LIBRARY

Well tomorrow Cory and I will be in the library ALL day!  We have a big 10-13 page exegetical paper on a passage in Nehemiah to do for our Intro to Bible Study and Interpretation class.  And it’s not that its hard, it’s just so time consuming.  There are so many different sections to it and different things to do that it just takes a whole lot of time to analyze it and disect it and process it.  It’s really interesting though learning all these steps to interpreting the Bible.  So anyway, hopefully we’ll be able to knock out this paper tomorrow, as we become quite acquainted with the library.

~Sarah

“There’s No Place Like Home, There’s No Place Like Home”

Just some random thoughts…It’s been such a blessing to have my family so close by.  But at the same time, it’s weird calling it home.  Since they moved up to Lakeland, TN just about a month before I started school, it’s pretty much only home because my family is there.  It’s just a weird situation.  I love having them close by, it’s been such a blessing, especially with all the health stuff I’ve had going on; and with school being overwhelming at times, it’s good to have a place to go on some occasional weekends and just relax a bit.  But it’s strange being at home, and not knowing anyone.  But nonetheless, it’s not like I had very many friends in Orlando, but I did have my few close friends, and also was extremely familiar with the area.  So all in all, I’m just rambling a bit, but I’m thankful my home and family is just an hour away, but also thankful I have a home in Florida, where my few good friends are and where I’m familiar with the area.  So I guess I have two homes, and there are highs and lows about each, and I’m thankful for each.  But I also feel like I have a third place to call home, and thats here at Union.  I know this is where I am supposed to be for this time in my life, and am learning so much here, and never want to take this education for granted.  I am so blessed to be able to be here and just amazed at how God is working.  There really is no place like home, no matter where home is.

~Sarah

I’m Healing Finally!!!

Well my last doctor’s visit was encouraging, the first encouraging visit in a long time, well actually, since this all started almost a year ago.  What the doctor decided to use last time for my wound worked!  And so now I’m just keepin on keepin on, using what she gave me, and then I go back next Friday.  I go to my nurse here at school once a week, just for him to check and make sure I’m doing things right and that this stubborn ole wound is looking ok.  And yesterday when I went to see him, he was sooo encouraging and said that the next time I go see my doctor I should be 90% healed!  It’s such a delight to hear those words and so wonderful to be healing.  I was joking around with Nurse Paul saying I don’t really remember what its like to not have this wound, and to not be bandaged up all the time.  It’s going to be weird being “normal.”  But God is so good.  I know He has a plan and reason behind why I’ve gone though everything I have this past year, and I know He is good and His timing is perfect; there is a reason why I haven’t been healing up till now, even though I may not be sure of what it is right now.  I’m just so thrilled to actually be progressing in this whole healing process.  It’s such an answer to prayer.  Speaking of answers to prayer….Now if the house down in Florida could just sell…

~Sarah

Wednesdays…

Well today is Wednesday, the busiest and most tiring day of the week for me.  I go to Greek lab, then chapel, then Greek, then Old Testament, then Intro to Bible Study and Interpretation.  Then at some point after that (which is around 2) I eat and go to the clinic to see Nurse Paul.  And then I’ll have to get started on the loads of schoolwork and reading and stuff I have.  We have a lot to do right now for school.  A 10-13 page exegetical paper on a passage in Nehemiah, another paper using Turabian style documentating that has to show we know how to use footnotes and quotes and block quotes and the title page and bibliography and all that kind of fun stuff.  So there are those papers to do this week and lots of reading for the Old and New Testament classes.  And also lots of studying for Greek, lots and lots of studying.  So all in all, today is going to be a crazy day.  It’s always an accomplishment to get past Wednesdays.

I kind of wish we were still on break, not have classes and just be able to get the work done.  Fall Break was fun, except for the 2 days when I had headaches all day.  Other than that it was fun to be able to relax.  We also celebrated my moms birthday.  She had flown out to see my brother’s lacrosse game in Maryland and then Chip surprised her by flying back with her and my mom on Satuday.  So it was awesome to have him at the house and see him, even if it was just for Saturday and Sunday morning.  But we all went to a park for her birthday and had a picnic and went hiking.  It was fun and the weather was perfect.  It was fun to do something with everyone and have everyone together.

