All Things Washington

I am obsessed with all things Washington. I had no idea how much Washington pride I had until I moved 3,000 miles away from that glorious state. I just get so excited when I meet someone from Washington, I hear a song that references Washington, I see a Washington state license plate, or even when I see Washington apples at the grocery store. I mean, its gotten to the point where I like to watch Twilight just because it's shot in Washington. I was watching Hoarders and there was a family from Spanaway, WA on the show and I got super stoked about watching it just to see Washington landscape and the Pierce Country Animal Control van. I don't even really like Spanaway but that didn't diminish the excitement of seeing it.

What can I say, I lived in Washington for 24 years and it is my home, through and through. I love my state and I will defend it.

When I tell people I am from Washington, it usually goes one of four ways.

Person 1: "Where are you from?"
Corissa: "Washington."
Person 1: "D.C.?"
Corissa: "No, Washington state."
Person 1: "Oh."

Person 2: "Where are you from?"
Corissa: "Washington."
Person 2: "Wow, lots of rain, huh?"
Corissa: "Yeah, but it makes everything green."
Person 2: "But it's gotta suck."
Corissa: "Yeah..."

Person 3: "Where are you from?"
Corissa: "Washington."
Person 3: "Oh! So how are your sports teams going this year?" (snicker)
Corissa: "I don't know, probably okay."
Person 3: "How's your basketball team?"
Corissa: "We don't have a basketball team anymore."
Person 3: "I know! (giggle) That was the joke."
Corissa: "Funny."

Person 4: "Where are you from?"
Corissa: "Washington."
Person 4: "Sweet! Twilight!"
Corissa: "Yeah..."

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The holidays this year has been quite the adventure!

For Thanksgiving, Stephen and I travelled to Philadelphia, PA to stay at his great-aunt Betty's house where Grandpa Wil and Grandma Veona were also staying. Having a family to celebrate Thanksgiving with was both a blessing and a burden. It was so great to tour Philadelphia and spend quality time with Betty, Wil, and Veona, but at the same time it was hard for me because it reminded me of how much I missed my own family.

"If Christmas," I thought, "is anything like Thanksgiving, I am going to need to be prepared for it." In bereavement, we teach survivors to not ignore anniversaries or holidays but rather prepare for them. We say "prepare to take the day over before the day takes over you." So that is exactly what I did.

Since all of our friends from Gordon-Conwell were planning on being gone on Christmas, we planned adventures for two. On Christmas Eve, Stephen and I travelled north to a magical place called Plum Island. On this "island" (more of a peninsula) was the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. On the west side of the island was marsh lands and on the east side was the Atlantic Ocean. The snow that fell just days before made it especially beautiful. Stephen and I were told that around this time of year the snowy owl comes to the refuge to feed, but despite our best efforts we never spotted it. The day was spent hiking the trails and walking along the boardwalks to the ocean and through the marshlands. That evening our friends Mike and Kaylyn Penza invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas day, luckily, unfolded just as we planned it to. Stephen and I both enjoyed the rarity of sleeping in before we cooked a huge breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast. After we had our fill of delicious food we decided to tackle the task of opening our presents. (Now, this was a lot of fun!) We each took turns opening our gifts and thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks everyone!

After all the gifts were revealed we played with our new toys (mostly Skip-Bo) until it was time to go. The next event on our agenda was to go see the new movie Avatar. We planned on seeing the Imax showing but when we got there it was sold out, so we just settled for a regular, later showing. But that ended up working out in our favor because while we were waiting for the movie to start the entire Sundlie family showed up! (The Sundlies are an amazing family that go to out church. The kids are involved in the youth group and the parents and grandma are very supportive of us.) "It's a Christmas miracle come true!!"

(Waiting for Avatar to start.)

As we stepped out of the theatre we were greeted with snow! It just added to the joy of Christmas. We then drove to dinner at China Jade (a local Chinese restaurant with good prices and large portions!) There was no wait time, so Stephen and I were able to start enjoying our Christmas dinner as soon as possible.

At home, after dinner, we played more Skip-Bo and then closed the evening watching the new Star Trek movie (which was one of Stephen's gifts from me.) Overall, even though it lacked family, our Christmas was great!

