Crazy life of an admissions counselor

Note: If you want to know a little more about my work as an admissions counselor, check out the blog below. This was written by Mandee (my coworker and friend) and I during our week of travels together. It may make no sense to some of you non-admissions folks but hope it sheds a little light on what I spend my fall doing.


Mandee and Christine's travels, Part II


Monday - 3 high school visits along the coast between Florence and Bandon.  I had students at 2 out of 3 high schools this day.  Given the next day, this was a big win.


Tuesday - Lots of driving.  Bandon to Brookings with 2 high school visits, only 1 with students.  Fail.  Stopped in Brookings for some food and air in the tires (the warning light came on - I was pretty proud I taught Mandee how to put air in tires). Continued on to drive from Brookings to Medford.


Wednesday (things start really picking up) - 4 high school visits averaging 15 students each visit plus at one school we did 2 visits, so really 5!  Crazy.  Then, off to a coffee night with 3 great moms.  We were so tired by the end of the day but shocked at the turn out of students.


Thursday - 4 more high school visits and AGAIN, 1 turned into 2, so the math again is 5 total presentations.  Today probably averaged more like 18.5 students a visit. Again, crazy.  Mandee is raking in the southern Oregon students this year.  Now, we are sitting at our coffee night, waiting for it to get started.


Friday - we get up really early to drive back in time to do our videoshoot.  I can't even tell you how excited we both are.  Our outfits are already planned out.


Some highlights (from Mandee):


Sunday: As I was driving, I almost hit a bird and Christine put both her hands over her eyes and started yelling "oh my word, oh my word," just like when she was on the roller coaster at Disney.


Monday: We met with one student who tried to convince us that word on the street is, "George Fox is a really really nice guy."  We had previously been talking about how great Young Life is at George Fox and we had mentioned Steve Sherwood.  Both Christine and I were like, "Oh ya, Steve is really a great professor."  And he said, "No, no, I mean, I have heard that George Fox, that he is just a really quality guy."  Christine said she had nightmares that night about calling that student to deny him.  Again, visits on the coast...a little touch and go.


Tuesday: We met with four great students at Gold Beach High School.  Christine began her GFU schpeel...and while talking about Newberg and the wonderful town we live in, she said, "yah, Newberg is a small town, like very similar to Gold Beach."  I considered just letting her go with it...but when I saw all of the students looking at her funny, I decided I would draw attention to her faux pas.  I said, "wait, guys, how many people live in Gold Beach?"  And they all laughed and in unison said, "2,000."  Yup, that's right, Newberg is like China compared Gold Beach.


Wednesday: Almost near the end of one of my visits presenting to 8 students, a teacher came in, walked past all the students and straight toward me.  He sat down right next to me and said "where have you been?!?!"  I started sweating immediately.  You know I like to do exactly what it expected of me.  He continued on, "I have a class of 30 seniors waiting for you.  I talked to your boss and planned this whole visit."  I said, "You really talked to my boss?  Who did you talk to?"  We proceeded to have a discussion about who it could have been that he talked to (meanwhile, students are still standing by) and we finally settle on the fact that it doesn't matter, but when we are done with these students, we must promise to make an appearance in his classroom.  In the end, after two visits in this one high school, we head back to the career center to check out and then when we walk in, the ladies say, "THERE YOU GIRLS ARE...where did you go?  We wondered what happened to you."  When we told them we had been kidnapped by a teacher, they immediately knew who we were talking about.  "Oh that Mr. Pendleton.  He just thinks he owns the world."


Thursday: I had to make a return to New Hope Christian this year, even though I wasn't ready to show my face again after passing out during my presentation last year.  However, I guess I did my job in making George Fox memorable because it seem that everyone at New Hope remembers me from last year.  Even the front office lady asked me how I have been doing since then...she's been worried about me.


Sorry this got so long!  We are pretty excited to come home tomorrow.  We can't wait to see you all soon!

13.5 Weeks and Growing

"Monday" McNeal at 11 weeks

This was our 11 week ultrasound.  Much closer view.  The head is the big round part on the left.  The belly is the hill on the right.  The arms and legs are those little stubby things you see.  They are actually longer then they look.  "Monday" had his/her arms and legs all folded in really close for most of the ultrasound.

Twelve and a half week mini-bump.

It may look small but it's funny how noticeable it is to me.

One third of the way there...

