Catching Up

It's been over a month since my last post. I can't remember when time flew by so fast...well, not entirely true, but I digress.

Anyway, a brief list of the goings-on of the past month:

• Called seminaries to inquire about starting in the spring/fall of 2011
• Applied to Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
  
• Was accepted and offered a great scholarship to Garrett for the Fall of 2010 (and let the games begin)
  
• Made 498,000 other phone calls to get details together: other financial aid, housing, health insurance, car payments & insurance stuff
• Facebooked friends in the Chicago area
  
• Moved a little under half of my "stuff" BACK to Mom and Dad's (THANKS Mom and Dad)
• Talked to lots of new people about my new adventure to seminary
• Defended my call to full-time ministry in various forms
  
• Took 3 different psychological assessments for UM Candidacy
• Experienced highs and lows regarding the big move to Evanston
• Participated in Local Mission Week with Aldersgate UMC Youth
• Watched God work and call to action a bold group of teenagers
• Wore myself OUT playing with kids, who I grew to love in about 8.6 seconds, in Mobile for 2 days
• Shared disappointment and joy with a few friends as we worked together in ministry
  
• Said a lot of goodbyes
• Encouraged a new friend to listen to God and be bold and watched her live that out
  
• Began to settle into a healthy dose of fear and peace

I want to blog more on Mission Week, and other experiences, and I will as I write for a couple of other things. I leave August 29th for Evanston, and I feel both anticipation and anxiety about the move. Orientation begins September 1st, and I am very excited and nervous. I've done the "starting grad school" thing before, and I KNOW this will be different, but I, true to form, still ask myself, "What if it isn't different?" In the midst of the crazy wonderfulness of the last month, I find myself constantly checking myself and asking, "Are you practicing what you're preaching?" Am I as faithful as I hope others to be? More on that to come.