But like most people who live in the real world, I was back at work on Monday. Which actually was fine. I love my job so I didn't mind. Plus, my Sarah was back at work from her vacation. AND it was a short week at work because of New Years.


Now, New Year's Eve was doubly exciting because it was not only the beginning of a new year but it was also Sarah's birthday! So, Mike and Kaylyn Penza, Ryan and Sarah Potter, and us Olsons all went out to a tavern in Salem to celebrate. It was a lot of fun! There was great food, fun music, and a tv to watch the ball drop in Times Square. It was weird, that for the first time in my life, I was in the same time zone as New York and could actually celebrate the new year with its ball rather than the Space Needle.

(Ryan Potter, Sarah Potter (birthday girl), and Mike Penza)

(Kaylyn Penza, me, and Stephen)

So, that is how Stephen and I managed to survive the holidays. Tomorrow Stephen and I are picking up our last set of friends that went on vacation, and Monday marks the beginning of Stephen's J-Term and me returning to work. The party weeks are now over and my regular life resume. Pfew!

Health and Education Services, Inc. Masters-Level Clinician

Well it's official official. I have a job. For sure this time. I even filled out paper work.

Health and Education Services (HES) is a large community mental health service provider for eastern MA. I have applied for many of their position and have actually interviewed for three different positions with them. My friend, Sarah, who lives in my building was already working for the Family Development team and told me I should apply. She told me that there are 3 BA level clinicians and only 2 MA level clinicians, and that they needed one more MA level clinician to complete the initial team. And that is exactly what I am!!! So I sent Stephanie (my new boss) my resume and we scheduled an interview for the following week. That initial interview did not work out because she was ill, but we quickly rescheduled it for Thursday. So on Thursday I went in and rocked the interview. I felt that this job would be a great fit for me. I would be working as a team with a BA level clinician to provide in-home therapy and stabilization for individuals and families. Stephanie told me that she wanted me to meet the team and give them the chance to meet me and make sure we would be a good fit before hiring me. She asked me to come back on Monday to meet everyone. So today I went in and met the team and I gave them the chance to ask questions and get to know me. It was over in 15 minutes...which worried me. Then Stephanie said "Thanks for coming in. I have a few more people I am looking at and will let you know by the end of this week." *sigh* I was so discouraged. I thought "here comes the waiting game again." So I left feeling down and thinking that if I find any other job it would simply be settling for less. I began to drive home and about 15 minutes later Stephanie calls me back and asks me to come back because I need to fill out paperwork because she is offering me the job!!!

I was beyond happy! This is the answer to MANY peoples prayers. Thanks everyone for praying for me. It works--prayer works!

So I have orientation on Friday and begin work on Monday. And what makes this job great instead of just good is all the employee benefits. This job comes with health insurance, paid vacation, personal days, sick days, mileage reimbursement, (high for me) salary, not productivity driven, and they even pay me for filling out paperwork! Whoa!

I truly feel that this is what God had planned for me. If the other job I got started on time I would not have needed to look for others and would not have found this amazing job.

Jobs, Jobs, JOBS!

Where I will I work when I move to Boston was a question I thought about very, very frequently. I had day dreams of a prestigious, high-paying job in Boston that would require me to take the train in everyday. I thought about working for a private practice, a rape center, Richard Mollica's trauma center, and many different local mental health agencies.

Before I left Kirkland, I sent out my cover letter, resume, and letter of recommendation from Dr. Inslee to 9 different job postings. I also put in a transfer request to a Starbucks in Beverly, MA. I wanted a job. I knew that the quicker I got a job, the better off we would be.

As many of you know, I don't like working at Starbucks, and many of you thought I was crazy to ask to continue to work there. I thought so too. The Beverly manager told me to call him as soon as I got into town but I delayed almost a week because the thought of working there depressed me. I finally called him and he asked me to come in the following Monday (Sept. 14th) to meet with him.

Meanwhile I got a call from one of the jobs I applied for offering me an interview. I was beyond excited and sent out an e-mail requesting prayer. I interviewed for a clinician position for the Health and Education Services, Inc. (HES) in Lawrence, MA (about 45 minutes away) on Sept. 10th. I left the interview thinking it went really well and anxious to hear back from her at the end of the following week.

