Finally!!

My car is fixed!!  The guy from the shop called and left a message for me at noon to say that they FINALLY fixed my baby Yaris from the unfortunate encounter with an evil '95 corvette back in July.  All I need to do is get Bruce home so he can go with me to pick it up!!

I think it's going to be good for me not to have a visible reminder of the accident anymore.  It's also something else to check off my list.  This has been something pending for almost half of a year and adding to my anxiety.  It's proof that I can finish things and hope that I will be successful in finishing this semester.  I will be so happy when my car is back and I can once again try to protect it from the craziness that is Atlanta traffic.

My goal for today is to finish my stewardship paper for Leadership & Administration.  I've got everything that I need to finish it, I just need to finish it!!  I'm having a very difficult time getting through it, but I need to remember that once I finish this I will only have three finals to get through and the semester will be over and I can look forward to lots of other things!!

Even though it's final and I know I should be focusing on school, I happened upon a book at the Cokesbury sale this weekend called "Sometimes I Wake Up Grumpy ... and Sometimes I Let Him Sleep."  It's by Karen Scalf Linamen and what I've read so far is brilliant.  I think ALL women need to read this book.  Here's a little excerpt from it:

I don't know about you, but I for one had all these amazing ideas growing up.

I thought that my life was going to be simple and perfect, just one Kodak moment after another.

I figured I would keep house like Donna Reed, raise my kids like Harriet Nelson, and wear the same dress size as Jane Wyatt.

I used to think life was going to be a bed of roses ... a piece of cake ... a walk in the park.  Of course, what I didn't figure on, way back then, was that roses have thorns, cakes have calories, and a walk in the park increases your odds of stepping in doggie doo-doo.

Now wouldn't it be nice if I were the only woman on the face of the earth who had been surprised by the fact that life has turned out differently than she expected?  Wouldn't it be great if I were the only woman since Eve who had been experienced a gap, a rift, a chasm between happily-ever-after dreams and desires ... and reality?

But my guess is that you know what it feels like to have life fall short of your expectations and end up filled with more stress or crisis or pain than you had originally planned!

It's enough to make you grumpy, isn't it?

It's really been a wonderful reminder that life isn't the perfect image that I have in my head.  It's an even better reminder that seminary isn't the perfect image that I have in my head.  I had this strange idea when I got to seminary that because God called me into the ministry that I would therefore coast through the program, be the envy of everyone who didn't have as strong of a call as me and stand strong during my ordination (as strong as a person can stand when 30 ordained pastors are laying their hands on you).

But that's not reality.  And it's not a bad thing, it just is.  Andy Peabody (my supervisor for Con Ed I, Director of Programs for MUST Ministries) always says:  "It is what it is."  And that's so true!!  I can't change the fact that sometimes seminary sucks.  But I also shouldn't get frustrated by this fact either.  I just need to take things one day at a time.

And I think for the moment that means finishing up this blog and getting back to work!!

Peace & Blessings,

Sarah :)