Time flies

Wow! Time flies so quickly! It's hard to believe that we have one full week of class left and less than two weeks left until graduation! Where had time gone? Thanksgiving break was really nice. I actually ended up being able to catch a slightly earlier flight home from Minneapolis last week. I got off the plane and was walking between terminals with another student who had been on the flight and saw that there was a flight to BWI at 10:25 instead of my original one at 12:55. I hemmed and hawed about it because I knew it would probably be an inconvenience to my family since they were coming to pick me up. I chatted with my mom about it and, as they were boarding, I asked the desk attendant. She told me that all they had were first class seats, and I said that probably wouldn't work since I was on a student's budget. She had me hold on for a minute and then say that she could do it for $100, the normal price to change flights! :) I ended up telling my mom I was taking it and ran to the ATM to get the money (their credit card machine wasn't working). It was such a nice treat to have the opportunity to fly first class! And then, when I got to BWI, my family had brought my best friend, Holly, with them to the airport! :) We got to have lunch and roam around the Arundel Mills Mall for a bit because my luggage wasn't able to make the earlier flight so we had to go back to the airport for it. The rest of break was very much a blur. I spent Sunday at church and cantata rehearsal practice. Monday, I drove up and had lunch with former co-workers from WeatherBug in Germantown (turns out their under a hiring freeze) and then met up one-on-one with several friends in the College Park area. Tuesday was spent helping my mom by running errands for her trip to CA and then at Bible study with a trip to Donut Connection (it's a So. MD thing). I helped out by taking over mom's daycare on Wednesday so she wouldn't have to close. Thankfully, I only had one of the babies, who slept most of the day, and 3 others. I got to take Holly to dinner for her birthday and then the college/career Sunday School had a bonfire that night which was exciting. Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, watching the Macy's parade with my family and then having dinner at a friend's house. We had lots of laughs watching a video from one of their boys' school play. Friday found me and my sister Black Friday shopping and then collapsing and going to the airport to pick mom up. Before I knew it, it was Saturday and I was driving back up to the airport for my own flight back to the Springs. Ever since I got back things have been going at warp speed. We had a surprise shower for our resident supervisor, Elena, the day after we got back. She was so surprised. :) One of the biggest treats of this week was taking my roommates up to my practicum in the Office of the Chairman. Since Dr. Dobson was off on his annual Christmas shopping trip, my supervisor Paul took us in to see Dr.'s office. We each had the chance to sit at his desk. Paul told us all about the office and pointed out some of the quirks, like toy trucks, jelly beans, and a gumball machine for kids. It was a pretty awesome experience. He also showed us around the boardroom where the Board of Directors or heads of ministries meet with Mr. Daly or Dr. Dobson. We have our ski trip this Saturday where I think I might attempt to snowboard. Skis and I didn't really get along before so why not try something new? We have one more week of classes and then graduation is December 11th. My mom, dad, and sister will be coming to Colorado to celebrate with me and then we'll fly back on the 12th. Josh unfortunately has final exams that week. I still can't believe that it's almost the end of November and soon December will begin. The time here seems to have gone too fast. I can't wait to share much of what I have learned with people back home. It seems like it was only yesterday that I moved in with these 3 awesome women and now we're going to be scattering to our corners of the country again. I pray that God will allow us to stay in each other's lives for a long time to come. It's going to be hard coming home, knowing that there are only 87 other people in the world who shared this very unique experience with you. But I hope God will bless the friendships we have formed here and that they will help bolster our faith and courage as we share what we have learned. I hope this update finds you well. I will be back in Maryland on the 12th of December and will be preoccupied for about a week with stuff for the cantata, but I would love to have the chance to sit down and catch up with people over a good cup of chai or tea or coffee...whatever your preference. :) Take care and see you soon! Soli Deo Gloria, Meghan

Packing! :)

