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.

Break, Reformation, and All Saints, Oh My!

So it's been quite awhile since I wrote, hasn't it? Well, such is life middler year, I've been busier than I have been in awhile.

The first piece of news since my last post is that I am recommended to be endorsed for candidacy! My endorsement interview went really well, and just as soon as the candidacy committee makes it official in December I will be done with the next step toward being a pastor. It was really wonderful to have Cheryl, my candidacy contact up here for the day of my endorsement, and I was able to how her around my neighborhood a bit around the interview. Which means we went for Jeni's ice cream.

The day after my endorsement interview I gave George to petsmart for the week and left for Oklahoma. It was wonderful to truly take that time off, and on one of the days that Silas was at work and I was just hanging around, I took a three hour nap. We spent a day at the zoo and went kayaking, and we celebrated our third year anniversary. It was really fantastic to be together on our anniversary - we weren't last year - and to spend some quality time together. Times like that make the long-distance go easier. Eventually, I had to head back to Ohio, though.

I got back late on a Monday night, and somehow that meant my entire week basically slammed me in the face. I made it through though, and then it was time for Reformation week! I love Reformation week and All Saints, and we pulled out the stops here at Trinity. We had red hanging all over the place, and I got to sing the Lutheran fight song a couple of times. Then this All Saints week has been really powerful for me in worship, because I have a lot of people I am remembering this year. Today in worship, we had a chance to light a candle around a cross, and I was able to sit and pray and remember those I love who are with God now. When I'm busy planning and executing worship, it is nice to find those times to truly be present in the worship itself.

Aside from worship, I have been busy in my classes. We've covered Chrsitology in Systematics and moved well into the Holy Spirit and the Church. I can hardly believe how fast it's going. In my Lutheran Confessions class, I just wrote a Reformation day sermon, a week after Reformation day. Hopefully I can use it, or part of it in the future. And in my preaching class, I have given two sermons and have three still to write. They're going well, and as difficult as it can be to listen to myself and annotate my own sermons, it's teaching me a lot about how I preach and how I talk. For instance, I discovered I use my hands a lot when I talk! In a couple of weeks I will be preaching the second sermon I wrote for class at All Saints, which both exciting and terrifying.

Life continues to be pretty much school and work at All Saints, and I do love it, but I wouldn't want to do this forever. It kind of feels like, between school, being sacristan, and working at All Saints, that I am working a job and a half. I've been really tired a lot of this semester, which is not terribly different from the past two years, but it's getting more noticeable and more problematic. I am finally going to go see a psychiatrist to see if adjusting my antidepressants will help with my energy. I'm sure my professors would enjoy me not struggling to stay awake in most of my classes. One thing I am continuing to learn is how to care for myself, as my endorsement interview reminded me. I'll keep practicing, though.

Right now, I have the seminary cold that has been going around for a couple of weeks, but thankfully I have no classes or meetings tomorrow, so I will be able to spend the whole day in bed getting better. I'm sure George will be glad too, as several of my days this week have been extra long, meaning he has not had his required pets. I can't believe how close Thanksgiving and Christmas are getting, but I am looking forward to being able to spend the holidays back home, and to see my family and Silas again.

I'll try to write more frequently, but I can't promise anything - this has been on my to-do list all week! I hope everyone reading this is well.

Midterms!

So as of today, I am offially halfway through this semester. The time has really flown, but it always seems to when I'm in school.

This last week was crazy, as I had a paper of some sort due in each of my classes. It ended up being the kind of week where I finished everything on the day it was due, which is not my favorite style of working. This week I wrote about God's wrath in Amos, mission in a pluralistic society, the Augsburg Confession, feminist understandings of sin, and I wrote and preached my first sermon for preaching class. All of the assignments went well, although my favorites were definitely the paper about sin and the sermon about a text I really didn't want to preach on. 

It turns out sin is really interesting when you think about it, and a lot of people have given it some thought. My understanding it better makes my confessions every week so much more meaningful, and I am actually able to find grace a lot easier. My sermon was on Acts 15:12-21, which, paraphrased, says Paul and Barnabas told the Jewish Church that God was acting among the Gentiles. The Jewish Church was confused. The Jewish Church decided the Gentiles could be part of the Church without circumcision. I had a hard time finding the grace of God in that text, but it finally came out. I may be able to get the video of the sermon soon, if anyone would like to see it. I thought it went pretty well, if I do say so myself. 

