I'm almost done!

I forgot completely that I even had a blog. I haven't looked at it or thought about it in months. I happened to stumble across it today and realized how long it's been since I've written anything!

I'm five weeks away from graduation--four weeks of class and a week of finals. That includes papers, tests, reading, more papers and the list goes on and on and on! I'm tired just thinking about it!

Graduation is on May 15 at 10 a.m. I already received my cap and gown and announcements. It only made me have senior-itis even more. I have mixed feelings, actually. I'm excited to be done, but I keep hearing about classes I'd love to take. I don't want to stop the learning and achieving. School has to stop though, for awhile. Rick has supported me so well in order for me to complete this degree, but all the while he's been working on his post-graduate degree himself. Yes, life has been very crazy around here. We've agreed that I would wait to continue my education until he is done with his. One of us being in school is a strain, but both of us has been pretty stressful.

Since nobody reads this anyway, I guess I can boast. I am getting an award from the American Studies program. It's pretty cool. The dean told me that I was considered to be the valedictorian speaker, but decided to go with someone in the night school instead. I don't mind in the least. I'm not all that thrilled about speaking in public. I will graduate Suma Cum Laude (4.0 g.p.a.) and University honors. I've worked hard for this, basically to prove to myself that I can.

Except that if I don't get on to doing my homework, I won't get the grades I expect!

Finished at last! No school for three whole weeks. Yea!

I've been busy this week madly preparing for Garrett's Eagle Court of Honor. I'm using a modified version of the script used at Robert's Eagle Court of Honor, then had to make further modifications when I learned that the Wildlife Bird Sanctuary, whom I invited to attend and share with the audience one of the wild birds (hopefully an eagle). Due to time constraints, they need to make their presentation at the beginning of the program rather than at the end.

I wish I had had better options for scheduling, but there didn't seem to be any. I needed at least three months from the time he earned it to write and receive letters, etc. on his behalf, but I also worried about my school workload, so wanted to wait until school was done. I didn't want to wait until the first of the year, which seem too far away. But December 19 isn't the best choice for dates right before Christmas when everyone already has plans. So I don't expect a lot of people to be there.

I've been rushing to put together a scrapbook and a video presentation for the court of honor. The scrapbook is all his letters, certificates, project information and pictures, merit badges and so forth that deal with obtaining his eagle. The video presentation is pictures of him growing up. It's been fun looking at all the pictures, but more than that, it's been fun being reminded of what a special young man he is.

I created a pattern for a gingerbread castle, partially created, that is. I found a picture of a gingerbread castle on-line and made up a pattern. I made two batches of dough and plan to get it rolled out and baked this morning. On Sunday afternoon, Britta and Matt (yea, Matt!) and Emmaline are coming over. We're decorating our gingerbread houses together. We've done this for the last couple of years and it's been a lot of fun.

Thanks to Amazon and free two-day shipping, Rick and I have done most of our Christmas shopping last Sunday. Packages are arriving daily already. The boys may be disappointed, but we're having mostly a 'family Christmas' this year. We're not giving too much in the way of individual gifts, but gifts for the whole family to enjoy. Christmas is only 9 days away! Yikes!

Making Up for Lost Time

Writing in a blog is as bad as writing in my journal. I think I last wrote a few months ago. When I finally make time to write, there's too much to say and I get overwhelmed, so don't write anything at all!

Well, the best news is that the semester is nearly over. Today I added another honors class to my load with the idea that I'm lightening next semester's schedule. So I'm at 18 credit hours with twelve of them honors. Thank goodness there's only five weeks left. Yea!

Monday is registration for next semester. I've ended up with more English classes than I realized and found that with what I plan to take next semester, I can get a minor in creative writing. I just don't know how to go about it. That's pretty exciting though.

Britta informed us yesterday that Matt got his orders and is being sent to Korea--without her. She was devastated. But like her, she started thinking of the positives, as miserable as the situation is. I was really proud of her. Her baby is due May 2. I hope that Matt is able to come home for the baby's birth. Matt told Britta that the air force is usually pretty good about that kind of thing, so we'll remember them in our prayers.

Halloween was a lot of fun again this year. Last year we had a lot of friends over for a murder mystery party. The decorations were really cool and there was lots of food. This year I couldn't bring myself to plan a big party, but told Rick and Robert if they wanted to decorate, they could. They did, but on Halloween, I helped them re-decorate. We had friends over and played board games. It was so fun. We played Balderdash, a game of lying and Pit, a card trading game. I haven't played either in years. Pit got so loud that Spencer, who was watching TV upstairs, came down complaining he couldn't hear the TV. And as usual, there were too many treats!

Rick's dad passed away on October 13. Although expected, it's still sad to think that we'll never see him again-in this life anyway. His wife, Johnie, had his body cremated and will hold a memorial sometime in the next month. We plan to go. They live in McAllen, Texas, near the Mexican border.

The weather has gone from being unseasonably cold to unseasonably rainy and now it's unseasonably warm. Guess which one I like best!

General Conference

This weekend was both relaxing and uplifting. To have an excuse not to do homework but instead sit in front of the TV is pretty nice. But to also listen to the prophet and apostles was a wonderful experience. I thought that conference, true to form, followed a general pattern of similar talks making it seem like there was a theme. It was being like Christ through loving others as well as being bold in sharing testimony. Britta also noted a similar theme, but her idea of the theme and mine were totally different! I though that was funny. Obviously we were each hearing what is important to us and on what we need to follow through. Listening to conference really brought a feeling of peace into my heart and home.

