A Bouquet of Newly Sharpened Pencils

Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

Ahhh.... "You've Got Mail". Don't you just love that movie? Don't you just want to be Kathleen Kelly? Don't you want to wear those cute jumpers and be able to pull off that cute short hair? And isn't her apartment just to die for? And the charming bookstore where she and her mother used to twirl. Be still my soul. I just adore that movie.

Ahem. I didn't get on here to talk about one of my all time favorite movies, but I am clearly easily distracted. I logged into blogger to tell about my newest endeavor, which will require some new school supplies, and maybe, just maybe, a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils.

Yes, I'm going back to school. I've been out of college for four years now. This is just enough time where I don't convulse when I think about opening a text book, studying for a test, or writing a paper. And while I admit I was not a model student, and studying was not my forte, I am genuinely thrilled to be going back.

At the end of my senior year in college, I started looking into the possibility of seminary. I picked the school I wanted to go to and even started getting letters from those hungry admissions counselors, but I knew in my heart I just couldn't do it. Not that I wasn't capable or didn't want to, but I had paid for my own college and already had a decent stack of student loan debt, and I just really couldn't justify going to seminary. That would mean getting farther in debt, and honestly, I don't know that I could have handled much more of the poor college student stress of trying to come up with money for gas, or anything for that matter. So, I put the idea on the back burner and put on my cap and gown.

Since I graduated from college and joined the grown-up world of working, I have every few months surfed the 'ole world wide web to see if my dream could somehow become a reality. Due to finances, the lack of a seminary I could or would go to near where I lived, and my needing to work while I went to school, it seemed very unrealistic.

But this time, after another dead end internet search, a friend of mine mentioned online seminary. Mind you, I found a fair share of ".com" seminaries - those sketchy schools that don't have a ".edu" at the end of the website. But, after I kept looking, one of my top seminary choices had just started a fully online program last fall. And it's definitely a ".edu" school.

My first question was about finances and scholarships, so before I really told anyone about my idea, I emailed our church to find out if there were any scholarship options. As soon as I found out there were, everything happened really quickly. I got two more scholarships, and within about two weeks of starting the process, I was accepted, and as of yesterday, I am enrolled.

So what degree program am I doing? Well, I will be working toward a Master of Arts in Theological Studies. It's a forty-five hour program. I plan on doing nine hours a semester, so it should take me about two and half years to complete. I am so excited, and nervous at the same time. I hope I still have the brain power to pull it off. There will be lots of reading and writing, and I even have to get proctors for my tests since I can't use notes/books/etc.

So, you could definitely say that this fall I will need a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils. Or at least a new Mac Book. (-: That's what I'm hoping for - that and some Bible study software.

So, that's my new endeaver. Class starts August 22. (-:

~Kathryn

On the Road Again

Well, hello, everyone! I am blogging from a charter bus right now, somewhere in between Destin, Fl, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. I am on my way back from our church's youth choir tour. I feel really legit blogging from a wifi card on a bus.

Our trip has just been fantastic. We ministered to lots of people through singing the Word of God over them, and we had lots of great fellowship, and of course, lots of wonderful beach time. I don't have any pics right now of the choir singing, since I couldn't take pics while singing, but I do have some beach pics, which I will most definitely share. (-:

This is the view from my room - how stinkin' cool is that? I stayed with a couple of sweet ninth grade girls and another sponsor.

Karlie and I got to spend some quality beach time together, too. (-:

Being a church choir trip, I was on a hunt for a one piece swim suit. Now, I don't know about you, but I have the HARDEST time finding a one piece that fits. I think I have a long torso, so the one pieces never seem long enough. It's like I'm always having to try to pull them up and stretch them out and it's usually frustrating, and never flattering. But, this time I splurged. I bought a one piece that is supposed to be super cute and look decent. And I'm glad I did. You guys all need to check out www.modcloth.com and see their really cool and vintage one and two-piece swimsuits.

Mark didn't get to go. And I missed him a lot. I'm pretty sure he missed us a lot to. We sent lots of pics to him like these throughout the week:

We will be home tonight and we are excited to see Mark, Boo, Melvin, and Bella. We are very ready for that. (-:

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

~Kathryn

A Treasure in Our Garden

Can I get a shout for the second blog post of the week? Woo!

As we were enjoying our family dinner Monday night (might I add, it was pretty darn good - we had pork chops, mashed potatoes, asparagus and salad - YUM!), we kept getting distracted by Boo barking in the backyard. He was barking and I asked, "Mark, what is he barking at?" Mark looked out the back door and said, "He's barking at the garden." So, we figured he was just being a goofy puppy. He will occasionally bark at a random object as if it were some sort of mythical creature. We go on regular walks around our neighborhood and every once in a while he will see someone's trash sitting out by their curb for the next morning and he'll bark. And I'm like, dude, it's a bag of trash. No need for alarm. ANYWAY, the point is, he sometimes barks at weird things, so I wasn't too surprised.

But he kept barking. We're talking non stop for like ten minutes. Reminder: we were trying to enjoy our family dinner. Finally, I had had enough, and figured the neighbors had as well, so I asked Mark if he would go see what all the commotion was about.

I watched Mark go out there and look in the garden. And then I watched him keep looking. And moving back one of the plants to look more closely. I knew something was up. He gave me a look, and I jumped up from the table, Karlie in tow, and we went to see what was in the garden. And lo and behold, look what we found:

Yes, folks, that is a nest of baby bunnies. Cue ridiculous squealing, picture taking galore, and mass pandemonium as we looked at the baby bunnies. It was pretty amazing. We looked for a really long time, called everyone we knew, and then we left them alone.

Karlie did some research and found out that we can hold them, because domestic rabbits don't mind human scent. And apparently, mommy rabbits feed the babies at night and then they are good for twenty-four hours. The mom leaves during the day so that the nest will not be obvious to predators. Apparently Boo is a good predator, because he knew they were there. Good thing we got that chicken wire around the garden.

Want to get a better look?

Oh. My. Word. Is that not the most precious thing you have ever seen? Karlie named her Annabelle. (I don't know if it's a girl but, oh well.)

And here's another little guy:

I checked on them again this morning and they looked like they were doing good. I'll keep you posted!

Happy Wednesday!

~Kathryn

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

First, of all, I know. I'm like the worst blogger ever. I'm thinking about working on it. You know how like when you see a friend you haven't talked to in so long and it's hard to talk because it's like, "Wow, where do I even begin?!". That's how my relationship is with blogger. It's like I haven't blogged and there's so much back log and what do I even say? So, I will just start with the festivities of this weekend. Coming soon, I will update on my furniture projects, my awesome garden, and something new and exciting I am going to be starting in the fall. (-:

We got to go to the Driller's baseball game and had the most fabulously awesome time. I'll just post some pics to remind you what I look like since it's been so long.

We ate at this AWESOME burger joint. And we ate a lot.

At the game, we got suite seats.... pun intended. Here's our view:

We got cotton candy at the game. It was AWESOME. I mean, cotton candy is like pretty, sweet, and fun to eat. Best of all worlds. Plus it's got the novelty factor going on.

But, it does this to your tongue:

Can you tell my favorite flavor was blue? Yeah.

And here's our family pic after the game:

It was a wonderfully fun night. So, there's a little teaser. I'll try to be a better blogger again. Please forgive me.

~Kathryn