Thank You, God!

Do you ever feel like you're wrapped up in a ball of yarn and someone keeps rolling so you get even more tangled up? Then all of a sudden, a pair of scissors appears and cuts through everything and you're free!!!!

That's what happened to me today.

Let me back up. (Just a bit..."Concise, Alyssa. Be concise!")

Dec. 21 I found out I had to reapply for grad school, that the deadline to apply was back in October, there's a SLIGHT possibility the dean will sign it this late and that my previous GRE scores were no longer valid. My advisor emails me the application that is required.

Last Monday, I registered to take the GRE.

Saturday, I took it and improved my scores!

Monday, I have an appointment with my advisor to take my application in to her.

Sunday night, I go to my files to pull out a copy of my transcript from OBU. Umm, I don't have one.

Monday morning, I fax in a request for an official transcript to be mailed straight to UH and an unofficial one to be faxed to me immediately. I don't receive it in time to go to my advisor, so I reschedule for Tuesday.

Monday night, I remember there's an application fee and realize I am ALL OUT OF CHECKS! Yikes! I order new checks, but they take 10 days to arrive.

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Okay, so we're caught up to today.

I talk with a co-worker and she offers to write the check for me. I get online to see the app fee and realize I also need 3 letters of recommendation, a resume, a 1-3 page Goal Statement along with appropriate cover letters for all. Umm, yeah. At 1:30 I find all this out! (Did I mention my principal is out sick and another admin is home with a sick child? 3 letters of rec? Oh, sure! Do you see the ball getting more tangled up?)

At 4:00, I leave school with all paperwork in hand. (A few strands of the yarn have been cut through at this point.) Mind you, I'm supposed to meet with my advisor at 4:00 and it's approximately a 45 minute drive. I'm also supposed to be privately tutoring close to school by 5:00, then tutor another student at 6:45.

Oh, but there's more.

I call the 6:45 student to reschedule for tomorrow because he's a 1st grader and we really can't bump it back any later, because a 6 year old can only stay up so late. At this point, I realize I programmed the number incorrectly in my phone. Our school phone system is not working so I can't call them. I try to walk my mom through logging in to my email account, but my fingers remember the passwords better than my brain and I gave her the wrong one...over and over and over again...so that didn't work. I finally get a hold of another teacher who looks up the phone number and I call and reschedule.

I make it to UH at 4:45 and my advisor looks at NOTHING but my GRE scores and we walk down to another office for a person to click through a few screens on her computer and say 'yep, it's doable.' (WHOOO-HOOOO! Thank you Lord! Those yarn pieces are being snipped at about now!) And we select 3 classes for me to take. That's 9 hours and I'd been a little leery of that, but at the same time I really want to finish this degree and 9 hours this semester is necessary to be able to graduate in December.

Are you ready for God's grand finale?

Two of the three classes I'm going to take this semester are being offered to only one other student due to Special Arrangements and we're only going to meet every other week for approximately 30 minutes per session! Seriously! How great is that!?

Not only do I learn a lot, work on independent study assignments, drive across town less often and build a rapport with MY ADVISOR because she is the professor in BOTH of those two special classes, but I also get to keep ALL of my private tutoring students which is FANTASTIC for the extra income it provides. I had been scared to even pray for the tutoring aspect, just assuming there was no way and obviously hadn't even THOUGHT of this arrangement, but GOD did it ALL!

Praise Him! I got in the elevator and did a private little dance and squeal that the other elevator inhabitant was privy too. We laughed and I took a huge sigh of relief as I felt all those yarn pieces break away. Thank you LORD!