Grad School Update

A lot of people wonder if I have to do anything during the summer as a grad student and for me in biology the answer is yes, full time!

Basically, during the summer I am free of all coursework and teaching responsibilities and I am able to focus 100% on my research. Having an uninterrupted day has been so incredibly helpful for my productivity. 

Yesterday I gave my second lab meeting since starting my research project and I feel like it went really well. Basically  it's a presentation I give that summarizes my project and all the work I've done so far. It's crazy to see how far I've come since I joined the lab in January.

My research this semester has been a little rough...often its seemed like two steps forward and one step back. About 50% of the time my experiments fail (for different reasons, mostly technical) and I have to redo weeks worth of work. Science is so incredibly slow! Also, there is a steep learning curve as I try to master all the techniques I need for my experiments. 

The constant day-to day failure can really wear on a person. But when I look back over the whole semester, I think, "Wow, look at all I've accomplished." 

I have to constantly remind myself that this Ph.D. program is a marathon, not a sprint...or even a 5K (haha.) 

I enjoy the challenge and mental stimulation of thinking about my project, designing experiments, and trouble shooting. But it's mixed in with the actual hand's on execution of my experiments to break up the day. I really do love the process of science. It can definitely be discouraging at times, but I'm learning and growing so much. 

Practical: How I Stay Organized

Since getting married I've made huge progress on organizing life -- I have way more free time now that I ever have and life seems in my control for the most part.

Generally, I like to be organized, but in college I would get so stressed and busy and things would just spiral out of control. Most people who know me wouldn't say I'm exactly a "tidy" person.

However, after getting married, I've felt like I've needed to grow up a little bit and take responsibility for organizing my life!

I wanted to share a few tools/tips that I use to help organize myself :)

1. Household Chores: I use the FlyLady method. It's a little over the top in my opinion so I don't follow everything perfectly, but I love having a plan for every day. Everyday I get an email reminding me of what is on my to-do list as far as home management and it's really not too much work (about 15-20 min/day). As long as I'm actually doing it, the house is almost always guest-ready at the drop of a hat. I love that it helps establish habits too...although it took a while I (almost) always make our bed in the morning and rarely leave the house with dishes in the sink. This is HUGE for me.

2. Grocery Shopping: I try to only go grocery shopping once per month for everything I think we will need and then pick up a few random things I need throughout the month. This means making a huge shopping list, and spending about an hour shopping. But it's totally worth it. It saves me so much time to shop monthly rather than weekly. It's great to not have to worry about what we're going to have for dinner every night and it saves money by keeping us from going out to eat or buying impulsively because I need dinner and I'm hungry.

3. Finances: We manage our budgets using Mint. It tracks your purchases via credit and debit cards and categorizes them into budgets. I have an app on my phone, so when I'm thinking about going to the mall or thrifting, I can just check up on my clothing budget...and if there's no money left...I don't go! It's that easy. It's also helpful for tracking savings for big purchases, etc.

With these simple things finally under control, I feel so much more freedom to invest myself into other activities like working out regularly and doing weekly Bible studies. I also feel so much better about inviting others into our home.

If you're not organized right now, don't worry...it's taken me a while to get where I am and I'm still a work in progress. I was so overwhelmed when we first got married with all my responsibilities but now it's kind of natural!

Guilty, Perhaps.

Via

Recently, someone highlighted the idea that far too often we teach the Bible with our own agendas in mind.

Rather than exploring the original intention of the author, studying the Bible has often become a free-for-all littered with self-help philosophies and political agendas. Sermons are often watered down and sunday school classes teach kids to be obedient. Which is good...but what about the Gospel? What about the part about Jesus being God? 

The problem of using the Bible without being aware of its intent is that we can easily pretend that the Bible supports whatever agenda we want to push. This is not good..even if the agenda is something good or biblically supported.

We need to be teaching people to read the text critically...and often that means asking: What does the text say about God? His character? His redemptive plan.

We pick out verses or phrases to support our own agendas, then get angry when people do the same to condemn Christians.

The Bible is a story about the utter brokenness of humanity and God's plan to restore it. Now that is something that resonates with me. Making that which is wrong right again.

Restoring myself. Restoring the earth. Restoring friends. Restoring family.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)