November synopsis

89% on my Crimes final. I'd be lying if I said I'm not disappointed. But when only 5-6 people got an A, and about 20 people failed, I can't feel too bad about it. I guess.

Thanksgiving was lovely. It was really nice to not have to drive 12 hours on both ends of the break. Getting back into the grind is no fun. At least I got ahead in one class. In Contracts I have my homework done through December 20. Now to study for the mid-term.

I got my Christmas tree before Thanksgiving, first time ever. Haven't decorated it yet though. I love the Christmas tree. It's one of my favorite things. When I saw them for sale for the first time I went and hugged the tallest one I could find.

And a quote for today:
"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."
-Walt Whitman

Monthly Update

*95% on my first quiz of law school. You have to get a 95% to get an "A". What is wrong with these people? Shouldn't a 90% be sufficient?
*Took my first final exam of law school in Criminal Law. Won't know the results for probably another week. Hoping for a "B".
*We start right in on the next class, Constitutional Criminal Law. It just seems wrong to just keep going. No break. Just take a final and start the next class. Ugh.
*Had a great time in Atlanta with Justin and Shelli and enjoyed an Andrew Peterson concert together while we were there. We didn't take any pictures to document the weekend.
*Suddenly there is Christmas stuff everywhere. And I haven't even bought any Christmas presents yet. Studying all the time really puts me behind on my holiday shopping.
*Today I bought my first Christmas wrapping paper. I love wrapping paper. I especially like it if it's metallic or sparkly.
*Had a bunch of dead trees cut down in our yard. There is plenty of free firewood out by the curb, if you're interested.
*So far law school is harder than any other level of school I've been a part of. I know this is probably not shocking to most of you, but I kind of thought I would be able to slack off and get good grades like I used to. So far, I just have to study all the time and hope and pray to get good grades. It would be helpful if more of my classes had more than one or two tests to base the whole grade on. Anyway, it's all much more time-consuming than I had imagined, but I guess that's why not everyone is a lawyer.
*That's all I can think of for now.

Oops.

September slipped away without a post. Not sure how that happened. So to update you a little --
*We went to Justin and Shelli's wedding, which was fabulous and exhausting. It was good to be with old friends. And how did we get so old anyway? More people need to get married so that we can all get together more often.
*School has been somewhat all-consuming. I'm sitting in the classroom right now, waiting for class to get started. I briefed my first case, which was terrifying, and last week I had my first quiz. Hoping to get the (cross my fingers) good results back this week. There is a lot of reading and learning going on. And you can ask me all about intent and causation and I'll have some things to tell you. Along with Torts, Contracts and Crimes. Did you know that the burden of proof of "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" is only applicable to criminal cases? I did not. Anyway, I'm working on outlining each class (sounds fun, right?) and keeping up with reading and briefs. And it seems never-ending.
*I went to Women's Retreat with my mom and sister, and was totally blessed.
*I came back home to a husband who loves me and shows it to me in a million ways and realized again how blessed I am to have him as my partner and teammate.
*Fall weather is (finally) here. I'm enjoying cooler temperatures and sweaters.
*And of course, there can't be fall weather without me getting nervous about winter, so that's going on too.
*I'm really enjoying being near my family. It's nice that it doesn't have to be a big deal to go over to my mom's house for supper or anything else, for that matter.
*We love our house. And are learning the joys and trials of homeownership. (Cutting down trees, fixing wet basements, decorating, etc.)
*I wrote two grants for work, and am working on a third.
*Patient numbers are steadily going up!

Those are the highlights I guess. I feel very busy, and ready for a homeleave, unfortunately those don't seem to occur outside of boarding academy. I'm feeling a little under the weather today, but it might just be allergies. I don't have time to be sick, so praying that will just go away. And my teacher is here now, so I'm going to go pay attention to class.

