Yes, it was sweet eutrophication

My last final-exam is complete! I'm a free man, now, with 12 graduate credits under my belt! All of my exams went really well, praise God. I hope to see all of you soon. For now, I have to go. Really, I had too much coffee today!

Sweet eutrophication

Any of you who listen to Shane and Shane recall the song "Sweet Illumination"? I've been singing that song all week with the words "Sweet eutrophication". Eutrophication is the process that occurs when excess nutrients, light, and high temperatures couple together to increase productivity (population size and rate of increase) of algae, phytoplankton (suspended algae) and macrophytes (plants) in a water body. So, sweet eutrophication!

I'm headed to Chicago tommorrow. Josh, Nina and I will spend three days in the city and on Tuesday we're off for Door County, Wisconsin for a little camp out! We'll be keepin' warm in a little tent and sleeping bags rated for the chilly temps out in Peninsula State Park! Pray for us, please! We're driving home to Champaign on Thursday, and the following day I'm driving to Kansas!

I'll be spending Christmas eve w/ my Dad and stepmom, and driving to T-town that evening. The foolowing week I'll be in Topeka. For now, it looks like Dad and I will be traveling to New Hampshire the first week of January. I'm to help him w/ some work he's doing w/ a vendor in Manchester. I'll be back for six or so days of the second week of January to spend more time w/ friends and family. I hope to see all of you during that time!

Isn't she so cute? It's my lil' girly...

Here is my baby...

31P-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy applied to sediment extracts!

Birthday on Ice

We were blessed w/ about 6 inches of snow yesterday afternoon! It made travel a little crazy, but praise God for those bus drivers! I made it to Nina's via bus for our Bible study and B-day celebration for Josh H. and Austin (Dwayne stood in for Austin in his absence). Check out the pick!

Dwayne (left), Josh H., and me.

Working hard for what I get for free

I listened to a lecture last night on the Supremacy of Christ over Ethnic Suffering. It was a difficult presentation to understand, mostly because I haven't thought about this type of persecution that much. One thing I did pull away from it is that I often become jealous for the affection of others. For example, I love to be the center affection of Pastor Joe in Topeka - to be looked upon highly as one who "gets it" and is "growing" and "loving Christ". When others are relationally close to him, I become jealous and discouraged. Is not being children of the Most High privilege enough? It's very sickening to think about this; who will save me from this body of death? Praise be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, he is risen!

Holiday Inn

The Holidays have rolled in once again, and you know what that means??? Go ahead and guess... TONS of tests, projects and papers!

I have one project left complete, praise the Lord! Hydrology, check; Aquatic Ecosystems, check; NRES orientation, check; Stats, check; Special project ~ uh oh!

Last Thursday in hydrology we had what is called a poster presentation. Each student had to put together a research poster for their project. What I'm coming to find is that verbal communication can be much more clear than reading a paper. In my paper, I know all the lingo, how the processes I'm describing work together, but having to orally express those things is a different venture. It's a wonderful way to learn the material, though.

I road my bike to school this beautiful, 18 degree day. I was bundled up like that little kid on the Christmas Story. It was dang hillarious and I'm positive my blue, yellow and red hat turned some heads. While my nose was cold, the rest of my body stayed quite warm. Let me put in a pump here for Cabela's Winter Parkas - high quality and reasonable price; they'll keep anyone warm while riding through college campuses all accross the midwest!

I attended my first Illini basketball game on Monday. We beat up on Arkansas-Little Rock, something like 189 to 16, I think, but don't quote me. Dwayne, Sarah, Josh, Austin and I sat together and kept some pretty lively coversation - everything from Sabbath keeping to God electing to take on *Godforesakenness* and *Divine Wrath* through the atonement. I wonder what the people in front of us were thinking! I'm giving up my ticket for tommorrow's game against Georgetown to David. I've got Bible study, which I don't want to miss! Oh... I'm leading our Bible study in prayer for the campus at next weeks meeting!

After finals get out on the 17th, Josh, Nina and I are driving to Chicago! We'll spend Saturday, Sunday and Monday in the city and then head to Devil's Lake national park! Yep, that's right, we're gonna do some Winter camping. Pray for us!

I love and miss all of you!

Burry

It's cold in IL. The cold isn't just mocking us, it is gingerly accompanied by snow. Tried to drive through an ice storm to Chicago last night. God put a stop to it, but kept us safe in our trying. Made it about 20 miles North of town and had to turn back. One 150 yard stretch of highway had about 10 cars off of the road.

Kansas sunrises are better than Illinoisian ones.














November is over. I'm finished growing facial hair. So, too, are the guys.

I basically see two sides to the gospel story. There's the one side that has us claiming that there is one who has come and has made a way. There is one who has showed up on the scene and has kept the law on our behalf and proclaiming his coming is one side of that gospel coin. Then there is the side that we often neglect and that is the proclamation of his kingdom coming also.
~Derek Webb