Last Paralegal Class!

Greetings from the Arapahoe Community College library! I just finished my...

LAST PARALEGAL CLASS EVER!! 

That's right! All I have to do is finish my last Legal Research paper and pass Legal Research and then I'm doooooooooooooone!!!! :) 

In June 2012, I was beginning classes and I had just signed up to be a volunteer at Colorado Legal Services. In fact, my first legal volunteer experience was at the 2012 Senior Law Day where I helped participants find their conference rooms and timed a speaker in one room about mediation and the probate process. I had heard about it in Intro to Legal Studies and I volunteered with a girl from Property Law. 

That was the beginning of my 1 year long volunteer experience at Colorado Legal Services, 5 month internship at Metro Volunteer Lawyers, and the stepping stone to my present legal assistant position that I have had almost three months. 

I never dreamed I would make it this far and seemingly so easily. I felt God give me a promise that this job search would not be like the last time, and I give all credit to Him. Also, I want to say I am grateful for my ability to do legal work and learn administrative work, but I do not want to take all the glory. That belongs to God alone. 

I've met a lot of good friends in my paralegal program, and I know I will keep in touch with many of them after we graduate. More importantly, I can begin the next phase of my adventures in Denver: Moving out!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom, the free rent was great, but now I'm outta here!!!!! 

So here's to almost having my paralegal certificate! It's been a great journey, now I just have to get back to this research paper so I can finish strong! :) 

Unity is Epic!

A fellow blogger and my loyal blog-stalker posted on unity focusing on how it might be errantly taught in a church setting. 

I thought about unity today when the Hope Crossing pastor asked us to pray for God to use us in the community. The worship team played a Hillsong song and I thought about my summer mission trip to Boulder with The Rock and suddenly began praying for the believers there. Then I began praying for my peeps at Summitview. Then I even prayed for my little church group way back at Denver Health that I was a part of in 2006. And of course, I prayed for Boaz's church in Parker :) 

I just felt the place in my heart for "my peeps" get bigger :) It was cool! My fellow blogger basically said that unity shouldn't be constrained to just one's local church family. Unity within that group is important, and God can expand your heart to be in unity in prayer with so many other believers!!!! It's really cool and really trippy that you could pray for the whole entire Church - all the Christians on the planet and at that moment, you would be united with every believer. Mind. Blown! 

Today I realized that could be possible when I prayed for all my local churches, and I realized that only with God is this unity on an epic scale possible! 

Be Lifted Higher than all You've Overcome

Sometimes listening to songs, one line jumps out at me and my brain chews on it for a while.

Chris Tomlin’s “Jesus Son of God” is one of those songs.

“Be lifted higher than all You’ve overcome / Your Name be louder than any other song / There is no power that can come against Your love / The Cross was enough / The Cross was enough.”

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First of all, this song is special to me because my Boaz and I have sang along to it multiple times and any reminders of him make me smile.

But beyond geeking about yet another song my boyfriend (man-friend) and I have in common, there is the EPIC TRUTH expressed by the song!!!!!!!!

Think about it.

Jesus was subject to all evil: The corruption of a government (the Roman criminal justice system), the betrayal of friends (Judas), public humiliation, poverty, pain, physical and mental pain, marginalization by society (the Roman government as well as the Jewish political leaders), intense physical pain, a slow agonizing death, and death itself.

Yet what did He do on Easter?

HE ROSE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He OVERCAME all that listed above, and that’s just the short abridged large-scale list.

I think about the arena where Passion: White Flag was recorded as I’m guessing it was at a large scale venue (my Boaz would then dork around on the internets and find it to please his music-nerd self, but I wanna get this blog post out). But anyway, there were probably thousands of stories in that room. There were probably thousands of struggles: Unemployment or underemployment (coming out of the Great Recession), loss of family / friends, chronic illnesses, broken relationships, hurts from childhood, individuals living lives adapting to one or more disabilities, victims of crime, victims of civil wrongs, people recovering from substance abuse, and the list could go on and on. All these people were at Passion to praise God and to see Chris Tomlin and his posse.

I imagine that moment of singing those words: Be lifted higher than all You’ve overcome / Your name be louder than any other song / there is no power that can come against Your love /The Cross was enough brought many people to tears, brought many people to their knees as the struggles they faced came to their minds and hearts. And then I bet their worship grew even deeper as they realized the Truth expressed in the song: For every injustice and moment(s) of pain represented in that room, Christ has overcome. Christ is lifted higher than all of it. As the people in the room and as I reflect on this truth, I can run to God for comfort and hope in the midst of struggle.

The Cross was enough. The Cross was Enough

Worshipping my Provider then and now

I'm listening to Shane and Shane's CD "Psalms".  Psalm 13 was one song I would often listen to when I was doing my job search in Fort Collins. Those were hard times. I applied to a crap ton of jobs just to find the group home jobs. Those weren't bad and the clients were great when they listened to staff :D 

But were my group home jobs my dream jobs coming out of grad school? No.   Did God provide still? Yes :)

Now here I am a legal assistant at a Probate and Estates law firm. This is a step down from paralegal, but I am still song substantive legal work. One could say that I am really close to my chosen career. Yes I am. Very close. 

Currently I am on my commute home pondering my Fort Collins job search compared to my paralegal job search. In some ways they were the same; I had some volunteer experience in the field but was looking for something more involved in a paid position. I was also aware of my Aspergers and had help around that and interviews and such. I had to make sure the jobs were on bus lines convenient for me. Most importantly I had a church body supporting me and praying for me in both places :):)

In Fort Collins, I felt alone. I had Mom's worries pressing on me as well as my own and I felt like no one understood that aspect of my situation. In Denver, I had more confidence that countered Mom's worrying. In Fort Collins, I was surrounded by people with good jobs they got by working hard or dumb luck while I struggled to find above minim wage work. In Denver I was still surrounded by people with jobs and people aspiring to get jobs in the legal profession. This was something many volunteers at Colorado Legal Services had in common. In Fort Collins, the job search seemed never ending, and in a way it was. I searched for a job from August 2009 until February 2012. Wow. In Denver I searched from March 2013 until now. I will hope to get promoted within the law firm or find a paralegal job after a few years in my current position. 

What didn't change is my faith in God. In Fort Collins it was faith through frustration and tears as God grew that faith deeper. In Denver it was faith and calling on the lessons I learned in Fort Collins. It was faith growing deeper still. 

As I listen to Psalms and let God reminde of those times I cry remembering the hard times and  I cry in gratefulness that I was never truly alone. I smile because God provided for my material needs then and now, and He provided the sustaining grace to persevere. 

A flood in my old home

I am still in somewhat of a surreal shock. 

My own state is partially underwater. Though I had a pretty sunny day in Southwest Denver, I know that east of Boaz's side of Parker, there is still flooding. 

And there is flooding in Fort Collins. My old home. 

It hits home when Mom and I hear the news and I start talking about, "Oh yeah, that path is north of Old Town..." and my memories of Fort Collins come back. 

Of walking around Old Town
Of walking down the Spring Creek Trail
Hiking up Horsetooth
Hanging out at Rolland Moore Park
Being a CSU Ram 

I think a lot about the guys' group home where I worked. It is by Overland and Vine. I think they should be ok, but I know two guys had rooms in the basement, so everyone might be on the first and second floor for a bit. 

For some of my friends in the law firm it's still happening "over there." The streets they take to work aren't washed out. Their houses aren't flooded (though one friend had some water in her basement, but she got a dry-vac). I can think it's "over there" because mom's house isn't flooded, and my bus routes work. 

But my heart tells me that it is where my former church family is. My friends' postings on Facebook remind me that my friends are affected or very close to affected areas. 

I am reminded that the flood is in my old home. 

And my old home is in my prayers. 

First Week Done!

Hello Blogsphere!!!

Yes, the Facebook post is true!!! I am currently working at a law firm as an office / legal assistant! Today marked the end of my first week at my new job. The law firm handles Probate and Estate planning and administration. Because this is a public blog, I will not reveal the name of my law firm to ensure I comply with its confidentiality policy.

Google Images

The people at the firm are very nice! The first day I got to know the receptionist and the law clerk that work there. The law clerk took the bar exam and is waiting for her results. Once she passes (we all assume she will), she will be the fourth lawyer in the firm. The office manager and I were classmates in the Probate and Estates class in the summer. The two paralwgals are also nice, as is the bookkeeper. They have made me feel welcome and are willing to train me on my duties. The bookkeeper sits next to me and noticed I had to lean in close  to the screen. She said she would look into getting a longer cord for my monitor so I could pull it closer. I told her she was so sweet to think of that!!!!

Thinking back to my time at Colorado Legal Services, I see how many of those skills helped me. I had practice talking to clients and using the client tracking system. I also knew how to use templates and how to draft documents. More importantly, I learned how an office environment worked in a practical sense and in a social sene. As an Aspie, I spent that year at CLS learning social skills and being comfortable in that social environment. I learned when we ha to speak and act professionally, and when my co-workers and I could share a small giggle. 

Sometimes I felt overwhelmed with all the tasks because I was learning a new law office and learning new tasks. I think the transition to being a newbie was harder because at my internship, I helped my attorney train some of the new interns. Now I was the one receiving all the training. Fortunately, like I said earlier, everyone was nice :)

I am grateful to God for my new job, and I thank Him every day that I have it :) Here's to growing my paraelgal career with this law firm!!!!!

The man of my 90's love song dreams

On Spotify, I'm making a playlist of the music I listened to in high school and college just for a nice walk down memory lane. 

Google Images - yes that round thing is called a discman. Where things called CDs were inserted for awesome tunes.



Reminiscing about the sappy love songs I listened to from Mariah Carey, N'Sync, and Backstreet Boys, I suddenly realized that when I listened to those songs, those were like prayers to God for Him to find me a man who would make me feel all sappy inside. 

Even in high school, I didn't just want 'arm candy.' I wanted a boyfriend who would care for me and be genuinely interested in me for me. I thought I wasn't worthy of a boyfriend because I didn't look like the girls on the cover of Seventeen magazine. I wasn't rich and I couldn't buy the latest brand-name clothes or drive a stylish car. At sixteen, I was learning how to ride the bus while my other friends were getting cars. I thought I was too different, too nerdy, to shy, to nearsighted to get a boyfriend. 

Somehow through my teen years, God kept me trusting in Him. Did I crush on guys I thought were cute? Yes. My friends and I spent lots of time giggling about famous guys (like N'Sync) and cute guys in our classes. But somehow I had this idea that God would bring the guy to me when I was ready. 

Enter: BOAZ!!!!!!!!! :) 

That's him! SQUEAK!



Sweet, kind, dorky Boaz!!!!! :) 

Loves me for me, cares genuinely for me, and I make him smile - quirks and all! And I want to love him back for those same reasons :) 

Wow! It's so funny how all those years back when I was laying in bed listening to my discman and wondering if God had a boyfriend for me, God was preparing my Boaz for when we would meet.... 15ish years later! He heard the prayers of my heart as I listened to my 90's love songs so one day my 60's guy (because he was born in 1969) to meet and exceed all of them :)