third degree's the charm?

going for a third masters, crazy huh? my friends have told me to get another one, since i'll still be here for a few more years while i wait for nat to graduate. i don't know if they were being serious or joking.

to be honest, i have thought about it, and i was talking about it to nat last night. what area could i get it in?

1) children's librarian. well, my friends in my children's literature class found out i was not taking the course to fulfill the requirement for children's librarianship, but rather for fun. they said that they might make a librarian out of me. i must say, i do enjoy my children's literature course, and i think that it might be fun and interesting to work with kids and select books for children. i'm a little intimidated with all the knowledge some of my classmates possess and how i lack that knowledge.

2) education. i've always thought about teaching off and on, and i've mentioned it to my parents a few times of if i didn't major in CS, i might have gone into teaching. i have a few friends that are teachers, and i've heard it's hard work, but i think i might enjoy it. i enjoyed TAing my freshmen/sophomores in an intro to programming course for non-CS majors. i know that's a far cry from elementary or secondary education.

3) a combo of children's librarian and teacher. there's a program in LIS that allows you to get your teaching certificate (i think) and children's librarianship requirements so that you can work in a school library.

i notice a theme with kids. hmm. :)

i have a BS and MS in computer science, getting a MS in human factors, and possibly considereing a MS in a different area. i can see how the CS degrees compliment my human factors degree, but if i get another one, i feel it's totally unrelated. so basically, i'm a little bit scared to think about getting another masters. one of the reasons is because i feel VERY fickle, as if i have no idea of what i want to do with my life, and that i'll be fickle with my career (if i have one). second, i feel, even now, that my other degrees would be a "waste" in the sense that i didn't probably won't utilize them at all if i decide to go in a different area.

on the other hand, i might be more easily able to find a position if i take a long hiatus from work to be a stay-at-home-mom (which i'm thinking is pretty likely from when my kids are born to about high school).

anyways, i need to devote a some prayer to this, and see what the Lord's will is for more education in my life. :) i foresee that it will depend on 1) being able to get in and 2) ability to get funding.

i'd love to hear your thoughts as well. :)

a new blog

alright, i've signed up for a new blog where people who are not members can post their comments (hope this makes you happy damon). i'm going to copy my old posts to here.

i already like blogspot! i can change the date and time of my post! =)

what is a Christian?

i've been thinking all weekend about this topic (well off and on), and i was wondering what do people think about Christians? i think that some people have misconceptions/misunderstandings about Christianity, or a partly true picture (but not complete). and i was wondering what you can tell me about your impression of Christianity and/or Christians? i know before i became a Christian, i thought they were just there to convert people to what they believe, that they tended to have a "i am holier than thou" attitude, and it felt that they were exclusive because there is only "one way" to get to heaven.

i just wanted to clarify what Christianity is by sharing what it means to be a follower of Christ (and if you have questions, i'd love for you to e-mail or post them to me). i think that God has really used the pastor's message at my church to just focus on the fundamentals, because i think that even as a Christian i have lost sight of the fundamentals and can give the impression to others that "i'm more moral" or whatever, when in reality i'm not. so, here i go:

God created the world and everything in it. when God created man and woman, He made them very different from all other creation. man and woman were the only creation that were created in the image of God. God's desire was for man and woman to worship Him, to give the honor and respect that is due God, to obey to Him, to praise Him for all the good things that He gives us, and in sum just to have a relationship with Him. God also gave man and woman free will, and because of the first man and woman's choice to disobey God, we have ALL fallen short in the perfect relationship with God that He intended. and this is what is known as "sin". so, "sin" just doesn't encompass the bad/wrong things, but it's anything that strays away from the perfection of God and His perfect plans and will for our lives. for me, i know i sin so many times, every day. some things include lying, being lazy and not working as hard or with as much integrity as i ought, being selfish, getting angry and taking it out on others, not asking God for help in my life, not talking to God and maintaining a relationship with Him, etc. we could never rid ourselves of sin, no matter how many good things we try to do because the sin that we had done, continue to do, and will do, remains. so, because of the sin that we have in our lives, it makes us imperfect, and God in His perfection, can't be surrounded by imperfection. more than that, God is perfectly just, so He needs to punish the sin that we have in our lives no matter how little or big, needs to be punished. that punishment is death and hell (which is the eternal separation between us and our creator, God). and because we have ALL fallen short and sinned, we all deserve to die.