Now that midterms are over, it is time for my fall break. The best part of this is a five day vacation in Oklahoma City, spending some time with Silas. Our anniversary is next weekend, and I'm excited about being with him for it. I'm also excited about not having any schoolwork to do over the five days. 

But first, I have to get through tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon is my Endorsement Interview, which is the next step in the candidacy process. Most of my classmates went through that today, but my turn is tomorrow, when all of my panel can be there. I am quite excited that Cheryl, my candidacy contact, will be flying up to be at the interview in person, and I am looking forward to getting caught up with her. I am not too worried about the interview, and I'm hoping that peace remains. I think the interview will be a good experience, and I'm reasonably certain that I will be approved for endorsement. We'll see tomorrow! 

Tonight I went to the church council meeting at All Saints as part of my MIC this year. It's really great to go to these, as I begin to see how a church runs itself, even if that does mean listening to a half-hour conversation about heating systems. I'm still really enjoying my time here and everything I'm learning through school and through All Saints. I can hardly wait to see what the second half of the semester brings. But first, I'm going on vacation.

The Beginning of a New Semester

It is Labor Day weekend, and I am already a solid week into this new semester at Seminary. Getting here was an adventure, and I had to hit the ground running, but I'm beginning to finally feel settled.

I finished out CPE stongly, I believe, growing to love the job more and more every day. There were crazy days and easy days, and on my last day of actual work, I was given both the regular on-call pager and the trauma pager for a couple of hours during the Resident's graduation celebration, and of course that would be when two traumas, one death, and one family conflict would come in all at once. I loved it. I feel like I was really able to grow into my pastoral identity over the course of the summer, and I am so glad for how I spent it. I was excited by how much I felt that I could be a minister, and by how much I learned over the summer.

Outside of CPE, I had a minor hiccup just at the end of the summer. I was driving home from my last visit with Silas one Sunday evening, when my car started to make a funny clicking noise. I mentioned this to my parents, and my mom drove me to work in the morning so she could take my car into our mechanic and get it checked out. We assumed it wouldn't be a big deal, until the car died before it made the two mile trip to the mechanic. Something or other happened, which led to what was deemed by the people working on it "catastrophic engine failure." The good news was that my car was still under warranty and now she has a shiny new engine. The bad news is she wasn't going to be ready in time to get my mom and I back to Ohio so she could catch her flight out of town. So, we got the idea to take my dad's car and then trade halfway between after awhile. My mom and I made our long drive back to Ohio, and we'll be meeting somewhere in Tennessee later on in order to trade cars back. We're also hoping this is the end of my bad luck with cars.

When I got back to Ohio, I hit the ground running. I began my job as Sacristan by showing up and being asked to be a crucifer for the first service of the term. Then there were long meetings with Karen and Kristen, the worship life coordinator and my fellow sacristan to begin to figure out how we would work things over the upcoming year. I'm enjoying the job immensely already, and I've already begun to write a worship service for the upcoming week.

I've also already gotten started on classes, even before I was able to get all my school supplies organized for them. This semester I'm taking Systematic Theology, Old Testament 2, Preaching, Lutheran Confessions, and Christian Perspectives on Other Religions. I'm pretty excited about all of them already, especially Systematic Theology, which surprised me a little bit. I think that I am really beginning to get into the interesting stuff of seminary this year, and I think it will be a good year.

I'm glad to be back here, as much as I enjoyed being in Texas over the summer. I'm beginning to get to know the new people at the seminary, and reconnecting with my friends. I'm already feeling back into the swing of things and George is even well settled. He had an adventure his first day back by getting out when my mom and I were going to be gone awhile, but he got to stay in one of my friends apartments until we got back. Today George helped me to put together a bookcase, which I can't wait to fill up with my overflowing books. I'm still working on getting my apartment reorganized, and keeping up with my dishes (I already miss having a dishwasher again) but I've got one more holiday day of the weekend to get to it.

I'll be blogging more regularly now that I'm back on a normal schedule, so keep an eye here for updates on my Middler year at Trinity!

A Week of Learning, Cooking, and Crafting

It has been a busy week and weekend, which is why I'm so late writing this, but it has certainly been a good one.

Last week was my week of Sacristan training, beginning Monday morning. It went fantastically, and despite the frequent busy-ness of the job, I absolutely loved it. For instance, when I was running from one end of the seminary to another to get a stole out of a locked cabinet three minutes before the service, I was happy as a clam. I am so much looking forward to doing this all the time next year, now that I've experienced a week of it here. My next step in sacristan training is to help with the commencement worship, so those who are graduating won't have to be sacristans for that worship. That process should start next week.

