3 Months and E.C.I

So, as of today Micheal and I have been engaged for 3 months! Some days I think, "Wow! 3 months already! October is coming fast!" and other times I think, "Only 3 months! It is taking forever!!". Ha Ha! I am trying to be patient and enjoy this time as a bride to be but it is hard because I am sooo excited! As far as the wedding planning goes everything is going smooth so far. We have the dress, church, preacher, photographer, bridesmaids dresses, colors, and some decorations... and we still have 7 months to go! I am not a professional by any means but I say that is pretty good! There are times when Mom and I look at each other and are like "Shouldn't we be doing something!". Ha Ha! We are pretty much figuring things out as we go!

I want to share an interesting story behind finding the photographer! You know how every bride has those certain things that she considers to be "non-negotiables" well one of those things for me was my photographer. I am not picky about most other things but I always knew from day one that I wanted a good anf fun photographer, however not one that was going to make my parent's and I go into debt! LOL! Well all of the ones we looked at in Lubbock were ridiculous! So my mom started calling around in Levelland to see what we could find there. Well the first lady to call her back was named Debbie Blackshear. My mom was talking to her and was totally impressed with the price and the package. So she gave her my name... well at this moment Debbie begins screaming, "Oh My Gosh, AMANDA MARTIN! You mean Campus Ambassador at SPC Amanda Martin!!!!" And my mom, who was totally shocked was like, "Yeah...". Debbie went on to say how much she enjoyed me when I was at S.P.C. and so on and so forth!

When my mom called to tell me I was shocked and excited! Everyone who was a campus ambassador with me at the time loved Debbie! We all called her Mama Deb because she was like a mother to all of us! However, I never would have dreamed she would have had that reaction to me getting married! Anyway, I am so excited that not only did we find a good photographer but we found someone who knows me and I know she will do a fabulous job! It is so fun to see how God's hand is in all things even when we least expect it!! :-)

That is pretty much all that is going on on the Wedding Front! I am so ready for summer and graduation because after that I plan on diving into wedding planning head first! I haven't been able to that so far because of school. My main time consumer right now is trying to get my 120 hours of practicum time in before the end of April. I mentioned my practicum in an earlier post and will go into more detail about what I am doing exactly. Basically, a practicum is part of the undergrad program and requires the student to get 120 hours of real life experience in a place that centers around their type of degree.

With my degree being Family Studies there were a lot of different avenues to take. Some places I could choose from included anything from working within schools to working with women protective services.  I chose to do mine with Early Childhood Intervention (ECI).

Basically ECI is a program for children form birth to three years old. They come into the home and evaluate children whose parents are concerned might have developmental delays. The delay could come in any type of form imaginable it could be speech, OT, PT, nutritional, etc. and ECI will come in and provide different types of in-home therapies for the child. It is such a wonderful program because it is covered by insurance so most families don't have to pay a dime and the initial assessment to see if the child qualifies is always free. ECI staffs speech therapists, dieticians, occupational therapists, licensed professional counselors, physical therapists, and many more in order to provided one on one care for each family. I have been shadowing Stephanie Coffman, Early Intervention Specialist, since January and I have learned so much!

About 2 weeks after a started my practicum Stephanie allowed me to do some of the therapy sessions by myself. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. There are definatly some difficult moments when dealing with babies and toddlers. However, there are also those amazing moments where you feel yourself connecting with the child in an awesome way and you stop and think, "Wow! I am really helping him!".  Mainly I have worked with kids who have speech delays. It is so rewarding to hear them start talking more and more as the weeks go by! I love it!

If you know anyone who might benefit from ECI's services please pass it on! I believe if more parents knew services like ECI were available to them they would definitely take advantage of them!

Happy Monday Everyone!