Catching Up

I am attempting to write this blog with a cat sound asleep on my lap. It makes things tricky.

So I finished my J-term class and came back to Ohio, and I was glad to be able to sleep in my own bed. And to unpack and not live out of suitcases anymore. I've spent the whole last week living wihtout a schedule and getting set up for a new semester of seminary.

On Thursday I finally went through with a plan I had had for quite awhile to adopt a cat. My friend Sarah and I went to a shelter together, and all the cats were out and about in thier various rooms. The woman working at the shelter showed me several cats who were cuddly, which is what I asked for, and then left us to meet several cats and decide who I wanted to take home. I picked up one, named George, and he immediately hugged me and started nuzzling my face. I picked up a few other cats who were all quite nice, but I kept coming back to George. I'm pretty sure he picked me out. I brought him home, and we have had a great time getting to know eachother and getting settled into living together. I'm very happy to have a cat in my life again.

The rest of my time has mainly been spent cooking, cleaning, crafting, and catching up with friends I haven't seen in awhile. I'm trying to get my apartment into good shape before I start school, so that I can keep it nice while I'm busy with classes. I'm also working on several crafting projects and I may have three new skirts in short order.

I've got another week off, which I'm going to use to keep working on my projects and to get my ministry in context set up, and then I start classes. I'm really looking forward to this semester, I think some of the classes will be more interesting than last semester were. I've bought all my books and I'm already looking forward to reading most of them.

Silas is also coming in right after classes start, which will be a wonderful way to begin my semester. I'll start writing here more regularly then too. I really have issues getting things done when I'm schedule-less - I've barely been on my computer this week.

Hoping everyone reading this is staying warm.

Kathryn

P.S. This is George

Christmas Break

So I was right about being sporadic in my blog writing over Christmas break. I've been quite busy, and I've had a cold, so I spent a solid week mainly laying on my couch feeling like a lazy bum.

It's been a busy Christmas with much traveling and family. I went with my parents to visit all of my family on my mom's side in Tulsa the weekend before Christmas. Tulsa had had an ice storm, but the roads were fine. It was actually fascinating to look at the trees and all the icicles. I know it's bad for the trees, but they were beautiful encased in ice. I had a very good time with my family. We exchanged small gifts and had a big Christmas dinner. It was nice to see cousins that I don't see very often and catch up with them. I also hand washed all the dishes from the sixteen person dinner, which I actually enjoyed doing and catching up with my aunts and cousins while I did it. I was also able to read on the way there and back by listening to a book on tape, since I can't actually read a book in the car without getting nauseous.

When we got back I celebrated my parents 32nd anniversary with them. I've always loved that their anniversary is two days before Christmas, so it's always been part of my Christmas celebration. Unfortunately, right after that is when I came down with my cold. It hit me pretty quickly and pretty hard, and I was sad that it happened just before Christmas Eve when my mom and I were planning on some Christmas cooking. I was basically kicked out of the kitchen, so I just had to talk with my mom while she baked cookies and got Christmas breakfast ready.

On Christmas Eve we went to church for a service at 6, and I was sad that I wasn't able to sing along with all the hymns. But it was still a lovely service, and I managed to sing Silent Night at about a tenor to finish the service. Then my brother came in and we decorated Christmas cookies. I had my own plate of cookies that I decorated and ate over the next few days in an attempt to not get my family sick.

Christmas was fantastic. I got up first and came downstairs and sat on the couch by the lit Christmas tree and read for awhile before everyone else woke up. Then as my family got up and came out to the living room, we ate our traditional breakfast and Kevin and I opened our stockings. Santa brought me a duck shaped tea infuser this year, which floats on top of my teacup while it makes tea. It is adorable, and I can't wait to use it on cold Ohio nights.

I have always sat by the tree on Christmas and passed out gifts, and this year was no exception, despite my cold. Usually I also reorganize the gifts under the tree leading up to Christmas so there will be a nice order to passing out gifts. I hadn't done that this year, but I was still trying to be even in passing out gifts to my parents, Kevin, and myself. But then I quickly realized that Kevin had many more gifts than me. Of course, that was because he didn't want anything big and I had asked for a tablet this year. I finally got to open a Samsung Galaxy Note, which I really enjoy and I'll use a lot while I'm in grad school. We spent the rest of the day playing a couple of board games that Kevin had gotten and then going to my Aunt's house for Christmas dinner. Then we sent Kevin back, because he had to work, and I went to bed shortly afterward.

Last Sunday, the Sunday after Christmas I preached my second sermon ever, to my home church. I was nervous, but I also felt more prepared than before, and when it came to actually delivering the sermon, I felt really good about it. I'm pleased that I've been able to improve over my last sermon and I'm looking forward to getting even more practice this next year.

I have also interviewed at both Children's hospital and Parkland hospital here in Dallas for my summer of Clinical Pastoral Education this summer. I will be working as a hospital chaplain for ten weeks this summer, and I'm sure it'll be an experience. Especially at one of these hospitals. The interviews went great, though, and I am actually looking forward to what I'll learn over the summer.

Other than that, I've been running around with my mom and having a good time in Grapevine, and now I am getting ready to head back to Ohio. I'll fly back tomorrow, and then leave on Sunday for a class in Iowa. It should be a great class, all about parish ministry, which I think I will love. Then I'll have a couple of weeks off in Ohio before I start my second full semester at Trinity!

Wish me luck.