Up from below

Hello, my friends!

I write such a tease of a blog - post post post, then nothing for months, then post post, then more radio silence. And although I hate to say it, that's probably not going to change much in the next couple of months. I have the mother of all updates for you now, then an explanation for my anticipated disappearing act. Here goes!

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A few days after my last post, while we were still in Whistler, AJS asked me to be his wife. Of course I said yes - in fact, I don't think he'd even said "will you marry me?" before I said "YES YES YES YES YES!!!" - and it made our trip north even sweeter. It was the most amazing, perfect vacation; we'll remember it forever and it already makes for a great story. I would love to post some pictures but I can't get them to upload. Someday the internet won't thwart me...

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April was nuts. AJS quit his job to study for the MCAT, and because I was studying for the GRE and finishing off my second semester of grad school AND training for a half marathon AND lots of other little stuff pertaining to being a seminarian in Holy Week, it was just a ridiculous month. I guess it's a testament to our relationship that we made it through both of our exams and finals and Easter without killing each other or starving to death.

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The rest of my semester finished off well, although it was almost as hectic as April. Grad school is hard. I think I wrote something like 86 pages' worth of papers in just the last week of the semester. The second I was finished, I hopped on a plane bound for Colorado and got to spend two weeks in Fort Collins and Rapid City! AJS joined me for most of it. We knocked out a bunch of the major elements of wedding planning - we set the date, picked the venue and reception, bought my dress, and booked our photographer - so the rest of the year should be relatively manageable. We also took in a Dispatch concert, watched my cousin graduate from high school, celebrated about a dozen birthdays, had our families together for dinner - twice - and took the dog swimming and had BR in town for a few days and so many other awesome things. He took my best girl MJ's son fishing. I went for a couple of 16-mile runs. Seriously, it was as relaxing as it gets. Total Colorado bliss.

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June and July have pretty much blended together. I was awarded a summer fellowship through an organization called The Beatitudes Society and have spent the last eight weeks working at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in San Francisco. It's rad! I like the work I'm doing and I've been really grateful to spend it at this church - it's interesting, it's relatively easy and it's been greatly formative. I feel like I'm making a very big difference in the life of this congregation and it has informed my own sense of call from here - like, I will make different choices going through the rest of my seminary education because of this internship. I've written a whole summer's worth of posts in this blog, so if you care to see more, check that out.

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August has me getting ready for...the rest of my life. I need to finish my transfer application: I'm staying at PLTS, of course, but switching programs, and there are some essays and things I need to have squared away before school starts. I need to figure out my fall classes and register for them. I need to write my Endorsement essay, a piece of candidacy for the ELCA that keeps me on track to graduate with a Master's of Arts in Systematic and Philosophical Theology in May. I need to make sure my other graduation ducks are in line. I need to finalize my choices of Ph.D. programs, request applications, and begin applying. Above all, I need to start writing my thesis, which is the most intimidating of all. Yikes. Luckfully - as Courtney would say - I have CT2011 to look forward to! Katie, Amy, Courto & I are going to Las Vegas in the middle of the month. I already can't wait.