But, break ended and now its back to reality…classes.  I’m kind of overwhelmed right now, but for now, I just need to get through this Wednesday.

~Sarah

Random…that’s just who I am.

Well we just got back our Greek test monday and I recently had an Old Testament (OT) test today. It has been a pretty relaxing week so far. Except learning third declension nouns for Greek….dont even get me started. But anyway Me and Sarah made B’s on the test which here is 85-95. I know. It Stinks. But anyway, this month so far has been a good one.

There is so much stuff going on at school…whether flag football, which i can’t get enough of, or studying all day because it is a lifestyle. And I wonder about people who fail at school and do not get good grades. It is not becuase it is impossible by any means, it is becuase people put other things before thier education. And I’m just not sure how did that happen. Where did it start. How did we come from where people would die to go to college and learn and where learning became something that is so prestigious, to where now, it is cooler to stay up all night to cram for a mid-term.We call them nerds now, those who study and enjoy the aspect of studying, but back then they were the highest of the high. They were looked up to.And, I might be talking out of ingornance but, thats the way I see it.

People put other stuff ultimately in front of studying. I know that I dont…because I will be paying thousands of dollars for this education. I know people who would rather go to an event, or barley get by, then to actually learn the stuff given to them. And no, it is not impossible, unless you are trying to understand the mind of God fully. Which is completely impossible, but we can get glimpse.

So as you can probably see, education is on the mind right now. Just having this Sophomore Seminar class really does open up your mind to see the beauty of education and how it points to glorifying God. I am so excited to be learning what I am learning. The tools to educated. I want to take what I am learning and use it. I dont want to horde it just to show how much I know, I want to use this and teach others.

Sometimes it is as though I would rather sit inside and study, than to go out and hang out with people. I know that sounds pretty weird, but I LOVE what I am studying. Espically in the New Testament. Just learning what every thing means and the background. Its amazing.

But overall I am doing great. The things I am learning are drawing me more and more into my relationship with Christ. I dont really have much else to say.

-Cory

Our First Greek Test

Well today we had our first test in Greek, we’ve had several quizzes, but not a test.  This test covered chapters 1-9, which includes lots of vocab words and tons of information and rules and all sorts of stuff.  And after studying everyday, and hours and hours yesterday, we (or I should say I) walked in pretty nervous today.  But, even though we don’t know our grades yet, we both did really well!  Of course there were a few things we both forgot, but overall we both did really well.  It is good leaving a test and feeling good about it (especially in my case where I’ve left the quizzes in that class feeling really bad about them).  Cory definitely inspiries me in that class, because he works so hard and studies so hard for it; he helps me so much.  And after getting through that test today we are so excited for the weekend!  It’s been a long week filled with nonstop studying, so it’s really really great to have a weekend to rest and relax.

~Sarah

Update #3-Cory and I

This first month of school has definitely been a journey for Cory and I, but overall I think it has drawn us a lot closer.  We know why we are here, and we know the task at hand, and we are learning so much.  It is so awesome to be on this journey together, experiencing this whole new chapter in our lives together.

One thing we started doing was taking walks at the end of the day.  We’ve found it to be an awesome way to enjoy the fresh air, take a break from studying, exercise a little, and enjoy each other’s company.  During that hour or so it feels like we are able to really talk and tell each other not just about the day or the week, but whats really going on in our minds and hearts.  I really look forward to those walks, those times when we unwind and are real, hiding nothing and wearing no mask.  It’s refreshing to to get to spend that time together.  The last couple weeks we haven’t been able to have those walks because of my health stuff going on and frankly not being able to walk…so I’m definitely looking forward to starting those again!

