The Start of a New Semester

So here I go again, a brand new semester, and I am going to make an effort to write here more often. I actually really miss it. Since I last wrote, I've done Christmas and New Years at home, come back to Ohio, taken a class on Emotional Intelligence, and jumped both feet in to this semester of classes and work.

Christmas was wonderful, full of time with friends and loved ones, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I got to reconnect with a few of my friends in Texas, Kevin and Amy were able to come up for Christmas and stay for three whole days, and Silas visited for New Years, and we made our regular New Years date at Fearings in Dallas.

I drove back with my Mom and George, both of whom make great travel companions. Other than getting stressed out by the rain and the dark the first night and stopping early, the drive was nice, and it was lovely to have Mom along to keep me company. George was glad to be back in his apartment where no other animals live.

I spent three weeks in a class on emotional intelligence, which was fascinating, but exhausting. It was a class where we spent a lot of time learning about ourselves and how we lead. I learned a lot about myself, but it was also a lot like counseling for three hours a day every day. I ended up taking several long naps over my J-term.

I also spent that time being the J-term sacristan, which was a nice way to ease back into my job. We had worship services each day, but they were very simple, and a lot of wonderful people helped to create and lead the worships. I still love planning and executing worship in any form, so doing it in this smaller way was lovely.

Then after a week off, I jumped into the semester full swing. It's almost hard to believe that I have only had two days of my regular spring classes. We began with a communion service, which I loved getting ready. There's something about the happy chaos of getting a large service set up and running that just makes me feel in my element. Read into that about me what you will. Then my I-group began planning our own week of worship services for the end of the month. Then I took a mile and a half walk with a couple of friends, ate lunch while I played fetch with George, and finally went to my first class.

I began my semester with a class called Hermenutics for Preaching, which I am excited to be in. We're learning about how a preacher goes about reading the Bible and telling a congregation how it applies to them today. Seems like an easy question, but it's deeper than it appears, and I think I'm going to learn a lot in that class.

Thursday introduced me to four more of my classes. Care of Souls will help me dive into pastoral care, something that is really important to my forming pastoral identity. Once again, there is so much I can learn from there. Then I went to New Testament 2, covering the New Testament after Acts, and it's going to be a tough class, but I think worthwhile. And the professor is fantastic. Next was Psalms, which I think will be fascinating. I have always loved the Psalms, but I think this class will help me to really engage with the poetry of them and be able to use them more in my future work. I finished the evening with Spanish. I'm excited to be back in Spanish this semester, and I'll be taking Spanish three.

Speaking of speaking languages I don't know well. This Monday, we're putting on our first Spanish/English bilingual morning prayer service, and I've been asked to be the Spanish leader! Apparently some people think I have a decent enough grasp of the language to read and lead at the same time.

Then comes this weekend (I know, half this blog is covering four days). Yesterday I spent a day doing worship planning and getting prepared for interviewing with internship supervisors. Oh yeah, in just over a month I should know where I'm going to be spending my next year. On the subject of internship I oscillate between terrified and excited, so I'm reading the applications from all the churches and being as organized as I can in an effort to remain more often on the excited side of things. I meet with supervisors at the end of the month, and I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to actually talk with the pastors and get a feel for them.

Then today I began my day teaching children about the fifth and sixth commandments of the big ten. You shall not murder and you shall not commit adultery. People say that you really know a subject when you can teach it to a child, and I have to say I definitely spent more time than before thinking on these two and how it might be best to teach them to 11 and 12 year olds. This was confirmation, and the class actually went really well, despite several giggles that ensued. I spent the afternoon getting ready for church tomorrow, which is going to be a bit more complex than normal. Tomorrow is the first time that I will preach the same sermon at three different services, so obviously I had to write a sermon, and because one of the pastors is out of town, I'll be doing everything for one of the services. One nice thing is that our motto there is basically "if you make mistakes, it's okay, worship will still happen and God still loves you"

Well, that's probably enough of an update for now. Thanks if you've stuck with my through this whole post! I'll keep you up to date about all I'm learning and doing, and next week I'll even tell you about one more class I'm enrolled in that doesn't meet until Monday!

Peace be with you all.

Advent Time!

