So this is what the summer is like...

So...since I was a high school graduate I have spent every summer in the "camp world." I was a rising high school senior the last time I had a summer to just work a normal job in the place that I lived. A lot of thing factored into my decision to forgo another summer of camp life. This was a hard decision in that it has been a way of life for me...it has been something that has shaped and molded me in a way that nothing else has, and part of me will always miss it and never want to stop. However, I was ready for a summer to stay where I live, to be all there, to relax a little, not be so stressed and hang out with my roommate and other friends. It has been a wonderful decision, one that I have not regretted at all. I have read and relaxed and worked and played. I have watched a Season of 24, gone to the beach in Houston, seen a dear friend get married (I have missed nearly every friends wedding due to camp life), slept in, gone to a concert in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and there is much more fun to come.
Here's to my first summer free.

random updates

It may seem that I have given up on the blogging world. I have found myself on somewhat of a furlow, writing every now and then, so we have a lot to catch up on. The past couple of months have been quite eventful. First things first. Melanie and I decided to move. We researched, found a place, paid some money, signed some papers, changed over all of our utilities and mail, packed up our ENTIRE apartment, picked up our keys and the night before our move-in-date decided we didn't want to move. We saw the apartment and it was nothing like the model (word to the wise: push to see the actual apartment, even if they push back and do not sign until you do, shockingly they look and smell nothing like the model). We got kind of sentimental after we discovered that our new apartment smelled like a smoky hotel and their were beer caps on our porch. You think after months of "getting the apartment read" they would have found a moment to pick up the beer caps and throw them away. So after a couple of tears, a lot of phone calls, some lost money and a lot of cleaning and unpacking we are still on Sandage Ave and we couldn't be happier.

I finished my 4th (2nd to last) semester in seminary. It wasn't a bad one. There is an edge of excitement as I move closer to finishing, but there may be in a me a greater edge of nervousness and sadness. I am nervous that the end of this experience will be a lot harder and sadder than I originally thought. Regardless of how wonderful or not wonderful this experience has been, it has still been just that, an experience...it has become my life for the last 2 years and familiarity is almost always difficult to give up.

May 31st marked the 2 year anniversary of my Dad's death. It also marks the anniversary of the beginning of the 2 hardest years of my life. So much has happened. I miss him. I would give anything to have him back.

I watched Oprah's follow-up show on puppy mills and I am inspired, now more than ever before, to rescue dogs....lots of dogs. I think that dogs are one of God's greatest creations.

This is all for now...more to follow very soon.