It is almost the very end of the semester today. I have two classes left to attend and two finals to take. One is two 3-page papers and the other is a test with a few short answers on it, so it should be pretty doable, and I expect I'll be done tomorrow afternoon.
It is exciting to be nearly done, as I'm looking forward to a break from academia. I love school, but there's a reason we get two weeks off every semester here, and it's so we don't go crazy. I'm really looking forward to this summer with all that being home and doing CPE will bring me. I know it will be hard at times, but I will be encountering different challenges there than I do here, and I am sure I will grow in new ways and new directions. And it will be really great to get to spend some time at home. I love Ohio, especially our winters here, but I will always love Texas as my home and I'm looking forward to being back.
This week has been full of finishing things up and getting ready for commencement. It's kind of funny to be as involved in commencement as I am, since I'm only finishing my first year, but I am excited to be a part of it. I made a practice loaf of gluten free bread, which is what we'll use at commencement worship, and it turned out great. I love baking, and it's interesting to see what goes into baking gluten free. I'll be making the bread for actual commencement later this week and I'll be helping to lead a worship walk-through on Friday. I'm really looking forward to that, as this will be the beginning of my job as sacristan. I'm still really excited about doing that next year full-time.
I assisted at my last service for this semester at All Saints yesterday, and it was a really great service. I'm really feeling settled in there and I'm looking forward to being a little more involved over the whole school year next year. I'm starting to get to know people there and they're starting to recognize me as their MIC student as they see me assisting more often. I'm glad I ended up there, even if my first month or so was a bit difficult since things kept happening to keep me away or make me late for church (crashing my car was definitely one of those things)
Last Thursday, Kaeleigh, Ben, and I drove down to Cincinnati (Ben drove, which is good, because I slept) and we watched our friend Paul profess his vows and become a professed member of his monastic order. It was really great to be able to be there for that and to see Paul take this big step in his own spiritual life. We had dinner with them before heading back home, and it was a really great time. We also spent the drive down there listening to themes from Bond movies and the way back listening to ABBA, so it was certainly an interesting car trip.
Now that I am so close to going home, I'm getting everything ready to go as well as finishing my finals. I bought a crate for George and it's sitting out in my bedroom so he can get used to it. He's already spent a bit of time inside it, which is a good sign. I'm hoping he's a good travel passenger. I'm still working on packing, mostly in my head, and hopefully I'll get everything together in the next couple of days. I might still be packing a bit when my mom gets here on Thursday.
I'm definitely looking forward to having my mom here for the weekend and driving back with her. I'm going to take her to common meal, which is a weird food potluck this week, and then she'll have to hang around with me while I work on commencement stuff. Then we'll pack up and ship out on Sunday and take two days to get home. It will be a fun drive, even if it is long, because my mom and I get on well together and make road trips fun.
Now I am off to finish my finals while I'm working at the library, so I can finish packing while I'm home. To all my Abiding Grace family - I'll see you soon.
Kathryn
Monday, May 19, 2014
Monday, May 12, 2014
Finals and Fun
I am moving swiftly into the end of this semester, and the end of my first year here, and I am keeping pretty busy as I finish up.
Last week was a good week filled with interesting lunches and keeping quite busy. On Monday we had a seminary lunch in which we discussed a book of stories about sexism in the church and talked about how it affects our lives too. It was a really powerful discussion, and it is interesting to consider the sexism that is still evident in the church in various forms as well as in our society as a whole. It also made for an interesting time for me just to watch and listen to everybody, because people encounter a subject like this in so many different ways.
Monday night I spent four hours researching four words in Psalms 121:3-4 for my Hebrew verse project. I loved every minute of it. It really is fascinating to see what a word in another language really means in ours and how idioms from the ancient world compare to ours. That was the prep work for one of my finals, and I also got all the research done for my Church History final last week. There I'll be writing about Quakers, Pentecostalism, and the Second Great Awakening in one paper, and John Bunyan, Reactions to Evolutionism in the church, and Vatican II in another. There are so many interesting subjects in my Church History class, so I am looking forward to writing about all of these, and I imagine I won't find it difficult.