It looks like my blog is becoming more monthly than weekly! Maybe next semester I'll be able to balance my time a bit differently, but I certainly have been busy!

My semester is winding down to a close now, with just three more classes for me to attend and three more papers and one more sermon for me to finish! It's been a crazy busy semester, but it has been wonderful.

It's the advent season now, which I absolutely love! I love moving into blue instead of green, and I love getting ready for Christmas. It's cold up here, and this whole season just makes me incredibly happy. I'll be driving back to Texas next week, and it probably won't be cold enough for my taste, but I'm really looking forward to being home and getting started on all our family Christmas traditions, which I insist on every year. I'm looking forward to a chance to preach again at Abiding Grace, and I'm looking forward to both Kevin and Amy coming in for Christmas day. It'll be great to have a bunch of people home and then to help cook Christmas dinner. Silas will come down before Christmas for a weekend and then will come in for New Years, like he always does, and it'll be wonderful to see him so much this month.

As I finish one semester here, I'm already thinking about next semester and next year! I am looking forward to all of my classes next semester, and I've already begun the process leading to internship. I had my pre-internship meeting this morning, and I am so excited about my prospects for next year. I can hardly wait until I actually know where I'm going to be spending the year.

Thanksgiving this year was great, although a pretty full week. I got home the Thursday before Thanksgiving, and my family from Birmingham came in the day after. Then the next day I ran up to Oklahoma City to spend some time with Silas, and we went to Stillwater to see a friend in The Messiah and spend some time in the town where we met. It was an absolutely wonderful weekend. Then my parents, grandma, and I went down to Austin to see Kevin and Amy and had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. Plenty of food and plenty of time to spend together. Then I left for Columbus at 3:30 on Tuesday morning, so I could make my 5am flight out of town. It was a long travel day, but I got back in time for meetings and classes. Now I have less than a week here to finish up before I drive home next Wednesday! Crazy busy end of the semester.

I have so many craft projects in the works for Chrsitmas presents and just because I want to get a few things finished, so I actually plan on spending most of Saturday at my sewing machiene. I love finding time to make things in my busy schedule, and I love having something I've finished that I can use or give to someone else to use.

For now, I'm off to the famous (at least here) Common Meal, and then off to maybe actually get my apartment to a state that I wouldn't mind showing to others!

Peace be with you all this Advent season.

The Middle of February Already?

So this past week and a half has seriously thrown me for a loop, and I'm just now starting to get myself re-settled.

Silas came in as expected, and after learning what it truly means to dig your car out of a parking spot, I picked him up at the airport. We had a fantastic weekend, celebrating Valentines day a week early and running around Columbus. We went to a distillery and an art museum, which were both fantastic.

Unfortunately, that same weekend, I was getting news from my mom that my grandfather was not doing well at all. On Sunday I was sitting with Silas and I got the phone call from my mom saying that he was in heaven. It was very sad, and I was very glad I had someone with me at the time to hug. After I sent Silas back to Oklahoma on Monday, I had to immediately start getting ready to get myself to Oklahoma on Tuesday.

I flew out Tuesday, spending all my time reading and trying to keep up with my schoolwork, since I was basically going to miss an entire week of school, and made it to Tulsa with no issues. It was wonderful to be with all my family, despite the sad occasion. I was asked to speak at Grandpa's funeral, and I felt quite honored to be able to share some memories with all those who came to honor my Grandpa. Silas was able to come up Wednesday evening and spend some time with my family too, which was wonderful.

Thursday I spent most of the day heading back, and then I spent the weekend getting myself and my schedule sorted out and dealing with my new cold. I'm feeling pretty well caught up and settled in, but we'll see how tomorrow goes (Tuesdays are my marathon days where I have class literally all day). I am truly enjoying all my classes so far, but there are a couple that I haven't been to and will get a feel for tomorrow. The reading level this semester is bordering on ridiculous, so I'm working on my speed reading as well as my triaging. Grad school will keep me busy, but I'm learning fantastic stuff, that I hope to keep using the rest of my life.

That's about all I have going on at the moment, but that's probably enough, right? My birthday is coming up, and I think I'll be hanging out with a couple of friends to celebrate my 23rd. It should be lovely. I can't believe how far I am into the month already - I've been off on my time all this past week. Hopefully a relatively normal week will get me re-sorted.

