Graduation!



Our ever-growing family! We started seminary as newlyweds! 
Look at us now! A 7 year old, and 1 on the way!

This post has been a long time coming!  Yesterday, we celebrated Will's graduation from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He earned is Master's of Divinity in Theology.  It was a beautiful ceremony, and yes, I cried through almost the whole thing. ;) 

I am so proud of my husband and all of the hard work he has accomplished.  Unlike many Master's Degree programs (mine was 36 hours), his program was 96 hours, and it only took him 4 years! 



Will's mom and step-dad made the trip from Georgia to be here!

When I originally thought about this post, I thought I would go into great detail about all of the crazy things that have happened to us during this time, and could have prevented us from ever finishing.  I was going to detail the times that we thought we should just give up.  Yesterday at graduation, however, one of the speakers talked about how everyone of the graduates and their families could give unique stories of God's faithfulness during Seminary.  Every graduate could share how their faith has been tested- and how they've come out stronger for it.  When he was saying this, I realized that we are not the only ones who have experienced great challenges, and great rewards and that God uses experiences in Seminary- academic and nonacademic- to prepare us for this life that He has called us to.


My brother and sister-in-law came down from Indy.  A pretty
big task when you have a 21 month old, and a 7 1/2 week old! 

So what's next for our family???  Good question!  This sweet baby growing in my belly kind of threw us for a loop. ;)  We were planning to continue Will's education (PhD) at Midwestern Theological Seminary in Kansas City, and we were going to start  this fall.  However, we feel like our family needs to catch it's breath.  2 children in 10 1/2 months is a bit of an... umm... transition.  Also,  Will and I got married, and moved to Louisville 2 weeks later to begin Seminary.  We don't know what it's like to be married without 1 or both of us in school.  In fact, since we met in college, we don't know what it's like to even be in a relationship without school!  So... we are going to take a break for at least a semester, maybe a year, and then we'll reevaluate.  We are also thinking now that our time in Louisville may be extended a few years, which is great, because we love Louisville!  Will is looking for other jobs/ministry positions, and we are looking into a different housing situation because our 800sq. feet is feeling a bit umm...tight.. these days, and we will need another bedroom with the baby coming.  Also, much to our dismay, we are looking into getting a minivan so we can haul our kiddos and their friends around.  So that said, our family has LOTS up in the air, and we are currently in the midst of a few transitions, and some major decisions that need to be made-soon.  Keep us in your prayers!