Last week I also helped with Russ and Sarah to cook Common Meal on Thursday. We had made scones in advance, and on Thursday we were making breakfast casseroles, fruit salad, and bacon. My job was the bacon, which meant spending a couple of hours cooking seven pounds of it! And of course, every bit of that bacon was gone by the end of the night. It was really fun, if a bit exhausting, to do common meal and it made me happy to be able to serve it for once, since I eat it every week.

But after Thursday I wasn't quite done cooking. I also worked a retreat this weekend, which meant cooking dinner on Friday night and breakfast on Saturday morning for a group of kids and their chaperons. It was fun work, and I got to eat too, which was definitely nice. One of the best things about working on the retreat team is that you're paid in food as well as money.

I finished and showed my Luther quilt in class last Wednesday, and I will have pictures to post up here next week, hopefully on Instagram and Facebook sooner. It was a fair bit of work, but I'm impressed with how much I was able to create in just a couple of weeks while I was at school. I probably won't expect to do a project of that scale in that short of a time here again, but it definitely inspired me to keep working on my projects when I can. I'm still making granny squares in classes, which will come together as something in the future, potentially a pretty stole. This weekend I worked on a scarf/wrap that I started awhile ago and got to the halfway point on it on Saturday. On Sunday I cleaned my house and cooked for the week, which may not seem exciting, but it is amazing how nice it is to wake up to a clean house every day. I keep trying to keep it up during the week, and maybe one day I'll get there.

This weekend was pretty exciting for several reasons beyond cleaning and cooking as well. On Saturday evening I came to the realization that I had left my phone in my locker here at the seminary, which was closed and locked until this morning. So I had to make do without for the weekend, but I had enough other ways of connecting with the people I love that it wasn't too bad. On Saturday evening, my  mom as well as several other people from Abiding Grace were attending a dinner at the NT-NL Mission Assembly, and my mom accepted a pretty fantastic scholarship for me. I was nominated for a Fund for Leaders scholarship for my synod by my candidacy committee. I feel very honored to be thought of, and it was wonderful to see pictures of my church family back home cheering me on.

The other exciting thing this weekend was working at All Saints. I assisted at the earliest service and read at the late service, which was also the confirmation service. I wore a clerical collar for the first time this Sunday, and it was a certainly interesting experience. For one, everybody at All Saints recognized me as the MIC student more easily - it's a big church so there are lots of faces. Also, I went out to Starbucks between services, because I hadn't had time to eat breakfast, and it was interesting to see how people out and about responded to the collar. I'm going to continue wearing it for the time being and see how it fits with my own forming pastoral identity.

The end of the semester is only a month away, which is just crazy. I have a few projects left to get done, but my end of semester isn't too bad this year. I'm getting ready to do my CPE this summer, and I am excited for it, even though I know it will be a tough experience. I've grown a lot over this first year of seminary, and I think that growth will be helpful to me come this summer. For now though, I just need to get ready for my Old Testament class tomorrow - we're learning about the Judges!

Peace,
Kathryn

A Good Week

Well spring break week turned out a bit busier than I had expected, at least here at the library.

On Tuesday last week, I came into the library and the system we use for circulation was completely down. And it stayed down until Thursday afternoon. That is a long time without the ability to check-in or check-out books in a  library. And even though it was break, we had quite a few students from Capital University next door coming over to get books for a Church History project. I manually checked out many books, which means writing down a lot of barcodes, and then manually entered almost all of them into our system on Friday. Thank goodness I love working in the library, or that might have been more trying. All is well now, though and I am actually writing this from the library front desk computer while I am working.

This past week I have also been busy crocheting away on the squares for my Luther wall hanging, and they are going swimmingly. I am already a quarter of the way done, and I expect I will have plenty of time to finish it before the project is due. I'll put up a picture here once it is completely done, although I am sharing most of the squares as I make them on instagram and facebook.

I also had a couple of dates with Silas, and had dinner with my friends Sarah, Russ, and Kaeliegh over the week. Campus has been generally quiet, but it's lovely to have some time to spend with my friends and to be able to have a skype date without worrying about homework I should be doing. All in all it was an absolutely lovely week, with lots of alone time for my introverted self and plenty of time with friends.

