Update #8 from Princeton Theological Seminary: "What a blessing!"

Dear family and friends,

Well, the time has come for a new school year, and with it, some wonderful additions to my update list. Before I get going here, as I've said before please feel free to let me know if you'd no longer like to receive my updates and I'll take you off...no love lost. =)

Now, to go further up and further in: there is too much to talk about already! Let's start with the end of the summer. I finished up at First Pres, Visalia at the end of August only after preaching my very first sermon ever! My text was the wedding at Cana...and amazingly enough I felt like it went very well and received a lot of great feedback. What a blessing! Leaving the kids was very difficult as I had become rather attached to them over the summer. We finished the summer off with a girl's spa night and several great weeks of youth group. Again, what a blessing they are.

Along those lines, as I spent some time reflecting on my time at home I found that while I had been apprehensive about returning to Visalia for the summer, and really had no intentions to do that, God knew what he was doing. It was great to spend some time at home with my mom. It was wonderful to reconnect to First Pres and the families there that I used to know better and to get to know some of the newer families and people in the church. It was indeed another example of God's great faithfulness!

After I finished up my job I loaded up my car, drove to Bakersfield and picked up two of my best friends from college to begin our 3,000-mile cross-country road trip! In just seven short days we arrived in Princeton, but not before seeing a friend of ours from college in Colorado, stopping at a glass marble factory and shop in the middle of Kansas, going up 637 feet in the St. Louis Arch, experiencing the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and getting cheesesteaks in Philly! We got my stuff unloaded and prepared for a very busy few days before Jules and Brian left: New York City, Princeton, and church and antiquing!

Now that we're on to present day, school has officially been in session for three weeks! I love my classes this semester, it has been good to reconnect with friends, and enjoy some of my favorite east coast places. And to answer the question I'm sure you're all asking, no, the fall colors are not here...not quite yet.

Well, I believe I'll wrap up for now....this has gone on long enough. I'll write again soon more about my classes and such. I hope you are all well. Please find my address below...I love to get little notes and stuff! ;-)

Many "what a blessing!" moments I wish for you today,
Megan

I have arrived...

Greetings from New Jersey!

First things first: you're getting this e-mail because you either told me you wanted to receive my updates from graduate school, or because I thought you might want to receive my updates from graduate school. If either of these are not true, let me know and I'll take you off the list, no hard feelings. Alternatively, if you know someone I know and you think they might appreciate getting them, please feel free to forward it.

Sorry to slow you down...

After a semi-grueling 3,007 mile drive by myself across the country, I have arrived at Princeton Theological Seminary! I am very torn between excitement, fear, nervousness, and eagerness. We had the first two scheduled orientation events this evening....a worship service, which was perfect because God used it to speak so powerfully to me as I sat in the chapel for the first time as a student, and a picnic with the faculty and administration, which was yummy. I saw the other Westmont grad who is an entering student this year, had dinner with her and a couple of her friends, and then proceeded to unload my very, very, very full car into my very, very, very large room. I was fortunate enough to get into my first choice dorm, which is also the most popular and have now moved all my stuff in. It's still in a pile in the middle of the floor, but it's in. =)

My new blog can be found at MastersOfEspresso.blogspot.com. I'll hopefully be updating it frequently with the musings of what it means to be in grad school....and other stuff too!

Sorry this is short, but I am exhausted. I'll write more later...promise. In the meantime, I would appreciate prayers for adjusting to a new place, a new culture, and a new climate all away from everything that's familiar to me, as well as new friends and floormates that I want to build relationships with.

Thanks, and love you all!
Megan