Courageous

So I am back again today because I have another thing I feel I am meant to put out there.

The other day I am driving to work in my car and I hear on the radio a song called courageous. It just hits me hard how powerful that one word can be.

I feel that we as Christians are called to be courageous. Everyday of our life we have to walk with courage. The reason I feel this way is because while we may live in this world we are not of this world. Because we love God and follow Him we cannot love the world. It takes courage to live in a world that we cannot love. We are to stand out from non christian people and let our light shine for God.

This can be hard to do. Especially when there are some people and churches out there that really blur that line between loving God and loving the world. I believe that we are to reach out to those who love the world and not God. But I also believe that we are to stand out in this world and the people who love this world are to be interested in what makes us different from them even though we don't love the world.

1John 2:15 (on not loving the world) Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.


That verse is strong and sometimes probably not what people want to hear. I just pray that the Christians in the world can start to be courageous and start loving God instead of the world. It is OK to be different and to stand out in a crowd because you are not willing to do what the world thinks you should do. I know this in my own life to be true. I was that teenager that never drank, smoked or did drugs. The funny thing was I had friends that did all of that and I would go with them to parties and if someone new was at the party and would offer me any of those things all of my friends would say not Anna she doesn't do that. You would be surprised how much respect I got from my peers for saying no. I didn't say no because I thought I was better than them I said no because I knew that was not what God wanted me to do. Now don't get me wrong I made mistakes that it for sure. I just wanted to give and example of how you can be in the world but on of it. Love all people and show them God's love. Just don't think you have to do what everyone else is doing in order for you to witness to them about God.

This is my last blog for this term

Starting out this term I thought it would be no problem to have three classes and that I would be able to manage everything just fine. Well as you can tell by reading my blogs that was not the case. I am so releived this term is over and now after I finish this blog I have 2 weeks of no school. I am leaving tomorrow for a wonderful trip to Florida with a couple of real fun friends and I am just going to relax and enjoy the stress free week.

If I had to give advice to someone who was going to write a scientific paper the one thing I would tell them is to make sure they pick a topic that will interest them and that they can find current information on. Another thing I would tell someone is make sure to keep a timeline on what you need to get done and when you need to have it done by and then stick to it.

I am just glad I am done with my paper for this term and that I can put that behind me and that I feel I did a good job at what I wrote.

I am going to try and keep up my blog telling of my experiences of my continued schooling but I am not going to make any promises of that happening.

Thank to those who read what I had to say and maybe I will chat again soon.

One term almost done

Well I can not believe that I am almost done with yet another term at Kaplan. It is amazing to me how quick the terms go. I always think at the beginning of the ten weeks that it seems so far away and then all of a sudden it is week ten and we are done.

I just finished one of my final papers and I have never been happier to have the paper completed. I am finding that the longer I attend the more critical I become with myself. This paper was one of the hardest ones I have had to write so far. I really liked the topic I was writing about and it was interesting to me but I found that I kept rewriting my words to try and make it better. I have finally decided that it is good and I am done with it. I will though have a couple people read to make sure there is no grammar errors or punctuation problems but then I am done.

I am excited that this term is ending because that means I am that much closer to my trip to Florida as a treat to myself for my birthday and finishing yet another term.

I have learned a lot of new techniques on writing and hopefully I will maintain that knowledge throughout the rest of my adventure in school and beyond.

To continue the blog or not to continue, what shall I do

I started this blog because it was a requirement for one of my classes in school. I think I may continue this one because my adventure is not at all even close to being done. When I started this blog I had high hopes that my fellow classmates would read what was posted and maybe leave a comment or two. But unfortunately that did not happen. I am not sure if anyone even read any of my blogs. I cannot really complain though because I honestly only got to a couple blogs myself of other classmates. It seems like doing the blog is a great idea but at the same time it seems no one really did any more than they absolutely had to, including myself. I do like to blog and I like having topic ideas given to me to post about. So even though I say I will continue on here I am wondering if I really will. I enjoy writing my thoughts and ideas sometimes. I do wonder though if I really will keep this going when I know I am not getting graded on it and not really all that sure if anyone is even reading it. Most of the time when I post a blog I am hoping that someone will read it and give me some feedback on what was said. I do have to say though I am glad that this term in school is almost over. This has been the hardest term so far for me.

