Serving Makes Me Feel Good.

Last week in one of my physical therapy classes my teacher asked us if we agree with this statement:

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, “What’s in it for me?”.

My answer was this:

"I agree, serving people brings the most happiness, especially when it is not convenient. It helps you keep your priorities straight. I think naturally when we help people our time and tasks don't get neglected, but somehow our time is magnified and expanded. "

I truly believe this and I have been putting it into action this semester.

I remember in one of my sociology classes at BYU we discussed theory by a man named Bauman who believed that there is no such thing as unselfish service because even in doing something selfless our ego's are effected and therefore the self gains something as well (or that is my interpretation of whatever he really said). I think I have to agree with the guy, and don't think that diminished an act of service in the least bit.

I've been praying for opportunities to serve. I am in a time of my life where school can absorb all of my time and I allow it to take most of my time. However I don't want to fall into the trap of being lost in myself. There is a time to study, and there is a time to look outside myself. I believe that as I do this, I will actually be more successful. More importantly charity is the pure love of Christ, and nothing should be more important to me than a Christ-centered life.

Take this week for example. Two of my instructors are teaching a 6-week Intro to PT course. There are 35 students enrolled and that means these two are on campus from 7:30am till after 9:00pm several nights each week. I went to campus on Monday night for 2 hours and got to help do the blood pressure skills check offs for half of the students. It made my day long. It meant I took 2 hours of studying time to sit and listen to a bunch of "lub-dub" sounds and watch people obliterate radial pulses. I could have gone to a pool party. I could have had a real dinner instead of tater tots and a slushie from Sonic. It mean I could have gone to be earlier because than I would have been up later getting other stuff done. However, it also meant my instructor could have a bit of breathing room. It meant I walked away from campus with a smile on my face for a productive evening. It meant opening a door for a future professional relationship. It meant a lot of things.

Than today I took a friend out to lunch who was just having a bad day. I wanted to go home and study, but she was more important. So instead of 4 hours of Neurology, I did 2. I don't regret it one bit though. Those 2 hours were the most productive 2 hours I've had with Neuro this semester. I have a long list of things to keep reviewing and learning, but I feel confident that it will all work out.

I'm not trying to brag or say- look how wonderful I am! I sincerly hope this is not taken that way. I'm simply just amazed at how sometimes giving your time pays you back 10-fold. It almost doesn't seem fair that I should benefit from trying to be selfless. I'm grateful for that added blessing though. In my world, time is a precious resource, but I am willing to sacrifice it for the moments of clarity and calmness that I have been given this week. But more importantly, I hope my time made a difference in someone's life.

Home Alone

Devin and I have been at home alone now for two weeks. We have had some delicious cooking adventures. First, I made homemade Sesame Chicken. The first recipe I found online looked good-meaning I had all the ingredients and didn't need to go shopping. See the recipe at the end.




Then Devin showed off his skills and made homemade Fried Rice. He even battered the chicken and fried it on the skillet. It was delicious!





With my parents off galavanting around Brasil, I've been paying their bills, taking all the million church letters for Bishop Kelm to the church on Sundays, sleeping in their bed, using their bathroom, parking my car in the garage, and sending out letters to Michael. The got the check in the mail today from the insurance for the totalled truck, how tempting it would be to go on a shopping spree! But I'll resist.

Also while being the Queen of the house I have faithfully watered my dad's forest. Here is the corn, the banana plants in Lucy's area, and the potatoes I dug up from the garden.

en.


Seasame Chicken Recipe:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 TBsp seasme seeds
2 green onions (sliced)
Marinade-
1 tsp chicken base (i left out)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon seasme oid (i left out, put in veg. oil)
ground pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 TBsp raspeberry wine (i used cranberry juice)
Batter-
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, beaten
1 TBsp veg oil
Sauce-
3 TBsp honey
2 TBsp sugar
salt to taste
2 TBsp ketchup
1 TBsp white distilled vinegar
a sprinkle of ground pepper
1 TBsp crushed red pepper (my own addition- yummy!)
Step 1- cute chicken into chunks and pour mariande on top, mix well, Refrigerate 30 min.
Step 2- combine batter, mix thoroughly, should be thick enough to coat, thin enough to flow around pieces.
Step 3- Remove chicken from marinade and mix chicken in batter. Deep fry battered chicken in deep fryer, or in frying pan with with thin layer of oil and turn half way through. Drain on paper towel.
Step 4- combine sauce ingredients and warm over medium heat. Bring to a boil and simmer till slightly thickens.
Step 5- combine sauce and cooked chicken. Sprinkle sesame seeds and green onions on top.
Enjoy!

Make My Muscles Dance

Make your muscles dance!

I had a really cool lab for my Physical Agents class yesterday. We hooked each other up to a TENS machine with electrodes. TENS machines are used to reduce pain, and not normally to produce muscle contractions, however we used them for contractions. We then played with increasing the duration of pulses and the intensity of the pulse. At first you just feel a tingling from the electrodes. That is cool, but the real coolness comes when the intensity is high enough to make your muscles contract. The electrodes are placed over the muscle belly of the muscle that you want to work. For example, I wanted my extend my wrist (bend my wrist backwards), so I put the electrodes on my forearm near my lateral elbow. We cranked up the intensity and without me doing anything, my wrist moved. It was freaky and fascinating! I rank it up there with the lab where we dissected chicken thighs- working on a knee joint and finding the ACL. 

After class I left a little confused about waves, pulses, frequency, and duration. I won't bore you with the details on the question. I emailed my teacher and today when we met to discuss it she said- very astude question, I am surprised it came from you. Sure made me laugh. What she meant was that my liberal arts brain claims I don't get science, but I had to understand some science to come up with it. 

We are on to more electricity this week. My brain feels fried after the lecture, but I'll survive.