Four Exams and a Wedding

One year has passed since I received an email (followed by a letter) that altered my life.

No, I'm not referring to the letter containing the deed to Mr. Darcy...though that did arrive the same day and did impact me. My vehicle is a constant reminder to me that I am living debt free and loving it.

I am referring to the acceptance letter I received from Clemson University at the beginning of May 2012. An offer of acceptance into the full-time Family Nurse Practitioner Master's Program was presented to me, and I, barely cognizant  of the consequences, accepted.

The whirlwind that followed has been one of the most exciting adventures I have been on, to date. Whether it has been writing scores of pages or filling in every waking moment with clinical hours, my life has been anything but boring.

This semester found me working my fulltime NICU night-shift job while taking a fulltime credit load (including two clinical courses that required 90 hours of clinicals. Each.). When I wasn't working, I was at one of two doctors' offices learning. And when I wasn't at the offices, I was sleeping, in class, studying, or driving between those places.

Anti-social does not even begin to describe my life this semester.

But, I have a good report! By God's grace, I have passed all my classes and exams (still waiting to hear the official grades) and will be continuing in the program in two weeks with a summer class. Which means: one year from now, I will be graduating with my Master of Science!

This past week in particular has been an exciting one. Not only was I finishing up paperwork and exams for the semester but I was also Maid of Honor at my sister, Charity's, wedding. We had a blast preparing for the wedding this week.

She and her husband were married next to the Barn on the Enoree River where the reception was held. Even though it was overcast and very cold (the high on Saturday was 58F), the wedding went well, and the couple was sent off before the rain descended.

Still, if you had told me on April 30, 2012 that in 368 days I would be finishing my first year of graduate school and walking down the aisle at my sister's wedding, I would not have believed a word of it.

God works in mysterious ways!

There have been rough patches, especially with grad school...times where I have questioned the purpose of going back to school; times of seemingly insurmountable odds; times that I felt more alone and discouraged that I will admit to; and times where I wished I had turned down the offer and gone on with my travels.

But it is during those times that I am encouraged in Psalm 37. And it is during those times that I remember that my security is not in my schooling, in my job, in my friends and family...it is in my relationship with God.

Now that it is summer, I will hopefully be able to take more road trips, but school comes first. And as I reflect on the last year, I am reminded of a Robert Frost poem we sang in high school.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.