I [barely] survived another semester of college, which means
I am a SENIOR. Wow, when I write that out I have two thoughts: “About time!”
and “Where did the time go?” As I began my college career as a freshman at UK,
I never imagined in only three short years I would make such sweet memories as
a Wildcat, switch majors, fall in love, be physically, emotionally, spiritually
and mentally pushed to my limits, lose my precious Pappy, transfer home to be
with my Sweet Love, get engaged, and complete my junior year of college with a
4.0. Wow, the Lord is so FAITHFUL. In the three years, I have grown in
immeasurable ways and have seen how good God is too many times to count. He
showed me His goodness once again by carrying me through my most academically
demanding semester so far. Wow, it was tough. I have completely neglected
writing a blog about the semester, because I was so burnt out by the end of it.
BUT, a month and a half later, here is my reflection on my second semester at
NKU…
This semester was BY FAR the weirdest semester of my college
career. Oh my goodness. Seriously it was WEIRD. The semester started off like
any other. Darin dropped me off on my first day of school and I was immediately
bombarded with information overload as my piles of syllabi mounted. As I sifted through the syllabi, I was
completely intimidated, but also excited for the material I would learn. You
see, this was my first semester of methods courses…AKA school finally had a
point. Ha! After and EXHAUSTING first day of class from 9:00am-6:00pm, I walked
out to find my sweet boy and we celebrated the completion of another first day
of school (only 2 to go!). That whole day my stomach had been doing flips, but
I assumed it was due to my first day of school jitters. The next day of class
was short and sweet with only a two hours seminar. Again, my stomach ached but
I chose to ignore it. Until that night when I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
Oh my goodness, the pain was unbearable. For seven days, I had random waves of unbearable pain, which eventually sent me to the
hospital. My very first (and hopefully last) ER visit. After pumping me full of
morphine and fluids and spending 6 hours in the emergency room, I was sent
home. There is a lot I could say about my trip to hospital, but Brian Regan
seems to say it best…
SO, that little incident put me two weeks behind in school.
I had to email professors I had never met and attempt to convince them that my
absence was legitimate. Geesh, it was stressful and the learning curve was
intense. Who would have thought so much could be taught in only 2 weeks of
class? Thankfully, my professors were kind and gracious and helped me catch up
to the rest of the class.
Then there was the snow. SO MUCH SNOW. As I look outside at
the beautiful blue skies and sunshine, I am so thankful that the winter has
finally passed. There was a time I thought this was the second ice age. Ha! The
snow days made it extremely difficult to get into a consistent rhythm, as I
didn’t have a “normal” week until about 2 months into school. Seriously. It was
ridiculous.
Our Iceman
Sickness, snow, and an insane workload made it a tough
semester. There were so many days I would come home and cry because I felt so
inadequate as a student and a future teacher. Goodness. As I look back on it
now, it is somewhat laughable, however in the moment, I felt so swallowed up by
deadlines and responsibilities that there were days I just wanted to run away
and never return to the dread of the semester. Ha! But seriously. There was
always something I could/should have been doing and I never reached the day
where I was completely caught up. I constantly felt like I was running on empty
and that my efforts were hardly recognized. 17 credit hours is not for the
faint of heart, my friends. Especially when you are taking methods courses and
statistics. Geesh! By the end of the semester, I had typed at least 200 pages
of reports, reflections, etc. It was a little ridiculous. However, at the end
of the semester, I looked back and saw the transformation I had made and was
empowered by the newfound knowledge and experience I had gained. Although my
professors expected A LOT, they were amazing and taught me so much. The saving
grace this semester came in the form of two very sweet friends, Gabi and Abbey.
My goodness, I wouldn’t have survived without my daily lunches and late night
frantic texting with these two. Their love for Lord, their work ethic, and
their constant encouragement seriously was what kept me going. Throughout the
semester, our motto was, “It’s all about survival.” And it seriously was. I am
so thankful that I had these precious friends in all of my classes and am
excited to have identical schedules for next semester. Sweet girls, you are
blessings and I do not take you for granted!
God also completely intervened and orchestrated my practicum
placement. In a BIG way! Let me preface this by saying that we have ZERO say in
where we are placed or who we are placed with. Zero. So, when I received the
name “Lisa O’Connor” and soon found out that she was an incredible woman of God
that had served in mom’s ministry, I was absolutely dumbfounded. Goodness
gracious, Lisa was such an encouragement throughout the semester. Unlike the
previous semester where I mainly assisted during lessons, I was responsible for
preparing and teaching lessons solo. Talk about intimidation! Ha! I was placed
with a brilliant and equally sweet group of third grade students and taught 7
lessons throughout the semester. This doesn’t seem like much, but trust me…IT
IS. Lisa’s constant encouragement, helpful constructive criticism, and
unyielding prayers helped guide me through the semester and through those
lessons. Ha! I learned so much from the way she loved and led her students and
am so thankful that God allowed me to partner with her this semester.
Throughout the semester, I also visited my sweet babies at
Collins. They can’t keep me away. Ha! Seriously, I love those kids. When I was
in need of 25 little hugs, I knew exactly where to go. Several times I
retreated to Collins after a rough day to remind myself why I wanted to endure
all the work and time it took to become a teacher. I don’t know why I fell so
in love with these kiddos, but boy do they have my heart!
Obviously, the biggest highlight of the semester was Darin
asking me to marry him. But you can read about that here.
After the semester [finally] ended, I was SO relieved and
grateful to have finished the semester with a 4.0. To God be the glory!
Unfortunately, that freedom lasted only four days. What a short-lived victory.
Ha! Gabi, Abbey and I were quite ecstatic when we finished our last day to say the least!
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When I transferred, I was told I would need to take a Health and Physical
Education class in the summer to be completely caught up and on course. No big
deal, how bad could those two classes be, right? Wrong. Yikes, they were by far
the worst classes I have ever taken. The quality of teaching was embarrassing and
waking up Monday-Friday to drive to NKU to sit and be talked at was extremely
boring…even if it was only for three weeks. Thankfully, those three weeks
passed by (fairly) quickly and I was FINALLY finished for the summer.
School was pretty much all-consuming this semester. When I
wasn’t writing a paper, I was studying for an exam and when I wasn’t studying
for an exam, I was thinking about the next paper that I should be writing. I
dreaded the start of every week knowing it would result in a lot of late nights
and exhausting mornings. Despite the constant stress, Darin and I managed to
continue our Friday Fun Day’s and made the most out of our week day nights,
even if they consisted of studying at Barnes & Noble. While it was
stressful, there were definitely some sweet memories made, like…
Valentine's Day
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Road Trip to Columbus
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Celebrating Linda's 25 Years of Ministry
at Bachelor Creek...
…and Seeing this Sweetie...
…and Grandma
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Celebrating the Life of Greyson Coleman
Sunday Muffins with These Two
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Weekend Visit with Nanny and Rach
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Kari Jobe and Rend Collective Concert
Zoe Joy's 1st Birthday
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Over the Rhine and the Cincinnati Ballet
Easter
Bridal Showers
Wedding Planning
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Mother's Day Date Night
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It was a crazy semester and I still sigh with relief when I remember that it is over. Teaching is not for the faint of heart, people. The preparation is intense and most days I wonder why in the world I would choose this path. And then I remember that God has gone before me and is leading me down this road. I truly believe that I was created to teach so teach I will. As far as school goes…I can't wait for it to be over. Ha! I only have one…ONE semester left of class until student teaching. Goodness, that is so crazy and exciting!
I plan on posting a "Bridal Diary" when I can. Wedding plans are certainly coming along and I am SO excited!!
