Here we go again

1. Shin's doing well. He's getting the hang of things, keeping a positive attitude, and by the grace of God, I am too.

2. I made a 78 on my first TESOL final. That's like the worst grade I've ever made... I'm planning to keep up with the next course a little better. :-)

3. My Mary Kay party went great! I knew once I stopped fretting and just let God handle the attendance, that things would go much smoother. And they did!

4. My sister's coming on Friday night and she's staying a whole week and I'm SO excited!!!

5. India Child Sponsorship is still coming along well. It's so good to have a few people on board who really care.

6. I'm enjoying this Lent. I've given up TV. For anyone keeping score, we don't own a TV, but that hasn't stopped me from watching Conan, Castle, Saturday Night Live, New Girl, Psych, Daily Show, Colbert Report, and Once Upon a Time... What HAS stopped me from watching them is the realization that I spend at least 8 hours a week just numbing my brain. So, in an effort to spend my time more engaged in and aware of the life Christ has given me, I cut out all TV.

7. I'm reading a YouVersion (Bible) app 40 day Lent plan. It's walking me through the life of Jesus. I've basically come to realize I understand very little about the life of Jesus.

Can you recommend a book I can read to give me some of the historical background? I feel like His parables, teachings, and miracles should REALLY blow my mind, but most of them go over my head or seem normal because I've read them so much.

Please comment or email suggestions! Thanks.

Catching Up on Life

This is just a list of random thoughts. There's no theme. But it IS brief.

1.        I PROMISE I will continue to share more about India… in case you’ve missed it, all I’ve said so far is there were lots of animals. Trust me, there’s more to it than exotic animals.

2.       I’ve got other things going on. Like school. Working on a project on early childhood obesity.

3.       Shin’s been working hard on his own business (drug screening and background checks).

4.      He’s had several meetings. So far, none have panned out. He also has an interview at the end of the month to be an auditor with the AL Dept. of Public Health. This was a complete surprise. He applied to the state a long time ago. You basically fill out a resume and just send it off into space and they contact you if they’re interested. That was back in the summer and he didn’t think anything about it because he had been applying for LOTS of jobs. So, he has an interview at the end of this week. It would be really great to have a second source of income, but only if that’s where God wants him.

5.       Shin also gave a short presentation to our Korean church about our India trip. Almost everyone at the church supported us financially and it was really great to give them some follow-up on how everything went (other than “it was great!”). It was just 10 minutes, but still. Glad he got to do it.

6.       I also have a short presentation that I get to give at a Bible study in December. I’m pretty excited about it. We get to take our ICS show on the road. My goal is after that, to get to go to at least ONE place per month. (Other churches, Bible studies, youth groups, Sunday school classes, Wednesday night meetings, AWANA meetings, etc).

7.       At work, our office just moved to a different part of town. The new office is just down the street from my house!!! I’m so excited about my much shorter commute. The new office is also bigger and cuter and safer. *sigh* just excited about everything being so fresh and so clean, clean.

8.       This weekend we spent some great time with people from church that we haven’t hung out with much before. We’re having a get together at our house on my birthday (Nov. 12^th). It’s not a birthday party, but that’s my gift from Shin that I get to host a partay. I know, I’m weird. But I love hosting and he doesn’t, so it’s a wonderful birthday gift. Anyway, it’s for S.I.N.K.s and D.I.N.K.s (acronym courtesy of my mom) and I’m hoping that we’ll get to spend time with some new “Single Income No Kids” and “Dual Income No Kids” couples/singles.

9.       I’m tutoring 5 (possibly 6) kids per week. I really enjoy tutoring. But I have really cut down my free time. But we do need the money, so I’m really thankful to be able to do it.

10.    I’m done. There is more going on in life and in the world. But I must go back to paying attention in class.

The Cost of Higher Education

School

It’s difficult to explain my feelings about school. But lately I’ve had a lot of homework and assignments and it’s been taking up significantly more time than just the four hours sitting in class. So I will attempt to explain my brain about school (I’m sitting in class, so it’s kind of fitting).

-I like school. I like learning. I like understanding how systems work. I like that I’m capable in Excel when one year ago I had never used a spreadsheet. Ever.

-I’m unmotivated to do homework. I don’t want to write a paper or do research. I just want to magically know it and get a degree.

-My class is boring. My teacher is super nice and he loves public administration. But he’s really not a good lecturer. He doesn’t ask a lot of engaging questions and doesn’t allow for discussion.

-I really want my masters. I want to have a Masters of Public Administration with a focus on Nonprofit Management. I want to be super qualified to do something. Something with nonprofits.