Rather than snowing, today we got ice here, so we'll see how walking to school goes tomorrow. I hope the weather is better wherever you are.

Peace,
Kathryn

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.

Thanksgiving Week

Sorry I missed a blog last week, but of course I'm getting to an odd schedule for the time being as the holidays are approaching.

The week before my Thanksgiving break was a good one, mainly filled with trying to finish things so that I wouldn't have to take any work home with me on this visit. I ended up cutting it close, but I only had to do a bit of studying while I was back in Texas, and it's didn't interfere with my time with my family. I also managed several evenings out, so all in all it was a good week. However, by the end of it I was itching to be home. Do you know that feeling when you're nearly home and your anticipation and homesickness amps up? I had that in spades the Thursday before I left. I was supposed to have a direct flight from here, which would have gotten me home in the morning, but unfortunately I got a call the night before saying my flight had changed to one with a layover in La Guardia and I wouldn't be home until the afternoon.

So, I got to see New York for the first time. For a bit, anyway, but my layover was tight and I didn't spend much time there. The six hours I had in a plane were well spent reading, and I actually finished a book. Then finally I was home and my mom was waiting for me at the baggage claim. It was great to be back in Texas, even though I brought some Ohio weather down with me. Mom and I went out to several different Grapevine places, including Cassie's, our favorite frozen yogurt spot. That night Silas drove down, and it was wonderful to see him too. It had been far too long.

The next day, Silas and I drove down a little ways past Austin to go to a wedding of friends of his. It was a lovely wedding, although it was supposed to be outside and that Ohio weather kept following me. However, the bride and groom were ecstatic and obviously meant to be together, and it was a wonderful thing to be a part of. There was good Texas beer, Texas barbecue, and delicious Texas pie. It made me happy to be back in my home state. There was also dancing and smores, so all in all, it was a great night.

The rest of my week I spent with my parents and Kevin and Amy, who we went down to spend Thanksgiving with. And Felicity, their cat, of course. We had a great time with Kevin and Amy, and I love getting a chance to spend time with them since we don't see each other nearly often enough. We had plenty of delicious food, and on Thanksgiving we watched the parade, the dog show, and the Lady Gaga and Muppets Christmas spectacular. We also played games, including one about trains which was really fun. All told, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Then back to Grapevine to set up Christmas at home and see my friend Lauren before I flew back here. It has been a very busy week, but one full of family, friends, love, and joy. Now I only have a week and a half left of school before I head home for Christmas. Christmas is my absolute favorite season of the year, so I can hardly wait. I have a few things up in my apartment, including mistletoe and my beautiful nativity scene, but Christmas is best spent with my family. My blogs might be a bit more erratic over the next month or so, but I will try to keep up, then you can hear about things in my life other than school!

For now, I'm off to set up my school things for tomorrow and to pack my lunch! Send me prayers for my last bit of my first semester here.

In Which I Wear My Cloak

Today it got cold. Really, really cold. Today I also conducted an experiment in self-confidence in the face of weird looks.

I decided about a year and a half ago that I really wanted to own a cloak because I think that they're really pretty. I found a pattern and was planning on making it myself when my mother thought to ask my grandmother to make it for me. We bought warm, dark green wool and sent it to Tulsa. It turned out beautiful, and I wore it a few times last winter. I brought it with me to campus and told some people about it, but it hadn't been cold enough to wear it for most of the semester.

Last night I knew it would be and I resolved to wear my cape today. I worried some, would it be too big to fit in at the desks we have to sit in?, would people think I was crazy?, would it be warmer than I thought? But this morning it was still close to freezing and I donned my cape and went to class.

The reactions I got to wearing an ankle length cape around campus were varied and hilarious. The first person to comment saw me sitting down wearing it and thought it was something like a snuggie at first. I explained and she seemed to think it was interesting. Every time I walked into a room I almost felt like I was making a grand entrance, because people would glance up and I could see wonderment on their faces.

I got one bad review from a girl in my math class, but I've never much liked her fashion sense, so I didn't take her reaction much to heart. When I went to get lunch at the library the woman who usually sells me my sandwich and coke said that she loved it and wanted to know where the pattern came from so she could make one herself.

