Ready

I think I am ready. It is amazing to me (I use that word way too much) that it has been six years since I graduated from UCLA and four since I graduated from Fuller. Where has the time gone? Well, part of it went to falling in love with and marrying Joseph, part of it went to the joy of newlywed life and part of it went to getting pregnant and having an exceptionally wonderful little Mercy. Now that I'm staring thirty in the face, I'm really thinking about some advice that my dad gave us before we left for Georgia: "Develop a five-year plan". Wow, a five-year plan? I don't even really have a one-month plan other than finding a place to work, a place to live and praising God for another day. But my dad is right! When I think about where I want to be in five years or in ten years, it sort of makes my mind spin. Mercy will eventually be older and in school and if we do have another child, that one will follow suit. Which means that at some point, I will have an empty house from 8 am to 3 pm every day. Wow! To have time to myself ... whatever will I do? So, I've been asking myself what it is that I really want to do and the thing that keeps coming up over and over again is how much I enjoyed my time at UCLA reading, writing and studying English Literature. So, here is the five year plan that seems to be forming. I am going to apply to Georgia State University's PhD program in Creative Writing. It is one of only eight in the country, including Vanderbilt in Nashville which I had originally considered when we thought we would be moving there. The five- year goal is to be finished with coursework and working on my thesis and the ten-year goal is to be completely finished with my PhD and working as a professor either at the junior college or university level. It's very scary to declare this on my blog in such a public way because I am notorious for talking and not doing. However, I've gotten in touch with the director of the program and plan on going out to GSU next week to check out the campus and find out more about the program, application process, etc. It's scary because of the time, money and effort it will take to finish a program like this but I feel like I owe it to my husband whom I'm always telling to get out there and follow his dreams, my daughter for whom I want to set an example and myself. I have wanted to teach for a very long time at the college level and if I can systematically take the steps to do that over the next ten-year period, I will head into my forties with expectation and enthusiasm for my professional life. Please pray for stamina in the application process and wisdom as to whether or not this is a good long-term goal.