I finally have time to breath...

The last two months have been an extremely busy time for me. I have promised to blog more and keep you updated on the things going on in my life, and I really do intend to, but things keep popping up. Let me try to get you all caught up and then this week I want to go back and spend some additional time talking about some of the things from the past six months and apply pictures to them. That is going to be something new, since I haven't put pictures in my blog before.

Let me start with a topic that I have talked a lot about: school. In May I wrote my comprehensive exam. It consisted of three questions and the instructions said to be concise while answering all of the questions completely. My goal was to write 4-5 pages for each question and leave it at that. The first two questions I thought went very well. I was pleased with the result and felt that they would pass the grading without question. The third question was not so good. Despite my best effort at research, I could not find the theories I was being asked to present and discuss. I instead found methods and try to write them to where it sounded like I was talking about theories. I know, that isn't how to write a sound academic paper. I then waited three weeks for the results of the grading. I knew that there were a couple of grades I could receive. 1) Pass all Questions 2) Fail all Questions 3) Pass some Questions, Fail some Questions with a rewrite of the failed questions 4) Rewrite all questions. I was hoping for a grade of Pass on all questions, but expected to pass the first two questions and be asked to rewrite the third question. To my complete shock and dismay, I was asked to rewrite all three of the questions. Fortunately, I was able to use what I had previously written if I wanted to and I was given a list of issues that the two reviewers had from reading my exam. I then took two days to touch up the first two questions with what I considered to be very cosmetic corrections, and then spent the rest of the two weeks I had doing additional research and making considerable changes to the third question. When I completed the rewrite, I had added eleven pages to my exam from the first version. I was very pleased with myself. I found out a week later that I had passed the rewrite and am now working on my dissertation.

That brings me to a frustrating area that I am working through right now. I have never written a dissertation before. I have a dissertation chair that is supposed to guide me through the process. My luck is that my dissertation chair has never worked with a student on their dissertation. So, she has no idea what she is supposed to be doing to help me. I am so frustrated!!! I have gotten no guidance and am trying to keep moving through the process. I know that I only have a couple of weeks in the current "class" to reach a key milestone of completing my prospectus and forming my dissertation committee, but I don't know exactly how to do everything in the prospectus. I may have to seek out additional help, because I have to get this done.

I mentioned in my last blog that I was getting a pool. The pool has been successfully installed and I have enjoyed it on five occasions over the last month (I told you I have been busy). We officially opened our pool with a 4th of July cookout with my wife's family. It was fun, but a lot of work. I still have a lot of work to do getting my yard back level again. To get the pool level, they had to dig down 19 inches on half of my yard. Needless to say, I have a lot of dirt to move when I have the time.

After having the pool in, we had to have a deck built. I built it myself with the help of my wife's husband. We spent one Saturday working and got most of it finished. I have one section that is not finished as it is going to be done a little differently. For most of the deck I used a composite material to keep from having splinters and warping, so we will see how that works out over time. We have been happy with it the past week and a half. I have to correct that on Saturday we didn't have everything done. We have the one section that is still not finished, but this week I did the banisters and added some additional supports that were not initially expected because I have never used the composite material before. I am hoping to finish up the rest of everything Saturday evening, if I have the time.

Last week my little girl turned 3. It is so hard to believe that she is getting so big. I am going to have to add pictures. We had a pool party for her birthday on Saturday, which is why the deck had to be done when it did. Everyone had a blast.

I have been working a lot lately. We have had several people taking their summer vacations, and that means that I get to pick up a lot of their work. 50 - 60 hour weeks have been very common, but it seems that I can breath a little now.

I am still preaching at the little congregation we attend. I don't know how much longer I am going to do it, because I think we are almost ready to look for a new church home. There is a lot of drama with some of the families that only seems to be getting worse, and people try to drag us into the middle of it. It is not an environment I want to be in, let alone have my kids in. If things don't get better soon, we will have to really consider leaving. I was asked by the elders to teach the high school class on Sunday mornings as well. Now I teach that class on both Sunday and Wednesday. It is starting to wear on my a little because we only have been having two people come to class for various reasons. Normally, the class would not be exhausting because of that, but both of the people that have been in class have mental disabilities and don't have the ability to really participate. I feel like I am lecturing for thirty minutes to people who don't understand and at times aren't even listening. That is emotionally draining. To build on that, my daughter doesn't like class most of the time, because she is either in the baby class where the teach doesn't do anything but sing songs, or in the kindergarten class where it is a little above where she is at. It is tough with her being the only child her age in the congregation. The final issue that I am personally having with the congregation is that there are not any other people the age of me or my wife. The closest people are a single college age kid who is 19/20 and a couple that is in their late 40's. I feel like I really need some people close to my age range to associate with.

The last thing that I am going to touch on today, and again I am going to say now that I need to get pictures uploaded, is a new endeavour that I have taken on. That is coaching Pee Wee football. My five year old son decided this summer that he wanted to play football. We found a team for him to play on and signed him up. During the first practice, they asked for some help coaching, so I volunteered, applied, went through the interview, took the online coaching class that is required for certification, and paid the fee to be a volunteer coach. It has been an extremely rewarding two weeks so far. Being able to see the growth of these 5 and 6 year old boys learning something that they have never done before has been amazing. To see the drive and desire in their eyes and to help them through the times they wanted to quit and when the helmets were "hurting" their heads has already made it worth the money. (They just had to get used to the helmets.) It is frustrating at times to know they aren't working their hardest, especially when it is my son who isn't running his hardest, but they will learn and get better. They have come so far. I am really glad that I offered my time, even when I had so little to offer.

I will right more this week, even as the work is piling up again. I just got an e-mail asking me to help do some things I normally wouldn't work on. At least, for now, I finally have time to breath...