As promised.

Perhaps the most difficult question for me to answer is what I want to do after graduation. Usually, this question comes is formed as "What do you want to do with your degree?" which I find next to impossible to answer for a couple of reasons. First of all, I don't really know. I mean, I have a general idea of what I would like to do, but nothing specific.

More than that, what I really want to say is "It's not important to me." Most people can't seem to understand why, even after I explain. Sure I would like to work at a rehabilitation center, or wildlife refuge, or somewhere I can share my love of nature with others...but I know my focus in life isn't going to be on a career. My focus is on being a wife. Yes, "is," as in present. Let me clarify: I am not married, and am not seeking a husband (God'll take care of that in His own time). The way I see it is, until I marry, God is my husband. (How I learned this has a lot to do with Hosea 2 and me finally waking up to who God really is.)

Genesis 2:18 says:
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for man to be alone; I will make
him a helper suitable for him."
I love that the first description of woman is as a helper. This is exactly what I want to be, God has given me a heart for service. My greatest joy in ministry is when I am working with all the behind the scenes stuff, when I am providing something to bless others.

I've mentioned Proverbs 31 before. I believe it to be the best example of what a woman's role is in marriage. I especially like verse 23. It may seem odd for the verse to be in the middle of this passage, but her husband would not be where he is if it were not for all that she is. I know that every aspect of my character, everything that God is working in me is so that I may better serve Him and so that I may be the woman that my husband needs me to be.

A wife is supposed to be the support of her husband. Her husband should be able to trust her in all things (Proverbs 31:11). Life is spiritual warfare and you don't want to go into battle without fully trusting the person fighting alongside you.

Proverbs 12:4 says:
An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who shames him
is as rottenness in his bones.
A wife should be an asset to her husband: encouraging him (Proverbs 32:26) and working alongside him. My husband should be better able to serve God because of me, not in spiteof me. As I said, until I meet my husband, Christ is filling that role. I therefore strive to be an asset to Christ. I serve Christ. When I marry, I will still serve Christ and one means of serving Christ will be to serve my husband.

What, then, is the husband's role? Well, I haven't spent as much time on that part. I do believe the wife is to submit to her husband in all things.
Ephesians 5:23-24:
For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of
the church, He Himself being Savior of the body.
But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to
their husbands in everything.
Husbands are to be the spiritual leader in the relationship. A husband should be an example for his wife, he should encourage her in her own walk with Christ. (Now, if the husband isn't following Christ himself, he can hardly be expected to lead his wife in righteousness, but she should still be subject to her husband. See 1 Peter 3:1-2).

So there you have it. I feel I could have said more. I probably should have elaborated more on certain parts...This just leaves room for potential sequels. We'll see.

Curiouser and curiouser.

I really don't mean for this to be a daily journal but today has been the strangest day.

To start things off, I received an email this morning from someone I haven't heard from since high school graduation (almost 2 years ago). Turns out he had some things he has been wanting to tell me for some time (nothing bad), some things he wanted to come clean about, and has finally gotten around to doing it. So, after reading that, I left for class in a little bit of a daze.

I went to my eight o'clock class and--surprise!--we won't be having class at all next week because our teacher is going to a conference. Really it should be good news, but I wasn't terribly excited. I like getting up earlier in the morning but I've gotten into the habit of sleeping in to nine or so because I don't have many morning classes this semester, so next week I may wind up slipping entirely (especially Thursday as I won't have class until 3:30 which is just dangerous).

I went to work on math lab with Drau and we wound up working (and actually being productive) for 3 hours. So now I am ahead in at least one of my classes, which never happens with me. On schedule, maybe...behind, usually....ahead, never.

The topper to the day was lunch where the guy at the register really threw me for a spin. I have to share the entire conversation:

Me: Hello.
Him: Is that it for you today?
Me handing him my card:Yep.
Him taking card, going to swipe it, pausing without swiping it, looks at me: Lemme ask you this, do you like to sing?
Me wondering if he somehow knows me: Um..yeah.
Him: Well, I'm in this band and we are going to be doing some recordings in a few weeks and need some girls to sing background, interested?
Me thinking "Oh my gosh, he has my card hostage." I'm sorry, my schedule is already crammed too full.
Him: Well, it would be in like a month.
Me: Sorry, no.

