Another post of the past semester, and didn't publish.

Something I miss about back home is the lack of wind. Something I have quoted for a long while now is that "you might not realize how much you love something until it's gone". Well the lack of wind is gone...as in there is now too much of it now in the form of lip chapping, skin cracking, body shivering, can't wait to get inside kind of wind.

The cartoon above is one of many created by an artist that a friend of mine introduced me to. His name is Sam and he draws cartoons based on titles that people email him. He has a web site of them called explodingdog.com and no I do not understand the title either, but I enjoy his work.

3 weeks to go until Christmas break. That feels good.

I wish I was here right now. Where is here you ask? Somewhere in Croatia. It looks completely care free to me.

A week ago northwest Iowa was blessed with some glorius 75 degree warm weather, and then somehow by Thursday a storm had rolled in and now it is 20 degress with an inch of icy snow, cloudy and predicted sleet. Yeah...about that... oh and yours truly could not help but take his first spill on ice within the first 24hrs of winter. It was about as graceful as flailing arms and flying legs can get. So now my hip is a daily reminder of how much I despise winter in the midwest.

In other news, this weekend one of my friends that graduated last year visited us. He was my RA sophamore year and has always been willing to give a listening ear. Tim Kooiman is one of my heros, but that probably does not mean much seeing as most of my faithful readers have never met the guy. He took me and a couple guys out for pizza on Saturday night...reminiscing and fun was had by all. I think I have finally made my mind up about choral music education. For those of you just tuning in, I was considering for about a month if I should come back to Dordt for a couple years to pick up a second degegree in previously stated area of studies. But now I think I will not. Although I am fairly sure that I will be returning for an extra semester next fall to tie up loose ends. Frustrating. I am not sure if I have previously blogged about other options for post graduation activities, but at this point I now have to consider how this extra semester is going to play into that. I have discussed with my friend Elijah about the option of teaching ESL in South Korea for a year, but now my plan for that would be set off by a year until 2010.

Here is the link to what I have been looking at...

http://www.teachabroad.com/listingsp3.cfm/listing/29333

I am not sure if this will be the exact organization I intend to work with. There are some others with the option of other countries, including China and Czech Republic, which have an underlying emphasis on spreading the gospel. The oportunity of missions is appealing. Yeah, so how is that for risky? Teaching ESL in a closed country like China with alternative motives of sharing the gospel along side of English. Crazy! As in crazy awesome! But I think South Korea is still the first choice of destination. So here comes the plug...

If any of you are looking for a way to earn good money ($1800-3000 a month), have an amazing cross cultural experience and be able to share your faith all at the same time than I suggest you look into a program such as this. Not everything will pay that well, but the one Elijah has talked to me about does offer this income as well as housing. Oh, and of course it would be that much more amazing if I could do this with someone I know.

Well that is about it for now...I have some a Spanish Lab to attend to.

Peace!

I am surviving. Life is hard, but I will make it. More to come, but too much to do right now. Please keep praying for me...wisdom, preseverance, encouragement.

Love you all.