A beginning and an end.

A friend of mine just recently left for Iraq. It sounds normal enough, I mean most people know someone who has been deployed before. This person is especially close to me though, so this is a whole new experience for me. He'll be gone for a year, which to me is unfathomable. To think he will be in a desert thousands of miles away, across the whole ocean from me for twelve months or longer is just strange. I heard from him two days after he left and all is well where he is so I am not worried. I know he's in God's hands anyway and no worrying on my part will change the course of his life. So this is just the beginning of a long year for him, and probably for me as well.

But where there is a beginning there is always an end, or maybe not always, but sometimes, like right now. I finished my Senior Honors Thesis last week and all of my committee members agreed to sign it, which means it's approved and I'm finished! I will be taking a trip up to Liberty on Wednesday to have my committee sign it and have it printed and bound. After all this, three months of research and writing, 32 pages later, I still have to pay eleven dollars for each copy I want bound. It was worth it though, I am proud of my work and glad to be done. A lot of people never thought it would happen, but my family and a few of my friends encouraged me along the way and it's really finished this time. So, that's a weight off of my shoulders. I never looked forward to the end of something as much as I did with this thesis.

Another beginning - student teaching. That starts September first with a planning week and then students start September 8th, my mother's birthday. I still can't believe that someone thought I was old enough and smart enough to be in charge of other people's children. I feel somewhat qualified, but I am also scared to death. It's going to be a challenging, intimidating, maybe even life-threatening experience, but I know I will love it more than anything I have ever done. Writing lesson plans and syllabi is even fun to me. So this beginning is more exciting than the first one mentioned, but it's still a bit scary, as I assume all beginnings are.

So all things considered, beginnings and endings, life is changing for me. I look forward to the changes and know that God has prepared me for them all, no matter how frightening they seem now.