty much no time to blog.

On Thursday I headed home to Georgetown and hung out there for a while before heading to Goldthwaite for the Covey family reunion. It was interesting to say the least. I did a ton of things I have never done before: eat yellow meat watermelon, try fried alligator (it was very good), back road in a homemade buggy, watch older uncles drink moonshine in the barn "out back", and play washers. I also got hit on twice, and one of the boys that hit on me offered to "wrestle" Jaron the next day. Probably for my love. Overall, it was a really good time, and it was fun to spend time with Jaron's family.

Sunday is when what we shall now refer to "the sickness" began. Jaron and Philip spent the night here in Georgetown and we got up early and headed to Lockhart for church. I woke up with a killer headache and spent most of the day with it. By the end of the night it was making me sick to my stomach.

On Monday I still had my headache but made myself go to work, school, and then back to work. By the time I got home, I had a stiff neck and a very high fever, and a nurse on the nurse hotline recommended that I go to the ER because I was suffering from many symptoms of menigitis. My awesome roommates (thanks guys) took me to the hospital. I got blood work, CT scan, urine sample, and even a spinal tap (which, don't let doctors lie to you like they did to me, hurts!) but the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. The doctor there gave me some painkillers and told me to sleep it off.

Tuesday and Wednesday I laid on the couch in the living room very miserable. My roommates took great care of me, and Jo even came by and gave me little TLC. Thanks Jo! By Thursday I couldn't swallow spit, water, food, or anything else, my fever still hadn't gone down, and I was absolutely miserable, so my mom came and got me and took me to my doctor in Georgetown, who immediately checked me into the hospital because of severe dehydration, which was causing an unsafe increased heart rate and decreased oxygen intake.

Thursday and Friday were spent in the hospital. I got pumped full of all sorts of stuff the whole time I was there. By the time I left Friday evening, my left arm was twice the size of my right because the tissues were so full of fluid! Sodium, Saline, Potassium, Steriods, Antibiotics, you name it, it was in me. I also had to do urine tests, and a bunch of different blood tests. It wasn't a good experience for someone like me (I'm terrified of needles). I also had a pee in a special cup and keep track of how much I peed for the nurses. I needed help going to the bathroom, showering, eating, changing. It was a very demoralizing experience. The only positive was that I got all the jello, ice cream and yogurt I wanted, and all the nurses, doctors, and techs were very nice. Also, Jaron and Philip came and visited me (thanks guys) and my aunt and uncle sent me some very pretty flowers.

All the tests came back negative, and the doctors still have no idea what was wrong with me.

Once I finally got to go home, I was exhausted from not sleeping, and have been doing so the last couple of days. Today I went back in for more testing, and while I still have to wait for the test results to come back, the doctor has banned me from school and work until Monday. Mostly because all of my protein, potassium, and white blood cell count levels were too low to be around other people.

This means that instead of spending next week at Junior High Camp, I'll be busying catching up with school.

In conclusion, being sick sucks, and although "the sickness" made me lose 14 pounds and got me access to all the jello, ice cream and yogurt I could ask for, I don't wish it on anyone.

And that is my updated life.

Mission Arlington!

So some of my girls put clothes in the washer 45 minutes before they had to be in their rooms, and now I have to wait for them to dry, so I figured I'd catch everyone up so I don't get taken off of JMob's blogroll.

The past couple of days at Mission Arlington have been awesome for the most part. I'm staying with the 8th grade girls, and unfortunately, 8th grade girls bring 8th grade drama. Yesterday, they were letting the drama get in the way of the work, and I reemed them last night. Jaron is really starting to wear off on me. Anyways, after about 2 hours of a cry fest and apologizes and such, all is well for a while.

The kids have been doing pretty good for the most part, and since you can read Nic, Jaron, and JMob's blog to find out what's going on, I thought I'd just tell you about some pretty cool stuff that God had been showing me through two of the youth on the trip.

