New Volunteer Endeavor

I'm so excited! I know, again?! Hey, I excite easily. I receive joy from many, many things. And the latest item to bring me joy is a new volunteer endeavor I will be taking on starting next week. Since I am a history major and my dream job would be to work in a museum and I have not been able to find a position here in Austin as of late, I knew I wanted to volunteer at museums to get some experience and do my part. This summer I began researching volunteer positions at different museums here in Austin and actually submitted the required forms to one particular museum to begin the process of becoming a volunteer to which I have still not heard from at all. Maybe they have enough volunteers. I am more interested in archiving, artifacts, cataloging, preservation, conservation, stabilization and exhibit production and management than being a tour guide, docent or interpreter. Most of the museums in Austin seemed to want tour guides, docents and information desk volunteers rather than historical work until I came across the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry here in Austin. They need those public positions but need more help with the behind the scenes part of the museum. They are funded solely by donations and only have a small full time staff. They operate mainly through volunteers. So I was eager to get in touch with them about volunteering which I did recently. And boy did I feel like I could help. From the very first phone call, I was warmly welcomed and once they heard what I was interested in and when I could help, they were very eager to get me to come in to complete the required forms and begin working. So next week I will begin volunteering on a particular stabilization project now that they have received adequate storage that will prevent any future damage to the artifacts. I am so excited to get to use my passion for history and museums. Yeah!!

Also, if you are interested, their living history group will perform two battle reenactments soon. The first is Saturday, October 18th at Camp Swift near Bastrop and the next is November 8-9 at Camp Mabry. All events are free and open to the public. The October 18th event will also celebrate Oktoberfest events at the same location. So I don't think I'll have any problem convincing Roger to go. I know we aren't supposed to add anything new to the month of October, but I won't be able to make it to the November reenactment because I'll be out of town at a nephew's birthday party. And Roger really wanted to attend an Oktoberfest celebration. I would have loved to attend the November event since it will be reenacted through the eyes of the unit most Texans were sent to Europe with during World War II, the 36th Infantry Division. My grandfather, William "Buster" Jasper Wise Jr, served in World War II from Texas. I wish he was still around to ask him questions and listen to stories of his experiences there, but he didn't talk about it much when he was alive. I did a report on him and his WWII experience once in junior high or high school. I wish I could find it so I can read what he said about it. This was before computers were common in households so I wrote it the old fashioned way, on paper then used a typewriter to turn it in. So I doubt there's a copy lying around. If it had been done on a computer, there might be a copy still somewhere. Even though he was ornery, I still miss him.

It's Official!

Okay, it's official. Here's the proof:



I made a B in my history class. Yeah!! I think I'll celebrate by buying a new car today. Just joking! I'm not that impulsive. Roger and I are going to test drive some vehicles this afternoon to figure out which we prefer the most. He will also hopefully be talking to the legal counsel assigned to him today to get more answers regarding his PEB and eventual medical retirement. There are so many details and scenarios. He wants to make sure fighting the PEB is worth it. Please pray he gets the clarification he needs to make the best decision.

We're having a great time together. I wish every day of his leave could be this laid back and relaxing. Of course, I'll have to work a little and we have holiday family obligations. And you know how much fun family events can end up being. I pray those are fun times too and we all remember and focus on the meaning of the season and how blessed we truly are.

Good News! Praise the Lord!

Okay, before I post about Roger being home, sorry babe, I have to share my grade for my history class. So I went to check my grade online and where the official grades are posted it said, "Grades are currently not available for this term." Aughhhh! It was even a few hours after the official time when grades would be available. You know I was quite nervous about my grade in this class and I was not happy about this. So I thought, let me check my degree audit and see if there's any change from "in progress". And there it was, "HIST 481 SEMINAR IN HISTORY 2007 Fall 3.0 hrs B" I made a B! I am soooo happy!! I was almost shocked, but very elated. I immediately thanked the Lord over and over and over again. If it wasn't after midnight on a Tuesday night, I'd go celebrate. But we're in the house for the evening, so we'll have to celebrate tomorrow. Although this is Austin and there are plenty of places we could have gone even this late. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Wow, what a relief. Now I know for sure that I only have to take one class next semester and I WILL graduate in May, 2008. Oh, I am so happy. Have I told you how happy I am?! :) Now, I don't know how official this is, especially since it's on the degree audit but not in the grade display. You know I will continue to check it because I won't feel completely at ease until I see it in the grade display which is official. This also means that I didn't do so bad (I know, not correct grammar, but I don't care!) on my research paper.

