Is it really March 19th?

Okay okay,

So I admit, my generally-timely blogging tendencies have been lacking....but I would assert for slightly good reason! :)

The week leading up to my reading week (aka- spring break) I was frantically pulling together my life: studies, wedding plans, packing, the endless correspondence which goes with being overly social...and then AJ and I made swift driving of the 25 hour trip back to SD. Yes, we drove. Also for good reason, I would suggest. AJ needed to drive to Kansas the week following my reading week, so we thought it would be best to drive to SD together and I would fly back to Princeton (Sunday) in time for my midterm exam (Monday)....

I must say that my reading week was full of wedding plans and feeble attempts at studying for my NT midterm exam (which, btw, did not go well- but on the bright side, I feel as if I know a lot more about the gospels! -just not the specific details they happened to ask on the test!) :) My wedding plans, I realize, will never diminish in number or detail until the day I marry AJ. What I mean to say...is that if I hadn't gone home, the same things would have been accomplished sooner or later before the wedding- but when I have time to fill with wedding plans (as I did this past week), I somehow realize a million more to-dos! :)

We are on the final stretch of basically two months until the wedding, which makes it strikingly difficult to stay focused in school. Did I mention the 70 degree weather doesn't help much either? Yes, finally the good Lord has provided sunshine for our weary academic minds, only to create further distraction from the last 8 weeks of the semester! I keep telling myself- only 8 more week of being a student, then 4 MONTHS off for summer! In reality, I should be able to maintain focus, but add in the psychological effect of already having my first bridal shower (thanks to Debi and the Mina crew!)...I am overly excited about one thing- wedding.

I never imagined myself for "that girl"- you know, the one who becomes so consumed with wedding plans that everything else falls off the face of the earth for awhile, but I must admit that to an extent, this has been me. Entirely unintentionally, I might add. In some ways, the very circumstances of getting married require me to be thinking about little else...and it's wonderful- but as we all know, thinking about others (taking the focus off yourself) is ultimately the most fulfilling sense of peace and meaning, as opposed to always being preoccupied with "my decisions" "my wedding" "my this" "my that." With that said- I know I will be thoroughly happy with my wedding day- but I will be even more thrilled to begin a marriage with AJ Munger- and be able to focus OUR energies toward others.

So, this week I have been busy catching up on all the "school stuff" I conveniently forgot about during reading week, and I've also been sleeping off this little bug that keeps wanting to attack my immune system! The weather has been fabulous, and everyone's spirits are up on campus, which is a nice change from the gloom of the cloudy, sometimes rainy, sometimes snowy past several weeks. I went for a few runs outside, and the feel of fresh air on my winter-whitened legs feels marvelous!

Tonight I am hosting our very first dinner group! I signed up for dinner groups as a way for AJ to meet people (and coincidentally, he is still on his way back from Kansas...poor timing), but it's basically a random group of people from campus who have all signed up. I agreed to host our first dinner, and we will be eating Mexican in our stylish gray Alexander hall basement! (emphasis on the "stylish" sarcasm). So hopefully everyone enjoys themselves...I'm looking forward to meeting a few new people!

And this weekend I start in on my 2nd (and last) NT paper, due Tuesday. It's an exegetical paper, which means spending endless hours pouring over a passage in 1 Corinthians to understand the literary structure and nuances...and maybe write a good paper? :) I did get a few papers back recently. My first NT actually came back with an A on it. Weird, I know. :) And my first Radical Reformation paper was a B. Not so weird, considering how difficult I found that paper to be. But I will get a chance at another one of those soon too, lest I think I can relax. :)

Okay, speaking of relaxing- I'd best get going! Ha, JK- I actually need to prepare for the dinner group, but I'm so glad to be able to write an update- as I know many of you might have written me off as a quitter! :) Never, Never, never quit.

Sending my love and as much NJ sunshine as I can pack into this blog post!

Emily