Rick and Robert are at Bob and Johnnie's house. They will be leaving around mid-night to come home. I miss them and will be glad to have them here, but I also know it's hard for Rick to leave with the idea that he may never see his father again in this life. Although his voice was strong yesterday, his body has lost so much strength and he's having to take quite a bit of pain medication. As a result, Bob slept most of the time today. Any time at all to visit is worth while. While there, Rick and Robert went to the ocean. I'm so jealous!!! I would love to go there during Christmas break and take the boys and just spend time playing. But I also want to go see Skip and Moira and Christy, Wayne and the kids. They are all in different directions!

Done With Week 6

Rick and Robert are on their way to Texas to visit Rick's dad. His dad has cancer and probably won't live too much longer, but is receiving excellent care from his wife. At previous visits we've found them to be happy, cheerful and grateful for friends. It has been pretty amazing to me to find them in such good spirits in spite of the gravity of their situation.

I could have gone with Rick rather than have Robert go, but chose to stay home and do homework instead. Now that they're gone I regret my decision and want them to come home and get me! I miss the opportunity to have alone time with my hubby and they get to go play in the ocean! I'm really, really jealous. I had such a good time when Rick and I went last time.

Such is the commitment I've made for school. Ugh. As mentioned on Facebook, Tuesday I left class early due to inappropriate scenes from an R-rated movie being shown in class. Obviously I need to think about R-rated movies being freely shown and be proactive in making arrangements. But it was surprised upon us and I didn't even think of asking about the rating. I will from now on.

I didn't make a big deal of it. I e-mailed the prof. and he offered an alternate assignment, but said the objectionable part was over with. I opted to finish the movie, as in that case the alternate was also rated R. Like most R-rated movies, it was good except for the 'dog poop' in middle. The movie was 'Deliverance' with Burt Reynolds.

This weekend, besides ton of reading, I have two tests to study for, two essays to write and hope to get started on my second of three honors projects. I hope to complete the honors projects by the end of October leaving November free for term papers and finals. That's my plan anyway. If I don't make it, I'll be pretty close, anyway!

A Tough Week

School was pretty hard this last week and it didn't help that Rick was out of town in Seattle. I've really been struggling with the amount of foul language used in student's writing in my Creative Writing class. For the most part, I've had to ignore it, and 'suggest' that other words be found rather than expletives. Then one student, writes about something that was rather sensual. He's really quite talented, which is why the piece bothered me so much. I tried to state my opinion in class that I didn't think the topic appropriate, but was told I couldn't say that kind of thing in workshop. I was humiliated. I wish I knew the words to state how I feel without breaking workshop rules.

My American Studies prof. used two articles from our text on religion, "A Model of Christian Charity" by John Winthrop and U. S. Supreme Court decision by Justice Hugo Black in class. It was a great discussion until the end when he pointed at the words by Black "religion is too personal, too sacred, too holy, to permit its 'unhallowed perversion' by a civil magistrate" to prove that you can have gay marriage. I was shocked. It totally came out of the blue. Each day he says more and more that I disagree with, politically and religiously speaking. After class on Thursday I was nearly in tears when another student kindly put things in perspective for me, supported me in my discouragement and cheered me up. It really helped!

I have two classes on American Identity so I feel pretty bombarded with people saying how bad America is. I know that there are things that need to change, but do not feel that we need to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

In my art class we continue to view nudes. Others may see them as a work of art and I certainly applaud those that can accurately depict the human body. But for me, it's pornography no matter how beautiful the lines, strokes, composition or color.

Dealing with the assault on my senses is bad enough, but thoughts of the economy or political situation adds to my stress. I keep coming to the same conclusion. The world needs the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must keep His commandments and in doing so, we will receive His blessings. I've also come to the conclusion that most of the world doesn't know who God is. If they did, it would change their lives.

I am now one-third of the way through the semester. I do love learning and am gaining so much at school in spite of the difficulties. I know the Lord will help me to conquer this, too!

What I Love About School

Out of necessity my attitude about school needs to change so I decided to start looking for all the tings I love about school. This hasn't been exactly easy! Here goes:

• I like that there are fiften-minute breaks between classes. It's enough time to stretch, freshen up, and exchange books at my car before my next class.
• I like that I've found a place to park that is central to my classes so that I can use it as a locker room and not have to carry all my many books to class after class.
• I like that one of my classes is two blocks from the campus. It's a nice walk and makes me feel like I'm out of school.
• Not exactly about scool, but it helps...I like the weather this time of year. It's not too hot or muggy with a slight breeze. Being outside between classes is relaxing.
• I like that I get a four-day weekend since my classes are stacked Tuesday/Thursday.
• I like that when I leave on Thursday, I've finished another week.
• I like when teachers let class out early saying, "That's all I have for today, get outta here!"

I'm getting a start. I'll keep thinking.

On to better topics...today is Emmaline's birthday!

Happy Birthday to her!

Happy Birthday to her!

Happy Birthday dear Emmaline,

Happy Birthday to her!

She is now two years old. My favorite thing about her is her curly hair and the way she calls herself princess. She's one smart little girl. Britta is having a little birthday party for her this morning. It'll be fun.

Rick left yesterday for Seattle-again. He's spent a lot of time there this year. It's hard to have him gone for long so I hope it doesn't turn into a seven-week stint like it did during the summer. He's pretty busy as well with a job that gives him 30 hours overtime and working on his dissertation. Frequently he's up at 4 a.m. just to accomplish all that he needs to. Wow.