I really don't care what grade I made on the paper as long as I made a grade high enough to count for my major so I don't have to take that class ever again. I don't know if I ever mentioned this before, but this was not my first attempt at this class. I tried it first many, many years ago and didn't make a grade high enough to count. I'm sure it had to do with all the partying I was doing in Northgate. The second attempt I withdrew for some reason I can't remember now. I'm sure it had to do with partying too much and a certain loser in my life that I let influence me negatively. And the third attempt, many, many years later, I dropped because I couldn't handle all the many obligations I took on Roger's first year of deployment. So this was my fourth attempt. Talk about pathetic. I'm almost embarassed I shared that. Oh well, those of you who know me very well, know I'm not the person I used to be. And I'm sure you, and my parents, are all saying under your breath, "Thank goodness."

Okay, now we can talk about Roger. I picked Roger up at the airport about 4:15pm today. It was so nice to see him in the Austin airport again. I love it when he comes home. I really don't enjoy going to Walter Reed to visit him. It's awful there. But we have been laughing since he got home. He's pretty much unpacked and seems like he never left except I have to remind him where things are and go. We went to his favorite bbq place, Rudy's on 360, for dinner then stopped at Scooter's on William Cannon for coffee and dessert. We discussed our schedule while he's home and all the things we would like to accomplish and people we need to see. I told you we'd start a new list when he got home. Of course this schedule is not set in stone but it gives us an idea of what we can try to accomplish.

So as far as Roger's day yesterday trying to get answers to his many questions regarding his PEB, I will let him go into detail in a future blog. But I will share that most of the advice he received was for him to appeal the PEB and go to formal hearing. He also found out it probably won't go to formal hearing until the end of January. Which means he won't be home for good until February at the earliest. Although I've have decided he won't be home until I pick him up from the airport for the last time, he is quite disappointed with the thought of staying longer. Of course, we both know we have to do what we have to do for his future health.

On that note, I'd like to share some scripture I came across Sunday. I can't for the life of me figure out where I came across it, but I know I was led to it for a reason. And I'm still trying to figure out what version it is. I've gone through every English version on http://www.biblegateway.com/, but no luck. So if you know this version, please let me know in a comment below. It's the same concept and meaning, but I'd like to find the version because I like it. I hope it moves you as much as it moved me. And I pray for this kind of joy for you.

I've learned how to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy, whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. Phillipians 4:12

Weekend Update

I intended to post earlier this weekend, but I had such a productive weekend I got distracted. I ended up getting sick and didn't bake those red velvet cupcakes nor help out at the benefit event Thursday night. The volunteer coordinator told me to stay home and get rest since they had plenty of help coming. Did I do that? Well, I stayed home, but I didn't rest. I started working on my to do list but I didn't work super hard so it's okay.

My parents were in Taylor, northeast of Austin, for another funeral Thursday for a farmer and blacksmith friend of theirs, Charlie Stolte. He and my father were a lot alike and related very well to each other although Mr. Stolte was a couple decades older than my dad. They had similar backgrounds and appreciated each other well. My mom and I always said Mr. Stolte was what my dad was going to look like when he gets old. After the funeral and lunch with friends, my parents drove to my house in South Austin and helped me with a bunch of stuff. I bought an air compressor a week or so ago. We will be able to use it to make putting flooring in the attic an easier task by borrowing my dad's pneumatic nail gun. And we'll be able to air up balls, bicycle and automobile tires and blow leaves from under my front door on the front porch. And if you've ever driven to convenience store after convenience store trying to find air for your low tires to have them not work and lose more air, you know how much we will love having this air compressor. I've been wanting one for about five years now. You know I am going to find any excuse to use it.