Peer reviews are they good or are they bad.

Well here I am in week 7 of my 10 week term and I am working like crazy. This term has been my hardest term by far. I am taking three classes and now on top of it all I got a job. So I have to find a way to make my schedule work to do school, work, and still be a mom and friend. It really has been a crazy couple of weeks. But here I go again going completely off topic of my title. I need to stop doing that too.

So in my composition class we are writing an essay and this week we are having our peers read what we have written in a rough draft so far and then they tell us what they think of our paper and where we could make improvements. Now when you are first told you are going to having your peers review what you have done that can be a little intimidating but really in the long run it is a good thing.

I have noticed that when I am writing a paper I am so focused on what I am doing I can sometimes miss the little things that would make it even better. Also having your peers review your paper instead of a family member is good too because sometimes family members want to spare your feelings so they will tell you how great it is and not tell you what you need to improve. Where peers are neuteral and they will tell you honestly if it is good or needs improvement.

I am glad about that because this paper, although I like the topic, I am having a real hard time writing or finding research on it. I am sure I will do just fine in the long run but gettin a few more eyes on it to let me know where I could improve and where it is just right never hurts anything.

What has been going on these past six weeks.

Well writing a blog can be good for some and stressful for others. But when I am given topics every week from my instructor on what to write it kind of makes it easier. But this weeks topic is kind of a harder one for me to write. There has been a lot that has been going on for me these past six weeks. I am not sure how much I may or may not reveal, but you never know because once I start typing in here it just all seems to pour out.

Well many of you know about six weeks ago was also the start to the holiday season and that in itself can be very stressful. But for me this year it has been extremely stressful. I have been unemployed since March of this year and living on just my unemployment. I am also a single mom with a teenage boy and all the fun and challenges it brings with it. Plus I have three older children. One who is married and live in Washington with her husband. Who I miss very much and the other two live with me part time and their dad the other time. I have also been doing my fourth term at school and for some reason I thought I could handle three classes. I don't know what I was thinking this three class schedule is crazy. I did however this past week get a job so that has been a great blessing in my life.

I am however still very stressed. I think my biggest stress is the fact that this is the first time in my 20 plus years of being a parent that I am not able to give my kids a single thing for Christmas and I am not even sure if I can make them a Christmas meal. It is frustrating sometimes being a single mom with little to no income, but I know I will get through this and I have really great kids and they are just excited that we will be able to play games and spend time together.

So that is what I have going on in my life these last six weeks. I almost put six months. I guess that is a sign of what I am going through. It may have only been six weeks that I am going through some of this stuff but it feels a lot longer.

The best thing I have going for me is the fact that I know that all this is only temporary and that I have bigger and better things ahead of me. I just have to keep my mind on that and all will be good.

School, work and single parenting

Since I have taken this adventure in my life of going back to school it has been very interesting. When I first started I had been recently laid off of work and so I had decided to return to school and get a degree so that I may have more options when looking for a job and also so I would be closer fit to what employers were looking for.

So because I had started school when I was laid off I made school my work. I was able to put all my effort into it since all I had was school and then be a mom. It worked out really great because I did my school work while my kids were in school so I wasn't taking any of my time away from them.

Well this past week I started a new job and now I am finding out how hard it is to juggle work, school, and home all in one. I feel like I am constantly working on something. I either am working on school work or I am helping my kids or I am at work. It makes life very busy and school a whole lot harder than it was.

I am sure that as time goes by I will get into a flow and it will all work out just fine it is just hard right at the moment. I do not know how single moms with small children do it at all. My youngest is 16 so it isn't like I have to watch him constantly and he can help out around here. I give single moms with small children a lot of credit for what they do. I mean I complain sometimes with all that I do and I have older kids I couldn't imagine doing school, work and parenting by myself with small children.

As I continue on this journey it will be interesting to see how it changes now with me having a job and school. If anyone has any suggestions on how to juggle all of this I am more than willing to hear them.