Quick Update

Everything lately seems really quick.

Quick updates, quick papers, quick errands, quick nap, quick breakfast...the list goes on...for quite some time.

My life is just cruising at 100 mph.

Which is ok, I like the speed.

I just wished it involved more sleep.

So, as far as quick updates go.

Remember how we got a puppy?

And she was supposed to be a Maltese/Chihuahua mix?

Meaning she would be little.

So I took her to the vet a bit ago for her shots.

(It was a quick trip)

And the vet didn't think she was a Maltese/Chihuahua mix but a Chihuahua/Border Collie mix.

So she would be a little bigger...relatively.

She still is a very small dog, just not a "toy" dog.

Which is fantastic.

For example: here is her first bath vs. the one I gave her last week.

(She grew a little)

And is so much more fun.

In fact everyone there was amazed at the poor Chihuahua mother but congratulated us on our infinitely more awesome dog.

They were absolutely right.

It's funny that we ever thought her to be part Maltese because she looks and acts very Border Collie.

Let me explain:

Her Chihuahua side gives her that little dog attitude.

She cries sometimes, shakes a lot when she is scared or sad (apparently a very Chihuahua trait), and loves, loves, loves to cuddle.

She also has a very Chihuahua face.

Her Border Collie side gives her the desire to go on the little Juan's crazy long runs...and her little legs make him have to sprint for miles.  

She really is an amazing runner.

She also loves to do tricks, jump, play and basically be awesome.

She also has the most awesome eyes.

Originally they were very, very dark blue.  

Now they are a dark, sapphire blue on the outside and around the pupil and chocolate brown in between.

She is absolutely perfect for our family and we all love her so very much.

So there is the quick dog update.

In other news,

I am finishing my first year of grad school in the next few weeks.

They are some very stressful weeks.

Still planning the trip for Jordan and Europe,

but the way things are going in Jordan right now (click here) things might be a little different for that leg of the journey.

We'll see.

I am really praying for my friends in the area.

Crazy times.

Other than that there isn't to much going on.

I need to put my laundry away,

and do my dishes,

and clean my apartment.

I am really beginning to understand how I prioritize things...cleanliness (of my home and self) don't seem to be to high up on that list.

Quick story on that front.

I went to talk to the bishop for my Ecclesiastical Endorsement (so I can continue my schooling at BYU).

We talked for a bit after the interview and he asked me how things were going and if I was making time for a social life...specifically dating.

I told him I was lucky if I got in a shower everyday, dating isn't even on the list right now.

He laughed pretty hard.

It is sad how true it is.

So there you go.

Busy, sometimes clean, but very, very happy.

Till next time!

♥ ♥ ♥

Stories of my crazy, crazy life

     So it has been awhile since I posted and for some very good reasons.  I won't list them because it would take forever, but suffice it to say, my life has been a madhouse this past semester.  Let me sum up.

1. My advisor (who I dig with) got a donor!  That means that I get to go to Syria for free!
2. Despite begging and pleading, BYU will not let me go to Syria.  Apparently unrest in the Middle East is a good reason for dashing my dreams of doing a Near East thesis.  Just because Syria happens to be the safest place there at the moment does not make me bitter...just sad that I can't be there.
3. So instead I am going to Jordan to dig up some tombs.  It has been a few years since I have been there.  Which is pretty obvious from this picture because my hair at the time was a bit shorter...a bit.
4. I should explain this next part.  I was aware that BYU might not let me go so I made a contingency plan to do a survey of Roman theaters that were similar to the theater I was intending on doing my thesis on.  So the big news came when my advisor suggested we use the donor money to do the survey of Roman theaters in a few countries including: Italy, Greece, and Turkey.  Yeah...pretty darn amazing.  But we had to make sure the donor, and BYU, was okeydokey with it.
5. And they were!  We don't have enough money to go to all those places but as of this week the plan is to: dig in Jordan for 3 weeks, stay in Amman for 2 weeks researching, fly to Italy to survey some theaters, and finally head to Great Britain.  I am going with my good friend Jessica who is doing part of her research in Italy and the other part in Wales, England, and Scotland.  So that is where we will hopefully make it.  I will go to Greece and Turkey anytime between Christmas and next summer.
6. Because of this amazing blessing my research is being accelerated so I get everything I need to this summer.  This is super stressful because I hadn't really done much because I had assumed I would not be able to go until next year.  While this all has been amazing it is making me do approximately 12 months work in 2 months...on top of the rest of my schoolwork which was definitely not apart of the plan.  So stressful but worth it.

With everything that has been going on I have kind of reached a new understanding of the scripture in Malachi 3:10.  I know it is about tithing but hear me out.

10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

     After this week I had the end (the underlined section) of the scripture came to my mind.  I have had trials before, everyone has, and they have seemed unbearable but having blessings so phenomenal that you are completely overwhelmed is something new.  My program, in terms of funding, is a bit competitive.  There are a fair amount of us.  I am completely overwhelmed by school and other things that are going on in my life.  I felt that it was the right thing to go to grad school but I would have felt more comfortable waiting and getting more money so that I wasn't broke...all the time.  Instead I did what I felt was the right thing, and it has been so very hard.

     Then, one day, in the midst of my crazy, crazy life, my advisor informs me that a donor has donated a significant amount of money for graduate student travel to her specific dig.  When I wasn't allowed to go to the dig, this donor allowed me to do a survey of a bunch of theaters across Europe...with no personal expense for me.  This meant that I had to accelerate significantly the planning and research for my thesis, which is unbelievable stressful.  Then yesterday one of my professors says that she felt that she needed to help me.  We discussed things I might do, she gave me priceless advice, she is contacting her associates at Oxford to help me, and she wants to meet with me later to help me along with this process.

     I have never been so blessed.  I have also never been so overwhelmed by those blessings.  It has been so humbling to see the hand that Heavenly Father has in my life.  I know that this is important, but I never would have thought I would be so blessed in this process.  I could not have imagined it.  I am very shy and don't have these amazing friendships with my professors and yet countless times during this process a random person has made what I am doing possible.  It has been a truly remarkable experience.

I hope that I have the opportunity in my life to do for someone else what so many have done for me.  I am so very grateful.