My Wife is the Strongest and Most Patient Person I Know

My wife is the toughest woman I know. She is the strongest and most patient person I know. She has not only endured being one of the few women in her program, but she has excelled. She functioned as TA for two professors and has also graded papers for more. I am finishing one summer class on Saturday, and she has already finished two! She stuck it out, even when she has felt unsupported (though she is never unsupported at home). And she does it without a chip on her shoulder. Some can come from an "old boys club" environment angry and bitter, and my wife is not. She can sit and bear it, turning the other cheek with strength and grace, without conceding ground or getting bitter.

(Now, I have to add a qualification. Our school is not 100% anti-women, men only, patriarchal etc... It is not like these attitudes run rampant and unchecked, as if the boys of our school go out of the way to keep the women folk down. That is hardly the case at all. But I cannot deny the pressure or the double standard that is there to some degree.)

She does so much for our family. She handles our money much better than I could. I love her and value everything she does for us.

She will be doing so much more for the next 7 months. We are going to have another baby! She is two months along and is due February 10th. Yay!

Here is an ultrasound of our "Number 2" (an unfortunate name):

Intellectually Stimulating Discussion w/ N.T. Wright

Here is an intellectually rigorous and spiritually enlightening interview with Bishop N.T. Wright on that highly acclaimed newshow that is way more fair and balanced than Fox can ever hope to be, the Cobert Report.

Men vs. Women

As I near the finish line of my class I have noticed a lot of bothersome things. Things that have made me sit quietly in class and ponder while my professor lectures on the life and theology of Christ in the Gospels. All very fascinating indeed, but as I have observed his character and behavior I have found myself wondering.

If I wasn't already a Christian, would I be convinced that I should follow Christ by observing this guy and a few of the guys in my class?

Let me explain. First of all, I am the only woman in the class of about 15. Not a big deal at all, I am quite used to this being one of a few women in the Divinity program at my school. Most of the time it is fine, except when someone starts talking about sexual sin then it gets awkward...
But, the professor teaching my class is a visiting prof from Dallas Theological Seminary. It is super duper conservative and doesn't allow women to get the M.Div. degree (the degree I've been working my butt off for the past four years for) unless they are specifically going into women's ministry. That's all fine and dandy except the guy keeps making comments that are really not pc at all!

Like when we were looking at the parable of the woman and the unrighteous judge. I admit, the woman in the passage is persistant to the point of nagging, but did the prof really have to say, "Heaven help the man who's married to a woman like that? I bet we all know women like that. Har har har har..." As the class erupts in male laughter and I sit there quietly thinking to myself...

That wasn't so bad. What is bad, however, is the past few mornings. There is a guy in my class who joked about how his wife was mad because one day he told her we were getting out early and we ended up not getting out early. He joked that she was waiting with a rolling pin when he got home. That's fine, I guess, to joke like that. But, every day it's gotten worse and the prof and this guy constantly rip into this man's poor wife. Jokes about wives who mother their husbands and make controlling decisions and don't know what it means to submit and all that. Today I was seething. I was really upset because it makes these guys sound like they don't love their wives or honor them at all. So, I talked to Sam about it during break.

After I came in from break someone asked me what I thought of all of the banter going on during class. I thought for a minute and said, "If I'm going to be completely honest with you, I think it's pretty disrespectful. Even if it's meant in a joking tone, the wives aren't here to joke back and it makes the guys sound like jerks." I also explained how Sam and I would never speak about each other in such a negative light because we love and honor and respect one another.

A guy looked at me and said, "You're an egalitarian, right?" (side note here, egalitarian is someone who believes that women and men are equal in standing and can perform the same roles while a complimentarian is someone who thinks that women and men have specific roles that only one gender can perform). I said yes-ish (because I'm currently studying the issue deeply and trying to see where I sit with the whole issue, it's really complicated) and wanted to say, "It doesn't matter, either way we are supposed to respect others." But class started.

That's not all. This week I had a conversation with a woman who needed to have her car jumped because her battery died. So, she asked a guy from our church to help her. Not a big deal, I have Sam jump our car all the time because I am scared to do it (I know how, I just get freaked out and don't want to do it). The woman told me that the guy didn't know how to jump it and she did but she wouldn't correct him because she didn't want to step on his role as a man. Excuse my french but, WHAT THE HELL!??? She wasted so much time because she wasn't willing to speak up and get out of her "role". Grrrr....

So that has been my week. It's really hard.

But, I'M DONE WITH MY PAPER!!!!! NO MORE HOMEWORK UNTIL AUGUST!!!

A case of the 'I don't want to you can't make me!'

