Break Time!

I am finally on my two week break for the semester! It has been a full few weeks leading up to it, and I'm glad for the rest. I am currently in a hotel in Jackson TN in the middle of my journey back home. I'll get home tomorrow and spend a few days with my family, and then I'll be spending a bit of time with Silas next weekend too. I'm really looking forward to not being at school and not having much schoolwork to do for just a few weeks.

A week ago I received my tentative internship assignment for next year. I am very pleased with the placement, but I'm not going to say anything publicly until I hear from my supervisor and know that he has ratified the placement as well. I'm really excited about internship now, especially now that I can begin picturing the church that I'll be working in. I'm also definitely looking forward to the experience of having a full-time job that isn't being a student! That's basically all I've done for my life, and I'm excited about getting a chance to do the work I'm learning to do for a whole year.

The past two weeks of school have been a rush to the first finish of the semester! Last week I realized on Monday that I had something due every day but Wednesday and I hadn't done any of them yet! Monday it was a presentation on feminist ecclesiology, Tuesday a presentation on Psalm 27, Thursday a sentence flow/diagram of a passage from 1 Thessalonians, and Friday an 8 page paper on my understanding of ecclesiology. I got it all done, and that Friday at noon when I turned in the last paper was a relief! This week I only had one paper due, but I was also working on getting my apartment properly cleaned and getting ready to leave for two weeks.

Now that I'm looking more seriously at my move at the end of May, I also began to look at what things I don't need in my apartment to move. I took four reusable grocery bags of books to Half Price Books last week and exchanged them for four cookbooks that I'll actually use. I need to continue paring down, and then deciding what I'll take with me to internship and what I'll put into storage, so that's going to be a continuing project over the next half of the semester.

These two weeks, though I'm going to put all of that out of mind and spend some of my free time reading for fun and some of it working on a sweater I'm knitting for Silas that I may finish by the time I graduate from seminary! I have very little time to work on my crafting projects while I'm in school, so it's nice to have a chance to play with wool again.

For now, George and I are all settled in for the night, looking forward to another long drive tomorrow. I can hardly wait to be home again.

Peace be with you all.

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.