An active day today…

* Neighborhood Watch meeting this morning, followed by…

* Ladies Class – finishing the letter from James, deciding to study Prayer next…

* Ballet Class for Hillary in an hour, during which I’ll…

* Go do a home visit for my CASA kids…

But I took a picture of my sports wall today. It’s only been in existence for two-and-a-half years, but I’ve been in that office for about nine years. I took a picture of it because I thought, law school may sound exciting, but moving all my stuff sure doesn’t.

Beauvoir’s Reconstruction as of Today

JOURNAL BLOG

Nothing terribly exciting today…

* The morning began with iced over car windows, a rarity in these parts…

* A morning full of prep work – classes, writing, emails, etc.

* An enjoyable trip to the nursing home in Biloxi to see my friends, Hezekiah, Mr. Flowers, Miss Katie, and others.

* On the way back, I parked at the Coast Coliseum and walked over to Beauvoir. Visitors to the Mississippi Gulf Coast know about Beauvoir – if you don’t, you can read about it HERE. As the picture above shows, the exterior work is coming along nicely.

* I took Hillary to the eye doctor to make sure the contact lenses were working out.

* I’m about to take Hillary to dance class, where I plan to continue making progress on reading ‘Tis by Frank McCourt, the follow up to Angela’s Ashes. I’m enjoying it just as much as the original so far, mostly because McCourt’s writing style is simply that wonderful.

* A scratchy throat appeared a couple of days ago, and today I noticed a white spot on the back of my throat. Probably nothing, but now I’m looking in the mirror ever so often with my mouth wide open, which isn’t a pretty sight.

BLOG-SERVATION

These four lovely ladies (I find the one on the far left particularly fetching) are from the Ocean Springs Church of Christ, and I snapped this picture just before they loaded up and headed to the Youth Shelter to volunteer this afternoon.

This has been a long time in coming, and because you are interested, I will take the time to explain.

I shall begin by sharing a huge “church” pet peeve of mine: if church were compared to a high school curriculum, standard courses would be classes such as Go To Church 101, Praying Regularly (or at least know that you should be), Read Your Bibles (same exemption as Praying Regularly), Not Cussing Around Other People (or at least your preacher)… There are others, but you get the idea. In this metaphor of mine, Serving Hurting People would be considered an extracurricular activity. That is my pet peeve.

So I had this bright idea a year or so ago now. (Well, I have had several ideas I thought would be bright for many years now, but none of them took in motivating us to move Serving Hurting People into our core curriculum.) My idea was to REQUIRE (okay, maybe beg and plead and use guilt, etc.) all of our Sunday classes not just to talk about things, but to reach out into our community and serve real, breathing people.

Well, our Forty-Something Class decided we wanted to serve at-risk children, so we started trying to figure out how to go about doing just that. (This is how Dana and I ended up CASA volunteers.) Several members of our class found out about the Youth Shelter and wanted to volunteer there. This decision set off a frustrating, lengthy battle with applications and red tape, but today was the day these folks had their first chance to go and spend time at the shelter.

Do you know what happens in your community when children of abuse and neglect are rescued? I didn’t. But I know now. They are taken to the Youth Shelter.

First, imagine being abused and neglected by your parents. Then, imagine being taken away from everything you’ve ever known to a small Youth Shelter where people are paid to watch you 24/7.

These lovely ladies pictured above know what kids that have experienced this look like now. They played today with two two-year old children and a nine-month old baby.

Jody said they learned a lot today, and they are looking forward to going back next month better equipped to brighten the dark lives of precious children.

It has been a long wait, but the persistence has been worth it.

LAW SCHOOL UPDATE BLOG

Today was a big mail day at my house. In addition to a few bills, a few pieces of junk, and a few law schools introducing themselves to me, I received THREE… count ‘em, THREE… acceptance letters.

I have been admitted to law school at the universities of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee for the Fall of 2008, which is just a pretty cool feeling. Arkansas even attached a nice little scholarship offer, bringing its price down a little below the level of the in-state Mississippi.

I did not expect to hear from anyone until February or so, but now I’ll start running for the mailbox every day to look for letters from Florida, Pepperdine, St. Louis, and Virginia.

And just to make matters a bit more complicated, it looks like we will add another application this week, this time to the University of Missouri-Columbia (but this will be the last one, I promise!).

Looks like this law school idea is going to happen after all.

JOURNAL BLOG

No pictures again today, even though it was a day “off” for me.

Jody and I had a really good talk this morning before she left for work about this whole law school concept. It really helped clarify some things as to our goals and way of thinking. Once we hear back from schools, I think we’ll have a much easier time making decisions.

Late this morning, I ran/walked my two miles (three days a week, I do such fun). It turned out to be a gorgeous day after such a stormy day yesterday. Running in shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt on January 11 with blue skies, a cool breeze, and temperatures in the upper 60s is just all right with me.