The first kid is a little boy that is going to be in 7th grade. He's a little weird, but he has a good heart. No, a GREAT heart. He's probably one of my favorites. Anyways, all week he has been telling everyone about how he doesn't care a bit about what other people think of him, which is awesome, but more importantly, it really came in handy today. There was a kid who refused to have anything to do with out Rainbow Express (VBS) group the last two mornings, and this morning, our little 7th grader went up to the kid and started fanning him with a paper fan he made. I don't know about you guys, but I don't know many 7th graders who would do this, because it would look "weird" or "uncool", but this kid didn't care, and the next thing you know, the boy who wouldn't participate is coloring on a coloring sheet and hanging out, all because our youth didn't care about being cool. How many more people could I reach if I didn't care about what others thought?

Here's the other youth that's really been impressing me. There's a girl in my room who recently lost her mom to cancer, and when I say recent, I mean she buried her mom a little over a week ago. I think its impressive enought that she came, because I don't think I would be able to pull myself together enough to do so, but her attitude and work ethic this week have been incredible. She's the only girl in our Rainbow Express group that I can honestly say has put in 120% both days. Here's the truly awesome part. We were talking tonight, and she told me about how her dad was already thinking about seeing someone. Not only did she call and talk to her younger brother and calm him down and make him feel better about the situation, and not only did she call and talk to her dad and calmly and respectful explain her and her brother's feelings about the situation (which in turn led to her dad realizing he was making a mistake), she also told me that one of the reasons she took care of it tonight was because she wanted to make sure that she didn't have any distractions before we went out tomorrow, since tomorrow is such an important day. Talk about awesome. I don't know many 8th graders who would handle a situation so well, and be able to put mission work in front of family drama. To be quite honest, I wish I could be more like her.

Deep Thoughts

So I havn't blogged in a while, and everyone has been giving me crap about it, but I'm a busy girl, so get over it. We spent last week at Beach Break Camp, if you want to know the details, you can read Nic, Jaron, and JMob's blogs. Overall, it was a really great week, and even though it really wore me out, I think every second of it was worth it bc of what the kids got out of it. For the first time in a while, I feel like I'm serving where God wants me, and I love it.



After we got back, I worked a little, and then I went home to spend Father's day with my pops. I hung out with Georgetown kids and my family and it was a good weekend. On my way back I stopped in Lockhart to drop off Jaron's birthday presents because tomorrow is his birthday. Afterward, I hung out with Jaron, Jmob, and Cody and Caleb. I really like those kids, and I had a ton of fun hanging out with everyone. Sometimes I just wished I lived in Lockhart and worked as Nic's 4th intern. I'd enjoy that a lot more than what I'm doing now.



Today I went to class, and sitting through class I realized how much I HATE school lately. Literally, never, in all my years of education have I ever disliked class so much. I still like what I'm going to school for, but I think its a sign from God that He is calling me to do bigger and better things with my life as well.



Speaking of God, He has been speaking to me a lot today. Not really more than He does in the average day I guess, but I'm trying to make this blog really good and long for all the haters, so I think I'll share today.



1. Today I had to work up at the Methodist Church that I sometimes do childcare for. The women there are doing a Beth Moore study, and my job is to sit in the study for 30 minutes and take any kids that show up to the childcare room. No kids showed up, but I did get to listen in on the study for a while. Most of it was corny, but one of the women did say one thing that I really liked. She said that guilt and shame are also idols. I never thought of guilt and shame as an idol before, but I have a serious problem with guilt and shame and letting go of things when I mess up. The woman also talked about how Paul never could have been the man he was if he had spent his whole ministry looking back at his mistakes. I think God was really telling me that I need to do a better job of letting go of my own mistakes.



2. Lately, I've been doing this thing were I listen to podcasts on the way to school since its about an hour long drive. I've mostly been listening to stuff from Mars Hill. Today I listened to a sermon from May 31st. Mars Hill had a guest speaker named Steve Chalke. Steve Chalke is the founder of Oasis trust, which is an organization that established schools, hospitals, and hostels for children all over the world. Mr. Chalke is also one of the most active individuals in stopping people trafficing around the world.



