Sundays

I'm loving Sundays. We have been going to the early service at church which is great because we actually get to bust out the hymnals and the service feels a little more structured to me. Then we come home and watch football, which is fun because it's on all day and I get to pick-and-choose which game I want to watch. On the games I don't care about- I do homework, clean, and get ready for the week. At some point I am able to pull Jake away from the TV and we walk out to the park that's behind our apartments and we play football. Mostly we play catch, but sometimes I ask Jake to teach me plays and we attempt to execute them. I have pretty bad hands, so we practice passing plays a lot so I can get better. I also think I'm better when I have some competition because I stop caring about whether or not it's going to hurt if I catch the ball wrong.

Back to church-related things... I really love the character of God. I mean, I know to most of you that seems pretty obvious. However, what you don't know is that seminary has been a really weird season of my life spiritually so it's a pretty big deal when I talk about how great God is. I especially love Sundays because I am constantly reminded about God's character. I'm starting to get tugs about reading my Bible, and I am convinced that I will be able to do that regularly again soon (without the deep sense of bitterness). God is good. All the time.

So can you see why Sundays are so great?

The dream.

Last night I had a bad dream. Most of it was ok (like me playing softball for my dad and he put me in left field and I gave him a weird look, finding out that my brother was now my softball team's recruiter for that particular college, having my car stolen but I found it).

However, the very end of my dream was not ok. I had been on the phone with a 911 emergency woman talking about the car theft when she asked me a question to which I didn't know the answer. I called for Jake to ask him, but he was driving a car with 3 passengers and only slowed the car a bit before giving up because he couldn't hear me. All of a sudden I saw him speed up a ridiculous amount and I realized he was trying to beat a train that he hadn't noticed before when he was trying to hear my question. As he passed by I immediately started bawling thinking that I had just seen my husband mauled to death.

When I woke up I was crying and I woke Jake up to have him prove that he wasn't dead. I also called my dad to make sure he hadn't really been hijacked since he had been in my dream.

I don't really know what triggered this dream, but it's in dreams like this one that I remember absolutely how much I love my family. The counselor in me also knows that I should pay attention to the emotions I have and the things I think about when I wake up from a dream, because usually that it related or triggered my dream. When I woke up, I had a flashback to Joel and Pam's accident. I want all of Jake's family to know how much I love you guys. You mean more to me than you know!

And Mark and Lisa, happy anniversary! I'm really glad that you fell in love. :)

Hiking

So you may not know, but I sprained my ankle two weeks ago right as Jake and I were about to start a long hike. I felt a heck of a lot better after the initial wave of pain, and was really hoping to keep hiking. Of course I didn't get to though because, well, I sprained my ankle. I also didn't want to push it because I knew we had a softball tournament the next week that I needed to be ok for.

Today we went back to the place where we were going to hike two weeks ago. I can now officially say that there is no way that I would have been able to do that hike with a sprained ankle. I mean, my ankle is still swollen some today but it's way better, and that hike was exhausting- I think we were gone for almost 2.5 hrs and there was lots of steep up and downhill portions. It was fantastic. We saw deer up close, a snake, chipmunks, hummingbirds, and some pretty wicked sweet scenery. Plus, we just got to be outside. Fun stuff!

Germans rule.

On Monday Jake and I volunteered to run the food closet on campus. While we were there, the person who is generally in charge of the food closet told us that someone had donated a couple of huge boxes of Boulder sausage and that anyone could take it that wanted it. The problem was, if you wanted it then you had to take the whole box.

We now have 10-lbs of Boulder sausage. 10 lbs! My gosh. We need friends to give some of it to, because I remember the last time we thought buying 5 lbs of pepperoni would be a good idea. I'm pretty sure we still have 3.5 lbs of pepperoni in our freezer. I don't want to have 10 lbs of sausage for the next 10 months. Although I really do like sausage. Yep, I'm German.

Birthdays and Personality Disorders

Today was my dad's birthday. I still haven't talked with him yet, which is sad. I tried calling him this evening, but didn't reach him so I left a message. Then I tried calling him again twice more later in the evening, but to no avail. So now I have no idea how his day has been.

It's not like it's completely his fault. I mean yes, he hasn't answered even though I've called 3 times...

But I didn't call until this evening. I'd like to say that I had a really busy day and so I didn't really get a chance to call until then. Except that that would sort of be lying. I had internship all morning, but then all afternoon... I watched episodes of The Office. Jake got a free trial period of Netflix, so I've been watching The Office constantly. Jake and I never saw the show from the beginning, so I started at the first episode and am now in the second or third episode of the 3rd season. I think there were 6 episodes in the first season, and about 22 in the second season. Go ahead. Calculate. Make fun of me in your head. I'm obsessed. But it's mostly because I've been so interested in how things came about. I know things later on in the seasons but don't know the progression.

I also liked diagnosing Michael Scott.

It's official.

He has narcissistic personality disorder.

Check the DSM-IV-TR.

I know I did.

So Popasan, sorry I didn't call you until late this evening. I kinda got wrapped up in a little world called The Office. But you're still way cool, and I hope you had a great birthday.

Syllabi= freak out.

Ok, so I'll be honest. This post is probably going to be a bit boring and annoying because I'm whining. It's just that I need to write something to try to help myself calm down. I've seen my syllabi for two of my classes, and I have already cried quite a bit. I sat down and tried to figure out logistically what my weeks will look like and when I'm going to have time to study & do homework. There's seriously not much at all. Here's what it will look like.

Mondays I will have most of the day to study. That will be nice, but I'm going to have to find ways to split up my time because I tend to not do well with large chunks of time. Monday nights I have a 3 hour class.

Tuesdays I will have internship from 9-7

Wednesdays I will have internship from 9-11:30, and class from 12-5. Apparently I'll do homework that night.

Thursdays I have internship from 10-1, free time for homework, and then internship again from 4:30-7

Fridays I have internship from 9-5

Saturdays I will study for Comps with my friend Lisa (although it's supposed to be a culmination of a week of studying, not my only study time for the week)

Sundays I will have church and watch football. And probably do homework.

I'm not looking forward to it. I'm most worried about Comps and the NCE exam. Pam, how in the world did you have a kid, move into a house, open your business, and graduate all around the same time? I'm just freaking out about school! Anyone have any good advice as to how to stop freaking out and take one day at a time?

Lotsa pics

I haven't blogged in a long time. Want to know what's been going on? I've been having a blast with family and friends that I love. It's been awesome. In fact, I am completely dreading August 31st... the day school starts up again. Here's what it will be like:

Internship 4 days a week

3 classes (one of which is going to be completely ridiculous in the reading department)

2 hugely important exams

Football (gotta have something fun!)

Ok, so it doesn't sound as bad on paper than it does in my head right now, but it's going to probably be the hardest semester I've had. Jake and I are already trying to plan a two week vacation after the semester is over, because I'm going to need it. Plus, it will be the last time I have complete freedom. After that, hopefully I will find a job.

So, here are some pictures of the past couple of weeks that have been absolutely wonderful.

Gabriel at my parents' house after swimming

My brother and me after lunch at Perkins. I won a free cookie- go me!

Waiting for Justin's rehearsal to get going

My good lookin' man on Justin's wedding day

The Central crew

Matt came to visit. We went to a Rockies-Cubs game. Can you tell who won by Matt's expression? :)

Can you tell they love each other?

When Lisa, Jase, and #8 came to visit, we went to Wash Park