Wordless Picture of Great Friendship - Thanks Symet

Sabbath Lesson for Me

Well today's lesson as always was learned even before the pastor got up to speak.  It was the children's story.  The speaker spoke of telling the truth and how you cannot build relationships on stories (lies are what we adults call them). 

The second lesson was taught when the pastor did stand up.  He spoke of Samson and Delilah (Judges 13 - 16).  Samson was raised to be of service to God and Delilah was raised to be Samson's destruction.  He bought it home to me when he stated that God has a purpose in my life and Satan has a purpose for my life.  Decisions I make follow one of those purposes, I realize a few that I have been making were not following God"s .  Father give me the strength to follow the purpose you have for my life and the faith to believe you will do what you have promised. 

Wordless Friday Night Dinner

Quotable Quote

I was introduced to a running website this week in prep for my big triathlon in October.  They had the following quote on it and I thought I would share it.


“Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.”

-Woody Allen

Wordless Thursday

Wordless Sunday II

Wordless Sunday

Triathlon - Do you want to join me?

Well I have officially decided to prepare for my first triathlon. It has been something I have wanted to do for years ever since seeing the Ironman on television growing up.  I will be participating in the Lake Lanier Island Triathlon on Sunday, October 3rd.  A part of me is kind of scared to say that out loud or in writing what if I totally fail but then I am encouraged because my biggest challenger is me ( I am not racing against anybody but my previous time).  I just have to try and that is an accomplishment in itself.  So I will

Swim 400 yards then

Bike 13 miles then

Run 5 K then

thank God I finished!!!

Quotable Quote

Over the past year I have been introduced to a number of people who are pretty successful in their chosen fields.  And they each mentioned that when you reach a certain point in your career you will not apply for jobs, people will offer them to you without even an interview your reputation will proceed  you.  I think that is pretty awesome.  I look forward to that day.  I was on a blog that I follow and found the following quote that I thought worthy of sharing related to that idea.

"If you're really that good, other people will do your bragging for you."

The 3 Most Important Decisions of Your LIfe!

A friend of mine's parents have been staying with me during the 59th General Conference Session of Seventh-day Adventist being held here in Atlanta until July 3rd.  While Sunflowers and I were sitting down at the dining room table they returned from one of the meetings and the husband started talking about what he learned early in his life  - the three most important decisions you will make in your life.  I thought they were profound and I thought I would list them here.

1.  Give your heart to the Lord
2.  Decide on a vocation
3.  Attaining a wife or husband

He spoke of how the first would guide the second and third  The second is important to minimize drama when you attain the third.

Sabbath Lesson For Me!

On Sabbath the pastor went over the following text that i have been meaning to post but have not.  Ihave heard it a million times however it hit something within me on Sabbath

Psalms 27:4

One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

I just want to be with the Lord in the safety of arms, in the comfort of his presence and when it is all said in done I want to be saved.  My prayer is whatever it takes Lord save me that is my greatest desire!!!

Hello New Readers

It has come to my attention that I have a few new readers and I want to say hello and special shout out to Betsy Green!!!!!

MPH Experience Part 2

Well how do I start this post. We met with the Dean of Academic Affairs on Monday as a result of the email below:

I am very disappointed that you have chosen to reschedule our meeting for a second time in regards to the Applied Epidemiology course in which all three students failed and myself with a grade of F. It would seem as if this is very unimportant to you. I have received a failing grade in a course in which I did not earn and in which a teacher in your program failed to teach me and demonstrated a total disregard to teaching and a disdain for his students. I have been attempting to discuss this matter since May 6th. I have requested time off from my full time job twice for the prospect of getting this situation resolved before the start of my practicum. Out of respect for your request that we do not do anything until you meet with Dr. M on May 12th, we did not proceed further because you stated you would provide an update. We have asked for that update and have been ignored consistently. I feel unaware as to how to proceed and who to proceed with. I need someone to understand the predicament I am in academically, financially and emotionally and respond accordingly. Please advise.


This email was not written to her it was written to the Dean of my program, I copied her on it out of my frustration of not being taken seriously or a priority. She responded meeting with us during the previously scheduled time for our dean. She was poised, informative and articulate. Something I hope to be some day as a mature. I see why she has the position she has. I did not feel better after having met with her, if anything I felt worst about the possible outcome however, I did feel heard and that meant a lot to me. Diplomacy is priceless. The Assist Dean of AA did mention, on more than one occasion, that my Dean was very upset by the email above. I have re-read and asked a number of other people what they thought of the email and was it upset worthy. They all said no. They stated it was to the point and expressed my feelings regarding a very serious issue. I know I can be sharp with my words that is why I try to get others opinion before I send out potent emails. Let me know what you think!

I found it almost laughable that the Dean was upset by this email. I wonder does she realize I am UPSET receiving a grade that I did not earn and no one that is able to help me is helping or listening.
 
thanks Joseph for sending the deleted post!!!

