almost over

yes, some rumors are true. I just made my public announcement to the people I work with about this big life change coming up: law school. it seems like it was just yesterday I was sitting at the kitchen table with my dad throwing around this idea, but that was last August. and now here I am living in the reality of taking this jump. a question I get quite a bit when people find out is, "so, is this what you've always wanted to do? we've just never heard you talk about this!" well, this post will hopefully clear those types of questions up and reveal just what is going through my mind **warning: it's a crazy place sometimes. welcome**

September 2012. while watching the then current season of suits, I got the idea to go to law school. just because. I mentioned it to my mom to test the waters & see if it was safe to mention to my dad depending on her reaction. her reaction: "you just moved to Bentonville. obviously this is where God wants you right now. stop thinking about what's next." wise words from mom for the win. and that's exactly what I did.

summer of 2013. the thoughts began circulating, again, in my mind about what is next. honestly, I knew that my current job was not going to be a life-long career, and I wanted to figure out what was next and how I could be preparing for that. the thought crossed my mind to go back to school for counseling and maybe getting involved with International Justice Mission on the re-entry side of things. but honestly, I couldn't quite get excited about making that large of a time & money investment in getting my master's in counseling.

august 2013. I was home one weekend & mentioned getting a master's in counseling to my parents. their reaction caught me off-guard. my mom asked a bunch of questions, but my dad was quiet. the reason this was so strange to me was because my dad is never quiet about these things. I had prepared for all of his questions beforehand because he has always been the one to make sure we've done our research. but he was silent. at the kitchen table the next morning, my dad said this: "Alison **side-note: my family calls me Alison**, why don't you just go to law school?" me: "did mom tell you about that?" dad: "tell me about what?" ... long story short-ish, my parents hadn't talked about my thoughts from a year ago. my dad thought of that himself after I told him my passion for working alongside battered women either in an international human rights context or an inner-city legal aid aspent. we spent the rest of the morning looking at different options, and I tentatively began allowing myself to think about this possibility. later that month, I bought an LSAT Kaplan study book to see what this crazy test would be like. to my surprise, it wasn't going to take me a year to study/learn the material because it's mostly just analytical skills & logic games that I enjoy! I signed up for the October LSAT and began studying in all of my free-time. I've never been so disciplined in my life!

October 2013. I took the LSAT & waited for the results. no one that lives in NWA knows about this besides my brother. stress level was high. I didn't realize how bad I actually wanted this until now, while waiting for the score. this score would determine whether or not I was going to pursue a legal career. I had my first break-down moment the weekend before receiving my score. I was in my car, driving down Walton Blvd in Bentonville, crying my eyes out, & pouring my heart out to the Lord. It was the first time I allowed myself to admit how badly I wanted this. "Lord, I want this so bad. Please just help me get above a 150... I want to live in your will for my life, and I think this is it.. I hope this is it." I got above a 150.

December 2013. snow days. they were good for one thing, I got all six of my applications turned in: Baylor, Texas A&M, St. Mary's, Regent, UALR, & Samford.

January 2014. I received my first acceptance letter. and a scholarship offer. and a decision deadline of April 1st. over the course of this month, I received acceptance letters & scholarship offers from five of the six schools I applied to. what?? I told my boss that I was going to law school. I told the rest of my team I was going to law school.

February 2014. traveled to all the schools trying to decide where I was going to end up this fall. luckily, you can go back & read posts from those months because that's also when I first began this blog.

fast-forward to now. I will be attending Regent University School of Law beginning this August. my last day of work is June 15. I move to Virginia Beach the first week of August. if you want to know why Regent, go back and read here and here . God is good & everything He does is good. His will is good, pleasing, and perfect... even when it's hard.