Long Awaited

I am beginning to feel the pressure. People keep asking me about my blog and I keep saying, yeah yeah I'll get to it. So this is me getting to it. Now what do you want to know about my life. I think that is the harder question to answer. Well since I haven't written anything in over a year I guess that is a lot of information to cover. But being the one who has actually lived through the last year of my life, I don't really know how interesting it has been but here it goes...

I have been living in Edmonton this past year and have enjoyed spending time with my family and getting to know new things about the city I grew up in. I believe the most exciting thing that has happened to me this past year would have to be the birth of my new little niece, Eden Lily Chiu. Eden was born on May 16 and I had the wonderful opportunity to be present for her birth. Contrary to my mothers fears and my sisters worries, I still wish to have children someday, even after seeing the labor process. The best moment of my year was definitely the time I was able to spend with Eden minutes after her birth. We were able to have some time for just the two of us and it was amazing. I love that little girl so much and love spending time with her and her big brother whenever I can.

When I am not smothering my niece and nephew with love, I can be found at my place of work, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) Side note: It is kind of funny that the name of the organization is CNIB, they recently changed the name from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind because they wanted to get rid of the false assumptions that one must be blind to receive services from our offices. Many of our clients still have partial vision. But when I tell people I work for CNIB and am met with their puzzled looks I usually have to say it is the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. Kinda defeats the purpose don't ya think? :)
Anyways, I have had some awesome opportunities working at CNIB. My official job title is Administrative Support. I do third party invoicing in the mornings and cover reception in the afternoons. Well those are my official duties but I have been lucky enough to become somewhat of a go to do all employee. Which I am thankful for, because it keeps things interesting :) Due to turn over in the Children's department at work, I had the opportunity to go to a Weekend retreat in Kananaskis as well as to organize the Children's summer camps. I was also able to attend a conference with the Seniors group and have been asked to volunteer with the deafblind group. I am constantly in awe of the people around me and how awesome they are. I work with some amazing people, who are always putting others first and I am able to learn so much from them.

That said, I have mixed feelings about leaving them this coming April and returning to school at BYU-Idaho. As much as I enjoy the people I work with, I am ready to finish my degree and work in the advertising and design field. I have been taking online classes here and there to keep my degree going but at the rate I am going I will never get my degree, so the plan is to go back to Idaho in April for the Spring semester and see how that goes down. If all is well I will be back in January to do both the Winter and Spring semesters in 2012. I will work on getting an internship for Fall of 2012 and then should be able to finish my classes and graduate in April of 2013. Allowing me to reach my goal of graduating before I turn 30, with a little bit of time to spare.

Other than work and family I have spent a lot of time in the last few months doing missionary work. It has been pretty awesome and I have completely selfish motives for doing it but I think it has benefited more than just me. I have definitely gained a testimony of visiting teaching and of that sharing your testimony helps strengthen it. I have made some awesome friends and had some really uplifting experiences. One reason I am sad about going back to Idaho is that missionary work is not as straight forward as it is in Edmonton. In Edmonton I meet people everyday who I can teach about my faith, in Idaho 99.9% of the people I meet will either be a member already or will have knowledge about the Gospel. I do look forward to being around people who share the same beliefs as me but sometimes that can make things harder as well. Regardless, I am happy with my decision to go back to school and look forward to finishing my degree.

I will miss my family and friends in Edmonton but after living here this past year, I have come to not hate this place as much as I thought I did, so I will be back to visit as often as possible. Preferably in the summer :)