So my dad helped me set it up, make sure it was ready to go and showed me how to use it and maintain it. I cleaned out a section of the attic which we will tackle first. The previous owners of our house left us lots of great stuff when we bought the house and I didn't realize how much they left in the attic. Of course everything they left was pretty much trash that we have had to dispose of ourselves. Thanks Stewart family! Anyway, my mom consolidated leftover garage sale stuff into fewer boxes while my dad and I messed with the compressor. She helped me load the boxes into my truck to which I took to Goodwill and helped me clean the garage from the trash I threw out of the attic. They also took a bunch of spare wood we had which helped to empty the garage out more. We're not only trying to organize the garage better but make room for another vehicle. We got two in there before I totaled my car in 2003 so I know we can get two in there again. Friday and Saturday were more projects I've been trying to get done for a while and I got almost all of my list completed. All I have left to do is clean the house tomorrow after I work in the morning and complete a personal Christmas gift for Roger which I'm working on now. I'd tell you what it is, but then Roger would find out. He's already been bugging me about his "real" Christmas present. Once Roger gets home, we will start on a new list. I'm sure he's looking forward to it. You never know, he might be happy and feel more normal to be doing things around the house.

Oh, I almost forgot. I got my anthropology final exam grade Thursday afternoon. I made a 91, A! So according to the professor's grading policy that means I made an 88.75 in the class BUT I went to a museum for two extra credit points. Which means I made a 90.75 in the class. That's a A! I'm so happy about that. Now I have to wait until Tuesday after 8:00 p.m. to find out what I made in my history class. When I think about it, I get nervous. So I try not to think about it. But I have to make a C or better in that class. I really don't want to have to take it again. I've had enough of research papers for a while. I don't want to have to do that again until I go to grad school. So I'm begging, please pray for me to make a C or better in that class.

So the museum I went to with my dad was the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History. I was really impressed. I was quite surprised with the collections they had and he and I really enjoyed it. Our other choice was the Houston Museum of Natural Science, but I couldn't afford to lose a whole day, three hour drive there and three hour drive back, at the time. I'd love to have gone there, but I needed the time to work on my paper. I can still go but I'd like to go soon since they have Lucy, the "missing link" according to evolutionists. I don't really care too much about seeing Lucy, but I've learned from past experience not to miss out on any opportunity that comes across my lap. I wish I wouldn't have listened to everyone else when they said, "Don't waste your money going into the Great Pyramid. It's not worth it." when we were in Egypt with the Army. I could seriously kick myself for not going into the pyramid. Even if there wasn't anything in there, I could still say I've been in it instead of just saying I've been there. Lucy's only going to be in Houston for a short while and only in a few museums in America so I'd like to see her if I can help it.

As you read in Roger's post from Friday, he got his PEB that morning but was unable to get any questions asked and therefore no answers. I still can't believe two offices whose sole jobs are to be there for the soldiers in these moments were completely out of the office on Friday. I worked for state government for six years before I moved to DC and we were never allowed to all go out at the same time. There always had to be a "skeleton crew" as they call it. I guess federal government is a little different. I mean, I basically knew that from my prior Army experience and with the history of what Roger's experienced so far at WRAMC, I'm not really surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. Roger will probably have a very hectic day tomorrow trying to get answers in order to make the best decision. He's planning to bypass formation at 0730 and go straight to getting those answers before he starts packing to fly home on Tuesday. Please pray for him. I can imagine it becoming frustrating with the Army and WRAMC's history. So please pray for the Lord to be with Roger tomorrow and help him deal with the answers he receives and for him to get great advice.

Thanks all. Sorry this is so long. That's what happens when I wait to post. I'd say I'll try to be better, but you know as well as I this isn't the first time and it surely won't be the last. One more day and a wake up and Roger will be home. I can't wait. I'm very excited. I know he is too.

