I'm a North Carolinan?

I live in North Carolina now. Kelly and I are in the process of changing our licenses and plates and all that good stuff, but within a year I will hopefully become an actual resident of North Carolina. Though I'm totally a mama's boy, and it's incredibly difficult for me to adapt to drastic change, things have worked out pretty well here. Kelly and I found an awesome apartment literally a mile away from Duke's campus, and apparently about 10 feet from our twin couple. We've met two great people, Colin and Molly Knapp, and the similarities are almost creepy. Both Colin and I are entering the divinity school. We both have July weddings. Kelly and Molly both graduated with degrees in social work, and all four of us love Sam Oches and Katie Haver, both of whom ended up here as well.

Yes that is all quite random, and may sound stupid to anyone else reading it, but I think it's funny. On a more serious note, I can't imagine how much more difficult this change would have been for Kelly and I if God had not provided for us the miracle that is fellowship in such an incredibly convenient and beautiful way.

Community has always been a key part of our faith. I'm pretty sure neither Kelly nor I would have survived college without the wonderful friends the Lord provided us with then...not to say they're all used up of course. If any of you are reading this, I'm crazy about you. But to know that God is continuing to provide that blessing to us is the biggest comfort I could have asked for. Now all we need to do is find a church. Unfortunately for us, Kelly and I had way too good of a church in Athens, so the bar is set pretty high. Hopefully that won't be a problem.

I'm a husband?

My wife is gone this weekend. I don't like it. I like that I don't like it. I've been married for four weeks as of this very moment to be exact. Though I'm sure it doesn't seem like much time to many many other married couples, I've been surprised at how much has changed since then. At first, I didn't think that I could adjust to sharing a bed with someone. This past night, I didn't feel as comfortable going to sleep, because I didn't have the most beautiful woman lying next to me. Maybe it's because we've started our new lives in this apartment together, so it doesn't really feel complete without her. Whatever it is, I'm glad it's there.

There has obviously been tension in figuring out how to basically merge two lives into one, but for the most part, I think I made a pretty awesome choice in getting married.

Though the amount of stuff I'm sure I'm supposed to learn from this whole experience has barely been scratched, and even that's an understatement, I really feel like a different person. For example, I'm pretty sure I'm cleaner than I was before. And I've actually obtained some amount of "handy" skills since we've moved in. And for some reason, since I've become a real life husband, I feel more relaxed. Maybe it's because the wedding's over, but I just feel a little more calm, which has really helped in this huge life change Kelly and I have just gone through. So really, this is all to say I like being a husband. Mainly because my wife rocks.

I'm a seminarian?

I had orientation at Duke this past week from Wednesday to Friday, and I now have a paper due on Tuesday on the difference between trusting God and believing in God and how that should play out in our lives as Christians.

As I'm sure most first year seminary students that have their undergraduate degree in finance would be, I'm feeling a mixture of extreme excitement and moderate nervousness...or the other way around depending on which hour you were to catch me.

In all honesty though, I really have no idea what to expect, and the first day or two of orientation I really was having trouble remembering why the heck I decided Duke Divinity School was what I wanted to do. But I'm beginning to remember the whole God part of this decision. Though every single faculty member and student I've talked to has described the difficulty to the M.Div program in great detail, we, as an incoming class, have also consistently been reminded that we are here because we are supposed to be here.

I think I can be confident in the amount of time the admissions staff spent in prayer and discernment when it came to accepting us into this program. And above that, I think I can be confident that God has allowed so many crazy things to work out in order for me to end up here.

So yes I am very nervous, but I like it here...though classes don't actually start until Monday :)