Ardmore and our next move

Hello everyone. It's been a while since we've written anything, but a lot has happened... here are some of the highlights.

First, I graduated from seminary - yea! I guess I could say a few sentimental things about my experience in seminary, but I don't know how interesting that would be. Perhaps something simple would suffice: "Thank you, Truett Seminary, thank you very much." Candice and I also finished up with our jobs at Baylor. Candice’s office threw her a going away ‘tea’ and gave her some sweet gifts, including a travel guidebook for Europe. We thought that was clever and thoughtful, considering our upcoming move across the pond.

We moved to Ardmore! Wow, I can't believe we are done with Waco. One day we lived in Waco, and the next we just picked up and moved all our crap and BAM, now we live in Ardmore. Moving day was a bit hectic because it was POURING rain all day. Our dear friends the Andersons, along with a few family members, selflessly gave of their time and help that morning by getting completely soaked in an effort to help us load up. It was a strange transition to come back to the place where we grew up and be 5 minutes (or less) from our families. In many ways it was a welcome move because I think the time had come for us to leave Waco. During the last few months, we had peace about closing the Waco chapter. When we finally got to the end, it was sad; but at the same time, we could both look at each other and say, "It's time to leave it behind."

In other news, our life in Ardmore has been more hectic than we could have imagined. The house we now live in was a mess (it's a long story)... the short story is--we cleaned it up. My mom had surgery and has been in recovery (it's an even longer story)... the short story is--we haven't murdered anyone... yet. It's crazy that we are busier now than when we both had jobs and school (or at least it feels like it). Maybe we aren't busier, we just have more people making requests for our time and attention. But we are grateful for the time with family and friends.

~Hi, this is Candice now. Collin left the computer unattended...~

Enough about all that; let’s get to the really exciting stuff! We blogged previously about our move to England for Collin to study at the University of Durham. Originally he had applied to several programs at different universities here in the States and in England and we heard back from most, but never got a for-sure decision from one. So we decided on Durham and were excited about it. Then last week Collin got an offer from the University of Cambridge! (!!!!) We were really surprised because we had pretty much written it off so we honestly didn’t know what to think at first. It seemed pretty late in the game to make this change… I mean, we are moving to Durham. Or are we? There are some pretty sweet perks that come with the Cambridge deal:

1. Collin would have the faculty advisor he was hoping for… at Durham, we have no idea who that would be and wouldn’t know for another year.
2. He would begin PhD work immediately… at Durham, they wanted him to do a year of Masters work first. (Isn’t that what he’s been doing for the last three years at Truett??)
3. We would only pay for three years of tuition and fees… at Durham, it would be four.
4. London, baby!! (Cambridge is MUCH closer than Durham.)
5. It’s freakin’ Cambridge, y’all! There are other perks too, but you get the idea.

So… We still have to iron out some of the details, but it looks like our plans may be changing!

That’s all we have for now, friends.
Peace and hope to you.