This Week

What happened this week?

It started last week. The night we arrived at our new apartment, after our 2000 mile drive from Colorado, I made the mistake of checking my email. It was 9pm and I should have gone to bed, but I did not.

There was an email stating that there had been an update to my FAFSA and I was not eligible for financial aid. What? I had accepted the loans already. I didn't sleep well and spent much time praying for peace and a little perspective. It would have been nice to run down to the financial aid office but I could not. The next day we had a UHaul rented and we had to move out of storage and into our new place. So we did.

Thanks to God, I began to get some perspective. Every stressful time in my life I have been able to learn something new. Sometimes it turned out like I wanted and sometimes not, such as the case with the MCAT. But I was always given new insight into myself, life and God by these situations. My life has been deepened and enriched by each moment spent out on the tippy-tip of the trembling limb where we have chosen to make our nest. Thus after some quiet time, thought and prayer I was thankful for yet another test of my ability to relax and let the things go I could not handle right then and still be motivated to take care of what had to be done. Thankful...in a day or so, that is unheard of for me. :) Maybe I'm learning/growing.

I discussed with Charles what I thought was happening. I was planning on applying to start the 14 month BSN (bachelors of nursing) this next summer but if my financial aid was running out I may not have the money to do that. It is good to have another head during these times because he suggested I look to see if I could apply for spring 2010. So I did. This year they had extended the deadline to Aug 17, 2009 and the day I found out was Aug 15, 2009. So I had a lot to do in two days if I were to apply. This is where three essays and getting all the schools (high school and colleges) to mail out my transcripts on Monday, August 17, because they had to be postmarked by then.

Sunday I filled out the lengthy application and finished 1.5 essays out of three. Monday I faxed and called all the schools (that were still open) and begged them to send out my transcripts that day or at least tell me if they could not and save me the $70 application fee. They all promised and that was over 3/4's of the day just to get everything taken care of as far as transcripts. Then to finish the application. It's a long boring process and I'll spare you the details. We'll just say after they closed the application early (mistake on their computer's part) and I had the run around at NCSU to get my transcripts to drive them to UNC I was able to submit the application less than 2 minutes before 11:59 August 17, 2009.

Thursday I was finally able to make it in to the financial aid office (9am sharp so there'd be no lines) and figure out what is going on with my financial aid. I have been expecting financial aid to run out. The government only allows students to borrow a set amount from them and I accrued a pile of debt by going to private college the first time around. I knew I would run out of financial aid in the next two years but this was a little early. (By the way graduate limits and undergraduate limits are two different things I am still doing undergraduate classes.) Come to find out it was a mistake on the lender/government's part. So things are back to normal. I will not run out of financial aid for a couple of years. WHEW!

But now I have an application in at the UNC School of Nursing so we'll see if I get in. If one person did not follow through on the transcripts I don't have a shot and I have no way of knowing until November. So we'll see.

Why nursing I thought you wanted to be Dr Heather? Nursing, well it could take me two years to get into medical school and I am running out of useful undergraduate courses to take. Nursing would give me experience in the daily life of medicine, give me a good income and provide a back up, Nurse Practitioner, if medical school should fall through. So if after two years of applying to Dr school I don't get in I will have worked two years as a nurse and since I have to work one or two years to be eligible for NP school it would allow me to slide right in.

I have it all buttoned up right? Not so fast. Read the sailing post before this one. Life is NEVER buttoned up. Plans are good but I am finding that life/God has its own ideas when it comes to plans. And so far I have found that it doesn't generally follow my plans and I am much happier when I am willing to let go and learn to sail with the winds.