Well this is the last full week before school starts again. I'm excited to be starting my second year of school. I feel much more prepared now that i have seen how college works. I expect this year to be very different from the previous for several reasons: i have tougher classes, i have more experience and ABC now allows beards. Well, only the first two actually pertain to me. Up until this summer ABC did not allow facial hair except for a neatly trimmed moustache. I'm not sure what prompted the school to finally make this change but i know that all the students are reveling in their new found freedom. Nine out of ten of the ABC students i have seen so far have facial hair. I have seen chin straps, gotees, handle bars, bushy beards and every other variation already. I, however, stand out in the crowd because i still have to shave for work at Chick-fil-A. I keep envisioning myself sitting in class with a bunch of scruffy-faced young men, like one city boy lost in a crowd of Amish farmers. The facial hair isn't so bad, some guys look good, some look funny, but most i wouldn't want to meet in a back alley.
On a completely unrelated note, there is something that i simply must share. From time to time God puts events in our lives that cannot be kept to ourself; this is one of those events. This past Saturday Katie and I went to Charleston on a date. We ate at Red Lobster for the first time ever and then went shopping for a little while afterwards. At one point in the evening we found ourselves in Target looking at the mens clothes. While perusing their stylish garments i came upon a shirt that caught my fancy. It was a nice looking button up that i figured i could wear to class. When we looked at it closer i noticed it had some odd stitching on the chest. This puzzled Katie and I for a minute until we realized it was a woman's shirt. At first we thought someone had carried it over from the women's section and been too lazy to put it back where it belonged. But, then we realized that the other shirts were cut the same. Apparently some Target team member mistook the button ups for mens shirts and stocked a whole rack of womens clothes right in the middle of the mens department. Katie, being the responsible person she is, suggested we tell an employee so they could fix the situation. I, however, decided it would be better (or funnier, at least) if we left it the way it was for some unsuspecting guy to come along and try one on. That may sound mean but i assumed it would be a guy with a good sense of humor. After all, how many opportunities are there in life for someone to accidentally cross-dress.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Summer Comes To An End
The time has come for the summer to end, our summer at least. The past fews months have been really great for Katie and I. We have been able to spend a lot of time traveling and with family. It's over the summer that we realize how fortunate we are to have the jobs that we do. We have been able to leave whenever we need to and work whenever we need to. For all the throngs of readers who are wondering what exactly we did this summer, I give you our summer in review.
The school year ended back in the beginning of May. I finished up my remaining projects and crammed for finals in the last two weeks of spring semester. A time of highest rejoicing came when I completed my last final. However, this rejoicing was short lived when Katie and I decided we should try to squeeze forty plus hours in at work at the end of finals week. We overloaded on work because our first vacation was beginning the week after school ended and we didn't want to have to panic over our finances when we got back home. By the time our first vacation came, a cruise to the Bahamas, we were completely burnt out. I suppose there isn't a better time to be burnt out than right before a relaxing cruise but we still regretted taking on so much work. It took us a few days to get back into a normal sleep schedule but we enjoyed our cruise thoroughly. We were very excited to see a new culture in the Bahamas (Surprisingly, the Bahamas are barely different from Baltimore).
After our cruise we spent some time in Baltimore with family before heading back to Beckley. Originally we had plans to leave for a Chick-fil-A grand opening in Fairfax, VA the week after we got back. But after remembering the week before the cruise we decided we should stay home for a little and take it easy. At the end of our trip home when we were driving down our street we saw a car for sale a few houses up the road from us. By this time our cars were giving us untold troubles and we were in need of a new ride. Long story short, the man selling the car was on staff for the school and offered us a great deal. I had to learn how to drive a manual but Katie and I are now th proud owners of a 2003 Volkswagen Passat.
We decided to spend the fourth of July at home so my family came to visit. We invited some of the other married students and had a little cookout at our house. We had planned to have a bonfire but some rain changed that plan. Instead, we roasted marshmallows with our little grill on the back porch in the rain.
The weekend after the Fourth of July we made a trip back up to Baltimore. By this time we were really missing the city. We visited all our favorite stores and did more window shopping than anything. That Sunday night I had the opportunity to preach at Grace Pointe Baptist Church in Chase. Katie and I were very excited about this opportunity because we could finally see if I learned anything during my first year of school. I was very happy to share the message God had laid on my heart and the response was a blessing. Interestingly, I was given the opportunity to preach the same message at Freedom Baptist in Virginia that Wednesday night. This whole trip turned out to be a huge blessing for us this summer, I was very grateful for the preaching opportunities.