I am very much looking forward to this half of the semester, and I think it will be a little easier, because one of my classes has ended. Now on my ridiculous Tuesdays I will have a couple hour break in the middle of the day to rest and recoup some of my energy. The rest of my classes are going great, and I still love all of them. I passed my midterms and I expect I'll do just fine through the rest of the semester.

This week I will be working away, then one more week of school before another break! Easter break will be nice too, as I'll be able do some things at my MIC site and be involved in their Easter services. I am definitely looking forward to that. The semester is rapidly moving on and I will be home and working at Parkland before I know it. Such is life at seminary, every week passes by in a flash.

I have been very happy the last few weeks. I am making a lot of progress in my counseling, and I'm feeling like I can be myself all the time mow, without difficulty. Having been dealing with depression these last two years, and still dealing with it now, it is surprising how light you can feel when not weighed down by sadness. I'm excited about everything I'm learning here, my next few years here, and lately I've been absolutely thrilled with the prospect of actually working in a church one day. As I learn more about how I might do that and what it might look like for me, I am more and more excited about it.

Now as spring is trying to spring into being here (we had a beautiful spring rain that turned into snow on Saturday) I am practically bursting with joy. I hope everyone else is feeling the joy of spring and a world beginning to grow again.

Peace,
Kathryn

I Gave Up My Car for Lent

So, I found out this week that Boaz is most definitely totaled, which is a shame. However, my parents and I are dealing with the situation as best as we can, and I have been car shopping already. It is lovely to have friends who will take you car shopping, too, because we were able to have a great time chatting while I test drove three different cars this weekend. I'm pretty sure I found what I want to get, and now we're figuring out exactly how to make that happen. We're basically buying a car from two different states, while I have no reliable transportation of my own, so it's an interesting process, all told.

This week is mid-term week, which means I've kept myself quite busy. I spent all yesterday afternoon writing a midterm on the Reformation, which is a subject I love, but still took a fair bit of time. I wasn't helped by the fact that George just wanted to play, and didn't understand why I would get upset if he was chasing his tail on my papers. I have another midterm due later this week, along with the standard crush of readings, plus some Hebrew translations, but come Friday I will be home free. Next week is spring break, and I am going to read for fun, clean my apartment, and maybe even make a skirt or two. I can hardly wait.

I have had some pretty exciting things happen to me these past few weeks as well. I was asked to be one of the sacristiants for next year, and I accpeted that job. It means I will work with the pastor here in charge of worship and make sure things for worship are running smoothly. I am really excited about the job, because it is something that I will enjoy and be able to learn a lot about.

Also, this week I am applying for a mission developer scholarship through the ELCA. I was nominated for this program by the seminary, and through it, I will focus on learning the skills necessary for mission development while I am here at seminary. It is something that took me by surprise, but which I prayed about and talked with others about for a week and made a decision that it really might be the path God is calling me towards. I am excited about the opportunity and I hope that I will be able to learn a lot about the joy of beginning or revitalizing congregations while I am here. I have been a part of a congregation that has done this, and I think it is a beautiful process to be a part of. I turn in the scholarship application  this week, so we'll see where that takes me.

So clearly I'm keeping busy, which is why I'm so much looking forward to next week. One way I keep my sanity and stay awake is by crocheting in a couple of classes that I was struggling with. Both are great classes, but I do not need to take many notes in them, and sitting still that long will still put me to sleep. So I am going to be crocheting granny squares throughout those classes for the rest of the semester, and we will see what I can make out of them when I am done. It's another adventure in itself.

Now, I am going to see if I can't make Monday a very productive day and catch up from the things I didn't get done this weekend, due to car shopping.

Going Full Steam

Three weeks into the semester, and I have finally attended a full week of classes!

It's been a busy week, but I'm beginning to feel like I have a handle on things for the semester. On Tuesday, when I walked into Hebrew and realized I was a lesson behind I got a bit worried, but as I sat through that class I began to realize that I still love languages and Biblical Hebrew is no exception. I really feel like I'm learning it well now, and I'm looking forward to finishing a semester of it.

All my other classes are fantastic as well, I am truly enjoying them all. I am taking Church History 2 which covers the time of the Reformation to the present. I always love learning about the Reformation and Luther, and I'm going to enjoy the rest of the history as well. Then I'm taking Introduction to Worship as well as Music in the Contemporary Church. They are both fantastic classes about Christian worship, and they are making me so much happier to be involved in worship and think about ways to create it and lead it. I'm also taking Old Testament 1, and I always enjoy studying the Old Testament. Finally, I'm taking Spanish for Ministry.

