This was a fun time for us. Much to his and my complete astonishment, it was me who had the idea. Me, the one who said I'd never move from the city we were living in. (That was his prayers at work- he knew we had to move, I was unconvinced). I remember the day when I had the idea. I started writing down names of his favorite scholars while he was at work. When he came home we wrote down more and started doing the research.
Schools on our list consisted of Christian schools and seminaries along with some of the best schools in the world.
Westminster Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
Wheaton College
Harvard University
University of Oxford
Duke University
University of Aberdeen
Princeton University
University of Cambridge
University of St. Andrew's
I remember him looking at me and saying, "You realize this means we'll have to move, right?" to which I excitedly responded, "Yes, but maybe we'll get to live in ENGLAND!" (my favorite country for much of my life).
Upon further research we discovered the "programmes" in the UK are about half as expensive and generally much shorter than the ones in the US. The UK school's PhD consists primarily of a research degree, while the US schools are taught/research which extends the length quite considerably. There are definitely ups and downs to attending both US/UK schools, and after weighing the pros and cons of each, the UK won by a landslide for us. I had never seen him so excited before about anything. This was his dream, and we were really going to do it.
We made up our dream list. For him it consisted of finding the best programs and professors. For me? A simple Google image search. Not gonna lie. We agreed on the following:
1. Wheaton College (finishing Bachelors)
2. St. Andrew's (1 year Masters)
3. Oxford (3 year PhD)
These schools were not exactly easy schools to get into. We had set our sights very high. But we are dreamers. And dreamers with God in the mix can accomplish some mighty things!
At this point in our lives, Ben had done tons of school, but nothing that really counted to anything. Many years in the army, sickness, and an un-accredited school all attributed to this. He was about 26 years old starting out basically from scratch, attending a state school to get some gen-eds taken care of. To begin with, we had our sights on Wheaton College. It had the caliper he was looking for, while still being a solid Christian school with outstanding professors, not too far from our hometown, and a little easier to get into. It would be a perfect stepping stone.
For the last year and a half he's been doing just that. Wheaton is the most adorable little town which I'm completely in love with, and would love to return to someday, but for now our sights are on the UK. As of this week he has been officially accepted to the University of St. Andrew's! When we found out we were in complete disbelief. It seemed like such a dream, and now here we were, experiencing it.
Come August, we'll pick up our 10-12 suitcases, my mother-in-law (who's graciously agreed to travel with us and help us settle), and our four kids, and move to St. Andrew's Scotland.
