Catching You Up (all backwards-like)

So, it's been a while since I've accessed this blog. I started it up as an assignment for class (you can see my old homework, and I need to figure out how to push the old stuff out of the window), but I decided to pick it back up to catch everyone up on what's been going on with me.

I've finished up my Master's Degree in English with a specialty in Creative Nonfiction Writing. Well, before that, I got married almost a year ago (http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=9708035319735158), and Brian and I have been enjoying this year of marriage- and home-building. The wedding and reception were SO much fun, and every time I look at pictures, I want to do it all over again. I'll have pictures posted soon, as soon as I figure that part out! I've been working for Blue Bell ice cream since right before the wedding, and I've gotten some pretty strong arms from the workout. I still work the ice cream here and there, and I really enjoy it.

I finished up my Master's in May, and he's working on his last two classes this first session of summer, then he'll graduate in August. I haven't really been doing anything this summer except reading Dante's Divine Comedy and Augustine's Confessions for my next round of school. Yes, you heard right, I'm going back to school! I'll start attending Seattle Pacific University (http://www.spu.edu/prospects/grad/academics/mfa/index.asp) at the end of July for another Master's degree! Yee-haw, I love school! Once again, though, I noticed that I'm starting in medias res, so let me back up . . .

The second year of my career at Texas Tech University, I worked for Iron Horse Literary Review. One of my professors is the editor, and she asked me to be a managing editor, so I had the great blessing and privilege to work there. It was great. I got to see how publishing in literary journals works, got a better understanding of my own submission process, and got to work with a very enjoyable staff. The Lord listens and loves, I'm always telling Brian. I was not very happy with my experiences up to that point, but once I started working for Iron Horse, my soul felt at home. So, along with saving me from unhappiness, my boss/mentor/professor/friend also showed me how to submit my work to literary journals for possible publication. I was working on a particularly difficult essay, difficult in its emotional content, and I used the essay in another class in which I was supposed to pinpoint journals which would accept it. I contacted an old professor of mine from Baylor to see where I could place this essay, and he suggested I look at Image Journal (http://imagejournal.org/) as a possible home for it because of its academic elements mixed in with personal memoir. Well, I started looking around the site, saw that Seattle Pacific was its host university, and I saw where the Lord was pointing me.

It's a Christian-oriented program, see, and it seems to be my calling. I've recently begun really digging into my faith, exploring its levels and paths, and it's been a foundation of my writing. What better way to nurture that exploration than by enhancing my religious and scholarly education even more? So I applied, got accepted, and am now reading Dante and Augustine for my first class! It's a low-residency model, which means the participants don't have to relocate to attend the program. But Brian and I are young and in love, so we're taking the opportunity to go ahead and experience a new environment. In other words, we're moving to Seattle! Since I don't necessarily have to live there, we can move whenever we're able to, so it all depends on when Brian gets a job there. Things always come together for me, and because I've always wanted to live in Seattle, be around all that rain and stuff, I just think it's part of a wonderful plan the Lord has in store for us. Though it's already getting difficult for me to think about being so far away from my family, I think it's a great opportunity for Brian and me. I've been going to my mom's house every day so I can see her and my nephews and niece to atone for all the missing I'm going to be doing when I'm gone.

I'll be working on an MFA, which is a Master of Fine Arts, as opposed to the MA I just received, a Master of Arts. The difference is that an MA is more research-based, which is good because I got a lot of literature and research foundation for when I want to apply to a PhD program. An MFA, however, gives me more chances to write creatively. Plus, with the Seattle Pacific program, I'll get to read more of the Judeo-Christian classics in the canon. I'm looking forward to this program very much!

Brian and I already have tons of things we want to do while we're up in Seattle. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to let us know!