It is finished. Amen.

Since I've included you in this Master-degree journey of mine, I thought I should share that

I'M DONE!!!!

Yes, yes, we all thought this day would never come...(okay, so maybe it was only me who thought that, a rare moment or two).

I had to finish my thesis paper up while I was on vacation in Germany. A more stressful ending to school has yet to be experienced by me. OY VEY! Actually I was fairly calm and resigned that what will be, will be. But I tell you...it was aggravating. Let me just summarize it by saying time-zone differences, silence from my advisor, and then minimally hearing from him when he was in Las Vegas?!?! Whatever. It's done. It's in the past. Moving on.

Anyhow, as of May 7th, I am set to graduate from Crown College, in Minnesota, with a Master's of Arts in Intercultural Leadership. No, I will not be attending the services although I'm sure they will be lovely. Seeing as I live in Washington state and seeing how I used all my vacation time gallivanting off to Germany and Holland, I'm content to just sit here and say "yay me!"

So now, the biggest question is "what are you going to do with this degree?" Ummm...nothing??? Ummm....I don't know??? Ummm....what do you get if you cross an elephant and rhino? Eleph-ino. Sorry. Just chalk the fact that I like this joke as a result of my sinful nature.

I started this degree with the intention of becoming a career missionary, with the Christian & Missionary Alliance, for which having one year of graduate studies is required. As I've progressed along this Master's degree process, the less certain I've become that this is the path for me. So now I have this degree and am praying over a couple possible options for what is next, one of which, includes getting more education. Yes, I know it seems that I'll be in school in forever. We shall see.

Anyhow, let me wrap this up by summarizing my thesis paper for one last time. My thesis paper is on suffering. I've titled it: Understanding Suffering: Ideologies and Perspectives. The driving focus was to discover why God allows suffering and then consequently, how it can affect my relationship with God. I've shared some of the process with you already. In case you haven't read them, but would like to, here are the links:

Suffering (just getting started)
How my thesis paper is changing me
Thesis Paper--Survey
Thesis Paper--Two Interviews
Thesis Paper--Apology and Elaboration
Thesis Paper--An Interview

This has been a good project and studying suffering was a good topic. It's one I'd like to do more research and writing on as it is prevalent (perhaps increasingly so) in every individuals life. However, what I have learned is that there is so much out there. There are always more books that can be read, characters that can be analyzed, stories to be heard. It would be impossible to write an exhaustive study on this topic...not that I want to. But maybe a book of stories, of various forms of suffering, to see underlining themes and how it affected their relationship with God. Hmmm...maybe one day.

Anyhow, thanks for sharing on this journey with me thus far. Yay you!

Cleaning up my act

I had coffee with a friend yesterday. The time with my friend was nice. The coffee was sub-par.

We both mentioned the need and desire to "spring clean"...going through EV-ERY-THING and weeding down our possessions, getting rid of excess stuff that is hiding away in our closets, and throwing junk away! We decided to make it our summer challenge...and to keep each other accountable.

Clearly our discussion lit a fire in my pants because after lunch with the family, I went home and cleaned for over three hours. I took one big trunk and cleaned it out completely so that it can be used to store the "give-away" items. I cleaned out my hope chest moving a box of items into the "give away" trunk, that I've been carting around for at least 8 years...and filled the hope chest up with the items that I really truly want to hang onto.

I then grabbed all those photo envelopes...you know, back in the days of film photography...those countless bulky envelopes with the negatives. I went threw Every.Single.Photo(!) and threw out the ones I could care less about or were awful to begin with and kept about a third for memento-sake, adding them into my hope chest.

Next, I have this brown dresser, that needs some tender-loving-care (but from the next owner), that I use for bills and other such documents that one should hang onto. I took out the drawers, went into the living room, and filed all my bills by company. I DID NOT file them by date...that, my friends, is another project for another day (maybe). I figured I could easily grab the entire company stack, and sort through them, if I ever have a need for referencing an old bill.

I ended up throwing out a large stack of papers, throwing away a small heap of trash, and my trunk is half filled with "give-aways." Hooray! I feel so good about this. Somehow, having things neat and tidy makes me feel more "grown-up." Aah...maybe I'm maturing a bit! :)

An idea.

One of my faults, I'd say, is that I tend to obsess over things. I'm a bit of a dreamer and have little clue of where or how God wants to use me so I tend to think of a good idea and then chew on it until I'm just about convinced that it's God's will for my life. Then the whole time, I'm wondering if this is really my idea that I'm asking God to bless or rather a God-inspired idea. Round and round it goes in my head until I'm nearly sick of the idea myself. Then somehow, I get distracted (probably onto the next idea).

I have this thought currently floating in my head, which feels right but makes no sense (logistically and financially). I'm worried again that this is me asking God to bless my plans rather than being from God. I'm not going to share it just yet, in case this ends up being a passing whim. But the fact that it "feels right" makes me want to move forward believing this is from God...which is a bit exciting. You know those Bible stories where God told people to do crazy things which made no sense...I feel that this idea falls into this category. People won't understand and may even try to dissuade me.

I know this is like telling someone they have a secret but then not sharing.
Sorry. Maybe one day!

Morning thoughts

I just got home from my two week vacation to Germany and Holland. Seeing as those countries are nine hours ahead of me, I'm jet-lagging just a bit. I started to feel tired yesterday around 3pm and crazy tired around 6:30pm (I managed to keep going until 8pm by catching up with a missed episode of Amazing Race). Then this morning I woke up at 3:30am. I could not think of any good reason to get moving that early in the morning, so I stayed in bed and dozed until 5am, which is when I finally got up.

I decided to come to work early today, arriving at 6am, with a Maple Latte in hand (if you haven't tried it, I highly recommend doing so, if possible). This being my second day back at work, I still have 240 unread emails to go through plus a few projects to jump into, once I know what I'm facing.

Anyhow, I just thought I'd get on to say Hello and Good Morning to you all.
Here's a verse to start your day:

But I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.  Psalm 59:16

May you know His strength and love in your life. Enjoy your day!

Things I've learned on my vacation

Visa is not accepted everywhere, despite what you might hear.

When you heat glass, it will explode. Into hundreds of pieces.

Gas stations are still not opened on Sunday's or Mondays before 8am, in Germany.

Just because you have a German's driver's license doesn't make you a good German driver.

'Joe vs. the Volcano' is not as amusing as I remember.

Don't wear heels when riding a bike.

The faith of parents can be passed on to their children and grandchildren.

It can be easy and nice to step back into a role.

While time changes people, love is able to create re-connections.

Asking people for life suggestions makes my brain full.

Working on school overseas would be difficult long-term.

It is possible to make new friends just about anywhere.

Three lattes/cappuccinos in one day is indeed too much.

Falling when riding a bike evokes sympathy.

Falling when riding a bike evokes lies that this is "her" first bike ride.

A little humility is not a bad thing.

A store full of cheese is a bit stinky.

Cinnamon gelato is still my favorite.

AND...

Some places will always feel like home no matter how long you're gone.