My other two finals this semester are tests, and I took one on Tuesday. After that test, I was basically done with my Introduction to Worship class, which was a great feeling, since now I have one less thing I have to spend a lot of time on. My last test is my Old Testament final, and it won't be available until the last day of classes next week, so I'm studying, but not terribly worried. This week is for finishing up my Hebrew and Church History papers, and therefore being almost completely done with the semester.
My other insetting lunches this week included lunch with friends twice - once with Paul and once with Mary Ann. It's great to get to spend time with my friends outside of classes, where we see each other all the time but then never have a chance to chat. Then on Wednesday, my I-group did a lunch/creek clean-up for our service project for the semester. Alum Creek is just next to the seminary, and like many creeks in cities can experience a lot of litter. We had fantastic pizza out there and then went around cleaning up what we could find. We found quite a bit of trash, but the most interesting things were a very worn tent, and a Kroger shopping cart half buried in the creek. It was pretty gross when we got it out, but we rolled it back to Kroger across the street to dump or clean up as they wished. I felt a little gross as I went directly to my next class, but nobody said I smelled too bad!
It's been a good week, and I am definitely feeling the end of the semester coming up soon. I've had a meeting about the commencement worship, since I am one of two sacristans for that worship, and I am learning how to bake gluten free bread for communion. I had a fantastic counseling appointment last Friday, and with just two left before I leave for the summer, I think I'm going to be in a reasonably good place to go into the rigors of CPE. That will be a learning experience for me in so many ways! I start CPE in three weeks, and I get to see Silas in person for the first time since the beginning of this semester in just four. I'm looking forward to what the summer has in store for me. Except for the heat - I already miss Ohio winter.
This week I also started a really nice little sewing project, but I can't say anything more about it for a bit - it's a Mother's day gift, and I don't see mom until a week from Thursday. I will add pictures then, though - I am really excited about it!
Now I'm off for one more full week, and finishing all my finals.
Kathryn
Last week was a good week filled with interesting lunches and keeping quite busy. On Monday we had a seminary lunch in which we discussed a book of stories about sexism in the church and talked about how it affects our lives too. It was a really powerful discussion, and it is interesting to consider the sexism that is still evident in the church in various forms as well as in our society as a whole. It also made for an interesting time for me just to watch and listen to everybody, because people encounter a subject like this in so many different ways.
Monday night I spent four hours researching four words in Psalms 121:3-4 for my Hebrew verse project. I loved every minute of it. It really is fascinating to see what a word in another language really means in ours and how idioms from the ancient world compare to ours. That was the prep work for one of my finals, and I also got all the research done for my Church History final last week. There I'll be writing about Quakers, Pentecostalism, and the Second Great Awakening in one paper, and John Bunyan, Reactions to Evolutionism in the church, and Vatican II in another. There are so many interesting subjects in my Church History class, so I am looking forward to writing about all of these, and I imagine I won't find it difficult.
My other two finals this semester are tests, and I took one on Tuesday. After that test, I was basically done with my Introduction to Worship class, which was a great feeling, since now I have one less thing I have to spend a lot of time on. My last test is my Old Testament final, and it won't be available until the last day of classes next week, so I'm studying, but not terribly worried. This week is for finishing up my Hebrew and Church History papers, and therefore being almost completely done with the semester.
My other insetting lunches this week included lunch with friends twice - once with Paul and once with Mary Ann. It's great to get to spend time with my friends outside of classes, where we see each other all the time but then never have a chance to chat. Then on Wednesday, my I-group did a lunch/creek clean-up for our service project for the semester. Alum Creek is just next to the seminary, and like many creeks in cities can experience a lot of litter. We had fantastic pizza out there and then went around cleaning up what we could find. We found quite a bit of trash, but the most interesting things were a very worn tent, and a Kroger shopping cart half buried in the creek. It was pretty gross when we got it out, but we rolled it back to Kroger across the street to dump or clean up as they wished. I felt a little gross as I went directly to my next class, but nobody said I smelled too bad!