We returned home to work for a few more weeks until our final trip of the summer to America's Keswick in Whiting, New Jersey. Keswick is a Christian retreat/conference center that Katie's family has been going to for many years. This was my second year going but I love it to death. On most vacations you go home more tired than when you left but Keswick is truly relaxing for us. After Keswick we stayed a few more days in Baltimore to spend time with family.
Now we are back home, working full time until the school year starts. At the beginning of summer I didn't even want to think about school anymore. But, over these last few months God has restored my desire to learn and given Katie and I much needed rest. I'm excited to be starting my second year of school at Appalachian Bible College. The word around campus is that this is supposed to be my hardest year. That makes me both nervous and excited. Nervous, because I obviously have a hard task ahead of me. Excited, because I love a good challenge and if I get through this year then it's all down hill after that. As we return to a somewhat regular schedule we hope to provide everyone with more regular updates. While you wait for our next post, please keep us in your prayers.
The school year ended back in the beginning of May. I finished up my remaining projects and crammed for finals in the last two weeks of spring semester. A time of highest rejoicing came when I completed my last final. However, this rejoicing was short lived when Katie and I decided we should try to squeeze forty plus hours in at work at the end of finals week. We overloaded on work because our first vacation was beginning the week after school ended and we didn't want to have to panic over our finances when we got back home. By the time our first vacation came, a cruise to the Bahamas, we were completely burnt out. I suppose there isn't a better time to be burnt out than right before a relaxing cruise but we still regretted taking on so much work. It took us a few days to get back into a normal sleep schedule but we enjoyed our cruise thoroughly. We were very excited to see a new culture in the Bahamas (Surprisingly, the Bahamas are barely different from Baltimore).
After our cruise we spent some time in Baltimore with family before heading back to Beckley. Originally we had plans to leave for a Chick-fil-A grand opening in Fairfax, VA the week after we got back. But after remembering the week before the cruise we decided we should stay home for a little and take it easy. At the end of our trip home when we were driving down our street we saw a car for sale a few houses up the road from us. By this time our cars were giving us untold troubles and we were in need of a new ride. Long story short, the man selling the car was on staff for the school and offered us a great deal. I had to learn how to drive a manual but Katie and I are now th proud owners of a 2003 Volkswagen Passat.
We decided to spend the fourth of July at home so my family came to visit. We invited some of the other married students and had a little cookout at our house. We had planned to have a bonfire but some rain changed that plan. Instead, we roasted marshmallows with our little grill on the back porch in the rain.
The weekend after the Fourth of July we made a trip back up to Baltimore. By this time we were really missing the city. We visited all our favorite stores and did more window shopping than anything. That Sunday night I had the opportunity to preach at Grace Pointe Baptist Church in Chase. Katie and I were very excited about this opportunity because we could finally see if I learned anything during my first year of school. I was very happy to share the message God had laid on my heart and the response was a blessing. Interestingly, I was given the opportunity to preach the same message at Freedom Baptist in Virginia that Wednesday night. This whole trip turned out to be a huge blessing for us this summer, I was very grateful for the preaching opportunities.
We returned home to work for a few more weeks until our final trip of the summer to America's Keswick in Whiting, New Jersey. Keswick is a Christian retreat/conference center that Katie's family has been going to for many years. This was my second year going but I love it to death. On most vacations you go home more tired than when you left but Keswick is truly relaxing for us. After Keswick we stayed a few more days in Baltimore to spend time with family.
Now we are back home, working full time until the school year starts. At the beginning of summer I didn't even want to think about school anymore. But, over these last few months God has restored my desire to learn and given Katie and I much needed rest. I'm excited to be starting my second year of school at Appalachian Bible College. The word around campus is that this is supposed to be my hardest year. That makes me both nervous and excited. Nervous, because I obviously have a hard task ahead of me. Excited, because I love a good challenge and if I get through this year then it's all down hill after that. As we return to a somewhat regular schedule we hope to provide everyone with more regular updates. While you wait for our next post, please keep us in your prayers.
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