but there is STILL HOPE that we can be saved from eternal separation from God. God had a plan that could pull us out of the depths of hell, and it is not by our own doing that we can be saved from this judgment. God sent Jesus Christ, who was God in human form. Jesus Christ is the only person who had (and ever will have) a perfect life--a perfect relationship with God, perfect obedience to God, perfect worship of God, etc. because of Christ's perfection, He was not under the punishment of sin, so HE DID NOT DESERVE TO DIE. but in God's redeeming plan for humanity, Christ died on the cross and took our punishment for ALL of our sins and died for us. Christ took our place in facing God's punishment and wrath when He died. if we repent and turn away from our sinful ways and place our faith in Christ, we no longer have to face death, but we can look forward to eternal life heaven if we have faith in Christ and what He has done for us. (and as a side note, Christ rose up three days later and came back to life, showing that death had no hold on Him and that power of God raised Him from the dead and that will raise those that have repented and believed from the dead as well..)

so in a nutshell, as Christians, we believe that God loves us, we KNOW WE ARE SINNERS and DESERVE to die. we have admitted and repented from our old sinful ways and we believe that Christ was God in flesh that died for our sins (and in turn our deserved punishment), rose to life again and is now in heaven, so that we can have eternal life in heaven because we are forgiven by God for our sins by Christ's death.

to close, i just wanted to respond to some of the impressions i had before i became a Christian:
1) Christians think they're holier than non-believers. we are by no means better, holier, more perfect than anybody else on this earth. in truth, we know that are sorely imperfect, and in need of a Savior, who is Christ. the only difference is that we have faith in Christ, and because of this we have security to know that we will not face death, but have eternal life. i am sad to say that there might be Christians out there that have that attitude that they are better or more holy than others and look down upon non-believers, which i believe is the wrong attitude. i believe this is the wrong attitude because it is not by being saved by Christ that makes us better, it only makes us forgiven, not better.

writing what i believe in, and getting back to the fundamentals of my faith has been very humbling, and reminds me how grateful i am for the gift of being saved through Christ. i long so much to share this saving faith with you so that you too might know eternal life.

2) there is only one way to get to heaven. yes, this is true. there is nothing that we could ever do to erase or cleanse us from our sins against God, so death is inescapable. there is nothing that we can do to get closer to heaven except to believe that Christ was God in flesh and perfect and died for us. i find a lot of freedom in knowing that it's by my faith that i am saved, and not by anything i do (or can do).

to end, i just wanted to let you know that i just wanted to share my faith with you out of love, and so that you might know how to get to heaven and to know God. i long so much for you to know God and the truth. it has completely rocked and changed my life, FOR THE GOOD, and i just want you to know the HEALING, POWER, MIRACLE, and so much more of God and Jesus. He loves you more than you could ever know (and more than I could know)! :)

if you have questions/comments, please let me know!

drifting away from friends

i've seen many of my friends who have gotten married and started drifting off the map. i didn't think that i'd be one of those, but, sadly, i realize that i am. i've realized that it's takes a lot of effort and initiative for me to not drift away from my previous non-married life. i'm beginning to think about why this is more. i think that when i was single, when i wanted to be with someone, i'd just go out with my friends--whether one or a group. i also realized that i stayed up later than i do now, and had a little bit less responsibility. now, i'm always around someone (well not always, but a lot of the time, especially in my free time). when i come home, i just feel like there's always something to do around the house (and given the state of our house, there is a lot to do). by the time i do some chores, cook dinner, i'm at a state of being too lazy to do anything else but stay at home. so i guess it's a combination of not realizing that i really miss hanging out with others and being lazy. so, i really want to correct that. i'm hoping that i can start tonight by going to gradIV and hanging out with people i haven't seen in a long time.

oh, another thing that i've realized is the fact that when nat gets busy and doesn't seem to have time for things, i kinda follow suit. i don't go out, don't invite too many friends over, and basically don't socialize. it's funny. i guess i'm going to have to work myself out of that.

switching topics. i'm having an extremely hard time motivating myself to finish this thesis that i'm currently working on. i love my new program (human factors), but i'm not really digging the project that i'm doing. i'm basically looking at tools for network security engineers, which is too computer-sciencey to me (i had hoped to avoid something technical like this for my second masters topic since i did my first masters in CS). why am i doing it then? well, it's what my job is for my assistantship, and so i might as well kill two birds with one stone. everytime i'm in the office, i just keep looking at the time to count down when i can go home. maybe this is a good way to make a note of what kind of job i do not want. anyways, i'm trying to break down the things i need to do piece by piece and try to get small things done so i can make some progress.