Win some, lose some

Well, my Jayhawks were taken out of the competition and didn't make it to the final four. It was a good game and the loss hasn't diminished my interest in college basketball. I'll keep watching and I'll be cheering them on again next year.

Funkhouser, however, was the winner of a very close Mayoral election. This is now Funkytown (one of the songs he used in his campaign, the other was "We want the Funk, gotta have that Funk.") I do believe KC elected a man of integrity and commitment. He ran a clean campaign, never once bashing his opponent and his wife was his campaign manager (though she had no prior political experience). When asked about his choice of campaign manager, he said, "I chose the person who knows me best." He was also quoted as saying, "we ran a campaign based on authenticity." I can tell you that at campaign headquarters that word was posted on the walls and each person involved tried to live out that motto. I like a world where authenticity wins, I wish it happened more often.

Sweet Sixteen

I'm a long way from my Sweet Sixteen birthday, that isn't what I'm referring to. I'm talking about the college basketball tournament. The Jayhawks are one of the Sweet Sixteen. Three more games to the championship...

one less thing...

Since October of last year I've been working what I call three part-time jobs: my graduate research assistantship which pays tuition plus a small stipend and allows me to qualify for student insurance, a 10-hour per week job with the University Career Center, and India (unpaid, but the primary motivation behind everything else). As of April 1st, I will be down to full-time student, plus GRA, plus India status. Hallelujah! My GRA supervisor wanted more of my time and had the money to offer a promotion of sorts. This additional funding allowed me to resign the career center job and still pay my bills. Honestly, I'm grateful for all of it. I consider it a gift to earn a PhD and not accumulate any debt to do it, thanks to the financing offered by the department. I'm a lucky girl. The department is not financing any of the students coming in next academic year. These students will have more difficult choices to make about their future than I did. I'm grateful for the gift of financial aid I received.

A word on dreams

I've been thinking a lot about dreams lately. Not the kind of dreams you have when you are sleeping (I don't ever remember those anyway), but the kind you have in waking hours. The stuff that gets your heart pumping and your feet moving. When I graduated with my Master's degree I threw a big party, one of the attendees gave me a book called, "The Dream Giver." I'd never been fond of the author, but I read it anyway. It was a book and I like to read. It turned out to be life changing. The Dream Giver (God) has given every Nobody (us) a big dream (a purpose). I believe that to the core of my being. God put each of us on earth to fulfill a purpose. In the story, a Nobody named Ordinary goes on an adventure to pursue his big dream and overcomes many obstacles along the way; it is a journey of faith, ambition, and hope. These days I feel a lot like Ordinary. I have a big dream stirring in my soul with few details to go on and plenty of obstacles to overcome. I wish we all had Paul's Damascus road experience where God comes down in a light, stops us in our tracks and says, "here's what I want from you." That hasn't ever happened in my life. Rather, I'm given little hints, quite promptings, guidance that seems to come in whispers. It takes tremendous faith to take the next step.

The journey toward my big dream began on my first trip to India. That step of faith produced the start of an orphanage, delivery of medical supplies for a clinic that helps thousands and will likely grow in to a hospital/clinic in the next five years, a leadership/pastor training institute, and visits to the other side of the world leading groups at least twice per year. That's huge! Many of you probably think this is the destination of my big dream, but its not. I feel a stirring in my soul that it is just the start of something bigger (isn't that scary!). There are days when I want a normal life and a normal job, but I'm not cut from that mold and know that in the end I would feel imprisoned by that choice. I recently read the following story and found it inspiring. I thought I'd share...

Dreams

Knowing when to keep pursuing a dream and when to accept an alteration to your dream is not always an easy task. Jack Canfield tells about a young high school student whose father was a horse trainer. Because the family had to follow the horseracing season, the young boy was required to change schools throughout the year. During his senior year, he was asked to write a paper about what his dreams for the future were. The paper described his dream of owning a 200-acre horse ranch with stables, tracks and a 4,000-square-foot home. He even drew a diagram of the property and the design of his house. Two days after he had turned in his paper, it was returned to him with an "F" on the front and a note to see the teacher. After class, the teacher explained to the boy that his dream was "unrealistic." The teacher said that if the boy rewrote the paper with a much more realistic dream, he would reconsider the grade. The boy went home and asked his father what to do. "It's your decision," said the father. The boy kept the paper for a week and then returned it to his teacher after class. "Here," the boy said, "you can keep the 'F' and I'll keep my dream."

Jayhawks advance

For the first time in three years (and the first time with Bill Self as coach) the Jayhawks - my team - advanced past the first round of the NCAA tournament. They beat their opponent by 40 points! That's what I like to see. I watched the game with some friends at Paddy O'quigley's sports bar. Most folks were busy celebrating St. Patty's day. I was most interested in the big screen and the basketball game. Near the end of the game I was amused by the sports announcers, they were running out of things to say. Obviously, the competition was over, but the game still had time on the clock. They were bringing up random statistics about the teams and players. They were chit-chatting about anything that came to mind. My team plays again tonight at 5pm. I'll be watching.