Well, here we are! :) I am packing my bags! My flight back to Maryland leaves tomorrow at 6:30am MST for Thanksgiving break. I'll fly from Colorado Springs (COS) to Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP), arriving there around 9:35am. I then have a 3.5 hour layover which will allow me to grab some food, stretch my legs and probably log in to check my e-mail (as long as there's free wireless). Then, my flight from MSP will leave at 12:55 and arrive in Baltimore (BWI) around 4:20pm. I have window seats for both flights which will be very nice. :) I will be in Maryland until November 24th, when I will fly back for the last few weeks of the semester. Please pray for travel safety as we travel to the airport in the morning. My apartment-mate, Alisha, has a flight at the same time. so one of our roommates, Bethany, is going to give us a lift. Our fifth "roommate", Kate, is going to spend the night tonight and accompany us for fun. :) Alisha and I are going to spend some time together and grab breakfast before heading for our respective planes. Pray also that I don't get lost in MSP. I've never been and am looking forward to the adventure, but I am hoping that I can find food and the gate safely without any mishaps (including the luggage!). God's blessings and I hope to see some of you in the coming week! Soli Deo Gloria, Meghan

Good news, Bad news

So I'm going to keep this short but I thought I should write a quick update about the day. :) So good news first...today we spent all day under the teaching of Ray Vander Laan, aka RVL. For those who don't know about RVL's ministry and the "That the World May Know" series, you can check it out at www.followtherabbi.com. Needless to say, it was absolutely amazing! Much of his teaching is about bringing Christianity back to its Jewish roots. It makes so much more sense that way! So onto the bad news...but thankfully, not that bad. It was bound to happen. I finally got sick. :-P Not fun. The sinus pressure is making my head feel like it's going to explode. I would appreciate your prayers for good health. Hopefully, this will pass in a day or two. :) Well, that's all I have time for right now. Off to bed! Have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween! Here's a treat...

Here's the update letter I sent out earlier this evening. Enjoy! It's an update letter for you! :) I apologize for not writing for awhile...in actuality...about 3 weeks. Wow. Things have been pretty crazy busy around here. We've hit the midway point so there's exams and papers and projects...OH MY! :) Anyway... My roommate, Bethany, also has a blog that she upkeeps and this was the beginning of her latest entry: "Four people. Four corners of the U.S. 2 bedrooms. 2 bathrooms. Shared class, social events, and living quarters. It can get a little overwhelming spending 24/7 with anyone..." Bethany ended up spending a couple of days housesitting with her sister, but it has been intense. My roommates have been a great encouragement to me and we have had a great time, but it's interesting living with people you've only known for two months and having a really close bond that fast. In the realm of academia, I feel like I am reading constantly (which is almost true) not to mention the social events that, while not mandatory, are a great opportunity to get to know other students and connect with faculty. Speaking of faculty, our Resident Supervisor, Elena, is about 4 months pregnant with a little girl (Isabel). She and her husband have a 3 year old boy, Trae, so they don't really have any girly things. A couple of us are planning a surprise baby shower for her to help remedy the problem. ;) Should be a lot of fun. Classes have been going really well. Yesterday we had our Managing Money class with Roc and Bev in Marriage Studies which was really good (of course, all the class are really good). I'm not sure how many of you have heard of Dr. Del Tackett and the Truth Project. I know my church back home is doing it as a study on Wednesday night. Sitting under the teaching of this man is absolutely amazing! We had class today on American History (for those in the Truth Project, it's the American Experiment lesson). It's eye-opening to see how much history has been subject to revision to support the "vision of the anointed" (for more on this, I highly recommend the book "The Vision of the Anointed" by Thomas Sowell). Our Family Life Studies (FLS) instructor, Dr. Julianna Slattery, returns this Friday for 3 straight classes of FLS. It's been weird not having her around constantly like the other professors so we always have to take advantage of every opportunity we get. So the last time we spoke, we had hosted a pancake breakfast in our apartment and were going to an Air Force Academy game. Was it really that long ago??? Sheesh. Anyway, I finally posted some of those pictures here: http://umd.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199829&l=c24e3&id=5713903. Since then, a group of us went on a hike in Cheyenne Canyon and saw a bear (picture's on the blog); we had our first snow of the season on my brother's 20th birthday (October 21st), very beautiful, pictures forthcoming; we had a really fun barn dance complete with square dance caller and 'tater' sack race; we watched the Colorado Rockies get swept in the first 4 games of the World Series. So much has happened! And then there's all the regular things: Family dinners on Tuesday evenings, small group with Becca Leland after that, Koinonias on Thursdays, Doc Leland's Tuesday morning forums at Panera (so much fun), and of course let's not forget...reading. As the last month and a half creep up on me, here are some things you can be praying for: -- The weather is becoming colder here so prayers for health are much appreciated. We'll be entering cold season and with 4 girls in close quarters, it would be all to easy for it to spread. Some in the program have already been experiencing a bug going around. Pray also for our focus and concentration as we begin the 2nd half of the semester, that we would be able to keep up with the intensity of the program while still having time to bond and have fun with our fellow students. -- Please pray for my family. My aunt died last week and we are attempting to bring my 5yo cousin, Chelse, out to live with us in Maryland. However, the government "red tape" is slowing the process down. We're praying that those who are involved will move quickly so that Chelse can join us before the holidays. Also, a praise in this vein, Chelse had her first day of kindergarten on Monday. She's starting two months late b/c my aunt didn't have her enrolled, but she really enjoyed it and told my mom that she made a lot of new friends. Unfortunately, the reality of her mom having died is also starting to set in so the grieving process is beginning which is probably very difficult when you're 5. -- I am currently in the process of trying to locate a job back home in Maryland. I have felt God's calling to move back to the East Coast after completing my time here at FFI so now I'm praying that he will work to provide a job there. I am praying that I will find favor with those who will be placed in my path. -- The Institute has provided us the tickets so we are attending a performance of John Williams movie music by the Colorado Symphony in Denver on Saturday. One of the guys' apartments from Alpha is escorting our apartment as their "dates" for the evening. Please pray for travel safety and that we would have a lot of fun up in Denver. I guess that's about it for this update. I have been trying to post on the blog when I can so there are some more stories there about what has been going on out here in beautiful Colorado Springs. I hope things are well with everyone! I would love to hear how you are doing. Well, I guess I should go polish my paper that's due tomorrow.;) Talk to you again soon! God bless! Meghan