I started Spanish along with everyone else last week. Since it was a week later to start than the other classes, I didn't miss anything. I began in the Spanish 2 class and I was a bit worried that it would be too far advanced for me. However, the first class was fantastic and I'm enjoying getting back into my Spanish, which I gave up at the end of high school. At the time I was burnt out on Spanish, but now that I've discovered my love of languages I'm excited to be back into it again. I am also attending a liturgical Spanish workshop, which will hopefully come in handy. When I'm working at Parkland hospital this summer, I am hoping that when I encounter someone whose first language is Spanish, I will at least be able to make an effort to pray for them in their native language. I'd hope that would be comforting to someone needing the kind of comfort they will need in that place.

Tuesdays are a long crazy day, and I'm exhausted by the time I get home, but the things I am learning are worth it. The rest of my days are easier, still working in the library, and spending most of my time at home learning how to read and write papers with George between me and whatever I'm doing. He's doing well, and he got a few new toys this weekend. Hopefully they'll help to distract him if he's distracting me too much.

It's just a week and a half until Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. I've been struggling with my spirituality on occasion over the past year, but I am eager to move into this and the Easter season, as I rediscover the beauty of worship and my place in it. I feel like it is going to be a wonderful semester.

Peace and love,
Kathryn

By the way: Did you know that the Alb (the white robe worn by worship leaders) is supposed to signify the purity and cleansing from sin we receive in baptism, and those wearing them are representing the baptism of all the assembly? Neat! More people should know that.

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

The End of the Semester

It is officially my last week of the semester.

I came back to Ohio last week to finish up  my semester with just a week and a half left of school. It's been a relatively easy semester, especially compared to my classmates who are middlers or seniors, and I have appreciated the chance to get used to the seminary with a semester that is not awful. I'm already looking forward to my next semester, except for the fact that I have classes literally all day Tuesday - 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.!

On Monday last week, we had a yoga teacher come in and teach a restorative yoga class in our smaller chapel. It was absolutely wonderful, except for the fact that I had to go to class afterward. I am trying to add more yoga into my life, because as a graduate student I spend the vast amount of my time sitting, and I am nearly desperate for activity and some time to get out of my head. Yoga offers both of those, and I don't have to wear shoes to do it!

The rest of the week went perfectly smoothly, and it is interesting to be wrapping up each class. I am so excited that next semester my only evening class will be Spanish, which is not a traditional class. I have such a hard time engaging in evening classes, especially during winter when the sun is already set, and I am looking forward to that change next semester.

This weekend was full of snow and time with friends. At common meal on Thursday, those of us who were sitting around the table got into a lively conversation about the merits of various Doctor Who companions. The fact that this is the kind of conversation I can engage in here makes me very happy, this place is full of the best kinds of nerds, me included. Saturday, I went out to watch the OSU v. MSU game with a few people from the seminary. It was great fun, partially because I didn't really care about the game. I rooted for MSU with my table, of one actual MSU fan, and two people who cared even less than I did. We had a good time being one of the odd groups out in the bar, which was of course full of buckeyes.

It snowed quite a bit this weekend, which I have found probably much more exciting than most others here. It's beautiful, and has given me great reasons to wear my cloak. It's getting a lot more use up here than it did in Texas or Oklahoma. I went to work and a faculty meeting on Friday and had a great time watching the snow come down from the windows, and then I stayed inside most of the day Saturday. I have spent a large part of my weekend working on Christmas gifts, which have to remain secret for now, but maybe I'll post a picture later.

Sunday I also went to my official Ministry in Context site for the first time, which was really great. I like the church and I really like the pastor, so I think it'll be a good place to spend the next year and a half. It's a shame I got assigned so close to the end of the semester and I'm leaving town, but I'll get properly settled there as the MIC student in January.

Now as I finish my last two days of the semester, I am getting ready to go home and spend a lovely Christmas there. I can hardly wait to spend a bit longer at home and have a proper rest between semesters. My blog might be a bit more sporadic, but I'll try to check in. I hope everyone is staying warm!

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.

A Quick Update (I'm tired tonight)

Another week gone by, and I'm feeling like everything is going rather well at the moment.