-I want to be an educated, ready person. I can tell that I am more able to edit and critique than my coworkers and it’s because of my schooling (note: not smarter than them, just better at catching mistakes).

-I like being around smart people. It’s good to surround myself with people who want to keep learning about the world and understand it better.

-I really don’t have a specific goal upon obtaining the masters. I just know I will have a degree and I can do more stuff with it (I would be lying if I said I didn’t care about the money, but it’s not all about the money- I’m going into nonprofit so my goals aren’t really to be a trillionaire). This lack of a clear vision leaves me feeling like I’m not in a hurry.

-I like all of my extracurriculars. I work 40 hours a week. I go to church on Sundays and Wednesday nights. I have Korean lessons on Monday nights. I have Life Group on Friday nights. I want to be even more involved in my church. I don’t WANT to be cramming my degree in right now.

-It IS cheaper to do it faster. But even if I took 9 hours per semester instead of 3 hours, it would only be $1,000 cheaper. (If I took 6 hours/semester it would save $800). I know I shouldn’t say “only” when we’re talking about $1,000 but in comparison to the cost of my entire education, it’s the cost of one class. And if I took more classes I would be more tired or I would have to get rid of doing something else I like to do. At some point I might make that decision and want to do that- but right now, I’m just fine with being in school for three more years. Even though I don’t LURVE it right now.

-I think a lot of this back and forth between my feelings about school comes from pride. I want people to think I’m smart. I want them to believe I’m capable. But I also like the feeling when I’m presented with a challenge to create/write something and I know I can do it and do it well because of my continuing education. I like knowing that I am capable and I can serve others well. It’s not JUST about me but it is also about my ability to do a job well to create a change I believe in. I want to help people in this world and to do that I have to have a full understanding of systemic problems instead of just offering a band-aid to cover a gash.

- I have decided to take two classes in the fall. We'll see how this goes...

AND I'm sure this budget final on Tuesday is going to spank me. I just hope I don't cry too hard when it's all over.

Diligent Note Taking

Some of you may already know this about me, but I’m not the best note taker. My best strategy for staying awake and looking alert is to just type away whatever comes into my brain. Sometimes, it’s real notes about whatever the teacher is saying.  Keep in mind that I am a future leader of the world (or at least that’s what this school is telling me) and most of my notes look like this:

Welcome to Budget Class!

So, sitting in class and my neighbor just offered me a Starburst. Like a lifeline. I’m just going to let it dissolve in my mouth to make it last as long as possible.

My font is Californian… like me. I like this ampersand… &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&. It’s pretty and swirly and kind of like a duck or boat.

I feel like I’m getting lazier and lazier in life. Like all I ever want to do is just sit at home and play with my hubs. I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to go to class. I don’t want to go to Bible study… I still enjoy church/Sunday school and life group. But that’s about it for my outside activity. I don’t want to work out. I just want to sit around and read.

(actual blog-gy thought: I simultaneously feel extremely lazy and want to travel EVERYWHERE right now. Anywhere sounds good to me. It’s because I know I have a summer before me of 0 travels while a lot of other people are taking trips to exotic places like the India, Ethiopia, the Bahamas, California, and Ohio. So it’s really jealousy based I suppose. Summer travel envy. I want to take personal trips and business trips and Jesus-y mission trips. I want to do it all. But we’re saving our money, leave time from work, and travels for going to Korea this winter.)

This is crazy. It’s the middle of summer and we are bundled up in sweaters and jackets… even FLEECES.

Omg. I thought I just broke my shoe. But I didn’t. *R-O-L-A-I-D-S… that spells relief*

Alright, it’s gum time. First, I’ll let it just sit in my mouth for a bit. WOW. It’s extremely powerful. It’s getting softer… And now I’m chewing. I couldn’t hold out for too long. It got melty and squishy pretty quickly.

Ugh. I miss my husband. My bed. My cat.

A lot of LEARNING

So, I wasn't planning to take a class this summer. But I'm currently sitting in PUAD 6040 Public and Nonprofit Budgeting. I'm in a Kay Arthur Precepts Upon Precepts Bible study of James. Shin and I started going to John Schneider's Budget class at church. We watched "Waiting for Superman," "IOUSA," and "Inside Job." It's been a lot of learning going on around here. For someone who generally tunes out a lot of the bigger issues because I feel ineffective AND like they don't affect me- I'm seeing why that thought process might be wrong. Could it be that I'm growing up? Taking the world's problems seriously? I hope so. It's a little more stressful and headache prone, but it certainly has better conversations (like I learned what a CDO and a dropout factory are) and I feel like I understand the world I live in a little better. Which means I'm a little closer to understanding God's plans and His role for me in it.