First day of seminary!

Okay, I'm exhausted. And I've been imbibing a bit of wine. So I don't feel like writing an essay, buuut, I thought I'd post some fun pictures.

Also - I wanted to share - we officially got approved for an apartment today!!! We move in Sept. 21st. :) Yay!

The following is my day in pictures:

Shhh. Don't wake the sleeping beauties. I had to get up really early. 

I had just arrived at Wesley - and I was fresh, smiley and running late.

On my break. Attempting to execute a cool shot at the fair trade coffee shop at American University (which is right next to Wesley). 

Standing outside in the bright, sunny AU gardens.

Scwinty, funny face.

Bright sun sad face.

The path back to Wesley from AU.

All this was just after my first class! I had four total. And it was a lot. The last one was the hardest. It was difficult to focus because I was so tired. I'm going to work on getting more sleep Wednesday nights. I'm partially thankful/partially sad that it's only one day a week. The atmosphere is vibrant and healthy. It gives me great joy to be there. I wish I could live and breathe and interact more in that environment. But, honestly, it's good for me to be in the other places I have to be right now - and I'm thankful for them, too!

Okay. That's almost all - except to say that Andrea and I will be heading to Forks in just ONE WEEK! Ooh. I think I need to post a Fab for Forks blog soon!

Good night!

The first blog of the day

Hi! Yesterday was wonderful! Here are some fun pictures.

Wesley was wonderful. I'll give you the highlights:

• The commute to Wesley was a lot shorter than we thought it would be so we got there EARLY. Lol. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. We had to wait to be let in.
• I met a LOT of sweet people. I think it's going to be a kind, nurturing academic environment. 
• There were hints that the work was going to be strenuous. Makes me nervous.
• The worship service was one of my favorite parts. We sang a beautiful hymn called "The Summons" and another called "Jesus, Remember Me" - a very simple hymn from Luke 23:42. It's just "Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom" sung over and over. It's a quote from the man who was on a cross next to Jesus. Singing it from the perspective of this man, a criminal - coming from where I'm coming from and sitting in seminary orientation - absolutely reduced me to tears. And they had us come up to the altar, and dip our fingers into a bowl of water (to symbolize purity and redemption). Then they gave us a shell (a beautiful symbol of Christianity with it's layers (and I thought about how funny it is that the creatures that create these beautiful shells never live to witness the finished product)) and then someone from the faculty prayed a prayer of blessing over each of us. It was so beautiful.

After a very long, full day, we road the metro to go and visit Andrea (who is in DC for the Women of Faith conference). I'm sure she and I would describe the event very differently, we went to Busboys and Poets for coffee and that was okay. But, let's just say we were all exhausted and getting them home (Andrea and her friend, Elizabeth) wasn't as easy as we anticipated. Getting lost (several times) was involved. Ranting and lots of loopy giggling was involved. Complete silence due to exhaustion was involved. Southeast DC was involved. Oh, and peeing in public was involved more than once. Man, I love this city. 

Andrea and Elizabeth are very tired, I'm sure (and poor Elizabeth will probably never want to hang out with us again). But, (this is for Andrea) I think it's fair to add that after we dropped them off, it took us another hour to get home and then I woke up at 8am to a text that said, "We've been up for an hour. Hope you're sleeping well. I am glad we saw each other! Next time will be a lot better." To which I retorted: "I was sleeping well until your text woke me up. I got the SAME amount of sleep as you. Although I'm not at a conference right now, I'm in my PJs. I'm glad we saw each other, too! Next time will be in Forks, so it will be better by default. But, are you implying that you didn't enjoy our great adventure? Love you!"

We decided not to go to Rehoboth today (obviously). Using this time to prepare for next week - training at my new job, my first seminary classes and the beginning of homeschool! I'll probably write another blog later in the day.