Turned In Research Paper & Last Day of Class

Well, I just turned in my research paper, again. It's kind of funny now, but of course I was freaking out inside at the time. I submitted my research paper this morning at home. I had gone over it several times to check for, well, everything! I uploaded it to turnitin.com and as I was about to hit the submit button I prayed a little prayer. Actually I prayed a big prayer. I was so nervous about hitting the submit button, but I did anyway. I finished getting ready to leave for campus and thought about something. I ran to the office and grabbed one of the library books I used for a secondary source. I opened my final paper on the computer and found one of the references I used from that book then I checked the end note. My hunch was right. I put the wrong book title and author for it. Yes, my first thought was, "Crap!" I went straight to turnitin.com to see if I could resubmit my paper, but of course, I couldn't. I got the pop-up error stating until the earlier submission is deleted by your instructor resubmission is impossible! So I emailed my professor explaining what I wanted to do and what I needed her to do. I finished eating breakfast and checked my email again before I left. Nothing. I knew she would be in the office today but wasn't sure what time. She has a young child and sometimes gets in later than planned. I had already saved the document to my thumb drive so I would have it with me where ever I happened to be when I was able to upload it. I also emailed it to myself at my school email and my personal email, just in case. So I drove to B-CS and went straight to the library to check my email. The first email listed was from her stating she deleted my first submission. Thank the Lord! I checked it one more time and submitted it. Yes, I said another prayer. Talk about relief. I'm still a little gitty inside but I know this will go away soon enough.

Today is my last day of class. I am really happy about that. I actually only have one class today, anthropology. My history professor gave us the day off to work on our papers. She's wonderful like that. Obviously I needed it. Sometimes I just put my head in my hands and shake it at myself. The rest of this week is work, catching up on reading for anthropology and outlining all the reading for the final next Wednesday. Then Friday I'm picking up my mom on the way to my sister's in Huntington for my niece's 5th birthday party this weekend. My dad will drive up Saturday for the party and my mom will ride back with him. I'm also going to try to test drive a vehicle or two this weekend with my sister and probably some of her kids in tow. Roger & I are trying to figure out what vehicle to buy when he gets home for good, hopefully in January or February. We'll need two vehicles when he returns since I'll have one semester of school left. I'm thinking a compact SUV and Roger wants us to also check out cross-overs. I figured out I don't want a car as I thought I did before. I've been driving our truck for the past four and a half years and have gotten used to the power and being higher off the ground. I've driven a couple of friends' cars in DC the last few times I was there and it drove me crazy. I do not like being that low. I also like the power in our truck but prefer fuel economy. So we've been reading Consumer Reports for recommendations and checking the government crash test ratings. It can be overwhelming. But I've been praying for the Lord to help us make the best decision and I have complete faith He will. If you know anything about Roger's purchasing habits and my research habits, I'm pretty sure the Lord has equipped us with the ability to make a good decision.

It's weird. I've been looking forward to this day the whole semester. But so far it's not the fireworks and champagne popping kind of day I thought it would be. Maybe after this class is over or next week after the final. I kept thinking I should do something to celebrate like indulge in a kolache for breakfast. I know, pretty lame. But I'll control myself and celebrate with birthday cake this weekend. Off to read...

Feeling Better

After meeting with a writing expert at the University Writing Center Friday morning, not only am I almost finished with my research paper, but I feel a lot better. She helped me rewrite my thesis to match my research and understand how to expand my qualitative analysis which were my two largest issues. Thursday night I was able to go through the whole document and correct the easy stuff. It wasn't a lot but I didn't want to waste time with her over silly things. It's funny, for a "writing expert" her spelling was awful. I didn't want to correct her out of respect but she finally mentioned her spelling was really bad and she depends on spell check. Reminds me of most accountants and their dependence on a calculator. But she was really nice and helpful. She's a graduate history student from Del Rio or somewhere close to the border. And of course, there was a fire alarm during my appointment so we had to evacuate the building. But while we were standing there waiting to be allowed back in, she & I talked about how she came to be in graduate school (couldn't get a job as a teacher) and her thesis topic (something to do with how home economics in schools affects people as adults and parents), which I thought was very interesting. Although most of my appointment time was lost to the fire alarm, she stayed as late as she could, but what we did get through helped me figure out the remaining questions I had planned to cover with her. I greatly appreciate her help and the fact that the university even has a writing center. More people should take advantage of it. The writing center consultants attend trainings for their position. I think it would be good to attend some trainings like that not just for future graduate school plans but also for work. Any improvement in writing would be beneficial in many areas. I'll look into that after I graduate next year.

But I am happy to be feeling better and not so worried. Now I can catch up on my anthropology reading and study earlier for my final so I can get an even better grade. I'm excited to be able to finally have the time to get to some personal reading also. I've been wanting to read Nehemiah for about two weeks now, but I might have to push it aside to read 1st Corinthians. Austin Stone is starting a new message series tomorrow so I'd like to read ahead a bit to be better prepared. Any Bible reading would be good for me.