I started working at Starbucks on Sept. 16th filling in a few shifts for baristas that were overworked due to the understaffing. And from the first hour of the first shift I hated it more than ever before. The customers were ruder, the baristas ignored me, and the store was constantly in utter chaos. Depression hit when I saw the following week's work schedule and that I was working 35 hours.

A ray of sunshine came when I got another interview on Sept. 17th. This time I was interviewing with South Bay Mental Health for a full-time clinician position at their Salem location (about 20 minutes away). Even though I got lost on the way to the interview and had to call my interviewer to help me get to their office, I still felt that the 2 hour interview went well. She said she would call me on Tuesday (Sept 22nd).

After work at Starbucks on Monday (Sept. 21st) I made my decision. I cannot handle Starbucks anymore. After only three hellish days there where I was ignored and fought tears and loss all day, I quit. I told the Beverly manager that I would finish out the schedule that was already posted but I did not want to work anymore after that. He pushed for two more weeks. I said no. I told a few people that I was leaving and then when they asked why I had to awkwardly tell them that I was too stressed at this point in my life to work at Starbucks. They kind of understood.

My interviewer from South Bay Mental Health did not call on Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday. I called and left a message on Thursday but she did not return it. I called on Friday and got a hold of her; she had no new news for me, just that they were still processing my application and that she would call me on Monday (Sept. 28th). The lady from the Lawrence HES did not call me when she said she would. She also did not pick up when I called and did not return the messages I left.

During the week I worked at Starbucks I got a call from a different HES location regarding a different application that I sent in. This job is still in the mental health field but I would be doing risk assessments rather than therapy. It is not my first pick, but if they hire me it would be a job. I agreed to an interview on October 1st.

I finished my time at Starbucks on Saturday (Sept 26th) and was overjoyed to leave and never return. But I was becoming frustrated with South Bay Mental Health because, yet again, she did not call when she said she would.

Then today I checked my e-mail and received one from my interviewer at South Bay Mental Health. She stated that she was sorry that she did not call me yesterday but she had a personal emergency that took her out of town all weekend and did not return until late Monday night. She said she hated doing this over e-mail but she wanted to let me know as soon as possible. She then offered me a full-time staff therapist position at the Salem office!!! (99% great news) and if I was interested in taking the job the next available start date is October 26th (1% bad news). I e-mailed her back accepting the job and asked if there was anything else I needed to do between now and then.

I am so excited about this job! Out of all the jobs I applied for this was the one I wanted most. It pays more, located closer, offers free licensed supervision, plenty of client hours, and most of all it will help me develop as a professional clinician. Thank you God. And thank you for all of you who have been faithfully praying for us.

Corissa

In the Beginning...

I will begin with the end-Stephen and I made it safely to Boston, well South Hamilton to be exact. We had no car problems and no trouble with the law, it was all smooth sailing...we didn't even fight (big surprise). The biggest difficulty we faced was our poor miles per gallon rate, 11-12 MPG on South Dakota-like days and around 9 MPG on more mountainous days.

But to begin at the beginning, this is how we got here.

Day 1: Kirkland, WA to Missoula, MT.
We said our final good-byes to the Prices, the FIRS, and Kirkland and headed out around 7am. About 24 miles later we realized our car was unnaturally swaying back and forth. We pulled over at the Snoqualmie Casino and threw bag after bag of National Geographics into the front of the trailer in attempts to decrease "trailer sway." After the readjustment we had no more problems with trailer sway for the rest of our journey. Our first big obstacle of our trek was Snoqualmie Pass, it was slow and steady, but we just kept on thinking "We think we can...we think we can..." and sure enough Eleanor (our car) made it! After that success we were much less concerned about all the other passes we had to go through. We arrived in Missoula around 3pm and stayed with Levi Hicks and his family. Upon arrived Mrs. Hicks had delicious tacos prepared for us. They were amazing. Then Stephen, Levi, and I went out and grabbed a few more supplies that we were going to need for the trip-cheese (since we left at the Prices), CDs (for our enjoyment), and some sour gummy candy. Then we spent the evening relaxing and watching "The Island."

