Keeping Perspective

Disclaimer: I've been pretty lax on this blog. Between school and family life, I'd put blogging on the backburner for a while-just some occasional rundowns of what we've been doing. I'll try to do a little more these last 3 weeks.

I was a wreck Wednesday night. I was emotional about Jodie and the kids leaving the next day and already starting to feel lonely. It didn't help that there was still lots of packing and cleaning that I needed to do to get them ready to go at 6:30 in the morning. And I was feeling stressed about the pressure of school: projects, grades, tests to study for, etc.
Then Thursday morning I was walking to class with my classmate Alex. He said "I keep reminding myself I'm here to learn, not for the grades." That was just what I needed to hear. But I must have needed to hear it more than once, because 3 more times over the next 27 hours I heard something similar. "You never lose by learing" was said in chapel; "Don't base your self-esteem on this assignment" came on the paper with the test instructions; "Even if you don't do well on this test, it doesn't mean you won't be a good field linguist. Sometimes persistence is the most important quality of a linguist" was offered as encouragement before a test.
But then I did well on the two tests I had yesterday. And I started to feel like I was good again- that these 2 A's meant I was a good student, Christian, father, and husband. I needed to hear some of those messages again. This time as a kick in the pants, not a pat on the back. "I'm here for the learning, not the grades"; Don't base your self-esteem on this assignment". This morning we sang "Oh Lord, You're Beautiful" in worship & prayer service. And I heard the lyrics to the 2nd verse that I'm not sure I'd ever noticed before- And when I'm doing well, help me to never seek a crown. For my reward is giving glory to you..
It's so cool seeing the different ways God can tell us the the things we need to hear.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Today marks the halfway point of classes here at SIL-UND. It's been a busy last couple days for school work. Sociolinguistics take home essay midterm, Syntax test, Phonetics production & dictation quizzes have all been keeping me busy the last couple days. I need to catch up on sleep soon.
Here are some quick random thoughts & highlights:
- We've been having a lot of fun as a family. We went to the movies (Mr. Popper's Penguins), hiked at Turtle River State Park, and saw fireworks over the river in the last few days. I can't believe Jod and the kids will be gone in just 8 days.
- Jod and I have had a few good discussions about long term possibilites for our family. We don't have any clue yet, but we are excited about continuing to pray, talk, and get more information and counsel as we think about what steps could be next for our family.
-There are lots of cool people here. I've enjoyed getting to know so many new people and hear their stories. Young kids in college, wise veteran missionaries, families in ther process of change...
- If I hurry home, I might be the first one in bed tonight instead of the last. Time to go.