My classes are still going quite well, although I'm getting toward crunch time with the end of the semester coming up so soon. However, I know it'll be more work in the future, as I look at my older friends and see what assignments they're working on. We're almost done with the Gospels, Acts, and the John letters in New Testament, and I'm actually almost keeping up with my reading there. It's really interesting to read through these and see them as a whole, which is different than how we typically look at them. In Faith Seeking Understanding this week we went to a local Islamic Center, which was a nice trip. I've learned quite a bit about the Islamic faith already, but it was nice to see another mosque and learn about the faith from a different person. I also received an English translation of the Qur'an, which was  very nice gift.

This week I also finally got my stove replaced, after it exploded a little bit about a month ago. Some very nice guys came in early yesterday afternoon, took out my broken stove and put in a shiny new one. I've broken it in quite well today making split pea soup, beans, and rice for my lunches and dinner this week. I'll be making applesauce tomorrow too, but I have run out of energy for today.

Today I went to church twice, so that I could begin to complete some other requirements for my contextual education here. We are required to visit four churches, one rural, one urban, one emergent, and one from another faith tradition. This morning I drove thirty minutes out of town to go to a rural church, and it was really quite wonderful. The church was very welcoming, and they had a children's sermon for the two little girls who obviously attended regularly. The woman doing the sermon just sat between them on a pew and had a little conversation and it really just lifted my heart. I was also able to kneel at communion again, which is a practice I love and find I miss. The whole service was just lovely.

This evening, after spending a few hours crafting with a couple of friends, a couple of guys and I went to the Lutheran student ministry for OSU to have an emergent church experience. This setting was really more exhausting than nourishing for me, because this style of church is very much not what I am comfortable with. There were quite a few college students there, and they seemed really close. Just before the service, there was a tornado warning, so we all had to go crowd into the basement. After that we did a service, which culminated in a Eucharist dance party. This seemed great for most of the people gathered there, but God was talking to me in a different way tonight, and I actually took a moment to go off on my own and have my own quiet talk with God. It was an interesting experience, for sure, and I'm happy to see that the student ministry is thriving, but I'm definitely still learning a lot about myself and my relationship with God while I'm here.

I can hardly believe that I only have one more week of classes before Thanksgiving break, but I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be flying home on Friday, and then Silas and I are driving to a wedding on Saturday. Then I'll get to see Kevin and Amy for Thanksgiving. It should be a wonderful, restful week, especially since I won't be doing any of the driving.

For now, I'm going to go finish cooking my beans and get myself to bed - I'm officiating morning prayer tomorrow.

Has a week gone by already?

It feels like this whole week has been a catch up week. There are several times I've gotten up in the morning and said to myself, "what is due today? I guess I'll work on that." However, all told, it was another good week.

Monday was CPE day, which meant that I spent some time talking with various CPE supervisors from around here about what my experience this summer might be like. While I knew going in that I would not be at any of these sites, since I'm applying in Texas, it was really interesting to talk to the supervisors about what i would encounter in CPE and what my concerns and fears about it are. I've been working on my application, which includes a reasonably long essay, and I think I'll actually be able to get them in the mail on Monday. While I'm certain that I will have a difficult time doing CPE this summer, I also think it will be a wonderful experience and I'll be learning a lot. I'm glad I'll be going home where I have a lot of social support while I go though it.

I registered for classes for next semester this week, and I am excited about it. I will be taking a class about the life of a parish in my J-term, and then I will be taking a few interesting classes in the spring, including Intro to Worship. I'm looking forward to that because after I love worship and after I take it, I'll be able to take a larger part in worship services here. I also decided I'll be taking Spanish for Ministry next semester. I'm actually really excited about it, now that Greek has reminded me that I like languages. Given my past background in Spanish and how much comes back when I spend a little time with it, I'll probably be in Spanish 2. This will also give me a good footing for doing CPE in Texas, where I very well may meet people who speak Spanish as a first language. Hopefully this will help me connect better.

On Wednesday, I turned in my context assignment about Abiding Grace. I actually really enjoyed it and enjoyed going over everything the church has gone through in such a short time. I made a big poster-board with a map and demographics on it and it was interesting to see where the church was situated. I love that I've been a part of Abiding Grace, and it's nice to still have a home church back in Texas, especially since I still don't have one here.

On Thursday, I taught for the first time in my Teaching Adults class. I decided to teach about spirituality, and I led the class through a guided meditation to begin with. I love doing meditations, and I think I did this one really well. I still had a few things to work on in the whole lesson, but it was nice to begin to pracitce. Now I am trying to find a place to teach at later this semester (which is unfortunately only a few weeks) so that I can complete this class as a Teaching option. I think I've found a place at the church just down the street, so we'll see how that works out.

