8:00AM, You're My Best Friend

I get up at 8 pretty frequently. When I have to get up not at that time, it's weird.

Allow me to give you a run down of the past few days:
Friday- sat at the table in the mallway for this dang research project trying to get people to do their posttests.
Saturday- sat in the lab until it closed and then the library until it closed and then at a group member's kitchen table trying to work on this project.
Sunday- Worked on the project in that group member's kitchen. I can't even think of what else I did. Ridiculous.
Monday- Had a dream that I missed the 8:15AM meeting with my prof. Actually had an 8:15AM meeting with my research professor about this dang project. Went to my classes that are not yet canceled (at the end of the semester, a lot of profs cancel class to give you time to work on stuff), made graphs for the project, tried (and failed) to attach them in an email (Microsoft outlook won't let me attach things, like I click choose file and it does nothing), ended up talking to the behavioral sciences office administrative assistant (aka office fairy) and she printed them for me. Then worked on the poster for the project in that girl's kitchen, turned it in, and printed our final papers. Then sat in a study lounge for four hours and got a great start on summarizing slides that I eventually realized were not the ones assigned to me. ugh.
Tuesday- Woke up at 8:10, got dressed in 5 minutes, ate breakfast (Poptart city) on the way to the behavioral sciences office to drop off our final papers, then grabbed coffee on my way to a presentation that started at 8:40. And I was early. Booyah. Listened to 3 presentations (two of which were on the elderly - holla!) and came to the library to get work done. And here I sit, blogging.

I can't remember if I told you or not, but all of last weekend, I was gathering participants for this study. I don't know how many collective hours I sat at that table in the mallway, but it was a lot. Bottom line, this project is making me nuts. We are meeting one more time, tomorrow night, to lay out our presentation of the project for our final.

Also on Monday, I finished reading Genesis (it's been a long time coming, oops) and decided it could be cool to have a son named Zebulun. He's one of the few brothers who isn't cursed (Genesis 49) and that's a good legacy.

I found out about the Boston bombing at like 3:20 on Monday and promptly freaked out. I thank God for giving the right words to my mom. I watched the news for a while in our media building and then had to meet people for this project. I felt stuck because I wanted to be sad and sit in the feeling for a while but I couldn't because I had things to get done. I cried while I talked to my mom. Not really out of fear for me, but out of imagining what the bystanders experienced, thinking of the chaos that was happening 900 miles away, being so grateful for people who react well and get organized in emergencies, for every act of good that came out of the situation and will continue to.
It's still weighing really heavily on my mind. I spent a lot of time talking to God about it last night. Everyone experiences these events from their own perspective and mine is rooted in deep empathy. It hurts my heart that I can't focus on it and that I can't directly help.

So that's where I am on a Tuesday morning. Very close to the end of the semester, very tired, distracted, and sad but also feeling empowered. I am not in this alone and that underlying peace is a foundation that will not be shaken. It cannot be emphasized enough and God is faithfully reminding me that He is in control.