Ah i guess it's time.....to write to all the lovely people that i miss back home....
i have been here well over a month.... in fact I have been here at APU for 6 weeks now....or 44 days if you want to look at it that way.... and honestly I absolutely love it here. God has been so incredibly good to me here. It doesn't hurt much that when i look at the temp at home it says its all of about 40* and here we had to run the AC yesterday....and today looks to be a gorgeous 80* Which reminds me often of one of the small reasons that i moved here in the first place!!!
My classes are great really....i love the faith integration that is in each class. I love the fact the our professors can easily talk about their faith and their church and all things faith related as a part of who they are. The actual social work major here only has about 5 or so professors that you will get regularly although the department just added a couple adjuncts. Right now the major is under 150 students in all 4 years so you get to know the people in your class level really well....i guess going from class to class will do that to you!!
My apartment and my roommates are also pretty great..... We love where we are living and we have a lot of fun together. We are all transfer students so we have that in common and we are all juniors so there is that too... one of them is also an social work major and she also just had a birthday a few weeks after mine and also turned 22. One is 21, and one is 20. So for the most part we get along well and we hang out together and do stuff together and generally have fun together. I would say for the most part most of us have bonded well. its fun!!! :)
I am also working about 20 hours a week. It is an on-campus job and i actually like it alot. It was completely a God thing that i even got the job. 2 of my roommates were actively pursing jobs and not having a ton of luck and i was half-halfheartedly doing it. The on campus jobs were really hard to come by this semester for some reason. So i saw this job opening at the IMT support desk and i applied on a Friday... probably a few hours later i got a phone call which i didn't see till later that night about a job in the distance learning office (which i did not apply for) and they wanted to do an interview sometime monday. I did not get the chance to call back until monday after chapel, i agreed to do the interview even though i had absolutely no idea what the job was. i had my interview with several of the people there at 2:00 on monday and later while i was sitting in my bible class...about 3:30...they called me and offered me the job. It was such a God thing for me to get this job that i had not pursued at all. God was good to me. I am really liking this job.Basically i do all things online class related for APU. Both graduate and undergraduate level. I get to incorporate things from the 2 extra classes i took last semester. Internet development, and into to Mac. although the work could be done without the Mac. Most days i work anywhere from 2.5-5 hours and its only Monday through Friday which is the best part after spending the last 2 years at walmart every weekend.....
Weekends are usually fun around here.... there is almost always something going on that you can do. Sometimes i feel as if i am busier now than i was when i was home in high school. maybe it makes a difference living on campus and having everything and everyone around you. but i love it!!! :) Most saturday mornings you will find me and at least one other roommate on a field playing co-ed intramural softball with people who are becoming our friends!! we are having fun with it...our team shirts that we made are tie-dye which is fun!! so far we have lost the 2 games we played and won the 2 games the other team forfeited. yep we are AMAZING!!!! but we have team spirit and we have fun!!!
Sundays are the one day that i begin to miss home and feel slightly depressed if you want to call it that. More than missing my own family i miss my church family. I miss the building, i miss the seating, i miss the worship, i miss the going-ons, i miss the sermons, i miss the people,i miss the nursery, i miss seeing my family in worship, i miss the kids i interacted with, i miss my wednesday night kids, and most of all i miss the sense of belonging that i felt always at Grace. I know that God has led me here, i know i have to stretch and grow but it is just hard. Sundays are the one day that i look and i say what in the world am i doing here? and then i have to remind myself that we all have to leap sometime. its just hard to leave the one thing that was always right in your life. I went to a church this morning where the pastor stepped down, and honestly i don't know if i want to get caught up in that. it was my second visit and i just don't know if that is where i want to go..... i actually didn't go to church the previous 2 sundays and it was last sunday as i was home studying all day that i realized how much church is a vital part of my week and no matter if i like the church or not it is not something that i can't just not do. even chapel here though you here greats like francis chan is not enough.... it doesn't help that even though my roomies are christians they either go home for the weekend or they choose not to go, which is ok, its their choice, but i hate going alone. I have found a friend though in a girl who lives below me. its just hard to know whats good and right....especially when nothing is like home. and these are the days when i miss everything OHIO the most.....
So i know this is very long and if i don't read....well i understand!!! but i tried to encompass all parts of my life!! I would love to hear from you all back home....

you can use chat and IM me at: nicole@goinx.com (love this)
you can keep up on Facebook
you can call or text or email
you can use snail mail
and finally i have uploaded pics to Picasa....

I hope that you are all doing well at home.... i would love to hear how life is treating you.... and please keep me in your prayers.... God is good truly!!!