What Now?

The festivities of graduation are over and reality has set in. What do I do now? I have searched the Internet for full-time jobs and to my not-so-amazement, there are none for someone with my experience and my education. So, the ultimate question is, "Was it worth it?"

I had a great time, I studied hard, most of the time, and sacrificed a pretty good chunk of time and energy for the last 4 and a half years, but now what? I have a part-time job in a church doing music and youth, which I completely enjoy and fill called to, but part-time jobs don't put gas in my car anymore. I need a weekday job with 40 hours so I can keep my church job. But here's the catch:

I'm qualified for ministry positions and not much else. So, where do you find a full-time ministry position and still be able to keep the one you've got? Or do I keep the one I have?

I'm so confused. I admire my classmates who are getting acclimated into new ministry positions with new starts in new places. But, I guess I will have to sit back and wait to see what God has in store for me.

In the meantime, I will continue to listen to David say, "When are you going to get a real job" as I inspect rental houses this summer. Maybe going up and down flights of stairs all summer long will make me lean and mean. LOL Ok, so I'm half-way there....

Graduation Day

I see that my classmates and I are a little sluggish about posting about the weekend filled graduation festivities. I checked around to see, who, if anyone, had posted anything about this past weekend and found ONE. Dr. C had written about his regalia which is quite interesting. You can tell he's real fond of wearing them from the picture stage left. His comments come from a new professor who just isn't in to the robe wearing mindset yet. Dr. Harmon says to go easy on him, he's still new. HA HA HA HA

This was my second Campbell graduation. I walked the first time in May 1995 after finishing my undergraduate degree in December of '94. It wasn't something I would have done if it had not been for my children. Walk, not gone back to school, that is. This time was not too different. The main difference was I was in the back of the line instead of in the front. The Divinity School was the very last group to receive their scrolls from Dr. Jerry Wallace so you can imagine our interest levels by the time we were called.

The speaker was, well, what can I say? Not sure, so I won't. But to listen to 450 names before ours was a little more than we wanted to sit through. So, we found other things to engage our thoughts. We learned of upcoming events in the lives of those we might not have been otherwise privy. I actually sat beside a man whom I had not had a single class with, that I know of, and knew very little about him. By the time our names were called, we were pretty good friends.

We had a new style of robe this year for the first time, and if the comments are listened to, this will be the last year. They were just below being tacky. (This is my blog and this is my opinion). By the time I had worn it twice, the sleeves were coming apart. But besides the cheap-made robe, we were intrigued with the "pockets" at the end of our sleeves. Not to go in empty-handed, we put bottles of bubbles in the pockets. It helped to keep them from flopping in the wind.

But, as Dr. Wallace finished up the ceremony, the bubbles found their way out of our sleeves and blowing in the wind. Hey, don't laugh. We made the paper. Sometimes you just have to make your own fun. Like when our names were put on the ground in the Academic Mall to mark our place in line.....YES, that is MY name. I was right beside the only hydrant in the yard. My classmates thought that was quite funny and even though I didn't mark my territory, Campbell will always be a part of me.

Taaaaaaaaa Dahhhhhhhhhhhhh

The day is finally here. The one I have been waiting for since January. The semester is officially over and I am through with graduate school.

Technically, the semester has been over for me since Tuesday of this week but I was hesitant to celebrate since the grades weren't posted. In fact, the grades still aren't posted, but because I have a dear friend in the office at the school, she informed me of the contents of my mailbox and I have received 2 of the 4 papers I have been waiting for and they were fine. So, now, I celebrate.

But wait, what am I celebrating? Campbell University has been part of my life for many years. I did most of my undergradute at Campbell and graduated in 1994. (I was old then, too.) and then 10 years later, I re-entered the halls of Taylor to begin the journey of a Master's degree. I do celebrate the accomplishments made possible by God and by my family.

I started the grad program in 2004. I was a single mother but with both my children out of the house. It was just Maxie and me (see previous post). That was pretty tough because I had to hold down a full-time job, the part-time church job AND go to Campbell one day a week. I thank my employers for allowing me to do this. After David and I got married, I worked a full-time job, the part-time church job, went to Campbell and tried to settle in to a different life-style.

The time came when I had to go to Campbell 2 days a week instead of one and this made it almost impossible to hold a full-time job, so I made a choice to just do school and church. Because of David's patience and willingness to say, "We'll make it the best we can" God allowed me to do just that. So, officially, in front of the world, I say, Thank you, David.

Celebrate? I now leave the friends I have made over the last 4 and a half years, I leave Elaine, who's willingness to "be there for me" has been unbelievable, I leave the halls of Taylor to David who will begin his doctoral studies in August and I have to find a full-time job.

Celebrate? I don't think so.

Dog Stories

I've been reading blogs from folks I regularly read and because of the blog posted by Dr. Tony Cartledge about his writing class, I have found some new and interesting ones as well. But whatever way I turn, I am reading something about dogs. Is this the season to get a dog?

My friend, Rebecca, rushed in to our Church History class on Monday afternoon with the news, "Let's hurry up and get this exam over with. I have a dog waiting on me to adopt him at the animal shelter."

Another friend, Jan, was perplexed by a request from her son about getting a new puppy. She blogged about it as well. Cute story and photos of the pup with his new owner.

But then I read Kristi's blog about her dog, Abby, that has been part of the family for many years and is now experiencing health concerns. If you are a pet owner, you know how attached we get to our four-legged friends, be it a dog, cat, horse or rat. (ugh)

We have three dogs. Earl, is a large Doberman that we adopted from the Brunswick Animal Shelter a little over a year ago.

Pickles, a Dachshund that belonged to the Stratton family before I did, and Maxie.


Maxie came from the Brunswick Animal Shelter, too, about 5 years ago. We're not real sure what Maxie's breed is comprised of, but we ARE certain it's several different ones. She was my companion when Patrick moved back home to finish high school at Richmond Senior and Daniel was in college at St. Andrews. I wanted a little lap dog to keep me company and one that would let me cry on her shoulder when I missed my boys.

Wouldn't it be great if we attached ourselves to the work of Christ like we do to our animals?