Roger is at the 108th Army-Navy game today in Baltimore. Go Army! I hope he has a great time. He deserves it. And I hope he stays warm. It's 41 degrees with 27% humidity which feels like 36 degrees according to weather.com. They were supposed to wear their uniforms and he was concerned because he does not have all the new ACU warm weather gear yet. But they were told yesterday that they could wear civilian clothes and they were getting some kind of jacket. I hope it's not another one of those huge leather Army jackets like he got when he was in the Navy hospital last year. It was way too big for Roger plus it's not really usable here in Texas. And I know this is ungrateful, but it was ugly. It was like a large leather high school letter jacket with really big appliques. I could see it in the inner city, but not in Austin, Texas. I think we may still have it in the tub of winter clothes in our attic or we gave it away to someone. I can't remember.

But he took his camera with him so he will probably get some great pictures and I'll ask him to post some. I don't know if this is also a Stripe assignment for him, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind some great pictures of the WTB (Warrior Transition Brigade) soldiers at the game. I was able to meet all the Stripe staff while I was there during Thanksgiving. They are really nice and care a lot about Roger. I'm glad he had them to lean on during this time and a productive, therapeutic way to spend his time there also. He's learned a lot and of course, his photography bug bite got deeper while he was there. I brought back a whole stack of newspapers with his pictures published in them. Although being separated from him this past seven months was hard at times, it really was a blessing for Roger to get more precise physical and occupational therapy and continued medical care. Plus all the cool things he got to do, people he got to meet and opportunities he would have never received. And it was a blessing for me to be able to concentrate on school this semester since it was a tough one.

Okay, enough sappy stuff. I'm off to run errands I haven't been able to do in weeks and months. I have a list! The best one of course is to return all my library books I used for my research paper. I'm really excited about that. Then I'll drive down the street and pick up some paint color samples for our spare bedroom. I'm really excited about that. I can't wait to paint the samples on the wall to help figure out what color we like best. I want to live with them for a while to see what grows on me. If I can wait for Roger, he'll have a say once he gets home for Christmas leave.

First Draft Returned

Well, I got my first draft back today. Although I'm happy with the grade, 84, a B, I still have a lot of work to do. I got some really good feedback from the professor which will help me improve it in order to get a better grade on the final draft. I'm just a little overwhelmed by the work I have left. But I'm not going to start working on it until I get on the plane to DC next Thursday. Yes, I'm flying on Thanksgiving day. It's all I could get. I need to go through it page by page which I can do on the flight. Might as well make good use of my time. I always have my thumb drive with all my documents on it in case I need to work on my paper. And I can use Roger's laptop if I get time to work on it. But I doubt I will. That would actually be a pretty pathetic visit if I had time to work on my paper. I'd rather spend time with Roger and work by butt off when I get back. I can sleep when I die. So until then, I'll be spending this weekend catching up on my anthropology reading and outlining it all in preparation for the test Tuesday and writing my book review that's due on Wednesday. The semester's almost over, the semester's almost over, the semester's almost over...

Whew! Test 2 is over.

It's been one crazy week. Once Roger left I had to hussle this weekend to get caught up with all the reading for both of my classes plus write a paper for my history class and study for my anthropology test. I didn't go into the test on Thursday feeling good. I felt like I needed another day to prepare but I didn't have a another day. And after I finished it I felt the same. There was a lot of material on this exam and it wasn't easy material to remember. Just to list a few things: we had to know all the traits of, physical and behavioral differences between and the history of the appearance for each species in the genus of Australopithecines and Homo; the characteristics of each era, period and epoch of time from the Pre-Cambrian to the present; plus all the traits and differences of each taxonomic order (phylum, subphylum, superclass, class, order, suborder, infraclass, superfamily, subfamily, genus, species) of primates and what they aren't; plus a bunch of other stuff. It was just a lot to remember. I was quite worried about my grade.

