This morning we were all late waking up and had a major problem with my son.  He was grouchy and willful.  I vowed to get disciplined about sticking to our schedule and getting to sleep on time.

At school we listened to reports on interviews with human service workers.  They were very helpful to get a better picture of the field.

After class I ran into a guy that I hadn't seen in a long time.  We had a great time catching up and he informed me that my old fishing buddy is doing well.

I felt really motivated today to get active in the 12 step fellowship again.
This afternoon I put up Christmas decorations with the family.

Thanks be to God.

This Saturday morning we got off to an early start as my wife had a garage sale.  The house was in order so things went fairly well and I kept the kids from sleeping too late. In the morning I got them all outside and had my oldest practice baseball and do the dishes.

I thought a lot about several things related to personal adjustment and sobriety but I don't remember any of it.

I got to watch the movie, "The Alamo".  It was the most historically  credible rendition I have seen of the event.  I was intrigued by the personalities on both sides and noted how none of them were perfect heros or villains.  They all had virtues and flaws.  I thought the movie captured the full scope of perspectives.  I was especially interested in the dynamic between the Tejanos and Mexicans.  Juan Seguin had been a Mexican loyalist but battled the corruption of Santa Anna.  Santa Anna while corrupt was a powerful leader that the Mexican people needed and continued to follow despite his flaws.

An interesting thing happened later in the afternoon.  My brother stopped by unexpectedly.  He needed some help as he is having to move.  He had a friend he has known since high school. As I talked to the friend, he related to me his story of recovery from addiction and religious conversion. It was a great conversation, I just wish that I could have engaged my brother a little more.  I invited him to our recovery group. I wish that I could have been a better host as I was in the back yard and never invited them in.  I had to make a difficult decision about giving appropriate help when my brother asked me to rent a vehicle for him to move his stuff.  Fortunately my license is expired so it was a moot point, thank God.

In the evening I went to a meeting.  It was a speaker meeting with a guest from Laredo.  He had a great story, it was one of those "high bottom" but deep obsession stories.  The guy did well in telling a complete story including how he recovered and how his life has gotten better.  He also did well in including the spiritual component.

Thanks be to God

This Sunday morning we got off to a good start and made it to mass on time and out in good spirits.  One of my daughters had a little melt down  but she recovered from it well.  Our priest gave a sermon on the importance of keeping priorities in order and placing our spiritual life before all things.

In the afternoon my parents came to visit.  The neighbors were having a birthday party and engagement celebration for their daughter.  They had a taco grill set up with genuine Mexican cuisine.  My father and I had a great time eating and talking with them.

Afterward my wife and mom went shopping and left us men with the kids.  My dad and I had a good talk about the nature of people's behaviors and appropriate help for addicts constantly in trouble and seeking bail outs.  We also watched a little of Ken Burn's baseball series.

Thanks be to God for this day.

Last night my son suddenly started throwing up and my wife had to stay up late helping him.  She also had to get up in the middle of the night with him.  This morning I got up a little early and tried to do more to help with the kids.  I had hoped she wouldn't have to get up early but there were things she had to do anyway.  I was less than supportive about her garage sale.

This morning i had some burdgening thoughts about the need for all people to surrender the will, the need to concede the scope of one's power over their world. I also thought about how tolerance as a virtue toward resilience might have been taught in personal adjustment class.

This afternoon while I dropped off my son at therapy I thought about the distinction of the 12 steps as a spiritual conditioning program not a drinking behavior modification program.  that the will and moral standards are reformed.  Drinking and other behavior modification are then poossible.

All afternoon and evening an intriguing deliberation has been going on in my thoughts.  I keep thinking back to my presentation about the importance of an afterlife concept.  I have had some thoughts to give it more depth and complete the presentation, I have experienced doubts as to whether I should have done that subject and then lastly I have realized that it may very well be life's greatest lesson.  I watched some programs with my children tonight and I realized some even more contemporary sources of mythological archetypes.  This afternoon I went to the bookstore and looked at some books about this subject.  It is a subject of great interest to scholars and there is a lot of literature about it.

Thanks be to God.

This morning before class I sat with my friends who are studying to be counselors.  One person talked to me about her experiences as a counselor prior to needing to meet education requirements.  She took me on a journey through the seedy side of the recovery industry.  It was eye opening.  It was something that I was not familiar with but was not too surprised to hear.  I also got to hear about the various types of flawed personalities that go into the field.

In Personal Adjustment class I gave my final presentation.  I was the last person to present.  The people that went before me did really well and had good visual media.  I was a little nervous and intimidated.  A girl went before me who started her talk about being passionate about recovery.  I found this very helpful as I was the only one talking about the book rather than some personal interest.  I was able to open by talking about my passion for personal adjustment.  My presentation went well but I was a little disappointed to miss two key points.  All in all I am grateful for this experience and for the opportunity to take this class.

In the afternoon I took a final in Human Growth and Development.  I think I did well.  I also turned in my eulogy project.  My professor surprised me by saying that it was good and she was moved in reading it.

Once again I am deeply grateful for these great classes I got to take and the wonderful teachers who led them.

I was sad to here that my wife's friend's son died of an overdose this week.  My prayers go out for him and his family.

I got to throw baseballs in the back yard with my two sons this afternoon.

Thanks be to God for this day.

This Wednesday morning I got to talk to a friend and fellow student about his career history and why he chose to pursue a career as a counselor.  I was surprised to hear that he had an education and twenty year tenure wuth a major corporation in a rewarding and lucrative industry.  He also discussed with me some of his experience and knowledge about the many types of opportunities in the counseling field. The was immensely helpful to me and gave me a great uplift.   In our Social Services class people gave presentation of their interviews with service workers.  It was great to get a picture of all the types of human services workers there are and what there experiences and employment conditions are.  One lady shared that she interviewed a staff director who told her that her counselors start at a really reasonable pay grade.

All afternoon I worked on my final presentation for tomorrow.

Thanks be to God.

After class this morning I was able to devote a quality effort on the final project of the semester.  I am doing a presentation on life's greatest lesson from the book we read "Tuesday's with Morrie."  I am focusing on the problem of death.

I was a little stressed out about this after class today as several people did their presentations and focused on their passions.  They also all had visual presentations except for one and this compelled me to do one even though I wasn't planning on it.  I had a moment of panic in class that my presentation was due today, but it wasn't.  The teacher pulled my leg and called my name to scare me.

This evening I got to go to a meeting.  We talked about the futility of schemes to shield the alcoholic.  It was a controversial topic split down the middle.  Some members put a heavy emphasis on avoiding people, places, and things.  Others, myself included, place all the emphasis on a psychic change and allow good decisions to follow.

Thanks be to God.