Lately

A lot has been going on lately. We're less than two weeks away from finals (my last law school finals EVER!), so this time of year would be crazy regardless, but this year it's just packed full of extra stuff!  Please excuse me if I say something bizarre... I'm trying to type normally, but I'm on a decent amount of pain medication (I'll explain in a sec), so you never know... and with that disclaimer, here's what's been going on recently:
First of all, I want to mention the explosion in West, TX and ask you all to please pray for the people of West. My Grandpa is from there (he actually went to high school with the man who owns the fertilizer plant), and I have so many fond memories of family reunions in West and the delicious West kolaches, so this one hit close to home for me. We did hear that our relatives there are all safely evacuated, but I know this has totally rocked that town, and they need our prayers.
Secondly, I spent the day in the hospital on Tuesday. I woke up with horrifying back pain on one side. I'm talking sobbing, in a ball on the floor, vomiting, horrible pain. I thought it would go away if I just waited, but by noon I was so miserable and I couldn't take it anymore so Jeff came home from work and took me to the ER. They ended up hooking me up to an IV and pumping me full of fluids and morphine and some drug that stops nausea. They sent me for a CT scan, which showed that I apparently have a not-so-small kidney stone. 
So now I feel like a middle-aged man (isn't that the sort of person who normally gets kidney stones?), and I'm at home with a couple different pain meds and more of the anti-nausea drug, and they said it would last anywhere from 48 hours to a couple weeks. Yeah. I mentioned the whole thing on Instagram and asked for prayers that the pain would stay manageable, and a lot of you must have prayed for me a whole lot because on Wednesday I managed to skip the Vicodin and go to school for a few hours to sit through a couple classes and go to an important scheduled meeting with one of my professors, which is something I NEVER thought I'd be able to manage. On Thursday the pain was worse, but I still somehow managed to get through our Law Review banquet (which was important because I had a little presentation I had to give). I think you all prayed me through Wednesday and Thursday, and I so appreciate it because I was able to get some important things done. Obviously I'd rather be studying for finals right now instead of alternating between being in pain and being foggy on pain meds, but there are worse problems, so I'm trying to just deal. At least if I fail my finals I'll have a pretty decent excuse. :)
Apparently a lot of people say the pain of kidney stones is worse than childbirth, so at least I know I can handle childbirth for a few hours. Haha. I've always said I'd like to have babies without an epidural, etc., but on Tuesday - if they had wanted to stick a needle up my spine to make the pain go away, I totally would've let them. 
Thirdly, I'm SO CLOSE to being done with law school! In 13 days I'll be totally done with everything for this semester, and in 21 days I graduate. Finally. I sent out my graduation announcements last week, which was odd for me because it's not like high school or undergrad... I just felt like I was begging for gifts or something by sending them, so I ended up just sending them to a very small number of people who I know will be excited to get them and won't feel obligated to give me stuff. 

I picked up my honor cords on Monday, and yesterday someone from Student Services e-mailed me and asked me if I'd be willing to be one of two people who lead the lines in at the Commencement Ceremony and carry the law school banners. So of course I said yes! Isn't that kind of exciting? Anyway, I'm just so ready to be done with this phase of my life and move on, and that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter, and I love it. 
I know you all have a million bigger, more important things to pray for right now, but I could really use a few extra prayers that I somehow am able to adequately prepare for my last round of finals despite the pain and the drugs. I'm feeling so overwhelmed right now, and I'd really, really appreciate it. :)