MPH program Part 3

I know you are thinking part three where did part two go.  I know I know.  I was attempting to complete the edits that Sunflowers suggested and I deleted it instead.  Blogger did not ask me to confirm and the back key did not return the post so it is lost forever.  I have the email however I do not have the energy to recreate what I wrote prior to it.  One of the drawbacks of dating a lawyer is that they tend to edit everything meticulously that is why I know there was nothing wrong with the email that I sent.  But lets not get me started on that.  I just wanted to stop all the emails asking why I deleted the part two post.  Stay tuned still!!!!

P,S. If any of you printed it out feel free to send it to me and  I will repost it!!!

MPH Program Spring Semester Over Part 1

Well I have successfully finished my second semester at Morehouse. This semester I took the plunge and took 5 courses ; Environmental Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Research Methods, Intermediate Epidemiology and Applied Epidemiology, the grades were A, A, B, B and F. I know you are probably stuck on that F, I am too. Not because oh that is what I earned but ohhhhhhhh that is what the teacher decided to give me after a semester of crappy teaching and me calling him out on his crappy teaching. And the fact that there were three people in the class and the teacher gave the other two people C’s (which is still failing) and me an F out of his pure unadulterated disdain for all of us and his dislike of my outspokenness and my total disdain for crappy teaching at $500 a credit hour times 3. I am actually ok with it. Because the F does not speak to my ability or my worth however it speaks volumes about the teacher. No worries I know there are implications of the F, however we have submitted a formal complaint to the Dean which ironically before we knew our grade we had informed her of the crappy teaching and a semester of wasted time and long before that we voiced our concerns to our advisor. I am confident it will all work out. Stay tuned on that front.

All in all things are well and I am gearing up to working on my thesis this summer. I have been offered a part time research assistantship position for the summer skegee to work on cervical cancer. I am trying to see how I am going to work that into my life at the Food Bank. This assistantship has a few really cool benefits. The first being my thesis is focused on human papillomavirus (HPV) which is a sexually transmitted disease which is found in 90% of all cervical cancer patients.

Wordless Sabbath

The Bike

I finally got the bike that I have been wanting for a while.  It is a Globe 700 (a division of Specialized Bikes) step thru that I acquired from Outback Bikes in Little Five Points.   I have ridden it a few times today and I am committing to riding it once a day around the park across from my house, starting with one lap a day for a week and building up.  It will be my exercise routine.  My goal is to be physically fit and if that happens to turn into consistently weighing 140 pounds.  I will give all praise to God.  Below is the picture of my bike.  The only drawback to it I realized after I got it home, it does not have a kickstand.  And when I called back I informed the sales person that my bike did not have a kickstand and she informed me that it does not come with one and I asked how does it stand up and she said you lean it up against something or put it in a bike rack and I thought, are you serious you pay $400 to lean the bike up against something.  A kickstand cost $13, I will be getting one tomorrow!!!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!

This is a tribute to my mother who embodies the virtures of the Proverbs 31 woman.  Thank you for all the sacrifices you have made to raise me and the values you have given me that hope I live out in my everyday life.  Thank you for representing Christ to me before I know who He was for myself.  Happy Mother's Day!!!

I am still HERE!!!!

On Friday I was having an UGH moment or morning. I called the world's best psychologist and we had lunch.  Everyone should have a doctor, a lawyer and a psychologist on speed dial.  They are priceless!  I was able to talk over my concerns with my him and get some perspective which was greatly needed.  He told me what he sees in me professionally and personally ( please note part of having a psychologist and a friend in one they also tell you what they think).  It was reassuring and comforting I just have to make sure to get out of the way of my own future.

This was reinforced on Sabbath when Pastor John Boston spoke on topic  I am still here.  Coming from the story of Joseph and how his brothers sold him into slavery (Genesis 37).  His brothers were jealous of him.  Joseph shared his dreams with his brothers who began to hate him because they saw potential for greatness in him in through his dream that they were jealous of.  Pastor Boston went on to say sometimes other people/our enemies/our so called friends see potential in us that we do not see in ourselves and attempt to stop us from reaching it out of their own jealousy.   It is important for us to recognize and accept the call God has on our lives and be assured that what God has called you to become he has equiped to be. 

Now to bring what my psychologist said and what Pastor Boston preached and what I know the call God has on my life full circle that is brining me to my Sweet Spot.  I know I am destined to do something amazing to help people live better lives on this earth until Jesus returns and that I will perform it around the world.  and I  am going to get to do all of that with a man (my husband of course) that will continually sweep me off my feet as we both bow in thanksgiving to God! How awesome is that!!!

What does success look like?

I attended a Public Health Leadership Seminar as part of my MPH program on last Friday and a young man named Dustin Duncan, a Morehouse College Alumni and PhD doctoral student at Harvard University had this slide in his presentation (using with permission) that caused me to ask myself the following questions and they gave me an assurance that I am coming into my SWEET SPOT!!!

-What am I passionate about?  Inequalities in developing countries that result in poor health outcomes
-What can I be really good at?  Advocating for those that cannot speak
-What are indicators of success?  Making a lasting change that results in people that might not have had a favorable outcomes do because of some intervention I was able (by God's grace) to implement and doing it all around the world.