My worries about the cape being too bulky were unfounded. When I was in a building I just folded up my cape and usually put it on the floor next to me. On my way to the Canterbury center the sun was setting and it was getting even colder. I put my lovely, very deep, hood up for the walk there. I got some really great looks from the theater people smoking outside the Seretean Center as I walked up in full cape with my hood. It made me laugh.

So today I reminded myself that as long as you walk tall almost no one will laugh in your face, cloaks are awesome, and so are grandmothers that make them.

Also, this evening I was told by a woman that I go to choir with, "You know, you're young - but your book would be very interesting." I agree.

"We always walk tall, we're Jets!"

In Which I Spread the Love

So summer has already happened.

I have so many interesting things to say, so I'm just going to stick to interesting knitting and school. I think.

Why knitting and school you ask? Why, because those are two things I love and this is technically a knitting blog.

First though, an interesting story - this Tuesday I was leaving my mom's hairdresser and I tripped off a curb. This is not that unusual for me (I'm not particularly graceful), but I twisted my ankle bad enough I though it might be broken. One condescending doctor and an x-ray later, it was determined that I didn't break it but it was swolen bad enough that I got a nifty brace and crutches. I only used the crutches a couple of days, but I've been wearing the brace awhile and was hobbling for several days after.

I and several of my friends have spent this summer trying to get ready to go to college this month and I've been having a great time. Apparently I chose a difficult color scheme for my room because wherever you go it is hard to find eggplant purple bedding and other room stuff. I have bought and returned several items and I think I might actually have everything I need now. I'm still knitting my handtowel, but I should be done by the time I move in without any trouble at all. In an attempt to be organized I've taken a schemeatic of my room and written down where everything I have will be going so that move in day will be a little easier.

I can't wait until next Monday when Dad and I get to start packing. He and I are both good at making many things fit into a small space so I am not worried about making it all fit at all.

I've bought my school supplies, which I seem to do differently than everyone else. I need a spiral notebook and a folder for all of my classes. I like these to match and have a pretty design on them. I didn't think that that was asking too much because I knew there were brands that made matching supplies. Of course none of the stores seemed to think that people would want this because they seperated all the notebooks and folders, so I had to hobble around (see above story) back and forth comparing to try and get 5 matching sets.

It took 4 stores.

Enough about school (I can't wait!!!), I also have fun summer knitting stories.

Early this summer I finished my orange sweater, fondly known as Pete (go Pokes!). Pete is a bit oversized so I will be able to layer it really well, and it will be a fantastic study sweater because it is rather cuddly.

I have also been working on more washcloths, my blanket, and at least one handtowel.

I have enough washcolths to take now, and the first handtowel will be done before I get to college, but the blanket will not be ready till almost winter I think.

My blanket is also yet to be named, although I've been given plenty of suggestions. My dad says I should name it a guys name so I can shock people by telling them that I sleep with ____ (random guy's name), my brother said something along the lines of Shada, but I'm really not sure what fits yet.

I got back from New Orleans last week and I had an amazing time. There were 4 youth there including me. On the drive down I informed them that if there was a knitting both there like there had been in the past we would be visiting. Come Saturday, I found the booth. I sat everyone down and gave them needles and yarn and began to teach. The two guys, Andy and Jacob and Jo our youth director picked up knitting quite fast and even seemed to enjoy it. Huzza for knitting!

I introuduced them to some of the traditions of knitting and recomended books on the trip down and now I've done all I can and I hope the knitting bug takes hold of at least some of them.

Now I think this blog is long enough so I'm going to go watch some Stargate and knit!

"Get back and let a man do the Popcorn!"

In Which I barely write about knitting

Woah, I haven't updated this since September.

Let's blame it on schoolwork shall we?

Let's see, what have I been doing since September? Hmm...

Well for the headlines: Due to my Government class I hate politics more than ever; Due to the people in my History class I worry for Humanity; I'm passing Spanish; I barely work anymore so I don't have any money to spend on yarn, books, or other things; My youth director moved to Longview, TX and at her goodbye ceremony I cried in front of most of the people I know at church; When I do read a book nowadays I devour it and am done in a day or less; And I finally found some bright orange cotton so I've begun making washcloths and I plan to knit a black linen hand towel or too go to along with them.