It's been a good week, and I am definitely feeling the end of the semester coming up soon. I've had a meeting about the commencement worship, since I am one of two sacristans for that worship, and I am learning how to bake gluten free bread for communion. I had a fantastic counseling appointment last Friday, and with just two left before I leave for the summer, I think I'm going to be in a reasonably good place to go into the rigors of CPE. That will be a learning experience for me in so many ways! I start CPE in three weeks, and I get to see Silas in person for the first time since the beginning of this semester in just four. I'm looking forward to what the summer has in store for me. Except for the heat - I already miss Ohio winter.
This week I also started a really nice little sewing project, but I can't say anything more about it for a bit - it's a Mother's day gift, and I don't see mom until a week from Thursday. I will add pictures then, though - I am really excited about it!
Now I'm off for one more full week, and finishing all my finals.
Kathryn
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Crafts and Cleaning
Another busy week, but I'm having quite a productive weekend, which is making me feel like my last few weeks here before the summer will go smoothly.
This week was my i-group's worship week, and it went very well. We had to move our Wednesday eucharist service inside - we had been planning on having it outdoors - because of some pretty heavy rains, but it was still a lovely service. On Thursday I helped to lead a service of healing that I and one of my classmates had planned. It was nice to be able to plan and put on a service for the seminary community. Working on worship did make for another busy week, though, I'm kind of looking forward to an almost normal schedule this next week.
This weekend I have been doing many things. I have been cleaning, because my kitchen has been in quite a state. And yesterday Sarah, Kaeleigh, and I had an adventure in yarn dyeing with Easter egg dye. It was a fun thing to try out, and I was pleased with how the yarn turned out. I ended up with some nice vibrant spring colors.
This week was my i-group's worship week, and it went very well. We had to move our Wednesday eucharist service inside - we had been planning on having it outdoors - because of some pretty heavy rains, but it was still a lovely service. On Thursday I helped to lead a service of healing that I and one of my classmates had planned. It was nice to be able to plan and put on a service for the seminary community. Working on worship did make for another busy week, though, I'm kind of looking forward to an almost normal schedule this next week.
This weekend I have been doing many things. I have been cleaning, because my kitchen has been in quite a state. And yesterday Sarah, Kaeleigh, and I had an adventure in yarn dyeing with Easter egg dye. It was a fun thing to try out, and I was pleased with how the yarn turned out. I ended up with some nice vibrant spring colors.
It was actually easier than I expected it to be, and it might be a thing I try again from time to time. It's easy enough to use Easter egg dye or kool-aid to dye yarn, and then you don't have to worry about using special dishes, because they are edible and therefore not going to poison me. I love playing with color, and after starting out with simple, undyed yarn, and turning it into this I just started thinking of all the other things I could potentially do.
I also promised a picture of my finished Luther quilt, and I finally got around to finishing it. I am surprised how much I was able to do in just two weeks, when I was determined to get it done. I'm hoping I'll be able to work on several crafts this summer, when I'm not doing CPE. I love making things and finishing them. I am happy with how my Luther quilt turned out, and I might figure out a way to hang it up in my apartment.
I am beginning to think about getting myself and George home for the summer, since it's coming so soon. My mom is going to fly up to drive back with me, and we will have a good time. My biggest concerns are making sure George takes to the drive well enough, and figuring out how to bring the crafts I want home along with clothes - the crafts are taking precedence over clothes in my mind. I'm hoping to have time to make things this summer, since I won't be doing schoolwork, and I am planning on using my crafting as a self-care tool during the vigors of CPE, so I want to have plenty to work with. We will see, once I start packing, what will actually fit in my car for the drive.
For now I am off to continue cleaning and doing my laundry - an exciting Sunday afternoon!
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