He proceeded run my card through and give it back to me, I proceeded to exit Express as quickly as possible.

Makes me wonder what tomorrow is going to be like...

And they call this science.

I've been looking up journal articles on black bears and hibernation for one of my classes. Many of the studies monitor chemical and hormonal levels in a bear's body during hibernation. Not the kind of job I want to do...I mean I doubt bears are that pleasant when you want to stick needles into them while they are trying to sleep. The best title, by far, has been "A technique for and risks associated with entering tree dens used by black bears." by Godfrey, et al. in the Wildlife Society Bulletin. I love that someone actually took the time to right down why going into a bear's den isn't the brightest idea in the world.
What have I gotten myself into?

Sneak preview...

I've said before that it takes a while to get some things posted because I like to write out everything longhand first. I like to take my time and find exactly the words I want. One of the things I have been (and still am) working on is my view of my role as a woman and my (future...distant future) role as a wife. I couldn't help putting this up though...

Today at lunch, Becky and I were going through Proverbs 31:10-31. This is one of my favorite passages, particularly verses 10 and 30. We went through and pulled out the characteristics highlighted by each individual verse. All I can say is, wow. We found at least thirty distinct characteristics of an "excellent wife"; she is to be trustworthy, loyal, diligent, encouraging, supportive, honorable, whole-hearted and a good steward, just to name a few. It's quite a checklist. If ever there was a woman for me to envy it would be this ideal woman, she is definitely an example to follow.

May pursuit of such excellence be my life's goal.

As long as I'm procrastinating

I don't quite understand how in college I spend hours staring at the computer, sitting in class, and hanging out (usually chatting, eating and playing games) yet have still managed to lose weight. Theory: low impact lifestyle + increased food intake= new diet trend. While I'm at it...student loans are actually the money the bank owes you after graduation and six hours is too much sleep.

Seems this semester is both better and worse than I was expecting. How, you ask? Well, I've already dropped from 18 down to 15 credits because (time-wise) there was no way I would be able to make it through them all with any shred of sanity left. The group of classes I'm left with is:
evolutionary Biology
Plant Taxonomy (and lab)
Wildlife Biology
Wildlife Field Biology (and lab)
Elementary Calculus with Trig.

Other than math, all of my classes have been evolution and classification systems. Granted, the focus is different in each class, but it's still evolution, evolution, and (oh yeah) evolution. I was a little nervous about dealing with all of them, but I am actually enjoying my classes. The material is certainly interesting, and at the very least I know where other people are coming from and why some people can be so pessimistic. I mean, if I thought that my entire existence -- every thought, every action, every emotion -- was just the result of some random chemical reaction or molecular collision and had no real purpose or significance I'm sure I would find it hard to see the up side of things. (I know better, see Psalm 139; but that's another post entirely.)

The thing that is going to absolutely kill me is fitting everything into my schedule. For Wildlife Field Biology, I have to come up with an observation/research project which will require an additional two hours of field research each week. Not only do I have no clue what I'm going to observe, I have no idea when I can possibly observe it.

So a duck walks into a bar...

Mornings don't get more fun.
After turning of my 7am alarm, I roll over to "wake up" only to drift off again after a fitful night's sleep. I do wake up, but not until 7:58 and I happen to have an 8 o'clock class scheduled for Tuesdays. I proceed to get dressed (all the while debating whether 'tis nobler to go and be late or, by staying home, save some stress and then copy notes). I then check the weather on My VT to ensure I am not going to freeze only to find out that a glorious delay is in effect and my dilemma is no dilemma at all...in fact, the extra hour was just the rest I needed and the alarming wake-up was more refreshing than how I usually start my day. Fun how God tends to work things...

The advantages of being an Army brat...

create your own visited states map


I've at least been to all of these places, how many of them I remember...that's another story altogether.