So that's the basic Idea of the past two months.

Latley, life has been fairly routine. I knit as much as I can and for some reason two girls in my history class whose names I don't even know seem to think that because I knit before my history class I want to talk to them for some reason. Mostly I make polite responses and hurry into class as soon as Professor Rye shows up. This is the first semester that perfect strangers in school talk to me because of my knitting, it's kind of weird. People talk to me about it in government and spanish too, but I actually don't find them annoying so it's pretty cool.

In other news, I'm still really enjoying reading poetry and I have begun writing a poetry journal in which I copy out some of my favorite poems and then write a couple of lines about what they mean to me or why I like them. I've also written a couple of poems, but they're a long way away from being able to be seen by anybody. I also have read a few new good books lately. As I mentioned earlier I devour books when I get a chance to read them. For instance, earlier today I read not one but two new books I got from the library at 1pm. While I admit that neither of these books were very long, I still am surprised that I finished the second one.

In talking about books I would like to make an observation about book trends of the last few months. We all know that the final Harry Potter has been out for awhile and those people who don't really read outside of that series were looking for new books to create a fandom for. For many of those people they picked the Twilight Series which are vampire romance stories. Now I am very happy that people my age are reading, in comparing my life and education experiences to those who don't read much I think my love of books has really been an advantage, but I don't get all the hype with vampire romances. To me it seems like trying to mix two very different genres. I like both science fiction and chick-lit books, just not squished together. I think that's just weird.

My mom recently read a different vampire romance and did enjoy it, and I am by no means shunning all those who love twilight, but I occasionally begin to feel how I'm pretty sure Mom feels whenever someone tells her that if she would just give Jane Austen a try she would really like it. People in my youth group have read Twilight, people in the tap class I barely belong to have read Twilight, my neighbor was one of the first people to read and recommend Twilight to me. But I still haven't read it and I have no intention of reading it or even of seeing the movie unless someone else pays me to go see it, and even then I'm bringing my knitting. So just to let anyone who reads my blog and wants to know, I will probably never read a vampire romance because I just really don't like vampires.

So that is my rant about books for the time being, I'm going to go start another book and try to figure out the measurments that I want my new felted gray beret to be. (More on that in another post.)

I'll write again soon!

"Tell the folks at home what you're doing, Roger"

In Which I Learn Something About Our Postal SystemMail

So about a week and a half ago I ordered more yarn (like I need more yarn, I know). Then I put off writing a new blog post until the yarn had got here so I could talk about how pretty it was and what I was doing with it.

So I waited. And waited. And waited.

Every day I would wait anxiously for the mail to get here and then be very sad when it didn't contain any yarn. A week after the yarn had been shipped I went on the website I had ordered from and finally figured out how to track my yarn. I then found out that my yarn had been in Dallas. Then a couple of days later it somehow ended up in North Carolina. Our postal system at work.

So my yarn finally came in yesterday over a week after it had shipped from Ohio. I had ordered a gorgeous emerald colored bulky yarn for a shawl. Why did I need this yarn? I'm doing a Knit-a-long Read-a-long with a group of knitters who like Jane Austen novels. Right now we are reading Sense and Sensibility and the shawl fits into the category of something romantic and beautiful that Marianne would knit. I am also continuing on my sweater for something that Elinor would knit.

My sweater, Nebulous, is going rather well. I have all of the back done and am about a quarter done with the front. It will be beautiful. I am taking both Nebulous and Marianne(my shawl) with me to D.C. whether or not I will actually find any good knitting time. I finished D.C. last Sunday and have been giving it a trial run all week. It is a very good bag, possibly one of my favorites of the ones I have knit. It will not hold a huge knitting project, but it will hold enough. The frogging and starting over paid off in the end.

In other news, my cousins from Birmingham were here this past week and I taught Alex, the one closest to my age, how to knit. I don't know if she'll keep it up or not but she did seem to enjoy it. And I love to spread knitting wherever I can so I was very happy.

Now I'm off to have lunch with my friends and pack for tomorrow.