Our First Week

We had our first whirlwind week here at Columbia. Doug and I are thankful that we closed on our house in Charlotte and got everything moved in to our seminary apartment with no breakage; we only lost a container of oatmeal on the truck! As soon as Doug brought the moving truck to the Village (our apartment complex name), we had so many seminary neighbors who were willing to help us unload. It was great. We moved furniture until late Friday night (June 27) and all the kids were playing outside in the dark until almost 11:00!!! Needless to say we have gotten a bit off schedule with bedtime routines, but hey, it's summer!!!

There are nearly a dozen children, mostly early elementary age, here at the Village. Devon and Ashley are living a children's fantasy where the playdate can start after breakfast and end late afternoon. They have made great friends and we love living next door to Diane and Charles Hunter and their family; they are the other family from our church attending seminary here at CTS.

There is a good mix of students in our Greek School from twenty-somethings recently out of college to those like myself in the their thirties and forties as a second career student with a family. There are actually a lot of women here on campus in the Master of Divinity program. I have met a good handful of moms and even single women in my class. Everyone is very easy to talk to. Doug and I are enjoying CTS for being a campus that does focus on relationships.

It has been a lot of fun getting back into college mode. I have had many late nights and early mornings, as this first summer class in Greek is a lot of work. But it is what it is and I am enjoying it. It is a lot of fun to begin to translate the New Testament. Only 7 more weeks to go!!!

Doug has relocated his work office to one of our bedrooms and is still getting his equipment set up. We will both be glad when all the boxes in this one room are allocated to a book shelf or cabinet. He has his plate full with his job and taking care of the girls while I am in class. I feel like I am the luckiest girl in the world though....Doug cooked all the dinners last week and just took over. It was an odd feeling switching roles, but we are figuring out how to share our responsibilities and finding time to connect to each other as well.

We had a fun Forth of July. We spent the morning nesting and getting pictures hung to make the apartment look more like home. The Dean of Students, Dr. John White, invited all the Greek students over to his house for a cook out at lunch, so most of the families went. It was a lot of fun. I miss all my colored walls, so my neighbors came over Friday afternoon and helped decorate my living room and kitchen. Friday night we all went to downtown Decatur to see the fireworks and they were fantastic. The girls loved staying up late again and seeing all the excitement.

Today Doug took Devon and Ashley to Stone Mountain for the afternoon so I could study. They had a great time there. Tonight we went to a cookout with the seminary families and just hung out for a while. It was a good weekend. Sunday we will visit another church and then I will be back in the books for my next Greek quiz.

We are thankful for the first of week of transitioning and new friendships.