Catching Up

Holy howdy-doody, Batman. Is it really May? So, I've been the worst blogger ever when it comes to my happiness project. I remember looking at April 1 and May 1 and thinking..."I'll blog tomorrow." This isn't a normal attitude for me, so I must have been really busy with school. Plus, you can't force blogging and trying to make myself blog might have made me unhappy at the time. Which, in turn, seems to defeat the point of a happiness project. But, you'll be glad to know that even though I didn't blog about March, April or May I did/am continuing to do something intentional every month to contribute to my happiness project. So, here's a quick recap. I am supposed to be writing a final paper and am actually busier than ever. But, I got the blog bug and possibly the ramble bug, so here it goes:

March: "Become an advocate for something outside of seminary (and theology for that matter)." So, you guessed it. I researched student loans...especially FedLoans since we've had so much trouble with them. I won't go into detail about all the things I found out. However, I started sending them physical checks since they wouldn't accept our payments online. I make physical copies of all my correspondences with them and even keep physical stamp receipts from the Post Office to show the date we mailed the check. I have tons more to say, so if you're ever in a pickle, ask me and I will find something out for you. A little hint...the magic words (so far) seem to be, "I will contact the FTC if you won't let me pay my student loans." That seems to do the trick. And we really did file a complaint with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and FedLoans didn't charge us a late fee while they waited for a physical check to arrive since they wouldn't accept our payment online. Magic. Boom.

April: My goal was to pay attention to Spring. This was a blessing to me. Seriously. Most years I look back when spring has arrived in all its glory and I think to myself, "When did that tree get those leaves?" or "How long have those tulips been there." It's like one day they weren't there and the next they were. For that reason, everyday on my walk to work and class, I paid attention to spring blooming around me. This has been one of my favorite exercises in my happiness project thus far. I got to enjoy the progressiveness of spring this year. I might sound like an old lady, but there's something to be understood about the phrase "Stop and smell the roses." Paying attention to spring was really beautiful and now it's just about gone.

May: My goal this month, which I'm living into, is to observe community and be thankful. We're doing so much stuff with our community of friends this month -- we've already celebrated one of our best friends as he moved back to Virginia. We're also moving in a couple of days and then we are leaving the Asbury community for the summer and joining the PT community in Dallas. So, I love observing the community I am a part of and being thankful for the wonderful people that we call friends. Living into community is easy, but observing it and being thankful is a different discipline.

That's it for now. I will try to be more disciplined when it comes to blogging! I love it and I will be less busy in just a few days. My first year of seminary is coming to a close and that probably deserves a recap. Until then, back to paper writing so I can say that my first year of seminary has officially ended! Woo!