In honor of the Lunar New Year, I am posting my life update, just so you know what's going on.

School--School has overtaken my life. There is rarely a moment that I am not thinking about how much reading I have to do, a project that is due next, or an interesting discussion that I had about educational justice. But it's great. I started with a taste of school in July and then got going full throttle in September. I finished my first term with a 4.0, and now I'm motivated to maintain that. I'm excited by what I'm learning, and it's very interesting. This term is Legal & Ethical Issues in Education and Quantitative Research Methods (stats). Both are very interesting courses, and I've been blessed by great teachers in both classes. At some point I'd like to narrow down my interests to a dissertation topic. I know, there's still time, but I am so eager to get out there and move on. Which brings me to . . .

Work--Work is going relatively well. I find that I am still excited by teaching and that having my students change so often helps keep me motivated. At the same time, the work load is hit and miss. Sometimes it's overwhelming, and sometimes it's not enough to pay the bills. I find it frustrating. Also frustrating is the fact that we are judged constantly by our students through surveys they fill out. I usually don't find these helpful, as the students tend to blame things on me rather than realize they are curricular issues that I can not change (such as how much material I need to get through in a night). Such surveys are used to prevent me from getting a raise, which is quite unfair. Also, I'd like to get out of my doctoral program with some relevant experience so that I don't have to spend several years after graduation working at something that I am overqualified for just to gain experience. The problem is that with all of the budget cuts, no one is hiring for positions that would help me in that respect. So any of you that work in schools, if you hear of anything, I'm admin intern eligible.

Church--Church is going fairly well. I am probably going to change my membership to Eagle Rock SDA after all of these years. It's like getting a divorce from VDSDA, but that place clearly abandoned me years ago. I have been involved in Renovatus at Eagle Rock and have even made some friends there. I bring food once a month and even got to preach last year. It was a lot of fun, and it's nice to be in a place where it is recognized that talents can expand and grow.

Health--Health is :p. I am not taking care of myself as I know I should. I need a coach like the one Oprah had. Not that I can afford that. :p

Relationships--sigh. Have made some friends at school, church, and work. I guess that's nice. But there's still never that "one person" that I know I can call on. It gets rather lonely living that way. Really had hoped to have a husband and kids by now (or at least kids?), but I guess I'm not all that high on God's priority list. sigh

Anyway, that's my life. I know only about 5 of you read this, but thanks for staying tuned.