I had a dream...

Actually I had a few weird ones last night but I also had a really, really good one.

You could say it was a productive dream.

I will explain.

Once upon a time in my subconscious sleeping mind,

I had a dream about my thesis.

I was doing my proposal presentation and it was a little different than what I thought it would be.

I would get into the details, but then I would have to explain my whole thesis, and that would take SOOO long.

Needless to say, I was proposing what I've been researching the past few weeks, 

but with a "twist" of sorts.

I woke up with this excitement because it made perfect sense.

Yes, even after I woke up, that is not always the case.

You see, I've been struggling because I've picked a subject that I could do a doctoral dissertation on.

and a few books,

actually I could do 30 years of work on it and still feel like I was scratching the surface.

I am really not up for a thesis that is that long.

So I've been trying to find ways to shorten it.

To no avail.

Until last night...well early this morning.

So, this morning, with a fire in my belly (as well as cornflakes) I am changing tactics.

I have a plan that will reign in all those lovely tangents I love,

and make this project a good thesis,

as opposed to a lifelong pursuit.

I'm feeling pretty dang good about that.

So good in fact that I am quite literally bounding in my chair.

Which has caused some dangerous squeaking.

So I will have to stop.

Good start to the day.

This clarity is perfectly timed really, because my adviser is coming into the country today.

Yep, and now I will have good news and lots of work done!

Yay for blessings!

♥ ♥ ♥

It's all Greek to me - scratch that - it's all looking a bit Roman.

Hello from the land...not down under.

More the land east-north-east.

or Middle East.

I wish I could say the 'Land Down Under'.

It has such an appealing ring to it.

My good friend Laurie, whom I adore, she is awesome...

recently went to the land down under. 

I will go...one day...I hope.

Here at ACOR things are going just dandy.  

Well things weren't going dandy, but now they are. 

:)

If you don't know the story I'm not going to tell it to you.

Suffice it to say that things can get a bit monotonous at a desk for 2 weeks straight.

I'm getting a lot of research done, but I never felt like I was going to reach the end...that I would be at this desk forever...sweating, reading and typing my life away.

Thankfully, yesterday changed all that.

I had this "fire in my belly" yesterday 

and

(drum roll please)

FINISHED!

Well, kind of.

:)

Yes, I know it doesn't make sense but I kind of finished.  

I had 3 goals when I came here  

(I wrote them down and everything)

and they are now 2/3 of the way done.

which is fantastic,

and happened yesterday.

In other ACOR updates.

I did my laundry.

BY HAND.

Ok, it really doesn't matter that I did it by hand, it matters that I was able to get off away from my desk long enough to do it.

That is the exciting part.

I'm a little embarrassed about how dirty this water is but guys, I've been living in a desert for the past month.

Give me a break.

Just a little one.

I hung the semi-dry pajamas in my closet...unfortunately that was not a good place.

It was to humid in there and they did not dry...they just started to smell.

So I washed them again.

Because I can.

By the way, if anyone from my familia ever reads this, the green bag has presents in it.

:)

Overall, things have been marvelous.

They feed us really well,

their library is full of marvelous books for research,

and their internet works so I have been able to keep in contact with the loved ones.

Which makes me look like this:

That is a happy face by the way.

Today is Tuesday.

Friday I leave ACOR and head back down to Petra.

Saturday we leave Petra and head all the way back through Amman, to Jerash and Pela.

Finally, on Sunday we leave the beautiful country of Jordan and head to another beautiful country.

ITALY!!!!

Yes, sometimes I don't believe my life either.

It has been such a blessing and I am so, so, so very grateful.

I will write again before I leave.

Adios!

♥ ♥ ♥

The Blogging World

A ways back, wow its been several years now, I started a blog.

It was 2008 I think. 

At least that is what blogger is telling me.  

I was so excited about it!

I am generally pretty shy at first and I don't like to push anything on people.

So during a hard time, with no one to talk to, and a desperate need to vent

I started blogging.

I REALLY liked it.

and the funny part was that it wasn't really the writing my days out to the universe that attracted me.

It was something that I created, continued to tweak, and it was all mine.

But then I wanted more outlets for different parts of my life.

So I made more for others,

like Stephie  and my family.

Then I started getting into tumblr.

I created a blog for my Project 52 

(which I am still doing by the way, I just can't load those pictures until I get back to the States)

and another blog just for me with inspirational pictures and quotes.

(but since it is just for me, I'm not going to give you a link...wahahahaha (evil laugh))

It has been marvelous.

My life is crazy right now.

I travel the world a little bit,

I move around a little more,

and I do as much as possible to drive myself to insanity.

At this point I have a creative outlet for when

I take a few pictures, 

read a ton of books, 

get inspired by more than a few things,

and have a place to put them all.

