A Brief Catch-Up

The last few weeks have been crazy, but I have emerged victorious... or at least I have emerged with my life. Either way, the stress has let up for a few days at least.

Last Thursday (August 9), I spent many hours in a computer lab, taking the Ancient and Medieval portions of my comprehensive exams. I spent the entire summer studying for this exam, and I feel like I passed. After investing so much time and energy, it just feels good to be done. Hopefully I'll still feel good about them when I get the grades back. Between that and the Harry Potter release party (I finished the book that Saturday evening), my life hasn't had much excitement up until that time.

After the completion of the comps, the test-takers went to Health Camp for a supper of hamburgers and milkshakes. Jess and I followed that with a trip to see The Simpsons Movie. I highly recommend it. I don't remember that last time I laughed so hard.

On Friday, my wonderful wife and I went to San Antonio for a belated over-night celebration of our one year anniversary. Our anniversary had been the previous Sunday, but due to comps, we stayed in town and she cooked a delicious meal while we had our cake. Our time in San Antonio was a nice break from the busy lives we had been living lately. We visited the Alamo and spent some time on the Riverwalk. On Saturday we visited Market Square before coming back to Waco.

This brings us today. I helped some friends move in, and in a bit, I'll be going with a friend to pick up Madden 08. I'm getting my copy at Best Buy tomorrow morning, but it'll be fun nonetheless. Tomorrow (and the rest of the week for that matter) will be spent with Madden and Michael Polanyi. I've been meaning to sit down and read through Personal Knowledge for some time, so I figure now is as good of time as any! I should also work on my paper I'm presenting at a conference in November.

With a new school year starting next week, I've done a little bit of thinking today about how different things look this year. A year ago, Jess and I were loading up the truck to make our trek down to Waco. We had been married for only 8 days, and Jess had no idea where she would get a job. I was trying to decide what classes to take, while having a good idea what I would do a dissertation on. We didn't really know anyone down here and all we had were each other. Now, we're helping other people unload trucks, we've been married a year, we know our way around here, Jess has a job, I know my classes, although I don't know what my dissertation will be on. More importantly, we've made some roots in Waco. We've met lots of great people and have made some great friends. We've found a church that we feel at home in. The best part of it all is that we still have each other.

Late night/early morning thoughts...

It's quite late here in Waco, but I'm still up. The German translations had to be done, so I stayed up. Now I'm letting them set in a bit before looking at them again before bed, as there is a quiz tomorrow over the vocab in the sentences.

My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on Monday. I feel so blessed to have parents that have exemplified to me a good marriage. The whole family is meeting up in Tennessee in about 3 weeks for vacation and to celebrate the big anniversary! When I think about the fact that Jess and I have been married for a little more than 10 months, 30 years seems so far away. Between now and then, I have no idea what will happen, but the possibilities are exciting for sure!

The decision to do a five-week intensive German class while trying to study for my first set of comprehensive exams will not rank among my best decisions of all time. I'm just hoping to still have hair left when this summer is done!

Jess and I recently became members at our church down here. It's a baptist church... so I guess that means we're baptists now. However, we're a part of the CBF (Central Baptist Fellowship), not the Southern baptists. Our church has really been a blessing to us as we've been down here. I like to describe it as the church home I always longed for but never believed existed. It is quite liturgical, following the church calender and the lectionary, while incorporating moments of silence, the ringing of the bells, responsive readings, Scripture readings, and the passing of the peace of Christ to name a few.

The word from the insurance company is that we'll get our car back by June 30th. That is exciting.

I went on a bit of a spree this afternoon while taking a break from reading. On Tuesday, iTunes adds the new releases to their store, so I was browsing through it. As I was browsing, I stumbled upon an album from a CCM artist, which led me down many rabbit trails in my trip down memory lane. In addition to the purchases I made, I looked at songs by Bryan Duncan, Bob Carlisle, Wes King, Gary Chapman, Al Denson and others. I ended up buying two songs: "Save the World" by Eric Champion and "I Surrender All" by Clay Crosse. The first song takes me back to high school and the positive affiliations I make with this song. The second song is one of my favorite CCM songs as a song of personal commitment, although I must say I prefer my brother Jared's rendition of it.

Surrender is something that isn't easy for me, but something that I recognize the need for more and more in my life. To what or whom do I need to surrender? My wife? God's will? Love? God Himself? I think some of those answers are better than others... and some of those answers aren't necessarily different.

Ok, I think the scatteredness should come to an end now, but maybe sometime soon I'll get a solid, cohesive post that actually says something interesting!