Day 2: Missoula, MT to Rapid City, SD.
This was one of our tougher days-this was the day that we learned that for every 3 hours google maps says it will take it actually takes us 4 hours. So our 1o hour drive took over 13 hours. Yikes. I think I blocked this day out of my memory because all I remember is driving and driving and then it getting dark and finally arrived at the Farquars. They sure know how to make cranky car travelers feel better; they greeted us with hugs and warm food! After spaghetti and brownies they introduced us to their new toy-a retro pinball table! It was so much fun and Stephen and I would have continued our tournament longer if we didn't think the noise would keep them from sleeping. The next morning we ate delicious cereal and were off with the gifts of fruit and nuts and gas in our car! Thanks Farquars!

Day 3: Rapid City, SD to Minneapolis, MN
This was another day of driving from morning until night. It was estimated about 9 hours, so it took us about 12. Just a lot of flat corn fields. And although we resisted the temptation to visit the Corn Palace we did stop at Wall Drug...the signs (all 64 of them) were just too intriguing. We saw and got it all-the new back yard, the dinosaur, and the free cup of ice water. When we arrived in Minneapolis and Dwight graciously greeted us with a warm dinner and a warm bed! I was SO TIRED that night. It was then, on day 3, that we realized we needed a day 6, and with Dwight's family and friend discount at the Marriott, we got a hotel reservation in Syracuse, NY.

Day 4: Minneapolis, MN to Cleveland, OH
Since we were staying with friends of a friend in Cleveland and we told them we would be there at 9pm and did not want to keep them up late, Stephen and I started driving at 5am. We drove from before the sun rose to after it set. It was a long day. It was also the day that toll roads were introduced...the dreaded toll roads. When we arrived in Cleveland we did not know what to expect since we were staying with Sara's family friends from when she lived in Ohio. But it was a great surprise! The Truax's were a super nice and friendly couple who's kids have already left home. Mrs. Truax worked at their church and Mr. Truax trains bomb dogs. It was great to relax and drink tea as we chatted and got to know them. After a wonderful nights rest, the Truax's made us a hot breakfast and sent us on our way with many gifts. Thank you!

Day 5: Cleveland, OH to Syracuse, NY
This day was shorter in terms of drive time but still pretty long because we stopped at Niagara Falls! Everyone said that the Canadian side was better but with a trailer we did not want to risk getting searched and stayed in the US. It was pretty difficult to find parking in the first place but to find parking for a car with a huge trailer attached to it was even more difficult. Once we were parked, we ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then journeyed to the falls. Besides the crowds and the heat (and the cold I was beginning to get) the falls were beautiful! I could see how the other side would be better but it did not stop me from appreciating the view I did get. The mist from the Horseshoe Falls could be seen miles away. SO MUCH WATER! After the falls we finished that day's leg of the journey and pulled into the Marriott around 8pm. Having a hotel room after five long days of traveling was just what we needed. We quickly took advantage of the hot tub and just relaxed! We got a wonderful nights rest and were fully rested for our last day of driving!

Day 6: Syracuse, NY to South Hamilton, MA
We left the hotel around 8 am and drove our final part of the journey. This day was definitely different from the rest-there was excitement in the air! I slept most of the morning, feeling sick from the cold, and then switched with Stephen in the afternoon to finish up the final drive. We arrived at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary around 2pm and met up with Stephen's old roommates, Alex and Troy, to help us unload. We were only on campus for about 10 minutes when we met two other men who were living in our building, both of whom also helped us unload our trailer. After the hours it took to load that trailer, and carefully place the right boxes in the right place, it was all out and in our apartment in about a half an hour! After that the RLC bought us pizza for dinner (on the seminary of course) and we had our first meal in our new apartment.

Well that is the short version of a very long trip. After 6 days, 3,309 miles, $657 for gas, and another $100 in tolls, the Olsons finally made it to the east coast, just the beginning of The Great Olson Adventure!

The First of Many

I have created blogs before but never really did anything with them, so hopefully this one will be different. I have started this blog in attempts to stay in contact with friends and family while living so far away. Stephen and I will both be able to write on this blog and hopefully there is a way for you readers to comment back.

Stephen and I are really excited about this great adventure of moving cross-country, resuming school or getting a "real" job for the first time, and finding a new church and new friends. While we seek the Lord and His will for our lives, we would appreciate your prayers as well. Prayers for provision, guidance, perseverance, and joy.

Since it is the middle of July and we are not planning on moving until September 1, I can't imagine I would write too much more until later.

Later,
Corissa