But today we received the email from the teaching assistant that the grades were up. He explained they dropped the two most missed questions and applied a curve. There are two possible curves for each exam: (1) Subtract the highest grade from 100 and add the difference, or (2) subtract the raw average from 75 and add the difference. The highest raw score was 86 (+14). The raw average was 56 (+19). Therefore, 19 points were added to every grade. So I rushed to see what I made. My final grade after the curve was a 92. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it then I had to know what my real grade was, 73. That's how I felt about my grade after I took the test. I know this is going to sound mean, but thank goodness so many people did so bad on the test because it made the curve larger and my grade higher. This is going to sound really bad, but it seems like me doing good in this class depends on others doing not so good. I know, that's so sad. But I'm ready to get back to my normal schedule and stay up with my reading. And Roger's not here to distract me. Oh, also, I made a 93 and a 92 on my last two history papers. So I'm doing good in that class. Not a surprise that history is my major. Two more tests in anthropology and three more papers in history. I'm off to read some anthropology homework. That's my Friday night.

Busy, Busy Weekend

I'm blogging right now because I'm avoiding reading my anthropology homework. And I'm really behind! Okay, I'm really not that far behind, but I don't like to be behind at all. I'm trying to finish reading Tuesday's reading. Chapter 6: Deep Time and Evolution is killing me. That's why I'm doing this. I'm so avoiding it. I'm only half way through and there's 18 pages left. Then I have to start Thursday's reading. I'm sure Chapter 7: Hominid Evolution in the Pliocene and Pleistocene Epochs is going to be great! The class lectures and the secondary sources he assigns are really interesting, but the textbook for this class is awful! I mean, it's science, so it's not like the textbook is going to be like reading a novel or something. And thank goodness the professor doesn't know this blog exists because he wrote the textbook. But it's awful! Thank goodness next week's reading is completely from secondary sources and will go fast while Roger's here. I've got to get through this reading though. I have so much to do this weekend. I have a plan for every waking moment of the weekend in order to get ahead on my history research paper so I don't have as much to do while Roger's here. Tonight I'm going to organize and complete my source research. Tomorrow will be start and complete my primary source summary and presentation. Monday will be anthropology reading, maybe, and start the introduction and outline for my research paper. I'm going to need a lot of caffeine this weekend.

I'm not sure what Roger's up to this weekend. He's staying with John & Tamra. He had to get away from Walter Reed. He had a really trying day on Thursday. Thank goodness he's coming home Tuesday because he really needs to get away from there. It's hard enough to live there every day, but it seems like once a week something happens to make the place even more unbearable. And Thursday was a doozy with several things happening on the same day. I can hear the frustration in his voice. And it sucks for me because I can't do anything to help except listen and allow him to vent and pray for him. So please pray for him. I know he's more than ready to leave that place for good. He just called me. They are on there way to the church's softball team "practice" then over to another guys house to play Xbox. He needs to decompress. Don't worry, Roger doesn't play softball, although if he hadn't fractured his finger he could. He just takes pictures. And he really enjoys that. He's been bitten by the photography bug.

Okay, okay, I'm going to get back to reading. Please pray for me!

Stuff Going On This Week

Well, I got my research proposal back from my history professor yesterday. I made a 93, which I'm happy about and I got some good feedback from her which has helped me narrow down my topic. I met with her yesterday after my second class and we discussed my research and the topic itself. Since it's a current event unraveling as I type, it's pretty interesting to people in her field. I'll post about it specifically later.

So now I have to read all my sources and this weekend I will be preparing for a primary source presentation I have to make next Tuesday or Thursday. We'll get more details tomorrow and I need to know what she wants before I decide which primary source I will present. I will pick the one that will help me meet all her requirements. That's another way to make it in college. Give the professors what they want. Which brings me to my anthropology class. This week we are starting to cover evolution. We got the lecture from our professor in class yesterday that even if we don't agree with him on evolution and we don't have to, we should keep an open mind, yadda, yadda, yadda. I usually sit on the front or second row and I couldn't figure out why he kept looking at me. Then I realized I was wearing a Women of Faith t-shirt. I'm sure he probably assumes he knows my opinion regarding evolution, but until you sit down with me, you won't know how I feel about it. I have to say as a person interested in history and anthropology, the fossil record is exciting and interesting to me. Some scientific people can't see God in there at all, but I do. And I'm going to give him what ever he wants on his test in order for me to get the best grade possible. I'm not even going to go there with him nor interrupt class. That's just disrespectful. I'm sure that if I really wanted to discuss evolution with him, he'd be happy to meet with me during his office hours.