So there you go.

Thank You Mr. Reynolds

I just wanted to share a link that one of my friends posted.

It is an article written by a Mr. John Mark Reynolds writing for the Washington Post.

I just wanted to post my appreciation for someone who refuses to simply "jump on the bandwagon" when it comes to discrimination and bigotry.

Mr. Reynolds, you rock.

To read his article click HERE

or copy and paste this address into your browser bar.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/amos-and-andy-and-the-book-of-mormon/2011/06/15/AGRlHPWH_blog.html

Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again

Alright, I do realize that the title of this post is a horrible title but that nursery rhyme kept going through my mind as I put together the hands hand feet of a nearly 2000 year old skeleton.  Sometimes you just can't help yourself.

Life is fantastic in good old Jordan.

By old I mean very old.

It's interesting getting used to a place that has so much history.

I remember the first time I went to Damascus (in Syria not Jordan) and walked where I knew millions and millions of people had walked for centuries.

On the very street, under the very arch, through the same doorways.

It is a little bit mind blowing.

And it has this...feel to it.

Like you can feel all the people that have been there, like when you go somewhere you leave a little piece of yourself that those following can feel.  

I love it.

While I am now at ACOR with lovely internet access and no longer at Petra (I was there for 3 weeks), I do have some pictures.

I will only post a few though because if I start putting more I may not be able to stop.

So here goes.

If you haven't seen pictures before (and you won't see it in the post) I wear a bandana (shown here) under a kaffia on site to avoid sunburn and dust in my eyes.
It is actually cooler too.
Picture Lawrence of Arabia and you will have an idea.
This is after work one day (sans kaffia).
I collapsed on the floor from heat and exhaustion.
But not heat exhaustion.
But if you look closely you will see that I have a Harry Potter lightening scar dirt mark.
Don't know what that means.
But if I get super powers I will let you know.
:)

Another day I came home after digging through a meter and a half of goat dung.  

Let me rephrase.

It was a meter and a half deep.

And it was from a loculi that was a little over 3 meters long.

I'm not going to do the math because it will depress me how much dusty poop we moved.

So that "dust" on my face?

Yeah. 

:(

Here is a view leaving Petra.

I love the landscape there.

Although I could put up a picture of St. George and it might be hard to tell the difference.

:)

We uncovered an undisturbed burial (very rare).

I had a bit of crash course in Osteology.

I think I did pretty darn good to be honest.

I was in charge of putting her hands and feet back together.

Yes, some of them fit perfectly which was amazing.

(and if you are thinking about that Humpty Dumpty song I was definitely NOT a member of all the kings horses and all the kings men, because we were able to put this skeleton together...haha nursery song, take that)

After we cleaned the skull we were able to glue what remained back together.

It was really remarkable.

So there is a quick update of things.  

I post so sporadically I won't make any more promises but I will definitely try.

That's if they can keep the internet working at ACOR.

Could use some prayers there. 

♥ ♥ ♥

From the Golden Tulip

Well I have a lot to be grateful for today.

1. I made it to Jordan via Paris safely.  Despite flying through a storm (I thought someone had taken a picture with their flash in the middle of the night...until I heard the following thunder) we arrived well and whole, and only a little motion sick.
2. We found the shuttle to the hotel...no taxi fee.
3. Our room has a marvelous bed with2 fluffy, fluffy pillows each, we get free dinner and breakfast for the 2 nights we are here and I have been sleeping all day.
4. We in the hotel for 2 days.  This one is a bit odd because being in the hotel gives me ample opportunity to be homesick but I'm a little more than homesick.  Right before I left I caught some kind of head cold and the ability to sleep all day is doing marvelous things for getting over this cold.  Yay for healing!
5. The thing I am most grateful for is that the hotel has free WiFi.  The fact that Skype is a free internet calling service is also top on my list.  Because of this I got to video skype my family last night, and have chatted with them several times since then.  It has been a wonderful blessing. I am hoping I will have the same opportunity during the 3 weeks I am excavating but even it I don't, I will have the internet while I am staying in Amman.

So I am very, very grateful today.  Grateful for my family, grateful for some amazing opportunities that I am having, and most of all grateful to my Heavenly Father for His blessings, guidance and protection.  I definitely feel it most during times like this.

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.

Project 52

Decided to post the remainder of my project HERE instead of posting it in 2 places.

Yep, there you go.

Christmas Happiness

Once upon a time WE GOT A PUPPY!!!

We as in my little brother Deruda.

But he doesn't really do the whole responsibility thing so I get to spend a lot of time with her.

Yeah, the puppy is a she.

Deruda named her Rosie.

She is a Malchi,

super hyper, happy, but also very cuddly.

I love her dearly.

I also gave her her first bath yesterday.

It was not her favorite thing.

So there you go!