You would think by my title that I am writing about my defiant almost two year old, but I'm not. I'm writing about myself.

I am officially 8 days into my 10 day class and I am mentally and physically shot. It wouldn't be so bad, but I have a 8-12 page paper due on Friday and I am starting the rough draft portion and I Just. Don't. Want. To. I don't know what it is. If it is burn out from being in class non stop since January (very likely). It could also be that things were pretty high speed at church the last week as well with graduations and end of fiscal year stuff and everything. Ugh. Let's just say I'm 2 1/2 pages into my paper and am fading fast. My goal for this evening is to rough draft it up and then tomorrow I will finish it off. I am taking my day off tomorrow, which means that the day when I'm done with class and homework I get to go into work and run errands. Oh well. Such is life. At least I got someone to teach for me on Sunday so I don't have to stress about that. I can spend Saturday being a mom again (poor neglected Sam and Nathaniel!) and Sunday I can spend packing for Washington!

I have some fun Nathaniel-isms that have been coming out of his mouth lately. Gotta love sentences!

"Wild Are!" Where the Wild Things Are (favorite book).
"Daddy! Spiww!!" Daddy, I spilled.
"Mom-eye ih Daddy!" Mommy and Daddy!
"Neeggee" Sneetches

Those are just a few of my favorites. And, he feels entitled to juice anytime he asks for it (he is limited to four ounces a day) so if anyone even breathes the word juice in his presence he chants "Juice!" in a high pitched voice until he is addressed. Sigh.

Well, time to get back to work (and get the boy up from nap).

Adventures in Stupid

I love the Army. So, get this. Last drill (i.e. two weekends ago), we were told that we were all going to Camp Roberts for 5 days for medical processing in two weeks (i.e. starting this weekend, 20JUNE). So we tell all our soldiers to rearrange thier lives and plan on being there (asking off of work, etc...). Just today (the 19th) 3/4 of the company is NOT going. Orders only came down for a fraction of the soldiers. I am still not 100% sure if any more orders will come down (so what do we tell the soldiers?). This is jacked up!!!

As of now, I am NOT going. So, whereas I thought I couldn't play for our church's Celebration Sunday Orchestra, now I can (and I have not been to a rehearsal, because I thought I was leaving!). Luckily, my boss accidentally scheduled me (even though I told him I wasn't going to be here) so I can work this week.

It just feels like adventures in stupid.

One day at a time.

Well, I am currently three days into my intense two week class on the Life of Christ. It's such a good class, but it's so much information! In today's class I swear I zoned out and the professor's voice turned into the wah wah wah sound from Peanut's. But, I realized that I'm officially a geek (this is not a new realization). I keep getting excited about reading original documents and commentaries about cultural issues. I studied about the laws concerning menstruating women for four hours today! Dork. (cough).

Since I am officially crazy (enrolled in two summer school classes at once) and have a ton of church stuff going on (summer kick off, dodgeball tourney, etc.) I have to have the mantra of "one thing at a time". So on Monday I wrote a draft of a paper that is due Saturday (rewrite on Friday) and today I wrote a draft of a a paper that is due on Friday (rewrite tomorrow). Next week will involve me researching and writing an 8-12 paper which is due next Thursday and prepping for teaching on Sunday. But, when I think that far in advance I tend to panic and freak out and that is not good...so...I focus on the papers due this week.

Sam has been the best stay at home parent this week. He's been working evenings, but during the day he works on his homework while Nathaniel is napping and has been just hanging with the boy. I have to say, he's been doing a better job supervising than I have. The other day I was cleaning up Nathaniel's room and kept calling for him to help, but instead got that eerie silence that no parent likes to hear. So I went searching and this is what I found:

My boy (who has been acting like a cat a lot lately) was eating from the cat dish. It was so gross. His breath smelled like kibble.

To make up for it, we went canoing at Disneyland.

That was fun! Nathaniel enjoyed the ride once we got on the boat and he was distracted from the life vest.

Sam also taught Nathaniel how to water the plants.

While I taught Nathaniel how to drink coffee (it was mostly milk, I swear!)

And today, while I sat sweltering in the non-airconditioned apartment working on this paper, Sam took Nathaniel outside and hosed him down. I don't know who had more fun!
So, let's just say that I'm very much looking forward to next Friday afternoon. Sam will be back from Army stuff (he leaves on Sunday, heaven help us, I am all alone with the boy and school) and I will be done with class. Since it's the last day our passes are open for Disneyland for the summer we are going to go and enjoy the fireworks as a family.

Think about it...

It's important that we take the time and consider the issues...