And some really great news: Roger's coming home next Tuesday (Oct 2nd) for a week of leave! I'm so excited! I can't wait for him to be home. I will have a lot of reading to do while he's here because the week after he gets here, I have to turn in my research paper introduction and outline and whatever reading is required for both classes, but we'll manage. My goal is once I start writing it, I'm just going to try to finish it completely so as the semester progresses, I can keep tweaking it but basically be done. Especially since I'm going to DC for Thanksgiving and the final paper is due the week after. Roger and I don't have many plans while he's here, except a David Crowder Band concert at La Zona Rosa on Thursday, because we hope to spend as much time together as possible. So don't plan on seeing much of us, if at all. :)

Just a quick note about something exciting for me that happened this weekend. I've been going to Austin Stone Community Church since we moved back and this Sunday, Chris Tomlin actually was there leading worship. It was so cool. This was the first time I've seen him at church and I wasn't expecting to see him any time soon. So that was exciting especially since our friends Jonas and Darcey stayed at our house this weekend and they were able to see and experience him too. Darcey sings on the worship team at our church in DC so I'm sure she was stoked. It was a very moving, Spirit-filled worship experience for us all.

One Exam Down, Three To Go

Wow, my anthropology test yesterday wasn't as hard as I imagined. There was a lot of material to cover plus no one knew what he wanted from each reading. The test review/study session was really helpful. After the test was done, I felt like I probably made a B. We received an email today from the teaching assistant that our grades were up online. So of course I had to see what I made. He did explain that they dropped the two most missed questions and applied a curve. There are two possible curves for each exam: (1) Subtract the highest grade from 100 and add the difference, or (2) subtract the raw average from 75 and add the difference. The highest raw score was 94 (+6). The raw average was 66 (+9). So they added 9 points to everyone's raw score. My score posted online was an 89 which means I really made an 80. But I'll take the 89. One point from an A. So my intial feelings after the test were correct. And now that I know how he tests and what and how to study I should do better on the next test. Yeah! I'm so excited about my test grade!

I turned in my research proposal for my history class at midnight last night. It wasn't due until 5pm today but I decided to turn it in and get it over with. I'm telling you, I love technology. It's so cool I don't have to wait until next class on Tuesday to see my grade and I can turn in my assignments online from any where. I love that professors are using technology to their full potential!

Now more reading for both classes plus extra reading and research for my history paper. Thanks for the prayers! Have a great weekend!

Back To School

Okay, school started a couple weeks ago. I'm behind posting about starting school. Yes, I've finally gone back to college to finish my bachelors degree. Since I was blessed with being able to work part time (and from home) and while Roger's still in DC, I'm going to take this opportunity to get as much out of the way as possible.

I am taking two classes this semester. History 481 and Anthropology 202. History 481 is my last history class for my major and the toughest. Both of my classes are on Tuesday-Thursday. So I travel to Texas A&M two days a week. The commute is not bad. I'm sure eventually it will get old, but thank the Lord I only have this semester and next spring to graduate. And everyone else is driving in the opposite direction so there's really no traffic to deal with except getting out of Austin. My first day of class has been the worst. As I drove away from Austin towards Bastrop, the traffic began to back up. I heard on the radio a dump truck turned over and split it's load over the entire road. So I slowly inched forward for an hour. But it was slow enough that I could read some of my anthropology homework. Thank goodness it was not a sign of things to come. So far, my commute has been easy and uneventful. And I give myself four hours to travel two just in case. I use the extra time to read before class. I've got it down to a science now.

The hardest part of the commute has been on the days I'm really tired. But of course, I have found a few coffee shops and one kolache bakery along my two hour drive. There's the usual McDonald's and other fast food places, but I really can't stand those so I don't stop there. One of the coffee shops is local, Coffee Dog, which I prefer over the mega chain Starbucks in Bastrop. But both are convenient and have drive-thru's. And of course the kolache bakery is my favorite but I try not to stop there unless it's an emergency. I'm usually tired from all this reading I've been doing. I basically spend all my time reading. The first week of class I had to read 478 pages of extremely interesting material. Of course you know I'm being sarcastic. I learned a lot but it was difficult reading. I had to have a dictionary through out most of it. I don't know why these people have to use pompous words instead of more understandable words. Some of them I have never heard of. Some weren't even in the latest edition of Webster's dictionary and I had to look them up online. It's kind of ridiculous to need a dictionary to read something. And it was pretty boring at times due to the overwhelming data. The first Saturday night I had to make myself a few cups of coffee to stay awake. It was tough. And now I get to add onto those reading assignments, work toward a 20 page research paper. My research proposal is due next Friday. And my first test is next Thursday. So my weekends (Friday afternoon through Monday) are spent reading, studying, researching and writing. I work three mornings a week. The other time during the week I'm either in class, stopping to visit my parents or reading. Even in between classes I read. I'm so glad this is all almost over.