I have appreciated Cory so much and am so thankful for him.  Over the past few years we have both matured and grown so much.  And recently (well, more like the past 10 months) the way Cory has stood by me and supported and comforted me through all the pain of the health issues has been absolutely amazing.  And it’s not just evident to me.  When I was at the doctor on Friday going through that procedure, Cory was there beforehand to pray with me and comfort me and he was there after ready to give me a big hug and tell me he was proud of me.  When I was getting ready to leave the doctor and nurse came in and told me that “Cory is a keeper!”    They talked about how a true test for a relationship is what happens when health issues arise, and they kept telling me how they could see how much Cory cared for me by being there that day and helping take care of me.  And they saw how big I smiled when he came into the room, and the doctor and nurse both said they could just tell how much we meant to each other and valued each other.  They approved and kept telling me “he’s a keeper!”  It’s funny how much that meant to me, to hear two ladies whom I had just meant recognize how much we care for each other.  It really meant a lot to me to hear them talk about health issues being the true test of a relationship, because it helps me appreciate Cory so much more.  It’s always good to see things through other’s eyes, and it helped me see that Cory didn’t have to support me, he didn’t have to be there for me or stand beside me when I was in pain.  He didn’t have to be at the hospital before surgery, or waiting at my house afterwards.  He didn’t have to be at the doctor’s with me that day.  But he was.  And it means the world to me.  He’s definitely a keeper in my book. 

But all in all, this time at Union has taught us a lot and grown us closer.  We realize how much we’ve been through in our lives individually the past 20 or 21 years and also how much we have learned and gone through together in the past few years.  God has an awesome plan for us and it’s exciting watching it unfold!

~Sarah

Update #2-Health

I’m taking a quick break from studying Greek to write another update.  Last time I wrote about my health, which was a few weeks ago I think, I said how although I did have an infection in my wound, I was taking antibiotics and it was getting better, and overall things were good.  The wound is healthy and will hopefully start closing up soon.  And that’s still true, healthy wound, still not closing up, but hopefully will since it looks “good” (to a doctor, not necessarily anyone else, its pretty gross to me).  Anyway, that is still true, but more excitement has happened in the past 2 weeks.  Last week I was really irritated around where the bandage is and was in a lot of pain.  And then also noticed something else, I won’t go into detail, but to put it bluntly, 3 more abscesses.  And each day the pain got worse and worse (much like back in December, that week before Christmas with the pilonidal cyst that caused the wound that I’m having so much trouble with now) and worse.  You can ask Cory, I could barely walk, by the end of the day I would be bawling because of the pain.  So after talking to Nurse Paul about it, we moved my appointment at the Wound Care Center from Friday morning to Thursday.  And I went on Thursday, the wound looked good, but they couldn’t really do anything about the other stuff since it wasn’t a wound.  So once I got back to school, went back to Nurse Paul, and he scheduled me an appointment that next morning with a local nurse practitioner.