The other exciting thing this Thursday was putting together Ikea furniture. We had unloaded my car on Tuesday, and we wanted everything put together by Friday so our board of directors could use it. For the first while, there were several of us putting together the many chairs, but we did not finish, and I went back after common meal to finish off. I actually enjoyed the work, because it was quiet and didn't require much thinking. I finished all the chairs by 10 p.m., when the building closes, and I had the other girls put the room together the next morning. I loved how it turned out, and I am very excited that the room is coming together. I'm glad I've had a chance to be a part of it.

Yesterday I went thrift shopping with Lecia again, and managed to find several lovely things. I've been stocking up on sweaters, which are beginning to come in handy, and I'm loving going to thrift stores so that I can update my wardrobe without actually spending a ton of money.

My other exciting thing on Friday was going to see Alton Brown live. Silas had asked me if I'd like to go earlier in the week, and he bought me a ticket. It was a really fun and funny show, and I thoroughly enjoyed going. It was also a sweet gift from Silas, even though he could not go with me. I had a blast, and now I am excited about cooking for the next week - I'm going to be trying out something new.

Definitely a full week, but now it's only two weeks until I come home for Thanksgiving break!

Busy, But With a Puppy!

It's been another busy week, and I am working hard to keep up with everything, but Thanksgiving break will be here before I know it. Eighteen days, to be exact, but whose counting?

Still, despite my busy-ness, I am enjoying my time here and everything I'm learning. This week I went to an orthodox synagogue down the street with one of my classes and it was a very interesting experience. I've had some experience with synagogues before at OSU, but this was the first orthodox one I'd been to and it was interesting to learn about what was different and important to them. It was also interesting to hear the rabbi talk about "why we aren't Christians" because it was a chance to see Christianity from an entirely different point of view.

I've already covered two gospels in my New Testament class since fall break, and we're moving on to medieval Christianity in Church History. This is actually one of the parts of Church History I'm more interested in, simply because I haven't learned much about it before. I think it should continue to be fascinating for me through the rest of the semester.

Outside of classes I have been plenty busy with other things. Last Friday was our Choral Evensong, which is an evensong service in which I sang a mass by Mozart with my choir. It made for a long Friday, but it was a beautiful service and I was happy to be a part of it. I love having a chance to sing in a choir here, because I love to sing and I don't know how many opportunities for singing in a choir I'll have after I graduate.

Also on Friday (besides working five hours) I went to my first financial counseling appointment, which went really well. It's nice to be able to talk with someone about my finances, since I am brand new to being in charge of all my money. Apparently I really am turning into an adult.

On Saturday I had a bit of an adventure, as Erica and I drove down to Cincinnati to go to Ikea. We were buying furniture for a room in the seminary which we are helping to redecorate and make more used. I also brought a puppy along, because I was dog-sitting for someone who was going to LutherBowl, and I didn't want to leave her crated the whole morning and early afternoon. Having the puppy, Susie, was fine on the drive down because she just ran around in my backseat and had a great time. However, we ended up buying more than I expected at Ikea, and my car was absolutely stuffed full. So, Susie had to sit up front with us, and she ended up curled up in the crook of my left arm and slept most of the drive. And that means I had to drive all the way from Cincinnati to Columbus one-handed. We made it just fine though, and now we have a ton of furniture to put into this room. It should be lovely when it is done.

I have had a bit of time for rest, with my regular craft afternoon yesterday. On Sundays a few people in the seminary who like to craft get together and just spend some time not working. It's our way of making sure we actually do take some rest time. Yesterday I began a pink teddy bear as a gift for Silas' niece who will be born in January. I am hoping she will like it.

Now I am starting a new week, and today we have CPE day, in which we talk to different CPE supervisors and get a feel for what we'll be doing this summer. I am nearly done with my applications and should be sending them in by the end of the week, and if all goes well I'll be coming home for the summer! I'm looking forward to being there and having the support of all my family and friends back home as I go through this potentially difficult learning process.

Keep me in your prayers this week,
Kathryn

Rough Week

This has been a very long week, leaving me exhausted by the end of it, but it definitely had some good times too.

Now that we are in the second half of the semester, I only have one class on Mondays, which does not start until 6:30 at night (I'm looking forward to not having night classes next semester). However, I still go to morning prayer at 7:30 and work at 8 in the morning, so it makes for a long day. I got a lot done in my in-between time on Monday, though, which is good because I didn't have much time after that.