So anyways, I learned a lot from my podcast listening today. First of all, did you know that every 30 seconds a person somewhere in the world is kidnapped from their home and sold into sex or domestic slavery? This includes almost 17, 500 children in America, most of who are used as sex slaves (experts estimate that is number is MUCH higher, but the number cannot be confirmed because not many people admit to having sex slaves).

Two other things I took from my podcast:

1. Mr. Chalke talked about how the modern day church should not just be a church. It should be a church and a school, or a church and a hospital, or a church and a hostel. Basically, the church should be the center of the community. Chalke said that the church should be the "hub" and it should be a building that is opened and available to everyone in the community 24/7, not just when the staff is in the office. That's good stuff.

2. The other thing Mr. Chalke talked about is a passage from Genesis. Genesis 1:26-27, which says:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Chalke talked about how EVERY person male and female were created in God's own image, and that each person deserves to be treated as such. He said that everyone lives in poverty. Not everyone lives in the type of poverty that we picture poverty as, some people live in social poverty, or emotional poverty, or spiritual poverty, or any other type of poverty. The role of the church is to meet the poverty needs of EVERY individual, not just those experiencing spiritual poverty. Chalke talked about how everywhere that people go they are told they are screw ups, not good enough, too much to handle, that they don't deserve second chances, and every other message this world can give you. The church is the one place where EVERYONE should feel like they belong, no matter what they have done in the past. The church is also the place that everyone should feel comfortable coming to meet their individual poverty needs, because EVERY individual represents that image of God.

So, the question stands blog readers: How are YOU treating the image of God? Bc I know I could be doing a MUCH better job.

The Week in Review

So this week has been relatively interesting. I went to school, but that wasn't the interesting part, that part actually sucked. I'm already tired of school and I have only been going a week. I am outrageously ready to graduate. Not be a grown up, just be done with school.

I'm going on all of the youth trips with Nic's youth group this summer. I told the director of the daycare about this when I first got my job, and she said it would be fine, but this week she let me know that she would have to find someone to take my spot and that I would have to become the sub, because our current subs are "unreliable" according to her.

Today my replacement showed up for training without any warning from my boss. Not only that, but my boss yelled at me in front of all the other employees for nap time being crazy and unorganized. She later apologized and explained that she was stressed. Additionally, I was supposed to get off at 11:45 but stayed until 1:50, not because my boss asked me too, but because I am nice and I knew things were crazy. If I didn't love the kids at my work so much, I would so quit.

After work I headed out to Lockhart to spend the weekend with Nic and Jo and Jaron before we leave for Beach Break. While we were spending time with Mrs. Pittman, I was talking to them about this razor burn that I have had in my armpit for a month or so that had really started to hurt and burn, among other things. I'll spare you the gory details, but after talking to them and my parents, we decided that it would be best to get it checked out and take care of it before we left for the beach. So, Jaron and I went to the minor emergency room to get it checked out. It turns out I got a variation of staph infection (not the serious version). However, it is not contagious and is easily treatable with some antibiotics and creams. Just so you guys know, I do bathe on a daily basis.

While we were at the hospital, a criminal was in the waiting room and I sat down right next to him when we first came in. I filled out all of my paper work in front of him, and then when he got up to go to the bathroom, I noticed that the man sitting next to me had on ankle shackles and handcuffs. At the same time the sheriff escort (with a gun in his holster) kept nodding off while they were sitting there. Needless to say, I was very glad when they called my name.

And such is my week. We are leaving for Beach Break on Sunday and I am so excited!

Weekend Fun

So, I spent the weekend at the Burleson's, as everyone knows. Today, we had pancake breakfast, a short sermon and a fun Sunday school lesson. Then we hung out with the Pittman's the rest of the afternoon typing up recipes for the youth group recipe book (let me know if you want to buy one!).

After I got back from the weekend, Haley was finally here, and the three roommates spent a little while hanging out on the couch talking and laughing and catching up. It was a ton of fun.

Lately, I've really been dreading school and work, and I was really starting to think that this summer was going to suck. After spending the weekend in Lockhart, and the night with my roommates, I know that the hours outside of school and work will be a ton of fun. I guess things are looking up after all!