Of Books and Learning

"Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body." Ecclesiastes 12:12b

You may have noticed that I have been kind of silent on this blog since my half marathon post about 4 weeks ago. Now is the time to explain what has been going on that has taken up so much of my time lately.

Over the past 4 years, I have been involved in a program that worked toward credits in a program of study that I enrolled in, a doctorate degree, through the school where I got my masters degree, in St. Louis, MO. I received 3 credits for each year, totaling up 12 as of last year.

This summer, since Carrie and I had some extra time, we decided that I should enroll and get some of my residency requirements taken care of. So early in April, I looked at the class listings and enrolled in a 6 credit seminar, and a 3 credit course at the school. The problem with enrolling in mid-April was that it left me with just about two months to get 4,500 pages read prior to the classes.

So, yes, a big part of my time the last few months was spent trying to get approximately 100 pages read each day. Now, those of you who know me well probably are thinking that this wasn't too big of a deal. After all, I love to read. But some of these books were rather dense reading, not allowing for quick reading.

Nevertheless, I completed all the reading assignments, and also got my 2 page review papers completed. Then, on June 20, I boarded a plane and took off for two weeks to attend the classes on campus. So for the last two weeks, I have been spending about 7 hours a day in class, and then the evenings doing any assignments that needed to be done for the next day.

But now I am back. However, the work is not finished. For the 6 credit seminar, I have a 40 page paper to write. For the 3 credit course, I have a 20 pager. So between now and the middle of September, I need to get both of these completed. In my mind, that's no problem at all.

So here's hoping you will be hearing from me a little more frequently now.