So bright and early Friday morning, I got to the doctor’s office at 7:30 for my appointment.  And let me just talk about this doctor’s office for a second.  This clinic, right near the school, thankfully, is amazing.  No joke, once you fill out your paperwork they give you a pager thing like at a restaurant.  And they give you that because they have one area that is a neat play area for kids, they have another area like a reading room with tons of magazines and big comfy chairs (they also have wifi), and the craziest of all they have a movie theater where you can sit and watch the movie or show they are playing that day.  Oh, and they also ask you if you want hot chocolate or coffee or water while you are waiting.  It’s the way a waiting room should be!  Anyway I just had to explain all that, but now for the not so fun stuff.  I went back and met Cheryl, who knows Nurse Paul, and felt comforted immediately to have someone who was understanding and real and caring looking after me.  After she “checked me out” (so to speak) she told me straight up what the deal was.  She said I did have three infected abscesses (which I was prone to get since I had the pilonidal cyst) and they each need to be lanced.  She told me the exact procedure, and then gave me a few moments by myself to decide whether I wanted to do it then and get it over with or wait and come back in a few days.  Although I wanted to put it off, already knowing the pain of lancing, I decided to get it over with.  Thankfully, Cory came to support me and wipe my tears away before the procedure.  This was the same thing that I had done at the e.r. on Christmas, I know the pain and was terrified to have to go through it again, but not only once-3 times!  The procedure took about an hour.  First, I got a shot in my hip for pain and boy did that hurt.  Honestly, it was bad.  As she pushed the stuff into me I really didn’t know what to do, but I wasn’t expecting that kind of pain.  Once that settled in, after about 20 minutes, she came back, Cory left and a nurse came in.  She numbed each abscess twice, and those six numbing shots hurt like you can’t imagine.  Then came the scalpel and then she drained each one and then bandaged me up.  Sounds like fun, huh?  Yup, not so much.  I definitely was squeezing the one nurses hand so hard.  I kept apologizing to her cause I thought I was hurting her (kind of ironic).  Cheryl and the nurse were talking to me a bit and asking questions before hand, and probably realized that since I go to Union and am minoring in Christian studies, that I must be a Christian.  And the coolest, most comforting thing of all, was the fact that at one point during the procedure, when the pain was just excrutiating and the screams thundering out of me and the tears were pouring out, Cheryl and this nurse began to pray, outloud, for me.  It brought so much comfort and peace to me in that time.  You don’t get that in most doctor’s offices.  It was truly uplifting.  So after enduring the procedure, and after resting a short while, Cory drove me back to school after being there for almost 6 hours.  Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I met Cheryl to change the packing and dress the wounds.  She has been amazing, such an encouragement and blessing during this time.  One of those days was her day off and she even met me at the clinic to help me.  I’m on 2 antibiotics and hopefully will be fully healed from these things by the end of next week.  The pain has definitely gone down and I’m walking pretty close to normal again   It was nice to have my dad here on Saturday!  He drove up, and spent the day here with me, even though I couldn’t do much and honestly didn’t have the best attitude, and rested most of the day, he still came up and spent the day here and helped me and looked out for me.  It was great to have him here.  And I appreciated him coming up here for the day, so very much.  It’s been a journey, a I can only imagine what lies ahead.

~Sarah

Update #1-School

Well I have a few more minutes before I really have to buckle down and study, so I figured I could write a little something.  I have so much to talk about and there has been so much going on, I don’t want to cram it all into one post, so I’ll just write a few of them about the recent events the past week or two.  First of all, school.  School is crazy right now.  There is constant reading and studying going on, and little time for rest.  I’m still trying to figure out the best way to study throughout the week and how to prioritize the different assignments and reading material throughout the week.  This week we had a 3 page reflection paper due in Sophomore Seminar (a class we have to take in order to take upper level Christian studies courses), reflecting on 3 essays we read.  They all dealt with education, and having an educated mind, and I must say they all had a great impact on Cory and I.  And most importantly, it’s so awesome that in this class we relate the reading to Christianity and the pursuit of not only knowledge, but of God Himself.  I will have to save all we’ve learned in that class for another post, it would take too long to write about it all right now.  But all in all, we are learning so much in all of our classes.  And it’s not just random stuff, it’s information that creates the history of our faith.  Everything we learn somehow ties into our ultimate goal of seeing God face to face and it is so awesome to be in this setting.  On top of the paper, I had an Old Testament quiz yesterday, Cory and I both had a New Testament test today, and tomorrow we have a Greek test.  So we have an absolutely crazy week, to say the least.  We’ve had quizzes in both New Testament and Greek, but we are experiencing our first tests this week.  Greek definitely demands the most out of us, and requires hours and hours of studying.  On top of learning the vocabulary, there are so many rules and endings and just things to know.  It’s hard, and requires a lot, but its worth it (well sometimes it doesn’t feel like it).

But school overall is going very well.  Daily we take in so much information and our minds are being filled with tons of knowledge, from the greatest professors there could be.  It’s going to be interesting to see how the rest of the semester plays out, we’ve learned so much in just this past month of being in school, I can’t imagine what more our minds can have packed into them.  Should be fun!

(More Updates to come soon)

~Sarah

It’s Been Crazy Around Here…

Well we haven’t written anything recently, not because nothing has been going on, but because so much has been going on!  Between studying, going to classes, new health issues, and trying to find time to rest, things have been absolutely crazy.  I will try to write some updates very soon.

~Sarah