What a Week + A New Calling

Last week was definitely a crazy week. Monday was relatively quiet, thankfully. I was tired though after driving back and dealing with classes and lots of studying. Tuesday, on the other hand, was a crazy day.  The class day itself was fine, as was the studying I did following my classes. I had left my heat on while I was at my parents’, as it was quite cool outside. Tuesday afternoon after getting home from class I turned it off as it was 70 degrees outside. Following that I did some necessary grocery shopping. 

A little after 8 pm, my carbon monoxide alarm went off. After figuring out what alarm was going off and ascertaining that the alarm wasn’t beeping because of a dead battery, I grabbed my jacket, keys, and cell phone & left my apartment. Once outside, I called my dad, told him what was going on and asked him who to call. He told me to call the non-emergency number for the fire department. Given that I hadn’t taken my computer or ipod touch, he looked up the number for me. After calling them, they sent both a large fire truck and an ambulance. However the ambulance left before actually finding my apartment (the fire truck was behind my apartment and called off the ambulance once they were sure it wasn’t needed). They checked my oven and my furnace and sure enough, my furnace was spewing off just enough carbon monoxide to go off. They called my apartment maintenance who came & checked it out too. It was okay to stay in my apartment so long as I left the furnace off that night. It wasn’t a huge deal, as it was going to be warm enough overnight.

The following day, the regular maintenance guy checked out my furnace and found that a piece from the furnace had fallen on top of two of the three burners, likely leading to the carbon monoxide issues. Once that was fixed, he tested it several times that day and found everything was fine. The one drawback to Wednesday, however, was that I needed to leave the law school in enough time to be able to talk to someone at the apartment complex before the office closed at 5pm. That meant not quite getting all my reading done and rushing through it so I could leave. I had a fair amount of studying to do after classes on Thursday as well. Friday was spent driving up to my pdoc appointment for a med check & then seeing my grandfather. Saturday was fairly quiet until it came time for the Badger game – many was that hard to watch.

On Sunday, I officially accepted my new calling and was sustained in Sacrament meeting and then set apart following church. I’m the new Sunday School teacher for the 14 & 15 year olds. As I said in my previous entry, I’m always amazed at how well the Lord knows us.  I was reminded of that when I was set apart.  I was reminded again later on when I reread my patriarchal blessing. While I won’t go into specifics, I will say there are things in it, things I’ve always worried about that I’ve never mentioned to anyone but the Lord.

On one level, I definitely feel like my new calling is a kick in the butt from the Lord to get my butt in gear. I admit, I’m not nearly as good about saying my prayers or reading my scriptures as I should be. This particular calling will force me to be better at both.

I’m always amazed

I’m always amazed at how well the Lord knows me and knows what I need. However, I’ll get to that in a minute.

I had the chance to go home this last weekend. I was home last the weekend of September 22nd. That weekend, I was home to help out my parents. They were in Florida and wouldn’t get back until mid-day Saturday and were afraid they wouldn’t get home in time to pick up Sammie from the kennel and thus she’d have to stay there until Monday. That weekend, I drove up Thursday after class and drove back to school Monday morning. Given that my parents didn’t get back until 1:00 on Saturday afternoon and they spent Sunday morning in IL visiting my grandmother (I wanted to go to church and I was getting over a cold), I didn’t see a whole lot of my parents. 

This weekend I went home on Thursday after my last class and drove back this morning. Thursday night was pretty quiet on the whole. Friday on the other hand was terrific.  Friday morning wasn’t as great, as I discovered I need to align my wheels on my car again and drop in the neighborhood of $80 (Sears informed me of this after I got my oil changed there). I didn’t get it done then as I was pressed for time, but it’s something I’ll have to take care of this week, as they’re apparently badly out of alignment. However that afternoon, I got to drive down with my dad to see my grandmother . I hadn’t seen her since right before she left the nursing home early in September.  Just last Tuesday in my counseling session my counselor suggested finding ways to see her or to communicate with her as it’s harder for me to go see her these days. And then just a few days later, I got to go see her . She’s doing alright on the whole, especially given that she’s been off chemo since late March! There are days we think she’s going to outlive us all. I’ll be surprised if she’s still here come Christmas time, but we’re going to enjoy the time we have with her while we have it.

Saturday and Sunday I got to see my brother . I’m still surprised sometimes at how well he and I get along now, whereas when we were kids we really didn’t get along that well. My dad picked him up on Saturday morning after which they went grocery shopping. My dad, Jason, and I watched the Badger game on Saturday night and were depressed at the outcome, to say the least.   Even though they lost, watching the game with my dad and brother was fun.

Sunday I attended my old ward with my mom and it was their ward conference.  That was a good thing, as it meant I got to see the Stake President.  He’s a family friend and has been for many years now. He’s also been my mom’s home teacher for several years now. His wife was also obviously in the ward. It’s so great to see the Nelsons.

Prior to going home, I’d pretty much made a decision regarding my calling. However I was still thinking about it and praying about it. It seemed like everything said was pointing in one direction. In Relief Society in particular, President Nelson talked briefly about Mary, and how even though she’d never been with a man and was as young as she was, she did what the angel (& by extension the Lord) asked of her. President Nelson suggested that perhaps we should all be a little more like Mary. As a result, I’m going to give Brother Stewart a call in the next day or two about the calling. It may not be tonight, simply because I’ve got a lot to do tonight.

After going home for the weekend, I’m feeling a lot steadier than I was. I didn’t get nearly enough studying done over the weekend, but I got enough done. I’ve got a fair amount to do this week though. At this point, our last day of regular class is just four weeks from tomorrow so that’s starting to stress me out a little. But I’ll get through it. Next semester will be busy too, thanks to Moot Court, but that’s a topic for another day.

Yes, I’m awful at updating

Yes, I’m aware it’s been several months since I last updated.  It’s been a busy several months. Even though I don’t have any Friday classes this semester, I’ve been drowning in reading for class. Early in the semester, I was also driving up to see my grandmother most Thursday evenings. However, the week following Labor Day, she left the nursing home and moved in with my aunt and uncle, so I’ve not had a chance to see her since. Unfortunately, my schedule doesn’t mesh well with dropping in on my aunt and uncle. On the other hand, my grandfather is at a nursing home here in town and I try to go over once or twice a week. Mentally, that’s about all I can handle on my own. I’ll stay longer if I end up going with another family member who’s come down.

Classes have mostly gone okay, though as I said, they’re a lot of work this semester. In particular, federal income taxation is probably the hardest of the bunch. I studied with Shannon on Friday for a few hours and am feeling better about it than I was, but it’s still my hardest.  Bankruptcy is also a pain, but at least the Bankruptcy Code is easier to understand, if no less complex. I managed to get a cold earlier in the semester, which put me behind on a few things, but I’ve caught up (thankfully). At this point, we just have five full weeks of class plus two days left. That week of just two days is the week of Thanksgiving. Following Thanksgiving, we have a three day reading period, after which finals start. I’ve got a term paper due in lieu of a final on December 2nd, with my other four taking place over the following week or so. My last final is Monday, December 12th.

On a different note, I’m doing a lot of praying and soul searching at the moment, as I’m debating turning down a calling for the first time. I know there’s the adage that you should never turn down a calling. I know several people that talk of turning down a calling as a regret. I also know that the Lord gives us no commandments without giving us a way to accomplish them. But there’s so much going on in my life right now, both in terms of stress and time and the calling isn’t a small one. I just have to pray about it and think about it. I’m going home next weekend to see my family, so maybe that’ll help me sort out my thoughts and feelings on the matter.