Partially Because I'm a Nerd

Tomorrow, Matt and I will be going to Southern. I really am so excited! It's a fun start to schooling that feels more like the "real deal" with each passing day. I can't even imagine what Matt must be thinking about starting his final stage of schooling toward getting the degree that the Lord called him to about 3 or so years ago. Only knowing my husband he'd probably have some calm, cool response to my childish joy. You know, some logical, well-thought-out, "well, technically my schooling has been pursuing what God has called me to" or "well, we'll just see how well I do in Seminary before getting all excited." But I'm more than happy to run through my clover field with shoes tossed to the wind.

But even beyond the joys of moving forward with Matt's schooling comes the excitement of pursuing our family goals and dreams together. I really feel like Matt and I, while him being the graded student, will walking forward together from start to finish in his Master's of Divinity. It's just so neat to watch him run after the Lord's call on his life and I'm so blessed to be a part of it.

And then this dorky tendencies arises within me at the thought of reading Matt's textbooks in apologetics, Biblical history, and even Greek. Yep, that's right, Matt married a full out nerd who can't wait to read textbooks. What a pick!

But it's just neat to start to see the fruit of Matt's perseverance. And it's really neat to think of our steps toward God's purpose in our lives. It kind of makes the sacrifices and the annoyances of the work field feel more worth it in my most impatient moments.

I'm so blessed that God has opened my mind to the joys of what feels like big steps in Him.

Congratulations, Matt, on being ordained and getting ready to finish your undergraduate degree. I am so proud of you.

- I love you.-

A Due Change

So I'm thinking about changing the name of this site. - as in the moe4him address part.-

Any suggestions?

Familiar, Family Confusion - with psychotic features

You know, there comes a point in your life in which you have to decide about family. Some people just have a predisposition to keep family contacts, regardless of how far away the family members are, and then there’s the rest of us… we suck. And then there comes the extra complication of moving, whether it be out of state or cross-country. But then there’s this weird feeling that overtakes me sometimes… it’s the storm of wanted relationships that are lost… and yet not even knowing where to start.

It’s funny but moving cross-country at 8 kind of trapped me between two worlds in some ways. See, there’s this part of my life that I could refer to as my childhood that seems to be stranded in California and then my adolescence is somehow caught in Cincinnati. But in the passage of time on the road between, I seem to have lost some belongings. California seems like a dream, my extended family is mere evidences that just maybe California was real at times. But then it’s like I get caught in this childish naivety that what is not close, distance-wise, cannot be close. And then forgotten, lost friends and family fall in the wake of this Titanic thinking.

It’s funny how family means something completely different after getting married. You know, there’s some marriages where the newly weds’ in-laws seem to be family and then there’s other situations where I hear the “dreaded in-laws” concept. You know, it’s the concept that Hollywood Hallmarks as the “typical” situation; stiff and unwavering family traditions that refuse “non-blood” relationships and marry-ins.

But even beyond the family context, I think age teaches an adult to value family more, yet it’s kind of funny that children appear to be more adaptable to the change of a growing family. But then again… all I can speak from is my own experiences and observations of other families and my own.

I must confess, though, that I have found myself stuck in a tangle of regret and determination. I don’t want to be “far” from family members while sharing a meal. I don’t want to have absolutely no idea about my sister’s life or even my sisters-in-laws’ lives. I don’t want to wake up in ten years, 300,000 miles from my family only to find that even if I lived down the street from them, I wouldn’t know them.

Since I moved from California at such a young age, I didn’t contact my extended family. I never wrote much beyond the first year of moving. I got absorbed in “here and now” and slowly began to think less of my “California family” and then they became strangers.
And part of me doesn’t know how to relate to them from this point on, I’m not going to lie. And there’s much regret in those thoughts. And then there’s a determination birthed from that processing spurring me on to maintain current family relationships.

Yet there’s this funny lapse that I do quite frequently. I’m in Ohio, my extended family is all over the place… and there’s this odd disconnect between the two as if they both cannot exist. Both California and Cincinnati cannot exist simultaneously. The California I remember is no more. And yet so is the Cincinnati. And then I wonder, so where does that leave me?

Anyone else out there stuck in a similar oddity or is it just my psychotic features showing?



- This counseling session brought to you in high definition recording upon mail-in request. - HA! (Sorry for unloading a rambling blah this morning.)

"All I'd Wish I'd Said"

I'm just poking around through reading material regarding play therapy techniques, general counseling techniques for child-parent psychotherapy of child witnesses of family violence, and other "attempting to get ahead" materials. Now that I have my own office, playing a familiar CD is not a disruption to others, so I enjoyed a new, yet I've had it for a good while, taste of thought processing through music. And this song graced my ears. So as it's on repeat for the past ten to fifteen minutes, I thought I'd share it right quick before I take my break on down to Subway to get my last meal before the 30 hour famine with the youth begins.


Hold On by Nicole Nordeman
(dedication by Nicole: for Meredith and all I'd wish I'd said)

It will find you at the bottom of a bottle
It will find you at the needle's end
It will find you when you beg and steal and borrow
It will follow you into a stranger's bed
It will find you when they serve you with the papers
It will find you when the locks have changed again
It will find you when you've called in all your favors
It will meet you at the bridge's highest ledge

So baby don't look down, it's a long way
The sun will come around to a new day

So hold on
Love will find you
Hold on
He's right behind you now
Just turn around
And love will find you


It will find you when the doctor's head is shaking
It will find you in a boardroom, mostly dead
It will crawl into the foxhole where you're praying
It will curl up in your halfway empty bed
So baby don't believe that it's over
Maybe you can't see 'round the corner?


To hang between two thieves in the darkness
Love must believe you're worth it
You're worth it...

So hold on
Love will find you
Just turn around, He's right behind you now
Just turn around...

love will find you


~ I particularly enjoy the way that Nicole Nordeman describes the refuge and rescue characteristics of the Lord. And this song was also neat to think of in light of the truth that God is Love. Therefore, the names can be used interchangably. It was a neat reminder of God's grace this morning that I hope blessed your heart through mere text of Truth. Too bad I can't actually play the song for you reader(s), but posting the lyrics seems to be the scope of my posting practice abilities. Let me know if you'd like to hear the song sometime and I'll loan you the CD. It's on the "Brave" CD entitled "Hold On". You can click on the link and scroll down to get a clip of it if you'd like.

Moving on to the Next Paper

Training day one...

"And here's a bunch of crap you won't remember anyway so knodd your heads and we'll move onto the next paper. This one's the taddle-tale form, the next one's a big packet on the computer program that doesn't work so you can read it later- as a bedtime story cause you're not human if it doesn't put you to sleep, or you can take my approach... call Dale (computer programing guy) and don't bother reading the manual at all."

Training day two...

"Yes, and Vicky... you can click in under the following password."

"It's Monica..."

"Huh?"

"My name's Monica, Sir."

"Oh okay, thanks for correcting me. I really appreciate it. I guess Vicky left earlier (checks his papers)."

"So Wendy, just look at the computer next to you and I'll show you what I mean."

-sigh-

Welcome newbie!

Farewell

Goodbye CHOICES.

-bittersweet farewell-