Things have been quite busy the past couple weeks. Let me see if I can give you all a quick recap of what I have been up to so far in February...
(Acutally, starting Jan. 27th) My brother Brandon graduated from ARMY Ranger School (oo-rah!!). He completed his three phases without being recycled - only 20% of Army Rangers can claim that!! All of my family took the road trip to Georgia to see him graduate. Grandpa and Grandma W made the trip too. Even Ben and Elizabeth (friends from home who are now in Flordia) came up. Unfortunately I was unable to make it. I had an Outline due for Legal Research coming due, the next Monday. However, for some reason or another I chose to get sick on Thursday with a stomach bug that last a couple days.
January 29th - Family decided to pay a visit. They did not get in till 4 a.m.!! I was up working on my Outline. Slow going.
January 30th - Family hung out for a day. Was good to see them all (minus Kari who had to get back for work). This was Mandy's first time visiting. Suppose I can't bug her anymore about that. The Outline was handed in, for better or worse. Yuck!
February 2nd - I boarded a plane for Knoxville, TN following Property class. I was off to participate in my 5th wedding!! My best bud and first roommate in college was getting married - Caleb Duncan!! He picked me up from the airport and we went and made sure my tux fit. It did. We had rehersal that night and then the rehersal dinner following. His girl, Andrea is very sweet and matches him well. It had been a long time since I got to visit with the Duncan family. It was good to see them all again.
February 3rd - Ran errands with Caleb most the day. Poor guy was handling calls from work, calls for wedding stuff and practically loosing his mind! I did my best to keep him straight. Ended up going back to the church late that afternoon to set up the gym for the reception. Man, was that quite a job!! I had never seen soo much tooling in my life - used to create a cealing with white lights. Took forever for a large crew to get the large circle used as the center from which all the tooling ran hanging. Caleb and I ended up leaving around 2 a.m. to make a Wal-Mart run for his honeymoon the next day. The families didn't leave the gym till 6 a.m.!! Good thing this was an evening wedding. Caleb said he really enjoyed my company riding around all day.
February 4th - The big day. Had to be at the church and suited up by 3:30 p.m. for pictures. Wedding was supposed to kick-off at 5 p.m., but we actually ran out of seats in the sanctuary - standing room only!! I was one of four non-family members in the wedding party of 16. The wedding was a beautiful testimony of two individuals who loved the Lord whole heartedly. Now that is something worth celebrating about!! And celebrate we did. The dancing last most the night. Caleb and Andrea did not leave the reception till 11 p.m. - just another evidence of their hearts for people. What a long day.
February 5th - About one 'o clock that morning I decided to make a change to my flight schedule and fly out a little later so I could visit the Sovereign Grace Church with Sarah Duncan (sister to groom). It is amazing how much a like these churches really are. Was a great sermon. While my flight was supposed to leave at 2 p.m. it was delayed till 3 p.m., giving me a chance to catch some lunch with Mr. Duncan who drove me to the airport. Got in a little late, but had the Superbowl taping. Yea for Pittsburg!!
February 8 - On the road again, heading to Reston, VA to spend the night with good friend Matt. (I actually called ahead - imagine that!) Heading to the DC area on a recruiting trip for Regent at CPAC. School allowed me to upgrade my rental (at my expense) to a truck so I could bring a motorcycle back I bought from Knepper. Had a good visit with Matt.
February 9 - Was put up in the Omni Hotel in DC, very nice. Had a room to myself with a king size bed and a stocked refridgerator. (Glad someone warned me they charged for what was used!) Helped man a table for Regent with other recruiters from the School of Government. Had fun joking around with them, and talking to prospective students. Alot of them seemed genuinely interested in the school. Saw some familiar faces while at the conference - Michaela Smith being one of them. Also, some old co-workers from Freedom Alliance, including Calvin Coolidge (yes, that is his real name). Heard Rick Santorum speak at the conference. Missed an opportunity (that I was unaware of) to hear VP Dick Cheney speak, as I met former roommate Derek for dinner. Great to catch up with him.
February 10 - More recruiting. Caught a ride that evening with Katie Doherty back to the "girls house" in Arlington (Katie Jackson, sister Jess, Kristen Henderson, Rebekah McDonald, Layla Wilder, and Katie D.). They had some people other people over as well for dinner and to watch the opening of the Olympics. Great to catch up with the PHC crowd.
February 11th - Recruited till 2 p.m. Then went over to Jeremy Purves to pick up my motorcycle. The only one there to help load it up was his brother Ben. We also callled Dave Shaw who came over. Thought it might be difficult, but we found a bank to which I could back up and roll it on. Very heavy machine!! I secured it with straps, and headed back to the hotel. By this time the snow had started coming down pretty hard. Got back to the hotel and got a call from Matt wondernig if I wanted to come back to Reston for the night? I decided it was better than spending the evening alone, and packed up, left my king size bed, and made it saftely to Reston in the heavy snow. NOw, I am not a truck person, but I did enjoy the Chevy Silverado I was driving around (2005 with only 1400 miles on it when I picked it up). Matt had chinese waiting and then we worked on some homework. (First I had really done since I had been gone.) Then we watched the movie "BE COOL". Good times. It was still snowing when I went to bed.
February 12 - Matt and I listened to a C.J. Mahaney sermon and discussed it afterwards for our church. I packed up and headed out, but gave my cousin Jen a call in Chantilly. I was able to visit with her for a few hours before making the long trip back to VA BEach - which much to my disappointment had not seen a lick of snow (6+ inches in DC). Had a couple buddies help unload my motorcycle, which now sits out back till I can get a chance to recharge the battery. Its a 1980 Suzuki. Will be nice to have come late spring and summer!
Well, that should catch everyone up for now, other than the fact that I have my second paper due on Monday - a Trial Brief. Fun, fun!! Grace & Peace!