Goings on

Michael is back from his two week class at Southern.
I went to a free Sara Groves concert with Tim and Carissa.
I registered for law school on Monday.
Thursday is the last walk through on the house.
Friday we're supposed to close on the house.
Sunday we're supposed to move in.
I created a website for the clinic. It's www.mcmclinic.webs.com. I think it's pretty good for a free, click and build template. If you want to browse through and let me know how it looks, or any mistakes I made, I would appreciate the insight. Don't get to crazy with me though, because after all, I am no computer wizard, and I am not in to changing the html code or anything like that.

Work is going well for the most part. I'm working on getting some grants, and I have new volunteers to train in. It is SO much less stressful than working at a boarding academy. I think that's what I like the most about it. Sometimes it's boring. That's what I don't like about it. But I can handle that. I'm sure I'll be less bored once I start school and have all that studying to do. Which, by the way, I start school in two and a half weeks. (!!!) So those are the highlights. So far, even though it's beastly hot, I love living in Nashville. I'm really happy that we're here. At first I had a lot of mixed emotions about it, and missed PA and our students and friends there. But I love being close to my family, and I already know so many people here. It's nice. Definitely feels like coming home.

So those are the highlights of the last month and a half. Time flies...

A couple of things...

I got my acceptance letter from law school on Saturday. I wasn't totally surprised, but it was still a good feeling to have that piece of paper in my hands.

I had a second interview at a health clinic in Nashville. I haven't talked much about it, so as not to jinx it. If I get it I'll talk more about it. If not, this may be all you ever know about it. I should hear one way or the other in a week or so.

Michael had an interview at a private non-Christian school in Nashville. It was a little odd. Not sure he would take it even if they offered, unless they offer pretty good money.

We made an offer on a house. This would be contingent on my getting the job. It's in foreclosure and has a couple other offers on it, so we're trying not to get our hopes up about it since there are so many ifs. If it doesn't work out you probably won't hear much about this either.

Feelin' groovy

So far nine law schools have emailed me and asked me to apply to their programs, including the University of Notre Dame School of Law, which is a top 25 law school, and Charlotte School of Law, who offered me a $15,000 scholarship for each year. I must admit that I'm tempted, but not tempted enough not to move to Nashville. Still, it's nice to be wanted.

Yesterday we made the announcement to the student body that we're leaving. It was not the most fun moment. And some students came to beg us to stay and offer all kinds of "incentives" for us to stay. Kind of awkward, but, once again, nice to be wanted. We had originally hoped to keep it a secret and just slip away at the end of the school year, but alas, that was not to be. The rumor got out, and then we just had to address it.

In other news: Michael and I both have interviews when we're in Nashville during spring break, which is way ahead of where we were last year at this time when we wanted to move. It kind of feels like everything is falling into place for us to leave for real this year, which is good, since we've already told everyone that we're leaving. I don't know what God was waiting for, maybe to teach me patience, or for me to rediscover some passion in my life, or for some unknown reason, but I do have hope that it will really all work out this time.

Woohoo!

I didn't know that LSAC often sends out the LSAT test results early, so imagine my surprise on Sunday when I opened my hotmail account, and it was sitting there, and had been sitting there since Sunday at 4:15 pm! Later, I read up on it and apparently LSAC frequently sends out the scores a day or two or three before the deadline. So that saved me from the last anxious night of worrying. I'm pretty excited about my score. It puts me in the 88th percentile. Top 22%. Not too shabby for a non-pre-law student who studied for about a month before taking the test. It made me think I really could have aced it if I had more time. But whatever, the average score to get into Nashville School of Law is a 149, and I pretty much crushed that. A 149 is in about the 50th percentile. Anyway, I'd been preparing myself to score a few points lower than my lowest practice test: a 159. And telling myself that a 157 was fine. Because I really didn't feel good about my logic games section. So I was thrilled to get a point higher than my highest practice test: a 162.

So after I got my score I jumped around and stood on the couch and screamed and laughed. Yesterday was a very good day.