Graduate School

After a long and arduous 2.5 weeks of orientation, I am about to begin graduate school. At which point I am sure that I will think that the orientation was a breeze. Classes are supposed to start on Wednesday, but my first class was cancelled. I am sure that I will be doing lots and lots of reading. The master's reading list is four pages long, and once I am done with my master's, I will hopefully be able to embark on my Ph.D., for which I will have another long list of books to read.

Being married has been wonderful. Nicole and I have been up in Lexington, KY, for a few weeks and have been trying to get settled. We still have the condo in Nashville which we are trying to sell, so we are in a tiny one bedroom apartment. Hopefully it will sell quickly so that we can start looking for something up here. We have also been church hunting. It has been somewhat difficult because people are so nice and friendly everywhere. We have been going to North Lexington coC for the last couple weeks, and that seems to be really good. I will actually be participating in a fantasy football league with a couple of them.

So I guess since I am doing graduate school in Hispanic Studies, the title of this blog can still be Como se dice...

Today I did not go to the Chapel in the Benson. I heard that Jimmy Allen spoke and (I think this comes from Tom Sawyer) made it seem as if the number of 'the elect' or 'the predestined' was growing smaller and smaller.

Anyway, I went to the Foreign Language Department chapel. I had heard there was a great speaker. Just kidding. I was the speaker. It was suggested to me that I talk about II Timothy 4:7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Therefore, instead of telling any of my running stories involving things like Vatican guards, running into walls, passing people at mile 22, etc, I spoke about one of my favorite people in the Bible: Elijah. He was a great runner. Outran a chariot. Ran for his life and escaped an entire country and ran through a second (Israel and Judah). Then went all the way to the bottom of the Sinai Peninsula. At one point he asked to die. It seemed as if he lost his faith. But at Mt. Horeb, God restored him to his ministry.

The spring semester is wrapping up. It is dead week right now. We are finishing this course. I am in the process of ending several races/courses. I am finishing up this semester and next fall I will be going to the University of Kentucky in Lexington to be a student again in a doctoral program. Also, I am going to finish up the race of being single. I am getting married in less than four weeks. Hopefully I will fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith.

Hopefully you can do that as well. And that you are still among the now infinitesimally small elect.

Bible Study

I really enjoy it when I discover things. Next time you see me, you should ask me about Job, as in the book of the Bible.

A new year has started. A new semester has started.

So far I have really been enjoying this year. I am enjoying the classes that I have. The language labs are going to start this coming week. I have been applying to grad schools, and hopefully that will go well. I should probably pray more about that and in general.

Right now Nicole is in Tanzania. In the shadow of Kilimanjaro. She went with her dad and another guy from the church that she grew up at. They were checking up on several different things in both Kenya and Tanzania. Although they are doing good work over there, I am excited that we will get to see each other again in not too long. And that she is coming to Searcy. And that we have four months and a day. That is something else that I need to pray about more.

I pray that God blesses your lives.

_W_

So the semester is almost over. We are reviewing this week and final examening next week.



I really need to submit all my grad school applications. I should have already done that.



For a long time, Nicole and I have lived in at first different countries and lately different cities. However, soon that will be ending. After finals, we will be in the same city (except when she goes to Kenya). We will be in Nashville during Christmas. She is coming to Searcy next semester after returning from Kenya. It will be good to not have to travel so far to hang out with her.

168?

_W_

Having been nearly a month since I last posted anything, I decided that it was well past due. I don't feel as if I have any really imporant things to report. I have done a lot of travelling over recent weekends, both for coaching Ultimate and visiting Nicole. This weekend my plan is to stay in Searcy. I hope to get in a lot of good ultimate in on Saturday. Also, hopefully I will be able to get ahead in all of my class planning activities.

Much to the chagrin of people like Luke Dockery and possibly Justin Bland (though he definitely would have been included in a similar point), but at the past tournament, which was the weekend after pledge week, we had an all TNT point. Handling we had Peter Jordan, Whit Jordan, and Will Woodruff. The cutters were Tyler Samuel, Ryan Rummage, Bryant Bumpus, and Jackson McDaniel. It was awesome. Too bad we did not have Justin Bland or Josh Murphy to join us (I will not mention people who are still at Harding but no longer play).

Yay Tennessee Titans!
Not so much Tennessee Vols.

193

_W_

Last Friday, October 10th, I proposed to Nicole, and she said yes!

We were at one of the Warner Parks (where we went during our first date) and hooked the swings together with a caribeener. We hung out and talked for a while, and eventually I read I Corinthians 13. Then we prayed. Then I knelt and asked. Probably not the most romantic thing ever, but she said yes.