[8/4/12] I might just be a little bit crazy.

This could will be me in April (except not on a football field. I'll be in the BYU-I Center):

Not April 2014. Or April 2015, like I originally planned.

No.

This April. As in April two-thousand-and-thirteen. The twelfth day of April, to be exact.

And I'll be doing this with them:

And her:

And I think that is about the most awesomest thing. Ever.

There's more to the story I wrote about in my last post, and here's the part where I might just be really a little bit crazy.

I called and talked to an advisor and requested my Exercise Science cluster be reinstated. She said no problem, and asked me to send her a copy of my graduation plan, since she is not my assigned advisor (she was out of town) and couldn't find a copy. I sent it to her and then yesterday morning I got an email from her.

This was the best email!

She said that I needed a 300 or 400 level class for my cluster and instead of taking Anat/Phys (which was originally going to be counted as a 300 level class for the cluster but not for graduation requirements), why don't I take HS340: Introduction to Community Health?

Are you kidding me? No Anat/Phys?! Huge Tender Mercy. And since I was short 300+ level classes, taking this class not only literally saved me from Anat/Phys, but took the place of one of the 300 level classes I needed.

I had one less class to take. And no more Anat/Phys (that last part is definitely the best part!). Another Tender Mercy!

I quickly emailed her back and said, "Let's do it!"

Then I got this idea in my head.

With this change of plans, what if I could graduate earlier than Fall 2013 (December). What would I have to do?

So I worked on my grad plan a bit and came up with a crazy plan.

If I take 10 credits Fall and Winter semesters, I can graduate in April 2013 (!) with Zach, Angela, and Kam!!! I could already see the pictures in my head of us standing all together in our caps and gowns.

It would be amazing!

The crazy part of this plan is that the most credits I've ever taken in one semester is 7 (because I have a "real" life, you know). And at the end of that semester I asked Diane, one day when we were running, to please hit me upside the head if I ever, ever, ever say anything about taking more than 6 credits in one semester. And when I was explaining this plan to John yesterday at the office (I un-retired for a day to help him), he said, "Just a minute. I have an email that I received from you (during the 7 credit semester) telling me to do whatever I need to do to stop you if you ever suggest taking more than 6 credits in one semester. Here. Let me find it." He's saying this with a smile on his face.

He is so not funny sometimes.

Anyways.

He was actually just teasing me. He was totally supportive of my crazy plan.

I called Janine (my English professor sister) on the way to the office to explain my crazy plan to her, because she is very familiar with the English classes I'll be taking and so she has a pretty good perspective on how crazy my plan really is.

She said to Go For It! And she also said that if it gets to be too much I can just drop a class, and graduate later.  And then I said that I was trying to be okay with not getting straight As.

She said, "Yeah, I was just going to mention that that might be a possibility."

Because we are pretty particular about getting straight As. Our husbands chuckle together about us.

I'm actually feeling pretty good about this plan because I wasn't even sure if I could add the other two classes I need. Usually online classes fill up really fast, but I was able to get into a religion class (one of my missing 300 level classes), one of my English classes, and I'm on the waitlist for two sections of the HS 340 class. If I can't get into one of them I'll keep the English class (which Janine said can be pretty intense). If I can get into the HS340 class, I'll drop the English class. 

So I felt like that was a little Tender Mercy that tells me my plan isn't really that crazy.

And the one thing that I think will really help me is that I can take two 2-credit 300 level religion classes as part of the 300+ level classes I'm missing. I love those classes, and doing homework for them will be my daily scripture study time. Win-Win.

So I guess Kailen and I will be doing a lot of homework together this year.

And although I know it will be really crazy busy, it is only for two semesters. A little less than seven months total.

I think I can handle anything for less than seven months, and I know I will receive the Tender Mercies I need to accomplish this goal in whatever form they may come.

And to be able to graduate with three of my kids will be priceless. (Thinking about the pictures again).

Janine also gave me an awesome idea for how to take the two English classes I need to take, which aren't offered online through BYUI, before applying for my masters program.

She is so smart, I tell you.

She suggested I take them through BYU's Independent Study program. That way I don't have to go through the whole application process at our local community college just to take two classes. And with BYU's Independent Study you can finish the classes as quickly as you want.

Another Tender Mercy sent to me through my sister.

Tomorrow at church I'm teaching the Young Women a lesson about service. This is one of my all-time favorite quotes on service from President Spencer W. Kimball, one of our past prophets, that I'm going to share with them:

God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it usually through another person that he meets our needs.

Boy, have I personally seen this happen in my life the past couple of days. I went from being really frustrated and wondering if I would ever graduate to being able to graduate sooner than I ever dreamed possible, and the Tender Mercies that are allowing me to do this were sent to me through other people. And although the thought of the next two semesters is a bit scary, I feel like I'm doing the right thing, because everything seems to be falling into place.

I'm so thankful I had the impression to check the online course list early Thursday morning (maybe I should thank Abby for taking so long to go potty?), or when I did finally check it it might have been too late to add the additional classes that will allow my crazy plan to take place. I'm so thankful for those impressions - those Tender Mercies - that I receive that at the time seem to be very unimportant, but that are really very important.

So I'm now putting together a list-of-things-to-get-done-before-the-first-crazy-semester-starts.

It's going to be a fun 7 months!

*Graduation image courtesy of Microsoft Clipart Gallery. Kid pictures courtesy of me. And John. He did have something to do with it. Except for Angela, who we got the easy way through her choosing to marry Zach.