Exams & Christmas Party

I looked at the date of my last post and I’m just now starting to realize how much happened since then. Hopefully I can do it justice.

But before I launch into all of that let me first say this: my sister has gotten into two schools already! Woo hoo! Auburn and Texas have both recognized greatness. I’ll continue to keep you posted on this. I’m really excited to see where she ends up (as I’m sure you all are).

Since that last post I have taken five tests and I am about to take a sixth. My finals week started early. Last week I had an oral test in Spanish and finals in Career Development, Risk Management and After The New Testament. This past Tuesday I took a written Spanish test and this afternoon I’ll be taking a final in Speech. Then I’ll be done. It’ll be t-minus one semester and counting.

Last Thursday was another one of those really long days. I woke up at 4:30 AM in order to finish studying for my Risk Management final (a move that paid off; I received a�B- on the test and overall in the class). I had three classes that day that consisted of two finals and a review session for a final, so I had to attend all of my classes. I finished school at around 1:30 and went home to crash, only to be awakened by Dave Wirgau not long after. I hadn’t eaten all day, and neither had he, so after a quick stop off at Wesley we went out to lunch. After a truly inspiring talk with Dave about worship I went back to Kellum to prepare for the night of worship that I would lead in Kellum. This always seems to be a scramble. I really can’t wait for the one in April, because I know when it comes everything will be clockwork. To make things more difficult it was raining. With the help of four or five other guys I moved all the equipment from Kellum to Salley and started to set up. This month we had Rob to check our sound levels which I was very thankful for since we were adding a violin that would not be plugged in. We played until around 9:30. I don’t think I got back with all the stuff until around 10:30. Some people were going out to the local hookah bar but I was shot. I probably went to bed at 11:00 or 12:00 and was utterly wiped.

The night of worship went very well. I read from Matthew 2 and talked about the worship of the Magi. It seemed to resonate with the people there. Dave also spoke a little before the meeting. I can’t actually tell you anything he said, since my mind was elsewhere, but I’m sure it was good too. He let me lead the night, something I was hesitant to do with him there. I was afraid of a two-headed monster dynamic, but Dave let me do my thing. A critique of myself: I felt like October’s night of worship was better. And I think I know why. I had the time to pray a good deal beforehand, whereas this month I was too swamped to get to it. I’m going to need to block out time for that in January. It was far more important than I realized.

On Friday I didn’t do much, still exhausted from the day before. I did do one thing, but I’m not going to talk about it now. Remind me in early January and I’ll tell you all about it. For those who don’t know yet, it’s something you need to see and not be told about.

Saturday was just plain fun. I started the day with a ministry team meeting at Camp Special. I can’t wait to get this group into full swing. I’m excited to be reading The Insider with all of them. I’ve read it before, but it’ll be interesting to read it again and see what everyone else gets out of it. In the afternoon I went to go see Narnia. I liked it. It’s another one of those movies that feels rushed since there’s just so much they could do but only a limited amount of time for them to do it in, but I still liked it. I could nitpick about the way they adapted the book but, honestly, I knew it wouldn’t even compare to Lewis’ original. That night was the Nav Christmas party at the Wirgau home. The new A-team put together a heck of a hootenanny, I must say. This was the first year I had a gift stolen from me while playing white elephant. This was due in large part to the fact that I was second to pick, and I picked well. I got a big Batman kickball. When it was stolen I selected a marvelous painting painted by my friend Carrie of my friend JD. It’s incredible. I knew I wouldn’t be leaving with it. When it was stolen I unwrapped Scrabble and a big book of mad libs. I thought I was safe with it, but it too was taken from me. I ended up getting three things: a multicolor plastic cow, a bag of rubber body parts, and Twinkie-flavored chap stick. Yeah, a small step down from what I had. Oh well. It was a lot of fun, even if I didn’t get one of those great gifts. The best gift was given by Laura Chavkin: a t-shirt with Dave Wirgau on the back. Amazing. If it had been unwrapped before I had been stuck with my cow and such I would have stolen that. The worst gift, by far, was a dead squirrel. Yes, a real dead squirrel given by Mandi Wojcik and Scout Hanes. *rolls eyes* What’s crazy is I didn’t feel any sort of shock until I found out who gave it. I would have thought that only a guy could have given a gift so wrong.

This week has been nothing remarkable. It’s been very relaxing since both of my tests this week aren’t all that difficult. I leave to go home on Saturday. Most likely my next post will be from good ol’ Marlborough, Connecticut. It’s been a great semester. I can’t wait till January.