Education

   I have always known I wanted to further my formal education in one field or another and I was alway undecided in what exactly I wanted to do. I have a BA in Child Development and a minor in Marriage and Family Studies.  My Major was chosen because I like psychology and I have taken a lot of those classes in the past but that just talks about people in general. I wanted to know more about Child psychology so I did Child Development. Seeing that that was the closest I could get to what I was wanting to learn about. Upon finishing my degree there weren't very many stimulating careers that I was qualified to do, or that I really had a passion or want to do. Other areas such as Nursing seemed more exciting as a career. But then my husband started a degree at BYU in provo and I explored some of their MA options for my self. The obvious glove MA that would fit what my education has led me to would be the Human Development degree, but again it would profit me little of what I would want to do unless I got a PhD so that I could teach about it. I NEVER foresee a PhD in my future because the thought of it just doesn't appeal in any way.
   However I was doing some scripture study and it was probably in an general conference talk I learned that keeping a marriage alive and preventing divorce is one of the most important and noble endeavors one can do. That inspired me to want to keep marriages alive somehow. I learned a great deal about marriage and divorce during my minor. So I thought that being a marriage therapist would be a very rewarding career. BYU offers a MS in Marriage and Family Therapy.  Its a two year program and is year round so it would start in the fall and basically end the end of summer 2 years later. Also one continually sees clients at the Comprehensive Clinic on BYU Campus through out the degree. The program requires a thesis which piggy backs onto an advisor's research and it seems very rigorous at the start and then has less credits taken slowly by the end of the program.
  I got very excited about the prospect of starting my Master's degree next fall. I was a little late in my interest however, because I forgot that the GRE is a requirement also and I wouldn't make the application deadline with that alone to get the results to the school in time. Bummer. Well so Perry and I have been discussing the idea of me going to school. We definitely don't want him to be in school at the same time, we definitely can't start the degree until 2014 and Perry is 100% supportive of me going back to school and making sure we are here in Utah until I get it done. That will give him plenty of time to get some adjunct experience as well as the community service experience he needs to be seriously considered for a full time position somewhere.
   So the plan is that I study and take the GRE this coming year and give my old professors ample time to submit letters of recommendation. Also I have time to retake the GRE if my score isn't how high I want it to be. Also I can start the degree in approximately 2 years and Carly will be 2 and easy to watch for a sitter, Grant will be 4 and a half and in preschool. And I definitely don't want to give birth to a baby during the program. So there may just be a 4 year gap between Carly and the next little one. Things may change and the age difference between my kids is really the only thing I'm not a fan of for the program. I really want to take my mom's advice and maybe wait about 3 years next time instead of 2 and a half.  The reason BYUs program trumps all the others is that it was the first University  to have the program and is considered the best. And it is obviously the most affordable program as well. So cheap and the best. What more could you ask for. I think the most ideal situation would be that Perry gets his adjunct experience and also gets his full time career here in Utah and then we can have all 4 children born and age 1 and up which will be in about 7 years. And then I can start the program after that point.  That still seems too far away and too long to wait if he never gets a full time position here. But we would love to end up in the Utah Valley indefinitely because we love it!