Half Here Half There

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