Exploring Colorado

OMG! No words can explain the beauty and majesty of God's creation that I experience today. Bethany and I joined 3 other FFI girls (Kate, Amanda, and Rebecca) to go hiking in Cheyenne Canyon. We left around 1pm from the apartment complex and headed south and west towards the mountains. It took us about an hour to get to the trail head. We got to drive on a road called Gold Camp Road for awhile and actually saw a family of bears cross the road in front of us! There was papa bear, mama bear, and baby bear. I was able to capture this picture of the baby bear. :) The fall colors here are so vibrant...but there's not much more than yellow. I kinda miss all the oranges and reds that we would see on the East Coast. However, you can't beat the view of the mountains here. We started off on the trail and quickly found that there were plenty of chances to blaze our own trail. I was scared at first because all of my hiking buddies proceeded to climb down a fairly steep hillside to a stream below. However, I finally took the leap and started down the incline. It was beautiful! We got a lot of great pictures down by the stream and had so much fun blazing our own trail back to the path. I'm glad that I took the risk (don't worry, Mom, we were safe, it wasn't a big risk) because there are sights I never would have seen otherwise. We took a lot of pictures of each other and found some other hikers to take pictures of all five of us. We hiked up until 3:30 and then turned around to head back down the mountain. Even though a picture can't do it justice, I've tried to include one from near the height of our climb. It was absolutely gorgeous! I've never felt nearer to God's beauty than I was today. It almost brought tears to my eyes to be on that mountain. I can't wait to do some more exploring in the area! I've never experienced God's creation in this way before. There are so many places in Maryland that I've seen it but it almost seems purer here today. I will try to get all the pictures up later this week. Hope things are well with everyone! I'd love to hear from you! God bless! Meghan