End of the Semester!

Hello everyone!

I fully intend to ACTUALLY resurface here, and I'm so excited! I feel like I have so much to tell you about, but really, read the post I just did about the comps exam, and you'll know where I've been the last... well, the last 6 months at LEAST.

Let me just say, I am so relieved to have that test behind me! I decided to give it a go a semester early in hopes of taking pressure off of my last semester (knowing that Matthew will be gearing up to deploy only weeks after I'd take the test in the spring). Woot! And, since this is my blog, a place to discuss my thoughts, I have to share with you that it was actually kind of fun. Four hour test? Fun? That's what Matthew said.

But here is where I know I'm in the right place (academia)-- I relish taking an exam I've prepared well for. And people, I prepared my BUTT off for this thing. I got to see the two grading sheets from the professors who grade our comps, and it was all the more affirming to see that I didn't just pass, but I freaking rocked it. Ok, enough of that. Just had to share while I'm still riding the high of this news :)

So the comps were the 5th of December, but I've had more classes, and then finals and grading, etc. My last final was yesterday, all papers are in, and my grades for my first class of teaching are officially submitted! Very exciting!

So... I'm beginning to decompress! I hope to share some of what I've been writing creatively over the last while, and I'm sure I'll do MUCH more of that in about a month when I begin banging out page after page towards my thesis. CRAZY!

Matthew and I will be in Utah for a few quick days next week, and then we'll head to Arkansas to celebrate Grandpa Teter who is turning 90 on the 24th! We're so excited to celebrate him, and I am really excited because I haven't had a grandfather to celebrate in over a decade!

We'll return to Clarksville on the 30th to enjoy the last few days of Matthew's leave, and then he'll head back to work as Executive Officer (a job he technically begins tomorrow...) on Jan 5. I'll have another week to catch you up on our happenings (mostly my cooking, really).

I look forward to being a more faithful blogger. In the mean time, I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas, New Year, and I hope to reconnect with you soon! (I definitely feel as though I've been underground for this semester!)

Merry Christmas!