Just Call Me "Master Gillis"

Well, I have finally accomplished one of my major life goals. I have now earned my Master of Science Instructional Technology (MSIT) degree this month. I started this journey in June of 2005. I had planned to finish within two years, but life does not always go as planned. I completed one summer of 12 hours of classes, and the following spring, we suffered our first devastating miscarriage. The following summer, I was not up to school fulltime mentally. The following winter, we suffered our second miscarriage, and our money was going towards medical testing, my shots, and doctor visits. I didn't want to go into debt, so I took some more time off. Well, fortunately we found out we were expecting again in May of 2007 and was put on "couch" rest. That eliminated any ideas of going to school that summer, but I was NOT complaining. At this point, I was really questioning whether or not it was God's will in the first place to have even started this degree. Finally, Rowe was nearly six months old when I finally returned to school in the summer of 2008. It was tough going to school 9 hours and having a new baby. Fortunately, my mom was there to make it all possible for me. I could not have done any of this without her! I went back to school the following summer of 2009 with 12 hours of classes. This was a tough summer academically filled with projects, papers, and lots of hard work. I finished the summer, and decided to take my last class during this fall. I didn't want to wait until next summer, and I am so glad I chose this fall to finish. I loved my night class and classmates. I had a great fall semester thanks to my husband helping with Rowe on Monday nights, my parents for helping also, Kay who was my class partner, Jan that helped me get through comps and lots of prayer and studying.

When I say that I am excited to have graduated, I mean it!!! This time in my life was more than just classes, but was a journey for my whole family.

Now if I can only convince my students to call me Master Gillis! :)