Awake

Steps Back, Steps Forward

I've been out of a blogging mindset lately (if there is such a thing as a "blogging mindset"). Not sure why. Plenty has been going on, so I'll try and do a little catch-up here.

First off, I'm in the midst of mediator training. The City of Beaverton Mayor's Office runs a Dispute Resolution Center. I applied to be a volunteer mediator several months ago and got accepted into the program last month. Right now I'm smack in the middle of 40 hours of training.

Learning how to be a mediator, which requires skills such as active listening, negotiating, bargaining, problem solving, and well of course, mediating, has been very interesting. I am enjoying the training immensely and picture that I will be doing mediation work long into the future.

I've been so convinced of mediation as a vocation for me that I even considered and am still considering whether or not law school is a good path for me to take toward this end of practicing mediation in a private practice context.

In the midst of this question over the past few days, I got my LSAT scores back. They were not good. Just as I suspected that logic games section killed me and I killed it. (Yes, much violence ensued in the stillness and quiet of that Linfield classroom as I shaded answer sheet bubbles in utter despair.) ;)

So I considered carefully my remaining options. Take that ruddy test again, this time learning a strategy that will actually work or call off the whole thing, admit defeat and happily pursue a career as a volunteer mediator. A difficult decision to make.

I made my decision though. Paid and registered for the December LSAT this morning. It's on the day after my 30th birthday, December 3rd. I'm trying not to read too much into that. I also put a deposit down for a weekend prep course taking place toward the end of November. Bought the book Powerscore Logic Games Bible which despite their heavy use of Copperplate font seems to me to be my best chance of defeating the logic games section of the test.

So I'm regrouping and ready to move forward with the law school application process in the hopes that I will be an acceptable candidate to a school not located in Puerto Rico or preparing the next generation of ambulance chasers.

I'd really like to go to India again this year too. I'm a bit surprised to say that I'm missing it. Plus I really want to see my friends over there. I'm thankful for e-mail, but I'd be even more thankful for a plane ticket and a couple weeks to connect face-to-face. Even though the training schedule for the team totally conflicts with my LSAT prep, I'm hoping something can be worked out. We'll see, though.

So that's the update on the personal front. I've got some tales to tell about Ruth and company as well as a few more thoughts on Christian community. (Much thanks to those who commented. Good stuff.) Also I have a virtual stack of newsletters to sift through related to what's happening in the world related to justice and human rights.

I hope you are well as well.

Oh yeah. And I'm gonna be an auntie again! Here's my brother Seth having some fun with the pregancy test: