What a week...

Hi everyone--

This week has been a good yet challenging one for our family... As I mentioned in our last post, Chelsea Meagan returned to Baylor, and she has been involved in sorority rush all week. Although she has made a number of friends during the process, it has been stressful for her. In Athens, Chelsea has rather been a big fish in a smallish pond, and we're grateful for the many blessings that she has encountered on stage and in 4-H. However, at Baylor, she's one of many extremely accomplished young women, and over 800 of the them are rushing too. (We were told that 40,000 people applied for 4000 spots in the freshman class so the school is very competitive, and, of course, rush would be the same!) In light of such intense competition for an available spot in a sorority, Chelsea has been anxious about finding a fit in a sorority that will be best for her. We'll find out tomorrow! Given that I wasn't in a sorority, it's been tough to find the right words to comfort and encourage her during these tense times... I just want for her to be happy, and I pray that everything works out as God intends.

On the plus side, we are so excited about how well that Chelsea has been doing academically at Baylor. We just found out that Chelsea has been selected for Alpha Lambda Delta, the national freshman academic honor society. To earn this invitation, she had to have a 3.5 GPA as well as be in the top 20% of the freshman class. (She earned a 3.62 in the first semester, taking classes in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core as part of the BU Honors College.)

Emmy and Ellie-Kate also went back to school this week, and Emmy has had two basketball games this week to boot. She is just exhausted! We're trying to explore options so that she can get more rest, especially given that she's usually up to around midnight doing homework after a game (and then back up again around 6:30 a.m. to catch the bus at 7 a.m.). On the plus side, she just came home with her report card, and, once again, she earned all As, with some A+s. She's doing great, but, wow, we are concerned about her health in light of the near constant state of exhaustion...

Britti returned to the extension office, minus her assistant, Crystal. Crystal took a promotion at the state 4-H office-- awesome for Crystal but a bummer for Britti, given that she now has to do Crystal's paperwork and man the phones as well as her own work until the office finds a replacement. In addition, Britti's fiance, Ramon, has been in Texas for the past month on break from school so she's been missing him quite a bit.

On the other hand, Ellie-Kate is doing wonderfully, and she's excited about her upcoming birthday party. We get to host her party on her actual birthday, January 26, and we plan to set up inflatables at the rec center. She is so loving and eager to learn. We've said it before, and we'll say it again-- four years old is just the best age-- before school and pressures and relationships. We're glad that they grow, but we treasure these simple times of playing dolls, reading stories, and enjoying Disney Channel!

On a personal note, I have been very encouraged and blessed by the many kind notes and expressions of support and endorsement regarding my campaign for NCA Second Vice President. The election started on Tuesday and goes through February 12 so I'm doing my best to balance reminding people to vote and trying not to obsess about it. I pray that the election will turn out exactly as it is supposed to turn out!

I need to dash for now! I'll upload an update as soon as we hear from Chelsea about the sorority. Also, Emmy and Ellie-Kate both have basketball games tomorrow, and we're hosting a Girl Scout meeting for Emmy's troop at our house tomorrow night. Thus, I'm sure that I'll be adding more pictures sooner than later!

Hope that you're off to a super start to 2013!

Christie