Yay ... Grad School!

As you read in my post last week, Preston has decided to go to grad school rather than teach seminary. But, what I didn't mention is that I have been working on an application for the University of Utah's Master's of Social Work program. Today I turned it in. I probably won't end up going seeing as Preston's not looking at any schools in Utah, but it feels good to be done with it anyway. I was considering just not finishing the application, but all I had left was one essay ... I had already paid, sent in transcripts, written one essay and filled out the application itself. So, I decided, why not just finish and see what happens? I tell ya ... that was the hardest essay to write because I was totally unmotivated. I should have been able to get it done in one sitting, but it took me 3 days of working on it here and there. Oh well. It's done. So, go me! I've officially applied for grad school!

SNOW!

I get mixed feelings when it snows. I absolutely love the snow itself and all the fun activities that you can do in snow, but I really do NOT like scraping car windows, driving in traffic with slick roads, and I get cold so easily. So, I never quite know how I'm going to feel about the snow. Yesterday when I looked out the window and everything was white, I felt SO happy! It literally felt like Christmas to me! I even suggested that we watch a Christmas movie yesterday because I just wanted to. Preston is always so sweet and puts up with my silly ideas (and sometimes I think he really LIKES them!) so he was all for it, but when we were exploring our many movie options we decided on a different one, The Ultimate Gift. If you haven't ever seen it, I recommend it! It was a really good movie. It's one of those with a good message.

Even though we didn't watch a Christmas movie, we did keep our tradition of drinking hot chocolate on the first snow day. I'll confess that we actually busted out the hot chocolate about a month ago when it mildly snowed even though it didn't stick. We just got 2 "first snow days" this year! :D

I'm not quite sure if we weren't ready for this picture or had been ready too long ... at least we BOTH look silly :D

One Door Opens to Another Door Closed

Well, I haven't posted about seminary in a while, but today we have some news. As a reminder of how the process has gone so far, Preston wasn't offered a full-time position when he was up for hire in April. However, he did get a call later in the summer (June-ish) to invite him back to teach part-time again. We accepted and that's where he's been. I was so happy when the seminary door opened again because that's what felt so right. It turns out that the seminary door was opened again just to find another door closed. Through several events and promptings, we have reached the conclusion that while seminary was the right thing and has been a great experience Heavenly Father was only leading us somewhere else. The seminary door was officially closed today when Preston and one of his pre-service directors were talking after Preston's seminary class. Preston told him how he was feeling and he told Preston how they've been feeling and they are both on the same page with thinking that even though Preston is a great teacher, he will be even better somewhere else.

One of my all-time favorite songs (Rascal Flatts - My Wish) has a line that says "when one door opens to another door closed, I hope you keep on walkin' 'til you find a window." Our window is grad school. Even though I am so proud of Preston for turning down his dream of being a seminary teacher because he wants what Heavenly Father wants even more, it's kinda hard to know that our "window" of opportunity is now going back to school. It would have been a lot easier and cheaper to just start a career in seminary :D But, the easiest thing is not always best. Preston's been studying hard for the GRE and we're trying to decide which programs to apply to now. I'm glad we have a Father in Heaven looking out for us. I know we're being guided through the path we need to be on, but wish us luck! Preston will finish teaching through the end of the year and then we'll have to find something else for a few months before we leave for whatever school we're going to!

So, farewell to seminary (for now ... Preston would love to be an early morning teacher sometime) and hello grad school!