Day 58 – { acceptance }

Three days after my last post, on March 15, 2013, we received two letters in the mail, one from Colorado State and one from Central Arkansas. I resigned myself to the first being a rejection letter and hoped that the second was not. I decided to open the “bad news” first.

I read the first paragraph and did not see the words “regret to inform you”  or “unfortunately”. I read it again. It began to dawn on me that this was not a rejection letter. I read it again, then ran into the kitchen screaming for DC.

He came downstairs thinking there was a giant spider to be reckoned with. I could hardly speak because I was shrieking and laughing and crying at the same time. It was miraculously, unbelievably true: he had been accepted to Colorado State University’s prestigious occupational therapy program. (We nearly didn’t even apply to it because we thought the chances were so slim.)

We know this was an answer to prayers and fasting. We are so, so grateful!



After the euphoria settled down a little (it took a few days, I think :0), we crunched the numbers and saw that to move to Fort Collins and go to CSU would be a bit more expensive than staying here and going to UCA (if he is admitted there, too). We took about a week discussing all the pros and cons and talking to our children and asking pretty much anyone who would listen what they thought was best.

Last Saturday we went to the Memphis Temple. Exacto was super sweet to watch his siblings here at home so that DC and I could be in the temple together. We felt peace about accepting the spot at Colorado State, and announced it to our children over Reese’s Klondike bars when we got home. :o)

Now that the decision is made, it feels like moving a mountain by shovel to work out all the details with selling the house, getting his additional prereq’s taken care of, finding a place to live there by early May in order to get residency for next summer, etc., all with the looming knowledge that the salary will be stopping in a few months. Lead, Kindly Light is quickly becoming our daily theme song.

It breaks my heart to leave Arkansas. It feels way, way out of my comfort zone, which is so funny to me because our first year here I felt like a outsider that would never belong or like it here. But nine years and lots of wonderful, loving friends have firmly rooted a big ol’ chunk of my heart right here in central Arkansas. I can hardly stand to think about the actual leaving. If my family would just move here. . . .if the symphony would suddenly just double his income and move all concerts to weekdays during the day (haha). . . .:o)

I know that Heavenly Father answered our prayers, and that we are meant to be there in Colorado for the next two years. I am so grateful.

what’s going on with OT school applications

Here’s an update on what has been happening with DC’s planned career change to occupational therapy.

 

December / January – He finished applying, which was a surprisingly grueling and expensive process. He applied to 7 schools: 2 in the West (UNM, CSU), 4 in the East (VCU, Kean in NJ, East Carolina in NC, Sacred Heart in CT), and 1 here (UCA).

 

January – He was invited to interview at Sacred Heart, and we flew him out there. He had a great time at the school, it went well, he spent the night in Laguardia airport, and came home. A few days later we had an acceptance letter from them in the mail, with a hand-drawn smiley face on the envelope! :0) This was very happy and exciting.

They wanted an answer asap along with a deposit, and so we sat down and crunched the numbers, finding that Sacred Heart would be the most expensive option out of all 7 schools. We rested on his laurels, waiting to give our answer because we just didn’t know if we should commit until we heard back from the other less expensive options.

He was rejected by East Carolina, due to their not receiving his graduate school transcripts from FSU by their “firm deadline.” (This was a bit irritating, considering how much we spent on their dadgum application fees and we had little control over when FSU sent the transcripts, which by the way WERE received by the time they sent the rejection letter. grrr.)

 

February – I was waiting for Exacto outside seminary one early morning, and as is my current habit, studying the scriptures while I watch the sun rise. :0) I was reading a talk by Pres. Eyring from the last conference and pondering our situation with the graduate school choices. Wondering where on earth we will be living in a few months. I received a very clear impression that we would not be near family and that it was okay. I am grateful for the Spirit helping me feel that that is okay, because without that, just in my normal Michelle mind and heart, that is NOT okay. But really I felt super peaceful and that all will be well.

A few days later he was invited to interview at UNM, which is located only 4 hours from my parents’ house and about 20 minutes from my sister’s! Interesting, no? Well, of course it would be silly not to try, even though I was pretty darn sure it wasn’t going to happen. We flew him out there, he had a great time at the school, it went well, he spent the night at my sweet sister’s family’s house, and came home. A few weeks later, we still hadn’t heard.

Meanwhile we had to give an answer to Sacred Heart and we gave an ambiguous no.

We finished February having not heard a thing from any of the other 4 schools.

 

March – He was rejected by UNM via email.   gulp.

As of this writing, we have only heard from one more school, VCU, who informed us yesterday that he is on their short waiting list.

He is working super hard on his 16 credits of pre-requisites for this semester and keeping a stiff upper lip (he probably even knows the medical term for the upper lip. :).

 

My lip is sagging a little. Prayers are appreciated!

How to alphabetize your boards on Pinterest

I realize that this is a FWP, but I just wasted the last 40 minutes of my life figuring out how to do this, and I want to share because I care about you.  Truly. :0)

Because see, every time I need to go to something I pinned, I have to comb through my 283 dadgum boards trying to find the right one (if remember which one I pinned it to.) And I have agonized and stayed up nights with the tormented question of why. Why doesn’t Pinterest automatically alphabetize my boards?

So today I had had enough of the time-wasting mining for that pin I vaguely remember pinning (never mind about the fact that quite possibly Pinterest is a glorious time waster to begin with) and I decided it was high time to figure out how to rearrange my boards myself. Surely someone had done it and shared on Google.

Kind of.  I found out you basically have to do it by hand, but it is possible, and through trial and error, I think I found the least tedious way. At least until Pinterest improves its irritating interface. (is it still called alliteration if all the words start with a vowel?)

So here is how you do it.

1. Go to your main “boards” page. See this little icon, next to “Edit Profile”?

 

2. Click on it to “Rearrange Boards”. Now it will look like this:

 

3. Now sigh and begin dragging around your boards, using those great alphabetizing skills you learned in grade school. If you have tons, like I do, you will very soon find that you have to scroll up and down a gazillion times. Unless you do this nifty trick that Exacto taught me. . . .

4. To zoom out the view on your browser, hit Ctrl and – at the same time (to zoom back in, do Ctrl and +).

After a few handy clicks, my boards all fit on one screen and I could still (barely) read all the names. Like so (except bigger, of course).

 

Here is the NUMBER ONE TIP I will give you to save your time and sweat at this back-breaking labor! Pay attention now.

Don’t wait until you are done to click on the red checkmark!! Or you will be very sorry! Because after you have merrily clicked and moved about 138 boards, your dadgum mouse will suddenly think that you clicked on the board cover and that you want to look at it, and you will go back only to discover to your horror that it did not save all the recent dazzling choreography of boards! 

5. So be smart and click on the red checkmark every few pins to save your work.

That is all.

My charity never faileth!