Grace.

Most of you have probably realized by now that this semester hasn't gone so well for me. Considering how much I wrote about my classes back in the fall, updating you on every test or essay score I received every five minutes of every day... Since you haven't read about it much since January, you may have drawn the conclusion that I just wasn't as stoked about it as I was before.

It's not that.

I still love school. I'm so glad it's there. Lee University is exactly where God wanted me to go all along. So all that time after graduating high school that I spent wondering where God wanted me to attend, knowing He wanted me to go to a Christian college, was time worth spending because it ultimately lead me to Lee. And I'm glad.

Although, just a sidenote about last semester... One thing I never told you was that I never received half my tuition money back because I was misinformed as to the terms. I said before that I would receive $2020 back on my tuition if I achieved a 3.7 GPA or higher. Well, I ended up scoring a 4.0 GPA at semester end and expected to get the money! Unfortunately, I was wrong... The 3.7 GPA is a cumulatativeGPA score, meaning an overall GPA score for all my semesters combined. Right now, I'm sitting somewhere around a 3.2 or 3.3 GPA. So even though I busted my ass and got the grades, they weren't enough to give me an overall GPA score, which would have awarded that money. So there's that. Sorry I never let you know about it. It was a pretty big let down...

Okay, so here's the real deal about school. I love it. I'm enjoying it. It's been really good for me. Of course, there are things I dislike about it, but that would be the case anywhere I go. But for the most part, I enjoy what I'm learning, I really like my teachers, and the fact that I'm learning about biblical texts from varying perspectives. That is extremely exciting for me. It's what I always wanted.

However, due to the difficult circumstances from the start of the winter semester up to this point, what with all the emotional turmoil and drama, I've struggled to keep up the enthusiasm I expressed last semester. It just hasn't been easy.

Last Wednesday, I had an exam in my Message of Old Testament class and I was completely unprepared for it. In the two weeks prior to the test, I hadn't achieved much sleep, missed a few classes, and lacked the notes necessary to study for the exam properly. I tried to get them from classmates, but no one would email them to me. Either they'd handwritten them or they just wouldn't respond to my request for them. So I emailed my teacher the morning of the test and I told him I was going through a "sort of emergency" and asked if I could take the test at the start of next week. He said it was fine and we would reschedule.

We had Easter break over the weekend, so we didn't have class last Friday or the following Monday. So I had a weekend to figure out what I wanted to tell my teacher or how I was going to explain my so-called "emergency."

Basically. I just came out with it.

"Dr. Alderman, I want to explain what's been going on with me in the few weeks prior to our last exam."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Well..." (deep breath), "I wasn't prepared for the test and I've had a really emotional semester and I'm completely on my own out here, without my family and all, and I went through this really dramatic time and a couple weeks ago, it reached a climax, and I've been sick at least five times since the New Year, which is probably because I'm under so much stress, but I really want to get through your class and I'm trying very hard but I know I can't take that last exam because I don't have the notes and there's no way I would know everything I'd need to know and..."

After spilling my guts over the classroom table, my teacher got a very sympathetic look on his face and he said to me, "Carly, I understand. And I really want to work with you on this. Give me until Friday to think of something and then talk to me, okay? You're going to be fine. We'll work on it."

Praise the Lord for teachers with gracious personalities. I knew if I just laid myself out there and was honest, my teacher would see that I really meant it and that I was worth helping. And I was right. He's going to help me out and I am so thankful to God for that, because otherwise, I don't know how I'd get through this semester.

So while this semester isn't going to look nearly as impressive as last semester, I'm sure I'm going to get through it and start next fall, I'll be back where I need to be. And I'll take it on full force.

Okay, so now you know what's going on school-wise. I know I've been asking for a lot of prayer lately, but it's really because I need it. I'm sick, I'm struggling in school, and I'm dealing with a lot of homesickness. I mean, I know that going through all this at once is going to make me stronger in the longrun, but I know that the prayers make the struggle and pain of it all that much easier to bare. As well as learn from. I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from. Thanks.