life. faithful.

Okay, so first an apology to those of you who actually look for me to post--I haven't written anything on here since the middle of the month. Ouch. So I guess that whole consistency thing went out the window there for a while, huh? Sorry about that. Now, since I haven't written on here in so long it makes perfect sense for me to ask you to do something, right? ...Well, we'll pretend like that's not a totally crazy assumption on my part and I'll give you a challenge, anyway :0) So here's some backstory: Nathan and I have been looking for a church home since we moved up to Toledo in July. We tried out a few places first, but hadn't really found a fit. It was one thing trying out churches back when it was just the two of us. We could just find out what time the service started, walk in, and sit down. The biggest struggle would be trying not to sit in anybody's spot (you know what I mean...somehow it seems like we all end up with assigned seat

I just got a 52% on my first test in modern physics (which, by the way, was also my first test in my grad school career). How painful is that? The crazy thing is, I'm not totally devastated by it like you would think. I know, pretty surprising, right? I think it goes back to when I went back to school in 2008--my first undergrad test in physics was, coincidentally, my first test being back in undergrad. It was in Dr. Hemmati's Physics II class, the first semester of electricity and magnetism stuff. I got something like a 43% on that test, and I questioned everything I was doing. I remember telling Nathan I needed to just drop out of school and find a job flipping burgers because there was no way I would make it through. This time, though, things are different. Yes, that 52% hurts ( a lot ). Mostly, though, it gives me something to overcome. I have this trait of wanting a fight, wanting something to push me into being better. Hmm, maybe that's why God ha

Things are crazy right now. Classes are insanely hard (when Dr. Musser told me grad school would knock me off my feet, he definitely knew what he was talking about...). Nathan is sick, and has been for about a week. Kids are just plain crazy, as would be expected of a 3 year old and an almost 6 year old ( hard to believe my baby girl is going to be 6 in 2 months! ).   I crochet anytime we're watching t.v. (in part because it keeps me awake). When I get a spare minute, I try to write on the second part of my Sons of Tundyel story. I'm attempting to put together query letters and submissions to send out the first part of my story.      As an aside, according to his biography on Acheivement.org John Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill, was rejected by 28 publishers before being given a chance by an unknown publishing house. It sold 5,000 copies. His next book was The Firm and it sold more than 7 million copies and spent 47 weeks on the best sellers list

How often do you hear people say that something is awesome? It seems everything is awesome these days: pizza the weather a t.v. show books the new quarterback a rollercoaster... The list goes on--just about anything and everything is described as being awesome. There's even a cheer: A-W-E-Some, Totally Awesome! Are those things awesome, though? What, exactly, makes something awesome? Webster says that awesome means "inspiring awe." Thanks, Web, but that definition doesn't do us a whole lot of good. Digging a little deeper, then, what is awe? awe: n . fear mingled with admiration or reverence. synonyms: fright, wonder, reverential fear Looking back at that list, how many of those things actually inspire awe? I used to use "awesome" to describe all the things I listed and a whole lot more. A few years ago, though, I heard somebody talk about the true meaning of "awesome." They argued that we should rethink the use of the wor

Have you ever had one of those moments that make you question everything you're doing? I'm in the middle of one now. This is one of those times where I start questioning why in the world I ever thought I could get a PhD in physics. My homework grades are pretty dismal (in the classes I've had homework from), and I'm not understanding half of what's being said in class. This morning, I couldn't even do a few simple derivatives... To top it off, I haven't been able to write since Friday. The (possibly incredibly telling) thing is, what I'm the most frustrated about is the fact that I haven't been writing--probably not the best thing when I'm attempting to get a PhD in physics, huh? I'm a bit stressed at the moment because I really don't like the idea of not being able to do something...and that's what I'm facing right now with this degree. Guess I'll just hang in there and wait and see what in the world I am doing i