Back to school and other updates

Ah, it's that time of year again...new eraser scent, brand-new sneaker squeaks, and freshly sharpened pencils. Back to school. Incredibly, schools in our county started today. I'm still not used to the mid-August start date; where I grew up, school began the day after Labor Day. So, even though I love the fresh-start feeling that this season brings, I was still a little taken aback this morning when I heard the school bus barreling over the speed bumps in our apartment complex.

This was the summer that wasn't really summer for the McCullochs. Since Adam graduated in May of 2008 and has been working full-time since, there was no definitive beginning of summer which consequently made it feel like summer never happened. Even though we've had beautiful weather this summer in the 'Ville, I rarely spent much time outside, mostly out of laziness at the thought of hauling both girls around and messing with Caroline's feeding and napping. Ho hum. Thankfully, we have a beach trip with Adam's fam at the end of August to look forward to! It will actually be the first time Adam and I have ever been to the beach together (outside of a few hours spent at Rockport Beach). So even though Adam's classes begin next week, our beach trip will hopefully wring out of August a few more weeks of summertime freedom.

Wait, what's that you say, Mary? Adam's classes?

Yes, my dear reader, Adam's classes. For those of you who don't know, Adam is returning to Southern this fall to begin a ThM in Counseling, and we couldn't be more excited. As some of you know, the last four years haven't been the most sunshiney of our lives. Although they have been tough, we are beginning to see how the Lord has been using them to work in us, shaping us and molding us. In addition to His work in us, we are excited to report that we are also seeing Him beginning to work around us as well. It has been so awesome to see how the Lord directed Adam to pursue this ThM, gave me a heart that was fully supportive, and opened all the right doors and provided all the right means at all the right times. As a result of Adam's trip in May, it became more apparent that a ThM in counseling would not only be extremely useful in what we desire to do but that it could also open more doors than a MDiv alone.

We are still in the process of applying to go back overseas, and it appears that, even with the financial setbacks facing our company, our timeline to return to East Asia is aligning well with the conclusion of Adam's degree. We're hoping to make it to the final step of the process by December in order to go to training/orientation sometime next summer. Please join as we pray with these things in mind.

So, it's back-to-school time for the McCullochs, and as I've said before, I really love the fresh start that a new season offers. Appropriately, John Piper expressed a similar sentiment in his blog today.

And now, your reward for making it through this wordier post: