October daze

Over the first couple months of the year I've been told that I was the person that never seemed to worry about school. I didn't stress over papers or tests, and my friends wished that they could find a way to avoid the stress that they felt. Yet even with my apparent lack of concern I did very well. Now it's my friends telling me not to stress. We have hit the point in the year where papers are starting to come due and the second round of exams hit right before Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks. Following that the biggest papers start to be due very quickly and finals follow that. I know I am capable of doing the work, but I worry about finding the time to fit everything in. I am in awe of so many of my classmates who juggle much more in their life then me, and still seem to get everything done, while I seem to struggle to stay on top of everything. In the end, I know things will work out, and that God will see me through, but I have a feeling my stress levels will probably be very high at least until the last day of class before Thanksgiving, and a week off from class to help get caught up.
While I have worked hard this weekend, I've also taken a little bit of time to have some fun. Ty took me home to meet her parents Friday, on our way to a high school performance of the Music Man. Her best friend’s sister played Marion, the female lead, in the production, and she absolutely stole the show. It was a very neat performance.
The previous weekend my Mom visited from Arizona, which gave me a chance to play tour guide and to get to know the town of Dubuque better. I reserved a neat Bed and Breakfast for her to stay at, and the house was simply amazing. They say that most of their clientele are repeat customers and I can see why. Mom has already said that she will stay there every time she comes.
With Dubuque being on the Mississippi river, most of the activities we did centered on or around the river. We spend one afternoon at the National Mississippi River Museum here in town and had a fun time. We also were able to make a quick stop at the Mines of Spain to show her one of my favorite places I've seen so far.
On the Sunday she was here I took her to the church I've been attending here in town. It's a pretty old church that dates back to the 1800's. The founder of the church was also key to founding the seminary program here. It's really different for me to visit churches here that are older then the state I grew up in. Sunday afternoon Mom and I also took a walk on a short river walk that follows the river downtown. It really was a pleasant day for a stroll by the river.
Tuesday was Halloween and that evening I went to a party hosted by a friend living in the south cul-de-sac. My costume was that of a French-man so I shaved the beard I had been growing since the third week here in favor of a mustache to go with the black shirt, leather coat, and beret I wore. It was a fun night and we had a lot of pretty outrageous costumes. Things probably didn’t get any better either as I ended up wearing a mullet wig pretending to play an electric guitar by the end of the night.
Other then that, life has been pretty good. I'm anxious to get some papers and exam results back for a few classes, but I feel good about what I've accomplished so far. I worry that the academic part of things is starting to wear on me, which is something that I promised myself wouldn't happen to me while I was here. I at least am aware of this, and while the work still needs to get done, I am able to deal with it. I'm going to try and do a bit of a jumpstart on my worship life in a couple of weekends. I've been wanting since I've come here to go down to Chicago and attend a worship service at Willow Creek Church. While I know that it is not the type of church I would want to attend every week, I really do find that when I take myself out of something that is comfortable, I learn about worship and what it really means, as well as learn something about myself. I'm looking forward to being able to go.
I've been neglecting my journal lately as well. I do find that getting my feeling out in the open helps me to focus and I guess vent. Journaling was the first of the spiritual disciplines we explored in our groups this year, and I can now see why. I hope to do better.