You might as well call me Olga.

Because I've been Russian a lot lately.

Rushin' to get ready, rushin' to eat breakfast, rushin' to school, rushin' to work, rushin' to study so I can actually sleep.

Always, always, always, Russian.


I fully underestimated how time consuming school + work + husband + family would be. I mean, I took classes last fall and spring while I was married, but nothing like this. PLUS I only lived 15 minutes away from the campus. Now I live 45 minutes away... that makes a huge difference.

Before I went to get registered for classes this semester Cody and I sat down and decided that I would do whatever was necessary to graduate by next December. Well, this meant taking 5 classes each semester, plus next summer. So there I was, sitting in front of my advisor, and I said "Eh.. 5? I can do 5! I took 4 classes my first 3 years of college... I can do 5!" And she looked at me like I was crazy. "Are you sure?!" she said, "most people take 4. These are harder classes.." Well, I told her that I liked challenges.. and that I was confident that I could do it! It would be fun!


... I should have listened to her.

Five is tougher than I thought it would be. Five is five classes, plus five classes worth of homework, plus five classes full of studying for five classes worth of tests. And these professors seem to think that we need to learn to "work well with each other" so they assign countless group projects that require meeting outside of class. Working well with others is overrated!

So for now my life is::

• Leaving for school and work at 6:30 am and getting home at 6:30 pm.
• Communicating with everyone I love via text, because I don't even have time to talk on the phone.
• Answering "tired, but good!!" anytime someone asks how I am.
• Answering "homework!" anytime Cody asks what my plans are for the night.
• Answering "I'd love to! ..but I can't, I've got to study" any time my family asks if we want to go to dinner, a baseball game, come over for BBQ, or anything else, really.
• Truly realizing what a blessing weekends are!
  

And I am so thankful for Cody! He is so understanding and helpful. He has been picking up my slack so much lately. He has the laundry and dishes done by the time I get home from work. He picks me up dinner, or hot chocolate, or really what ever I ask for while I stay home and study. He encourages me when I get frustrated, wishes me a sleepy "good luck on your test, baby!" when I wake him up at 6:30 to tell him bye, and tells me he's proud of me all of the time. I cannot imagine what this would be like if I were married to anyone else. Certainly nothing like that, I'm sure.

And I love making everyone proud of me. It is one of the things I always strive for in life; making the people I love proud of me. But mostly, I've been proud of myself lately. When I got an A on my senior-level psychology test when I'm one of 3/175 who aren't psych majors... I was proud. When I got the ONLY 100 in the class on my marketing midterm... I was proud. When I've been able to look back on the past 2 months of the semester and say that I have done my best, I have not skipped class when I wanted to skip class, when I've stayed home and studied when I wanted to do ANYTHING else, when I've gotten all A's on everything I've done, in my first full semester at a "real" university, in my first 5 class semester... I am proud. And I know I couldn't have done it without my husband, my family, all the prayers, and a gracious God!


And now, I am working towards December 7th. The day of my last final of the semester., and I will have a month and a half break...



I just hope October is more kind to me than September was...