One thing about going back to school after such a long break is how different college is now. It's the same for the most part, but it's better in one sense and worse in another. So it's better because of technology. Professors are actually using it now. We don't turn in papers physically now. We turn them in electronically using a website called Turnitin.com. We also don't get our grades in class after a test now. We go to a website, log in and get our grades there. I can do almost all of my research online now. There are so many journals, articles, documents, etc which have been digitized now. Which is good for me since I don't live in the same town as the university. And some professors are actually recording their lectures and posting them on websites so you can catch anything you miss. Or skip class completely and just listen online. Of course, human error still exists so that last option is not a smart one. I wish you could listen to my anthropology professor's lectures but only students can access it. He can be very funny, but over all presentation of the subject matter is boring. It could help anyone with sleeping problems. I'm very happy about this part of going back to college. Technology has made it so much better.

The part that's not so much better is how much more "mature" I am compared to my classmates after this long break. It's not that I look like grandma to these kids, even though I'm ten years older than most. I blend in pretty well. Someone told me last week they thought I was 27. Yes, I did hug them. But the immaturity of my classmates and the majority of the undergraduates is hard to deal with sometimes. From fashion to study habits to conversation topics to personalities to commitment to priorities is strikingly different. Most of the time, it's actually amusing. I have to laugh, in my head of course, sometimes. I asked two kids sitting next to me in my 300 student anthropology class if they were freshmen because their conversation was too much. And they freak out so easily. It really is amusing. I feel like every other class I'm calming their fears about something. And the fashionistas are unbelievable. Okay, so Texas A&M's main campus consists of about 2400 acres plus west campus right across the railroad tracks which makes the College Station campus a total of 5200 acres plus 340 acres for the Research Park. The average student walks the 2400 acre main campus. Some have classes or park in both the main and west campuses. And it's hot in Texas regardless of the mild summer we've had this year. And you should see the heels, heavy make-up and the outfits. I've seen Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses, low plunging necklines, skimpy, spaghetti strap summer dresses. These girls are trying so hard. One might think they are only there for a hook-up or future husband. It's actually quite amusing. One thing that really bugs me is the lack of commitment and professionalism especially in my history class. This is our major's seminar class. Everyone has to take it. You'd think if it's your major, you'd actually care. But no, most don't. And it was beginning to seem like no one was doing the reading for class discussion, which is a major part of our grade and people were waiting for me to answer questions. So I decided last week, I wasn't going to speak up until after someone else did. Although the professor has to wait for a response, I don't feel like a big mouth or goody two shoes. Maybe I've been in the professional world too long.

This semester ends the first week of December. I'll have already registered for classes for Spring 2008 before then and paid the graduation fee which is required before you graduate. Next semester I have to take two 300-400 level anthropology classes for my minor. I've already looked at the classes available and wow, it's going to be tough to pick two. I've got it narrowed down to three possibilities based on the schedule, work load, whether a research paper is required and topic. In that order. Of course, the 2008 schedule won't be posted for another month so this might change. Because of technology, you can see most of the syllabi online and choose your classes by what ever criteria you like. As long as I pass these last four classes, I will be able to graduate next May. Yeah! I can't wait. At first I was set that I wasn't going to walk the stage but I was convinced I should. Man, I really can't wait for that day. Then it's Roger's turn to finish his degree.

Although I'm making it sound horrible, I really am enjoying what I'm learning in both of my classes. I would not ever have learned the material that's being covered and I know I will benefit from knowing it. I might actually use it toward my career. I'll try to post about the actual topics of my class later. Hope you're having a great weekend. I'm off to finish my anthropology reading. :)