first, i want to preface, that as a young married wife, without kids (for now), and in school, i've had more freetime than i've had in a longtime. and yes, i am relishing it!! probably because i know good things must come to an end at some point. but for now, i don't have to wake up at 5:50am to commute anywhere, i don't have a classroom of kids waiting at my door, and i can choose how to spend my time... (hopefully god grants me wisdom to spend it wisely)
This is what I do. in no particular order:
As a wife, I have the privilege of taking care of my husband. through his unpredictable schedule, I cook meals, keep a clean house (although josh still does his fair share of chores), shop, laundry, host friends, (post blogs), etc. all that stuff. if you're a wife, you know what i'm talking about. i think the main thing is having good meals for josh everyday- but i love cooking, so it's not a burden. onto other things...
we get to share in ministry together, so we're both pretty heavily involved in church, fellowship, etc. i've been leading up our young adult 20s/30s ministry 'transitions'
Going home to chicago is rarely a 'social' visit for me. I help out with wheatonbrace, a pediatric orthopedics product company that my parents started. (in my hometown, wheaton, IL). if you see kids with clubfoot or hip dysplasia, you can check to see if the baby is wearing a brace or harness designed by my parents. i run into those kids every once in awhile... or if you use slings, arch supports, bunion braces, or knee immobilizers, it might be from us. pretty cool, huh? so yeah. going home is usually work at the office. i'm learning how to run a business, and it has its own challenges. i'm not a businesswoman, but it's in the family, so i learn.
There's always something up in the air. Recently, I volunteered at ARIS (african refugee and immigrant services) to help out with a weekly cooking class and write a program evaluation over the course of the semester. This spring, I was hired by the dept of education to grade portfolios for undergrad students - basically, grading nearly 200 essays that seniors (pre-service teachers) needed to pass for certification and graduation. never before have i read so many essays about behavioral management, communication, assessment, and professionalism...
I recently finished my Ph.D. classes at SLU. Most of my colleagues work full time (principals, lawyers, teachers, speech pathologists), but since I had more time, I pretty much whipped through my classes. I need to take a comprehensive exam in the fall, and complete two ongoing projects before finishing my degree:
1. doctoral residency - i am interviewing undergrad students in the area who are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants with experience in U.S. public schools K-12. this is a smaller-scale project that gathers qualitative data about immigrants' school experiences: prejudice, language adaptation, social/structural realities, and barriers and/or faciliators to adjustment. this project involves getting IRB (institutional review board) approval since i'm using human subjects - much like "hippa" for you medical people, interviews, transcriptions, and lots of paperwork. that's the not-so-fun part about research, but you learn a lot through it.
2. dissertation - i don't want to 'publish' anything online yet, since this study is still in the works, but i can give you some vague details. i'm hoping to work with Teach for America to study cross-cultural (language, race, class, gender) challenges for new teachers, culturally-responsive teaching, links to academic achievement, dynamics of the urban classroom, and how these teachers perceive, understand, and navigate such challenges. my passion for this subject has really grown out of a lot of my life experiences - starting way back to when i was a child with questions of ethnic identity, exposure to multiethnicity and a heart for racial reconciliation at northwestern, and my three years of teaching in the inner city of houston with tfa... not to mention all my Ph.D. classes, readings, and projects/papers in the past 18 months that have focused on racial and cultural dynamics involved in the schooling process. this project is a bit more weighty, in that, well... i want to make a difference. i believe in what teach for america is doing, and i can at least tell the world that it changed me. (not a doctor, nope, not me!) but more than my profession, it gave me something to work towards. the problems of urban education are never going to go away, but what can we do? how will immigrant students change the face of urban education in 5 years? 10 years? how can multicultural education inform teachers, transform curriculum, and effect social change? what kind of conceptual framework do we need to give teachers so that they will be prepared and equipped for an increasingly diverse population of sutdents? i could go on forever. maybe i should save this for another entry... but anyway, this is my project. literature reviews, collecting data, a couple hundred pages of written dissertation, oral defense, publications, presentations... haha. it's a good thing i like academia.
i think these are the major things that are in my life right now. of course, things change.. jobs, passions, people, places... but for now, hopefully this helps answer the question. of course, this entry doesn't really answer the question of who i am, but certainly, these things probably contribute in some way.
Yay for Mike & Lyds!
these guys couldn't get enough... 
more of our last week in taiwan when we get home - see you all back in the states!!