Sooo.....tomorrow I start my student teaching and my last semester as an undergrad.  In ways it has flown by and in others I look back and see how much has changed.  Right now I'm both excited and nervous for student teaching.  It's definitely going to be a learning process, but I hope that I can learn from the students as much as they can learn from me.  My biggest fear is that something will get out of control or I won't know how to answer a question and I'll just break down in tears and run out of the room.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that though!  I just read Andre Agassi's autobiography and it was actually really encouraging.  He talks a lot about not having to be a perfectionist and just being happy to give back.  I think that will be one thing that I need to focus on over the semester.

Christmas break came and went way faster than I would have liked.  It started with saying goodbye (again) to one of my best friends who moved back to California.  Then was Christmas, which was really awesome to be at home and spend time with family.  The day after Christmas, the family loaded up and headed to Shreveport for the Georgia bowl game.  We stayed in a casino which was an adventure and the whole time was really fun! 

After that came New Year's.  One of my goals was to submit my first round of grad school applications before the new year...and I turned them in on Dec. 31.  I count that as a win.  :)  Hopefully I will start hearing back from schools by mid-March.  I came to Athens to celebrate New Year's this year which was a first since I've been a student here.  It was fun because just about everybody came out for it.  Even though it was ridiculously crowded good times were had by all.  Over the break I also contacted the Peach Belt Conference about working for them this summer.  They said that they probably wouldn't have any paid positions, but the person I contacted was super friendly and welcomed me to bounce grad school and career ideas off of him.

A few days ago I got a nice surprise before heading back to school.  One of my friends was in Atlanta at a Christian conference and I got to go down and see him which was great.  The message we heard was really powerful and gave me a lot to contemplate.  I really need to get into more Bible study.  I've felt very complacent all through college and I need to get the spark started again.  And I've realized that I can't just wait on God to get me excited.  I need to be pursuing him.

So that's a quick update.  Long winded as usual.  Student teaching here I come!!

its been a pretty wild past month or so. so much to say and so much moving and shaking. unfortunately i slicked my finger open today and am having trouble typing with it all bandaged up.

hoping to post soon. in other news, i have fallen hard for a lovely lass - only to be banished to the friends zone. shoot me. my grades took a dive this semester which used to be the rock i could count on. so now my world is rocked and its actually kind of a blessing. hopefully i can use this break for a lot of thinking and exploring. hope to talk to you soon.

kevin