I headed to the office to do a little bit of work before picking up Hillary from school. Mostly some Habitat stuff after our meeting yesterday.

And now, I’m waiting for Jody to get off work so the three of us can spend the evening together (three, since Erica is back at college now). We need to talk more Science Fair with Hillary, and I suspect Jody & I will talk a little more about law school. I’m convinced it will be a good night, even before it happens.

BLOGGING ABOUT FRIENDS

Hillary took the picture above of me with two of the coolest people around after our Governance Committee meeting in Biloxi for our Habitat for Humanity affiliate this afternoon.

I began Habitat for Humanity of Jackson County in early 2001, and Nicole Grundel came on board soon afterwards. She has been an integral part ever since. In fact, if there were an MVP from the Jackson County affiliate over the years of its existence, it would have to be Nicole. She was the glue that made everything happen. When term limits led to my exit from the board in 2006, Nicole stayed on and helped navigate the merger with the Harrison County affiliate to form Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. HFHMGC is now the largest affiliate in the United States.

Chris Monforton is at the helm of HFHMGC, and he was made for the job. It takes everyone who meets him about two seconds to figure that out. I first met Chris shortly after Hurricane Katrina when he came to the Coast on assignment from Habitat for Humanity International. He first served as a consultant to the affiliates throughout our region. He was then hired as the Executive Director of the Harrison County affiliate, and finally, after the merger, he was hired as the Chief Executive Officer of HFHMGC. He has worked non-stop ever since.

There are lots of big things happening with our affiliate. The highlight of 2008 promises to be in May when we are scheduled to host the Jimmy Carter Work Project. This is a HUGE event, and I am SO excited about being a part of it. That my affiliate will host this event just before I move away is simply too cool for words.

But back to Nicole and Chris.

If you don’t mind a little advice from me, let me offer some up for the taking: volunteer in your community. There are 1000s of reasons why, but I’ll give you two that are plenty all by themselves. Meeting people like Nicole and Chris.

I’m not an attorney yet, but with that, I’ll rest my case anyway.

BLOG-VENTURE

I went on my first blog-venture of 2008, and had a (cue Tony the Tiger) GRRR-EAT time watching the BCS National Championship Game at the Superdome in New Orleans.

I am indebted to my friend, DeJon, forever and ever. He bought his parents tickets as a Christmas present to his dad, and he ended up with four tickets and only three people. I am both stunned and honored that he asked me to tag along, and I had an unbelievable time. I am an Arkansas Razorback fan, and thus an SEC fan. So, though it was strange to be so fully an LSU Tiger fan for one night (chanting L-S-U so many times my throat is sore today), it was just a whole lot of fun. GO TIGERS!!!

You can check out a folder of my pictures from yesterday HERE.

New Orleans was nuts. I knew it would be nuts, but it was more crowded and more crazy than I expected. I did get to park right next to the Dome for $20, which was refreshing…

I bought a BCS championship shirt first thing, since I didn’t have any purple or gold shirts in the closet, and then walked around the French Quarter for a while before meeting up with DeJon and his parents. We sat and talked (mostly about law school since, coincidentally, DeJon is applying to law schools right now, too) and wandered before deciding to head the mile or so back to the Superdome.

On the long walk back to the Dome, we stopped in the Ritz-Carlton for a potty break (I mean, if you gotta go, you might as well go at the Ritz-Carlton). There, we saw both Jimmy Johnson and Urban Meyer in the lobby. I was going to get my picture made with Jimmy Johnson, but he was on a cell phone when we started to leave and looked like he was in a hurry. He had posed for a few pics with others and seemed really gracious.

When we made it back to the Dome, we stood on the bridge, enjoying the cool breeze and 70 degree temps on a perfectly overcast day, and watching the assorted fruitcakes that continuously gathered around. When you check out my pics, you’ll see a pregnant LSU fan who had painted a tiger on her pooching belly, one of the reporters from the Best Dang Sports Show Period interviewing some wildly costumed characters, and other various and sundry oddities.

They opened the Dome at 4:30pm and we went in right away. Our seats were simply awesome. We were behind the E in the OHIO STATE endzone. We were officially on Row 17, but the actual seating started on Row 9, so we were actually on the 9th row. The end zone we sat in witnessed 6 of the 8 touchdowns scored in the game, including both of Richard Dickson’s TDs (my man from OCEAN SPRINGS!!!).

DeJon and I wandered over to the TV stage and saw Eddie George, Jimmy Johnson, Urban Meyer, etc. We also saw Archie Manning wandering around a bunch, along with lots of Fox Sports dudes and dudettes.

The game, of course, was great, and LOUD – a raucous, fun atmosphere.

When the game ended, we stayed for the trophy presentation and pretty much waited until all the players finally wandered off the field and into the dressing room. I left the Dome at 11:30, was on I-10 by 11:50, and home and in bed at 1:30am.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of night. Simply unforgettable.

My Buddy, Chase, After Class This Morning

BLOG LINK

Today began my tenth calendar year in Ocean Springs, and I issued a challenge for what promises to be my final year here: I challenged our church to become the friendliest church around.

I spent a lot of time playing around with the Greek word koinonia in my sermon. In particular, I told the fascinating origins of the Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, a place that bears a tremendous likeness to the church described in Acts 2: 42-47.

I admitted out loud that I find it a bit embarrassing that I am a part of a heritage that claims that we are most like the restored First Century Church, when there is a farm in Georgia that lives together, works together, worships together, and studies together – EVERY DAY. Like the first church, you know.

If you don’t know about Koinonia Farm and its history, check it out HERE.

Nothing much to take pictures of today…

JOURNAL BLOG

BOOKS: I started off this morning reading some more from The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, a gift from my friend, John Dobbs. I’m motoring through it pretty fast, and enjoying it. Later, while at the library, I checked out ‘Tis by Frank McCourt, the follow-up to the most excellent Angela’s Ashes.

MOVIE: Jody, Hillary, and I watched the Jackie Chan version of Around the World in Eighty Days on The Disney Channel. Turned out to be one of those rare moments where all three of us saw a movie for the first time and ALL enjoyed it a lot.

SCIENCE FAIR: Hillary and I went to the library to begin looking for ideas for the Science Fair. We ended up with a couple of decent ideas. The bad news is that the projects are due in a couple of weeks.

FOOTBALL: I’ve spent the biggest part of the afternoon/evening watching NFL football. The Washington/Seattle game was interesting at times, though it ended in a blowout. I’ve enjoyed watching Jacksonville shine in the first half of the nightcap in Pittsburgh, but I really need to do some studying for tomorrow. I hope they can carry on without me.

The New Hillary (With Contacts, Not Glasses!)

LAW SCHOOL BLOG

To confirm all rumors of my goofiness, I have now applied to a seventh law school.

To explain, I checked the little box in the Law School Data Assembly Service application that allowed them to release my information to other law schools. I did this on purpose. My GPA (from a long time ago) was high, and now my LSAT score is decent, so I thought there might be doors opened that I hadn’t considered. I’ve had emails asking me to consider applying to schools from Yeshiva (New York City) to LaVerne (Southern California).

Yesterday, however, I had an interesting one. Now, I’ve applied to SEVEN schools.

Saint Louis University is considered a second tier law school (as are two others on my list: UT-Knoxville and Pepperdine; Virginia and Florida are top tier, and Arkansas/Ole Miss are third tier). Their email yesterday informed me that I would be a strong candidate for their 1843 Scholars Program, which would provide full-tuition for all three years. That was interesting. They waived my application fee, and all I had to do was write an essay, which I did this morning. So, there.

I did a little math and figured that I’d be a top fifty candidate or so for these scholarships. They award ten. So, I don’t expect to get one, but there are definitely worse odds out there.

So… for all of you grading at home, here is where things stand for me in this crazy process (in alphabetical order):

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS: This is the only school I know I will be accepted at so far (based on their simple mathematical formula of admission). But the only real chance for UA in my book is if they waive out-of-state tuition and offer me a big scholarship. I doubt that will happen, but you never know.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: Florida is the overall frontrunner right now. I don’t expect any scholarship money from Florida, but I would go there anyway. Big scholarship offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, Pepperdine, or Saint Louis would be worth considering. Acceptance from Virginia would be very interesting. And the wildcard, Tennessee, keeps flip-flopping with Florida in my mind, so anything could tip that balance back toward Big Orange Country (Tennessee Orange, that is).

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI: Scholarship money would make Ole Miss very interesting, particularly if I was named one of their Eastland Scholars. Ole Miss is the most affordable choice for me already, and if that gap widened I would strongly consider going there.

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY: I still really, really like Pepperdine. Jody’s job opportunities there and the fact that we’d be living and working and going to church on campus is just super cool. Going there, however, depends on scholarship money – specifically the President’s Award (for active members of Churches of Christ).

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY: I would only consider Saint Louis if I was named an 1843 Scholar. Period.

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: This is the frustrating one for me. Because I like it a lot. It is grouped with the University of Florida in my mind in so many ways, and as of now I’m just leaning toward Florida. But that can change. Lots of factors could tip the scale.

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: This is by far the best school on my list. I do not think I will be accepted there. I would be at the bottom of their barrel. However, they make a big deal about the fact that they don’t base their offers solely on LSAT scores, so there is still a remote chance. And if they accepted me, I’d have a LOT of thinking to do. Because UVA is one awesome school.

If you can’t tell, I’ve been thinking about all this a lot. It is hard not to think about it all the time. I sort of suspect that I’ll hear from all the schools sometime in February (maybe not Virginia, but the rest). And February will be here before you know it.

I’ll keep you updated.