Wow, Tim, really? Just making up words out of thin air? Kind of. Con=with or for. Graduation= the thing occupying about 85% of your Facebook posts these days. So my new word… congraduations! It means we are now with graduations! All the way up the org chart from 8th grade, to high school to college and in this post – professional school. Today’s post brings you a few Occupational Therapy Doctorate students (OTD) I’ve had the joy of getting to know at Creighton University. The official event below is their Capstone presentation. Capstone is the OT3 research project they must complete as their last objective before graduation (see the examples at the bottom of the post). I’ve mentioned Maddie to you before – her and two other students were a sort of leadership team that partnered with me the past couple of years. These are the three I’m having brunch with in the photo.

Its a huge amount of work these students have completed. I know that because of how difficult it’s been to get time with them over the past three years of their program. OT1 they were barely visible. They were on campus, but riveted in place by their schedule. After meeting them at an orientation it’s like OT1 gobbled them up and I only really got acquainted during their second year. Throughout OT2 I got to do a bible study with about 8 students. We also hosted an event where they shared their learning insights from 2020.

OT3 is a unique year in the program because everyone disappears into their field-work and professional rotations. Very few students remain in the community. As a consequence Maddie, Kayshe and Emily pretty much disappeared this past year. Hosting a brunch at my place was a way to bring them back together, see how they are doing at the finish-line and learn about where they’re headed next. Pray for these three women (and others who were a part of the group). As soon as they graduate, their next challenge is passing their professional board exams (oh, then on to finding their first full time professional job). In the case of Maddie, I actually get to be the pastor who performs her wedding!

Thank you so much for your prayers for me. This is a very sweet finish-line I get to experience in my work in GFM. I’d actually love it if even more students would ask me to do their pre-marriage counseling and perform their wedding! We’ll see when the next gig like that comes along. Maddie and the Blum family, thanks so much for inviting me bless your lives beyond graduation!

These were fascinating to read about as you walked around looking at these graduates’ projects on posters and websites. Our world is now more richly supplied with gifted and trained professionals! Pray for GFM’s ministry among professional schools and graduate departments.

Believe it or not, my conversation with Kayshe about pelvic floor health was really interesting! There’s a lot to learn out there about our anatomy! Blessings on these brilliant minds as they solve endless challenges we still face.