Well, I am back just as I promised I would be. It has been two months since I actually blogged about anything and a lot has happened in that two months. Let's see how much we can cover before you get tired of reading this.
School:
I mentioned yesterday that I got an A- in the class I completed earlier this month. I am mostly okay with that, because I just wanted the class to be over. It was a class with just me and the professor, so I was getting tired of not having any other thoughts and ideas. I guess it was a good warm up for the class I have starting in January. January and February will be filled up with the Independent Study that I have mentioned before. I recently received a little more direction on what it will be, which makes me a little more comfortable with what to expect. I will be spending this time doing research for and writing my Literature Review for my dissertation. That is exciting to me, because that will be half of my dissertation being mostly written. If I am able to accomplish this, which is required to get an A, I should have little problem completing my dissertation by May 2012. The biggest thing holding me back will be waiting on responses from the survey I will submit as part of my research.
So, January and February I will be reading a lot of articles and finding information that will help me focus in on my research topic and prove that it is a valuable area of study that has not been done before. The end result will hopefully be 60 pages of my dissertation done.
Weather:
This year has been an odd year for us here. Normally we don't see snow until January, but we have already had at least three inches of snow on two occasions and one or two other occasions of a dusting of snow. While three inches of snow doesn't sound like much, it reeks havoc on our roads. Since my family and I live on some back roads, our roads are usually the last to be cleared, and we have hills all around us.
This leads to a fun story about the first time we got a few inches of snow this year. It was a Sunday, and the expectation was that we would see snow in the morning with no accumulation. Sunday morning it was snowing when I left for worship and was still falling when I got home. It snowed all afternoon and started to build up on the grass. My wife told me that I needed to stay home Sunday night and not got worship because she was afraid the weather was getting too bad. My daughter was sick, so she was staying home with my wife. My son and I left to get to worship. I am the preacher and felt like I shouldn't miss. By the time we made it to the church building(it's a 25 minute drive), the snow was starting to gather on the roads. Salt trucks had not been sent out because the weather people were not predicting any accumulation. After services when my son and I left, the roads were getting bad. We made it to the Interstate, which had finally had salt put on two of the four lanes, and began our drive home. When we got to our exit, I had a bad feeling. The roads were completely white and you couldn't see the lines, just some tracks from where others had driven previously. We get to the road we live on and turn. Right after the turn in a small but steep hill. We make it two thirds of the way, and start sliding back. I back up to get a running start and the same thing happens. This goes on for three more attempts, it is the best way for us to get home. On the fourth attempt, I drive off the road where this a little gravel shoulder which allowed me just enough tracktion to make it up the hill. The roller coast just began. We made it over a couple of smaller hills and began our decent towards the biggest hill we would face. It is tall, has a three foot drop off on one side and a five foot drop off on the other. There isn't a shoulder to drive on, so I start up hoping for the best. Three fourths of the way up, we lose our traction and start sliding backwards. If you have never been in this position, sliding down a steep hill backwards is very difficult to control. The van started to slide sideways, but I get it straightened back up and stopped about halfway up the hill. The only option I have is to back down the hill and pull into a driveway. Fortunately, my brother-in-law has a four wheel drive and was able to pick us up and take us home. The little front wheel drive mini van just wouldn't make the hill.
We had a white Christmas this year. It was the first one in 17 years for our area. I knew that I hadn't seen one in the 14 years I have been out here. It was beautiful. The roads were bad again, but this time we stayed in until they could be cleared. One of the elders preached for me that Sunday morning and was very understanding in why we weren't there. Total we had 20 that Sunday morning.
Church:
I am still preaching for the small congregation. We have hit 80 on 2 occasions, so the elders set our new goal to be 90, even though we average 65-70 on a regular basis.
Friends:
I greatly miss some friends. My best friend in Oklahoma is the one I miss the most. We have some friends that have worshiped with us for the last ten years that may be going somewhere else, and that is upsetting to me. Their daughter is my son's best friend and he will be devastated if they leave.
Family:
I have a great family. As a part of my New Year resolution to write on this blog each week, I will be introducing them to you. I am going to add pictures too. I have been really bad this year, so look for that to come in 2011.
Me:
I am exhausted. With work, school, church, family and anything else that decides it wants to creep up going on, I just get worn down. I took three days of vacation last week along with the holiday and am more tired now than I was before. I just hope that staying up to bring in the new year will provide me with the rest that I need, or at least the excuse to sleep in new years day.
Until next year....
Instagram Dump July - December 2023
4 months ago