I am 12 weeks prego this week.  I am working on finishing up my first trimester.  I have to say, I am excited to put this last month and a half behind me.  Some of the real high (I mean "low") points were:

• Having morning, noon, and night sickness.  
• Daydreaming about my next chance to sleep
• Overflowing saliva - check out "Spitting Pregnant."
• Having my mouth taste like metal
• Having to eat any moment I am awake, even in the middle of the night

As frustrating as some of these were, I am enjoying the process.  It is crazy how quickly things change.  I am feeling good now and really starting to grow.  I plan on posting a picture any day.   This month also included are first full ultrasound.  It was a lot of fun to see a really clear view of the baby.  At one point we even saw "Monday" waving his/her arms.  It was pretty cool to see the baby moving and just looking more like a baby.  We also have a picture we will post soon of this ultrasound.  My due date was again confirmed to be April 15th, tax day!  The other thing this month marked was my journey into maternity clothes.  I can still fit into all my clothes but most of my pants are not as comfortable.  My mother-in-law and I took a day to go shopping and try on maternity clothes.  It was a lot of fun and I am really excited about the clothes we picked.  I have already started to wear most of them.  I didn't think I would jump in this fast but right now I am definitely choosing comfort over trying to wear my regular clothes as long as possible.

Here is the size of our baby this week:

More pictures and updates to come soon.

Nine Weeks and Counting

This past Tuesday, Rick and I had our very first prenatal visit.  We will be meeting with a Midwife through Kaiser which I am thankful for.  We didn't totally know what to visit but we had a sense like we were suppose to ask questions.  However, I think we were a little shocked at this first experience and how quick it went and how much information came at us.  At the end, Rick asked, "so when do we ask the questions?" and the Midwife just looked confused but supportive.  She answered, "well what questions do you have?" We both looked at each other and even more confused said, "we aren't sure" but you could tell we both felt like we should.  We have decided that we will keep a running list of questions for our next appointment and hope to ask them (whatever they may be).  If there was anything I realized, neither of us have done this before.  We are definitely new at this pregnancy and baby thing.  All the more fun!

We got to see our little fetus during our first ultrasound.  It was pretty exciting.  I just felt it shock the whole time that "that" was growing in side me!  It is so crazy.  Baby Monday (as nicknamed by our friends Mandee and Ryan) is about the size of a grape now, about an inch long, and in the ultrasound picture, looks a lot like a peanut. Monday the peanut.  Based on a number of dates that the midwife and I discusses, their current calculation of our peanut's birth is April 15th.  Happy tax day!

My next appointment is the 24th in which I just have an ultrasound to determine the size of the baby and make any adjustments to the due date.  I will keep you posted as it shifts around.

As I write about Monday and think about the fact that this is out of control and I have a baby growing in side of me, literally being "knit together" every day, I am given hope and optimism.  I have struggled the past 2-3 weeks now not feeling so great and it has pushed me at least once or twice to tears.  I haven't been severely ill, just mildly or a little worse but without a break.  I feel like I wake up and feel sick until I go to bed and even when I get up at night to pee (which is like 10 times) I pray I fall asleep quickly because I will start to feel ill.  The constant is what has really worn me out.  The doctors appointment was definitely a pick me up and reminded me that this is worth it.  I am optimistic that it is on its way out and by October when I hit my second trimester, I will be of normal Christine energy, or at least closer.   As for the rest of this month, I plan on resting and letting my body do what it needs.

When eating isn't appealing but all you need to do is eat.

Christine's myth # 1 - pregnancy doesn't actually "set in" until you and everyone else in the world can literally see that you are pregnant.  I am in my 8th week at this point and I am announcing, it is "official."  My dimed sized baby has "set in" and is giving me all the fun and exciting quarks of early pregnancy.

Food has been a battle for at least 2 weeks now.  I told my coworker I didn't have cravings last week when at 8:30 in the morning I was already opening up a bag of fritos and holding a second as back-up just in case one bag wasn't enough.  I seriously can't tell you the last time I ate fritos. I know Rick couldn't tell you because I have never bought them before.  I did luck out that week because my office has a leftover stash of fritos.  Apparently that is not students and employees favorite pick of chips but for this prego lady, it was.  At least last week.

The other "problem" is that my desire for foods changes quickly...probably daily.  Consistently, I have wanted bland carbs.  I have been eating a lot of pasta and one Sunday afternoon, ate 3 bowls of mashed potatoes...spaced out about an hour apart each.  Rick has been pretty awesome and has gone out to the store and spent money outside of our original budget to accommodate me.  It has been pretty amazing.  I imagine he has done it out of his deep love for me (or fear).  Some other cravings I have included a meatball sub from Subway and anything else that sounds like a soother for nausea.

This adventure is fun but this past week has made me pretty tired.  Eating constantly can be tiring.  If I can continually snack throughout the day, I generally feel the best but sometimes I just don't want to eat.  I can't believe I even wrote that sentence.  For all you who know me, you know...I love food.  By the way, I have thought about "Not Your Average Joes" so much in the past week.  I can't wait to go there and will need to go a least a couple times.  Heads up.

So anyway, I wrap things up here as I suck down my dinner, a chocolate banana shake.  This is the first sweet thing I have wanted in a while but it sounded good so here I go.