Actually the school portion of my life has been running quite smoothly, which is good, given what else I'm working on. The one big change was that I started a class called Teaching Adults on Thursday, and I'm really excited about that. It's a class where I actually get to practice some of the things I'll be doing as a pastor, and I think it will be a really good class.

A lot of my week has actually been taken up with the installation service for our new president, Dr. Barger, which was. I have been working with the worship team and have been trying to track down banners for processing as well as helping with the seating arrangements. This was tricky, because besides a large worship team, we also had a 100 or so person procession and all of those people had to have a place to sit. It's been a bit of a headache at times, but I really love worship planning in general and I'm glad I had a chance to be a part of this, since we won't have another installation while I'm here.

The service went well, with just about as much chaos and confusion as one might expect. It was once again a reminder for me that I can in fact deal with things being imperfect. For instance, I had to McGyver some banner stands for the banners we were processing with, and my banner ended up standing in the back crooked for the entire service, and there was nothing I could do about it. By the end of the service when the procession was not going exactly as planned, I just stood behind my banner where nobody could see me and I laughed.

The service was good, though, and it was lovely to see Gloria Dei full to the brim. I love being there when I am in the Shalom room (the room just off Gloria Dei) and it is nearly empty, and I love being there when it is full to the brim and the new Presiding Bishop is preaching. I also loved being a part of the service, and I feel good about the part I was able to play.

I have had another good reminder about the importance of self-care again this week. I went out almost every night, and by Friday night I was exhausted and could not really handle being around people any more. And you know it's a sign of bad self-care when you don't have time to refill your antidepressants when they run out. I didn't even have time to do my dishes this week, and when I washed them yesterday morning, I immediately felt better. I keep having to learn to take care of myself the hard way, but I'm going to keep trying. This week will be quite a bit easier, as I'll be back to a normal schedule, and in less than a month, I'll be flying back to Texas for Thanksgiving!

Peace,
Kathryn

Midterms and Clothes

There has been a surprising amount of clothes in my week, as well as midterms.

At the beginning of the week I tried on the new clergy shirts I had bought at the Augsburg warehouse sale. None of them fit well at all. They were too tight around the body and way too loose in the neck. This made me rather annoyed, as I began looking at women's clergy shirts online and realized that the sizing would be difficult for me no matter what. For one thing, apparently makers of women's clericals think that neck size is relative to bust size, so any shirt that will fit me will be too large in the neck. However, after some searching I did buy one shirt which is made out of a different fabric and has a different fit, so we'll see if that works. I think the makers of women's clergy shirts need to take another look at how women are actually shaped and adjust their sizing appropriately.

Of course another, probably more important part of the week this week was midterms. I only had these in New Testament and Church History, but they did take up a rather large part of my week. I had a seven hour shift at the library on Tuesday night and I used that to do my Church History midterm, which was two essay questions. It was actually rather fun to do. Thursday morning was our New Testament midterm, which was a 100 question, objective test. Just as with every other objective test I've taken in recent years, I finished it in fifteen minutes and left. I heard about that from my classmates for awhile after that.

I'm also still working on my job with the contextual education office going over all our internship sites for the past year. It's certainly interesting so far, and now that I've gathered all the data I'm going to be going through and highlighting the interesting bits in the trend reports. This kind of work reminds me why I actually liked my statistics class in college so much.

This weekend was actually rather full. On Friday, most of the junior class had to go to boundary training, which none of us were really looking forward to. It was better than I expected it to be, mainly because it wasn't just an all day event saying not to have sex with your congregants. It actually gave some good advice and made me think about how I will want to conduct myself as a pastor in the future.

Afterward, and as a reward for going though boundary training, Lecia and I went thrift shopping. It was really fun. We tried on tons of clothes, and I found some really great things. I found a couple of pairs of pants (which is good because I was down to one pair that hadn't worn out), a skirt, three shirts, and a blazer, all for around twenty dollars. After that, I had dinner with Lecia and her husband Bill and then went to watch a bad horror movie with my friend Paul. We're watching bad horror to keep in the spirit of upcoming Halloween, and it is pretty hilarious.

Today, I went out for a girls day with Mary Anne and Erica. We went shopping and they got me to try on clothes I normally wouldn't buy. I've been trying to expand my wardrobe a bit, and they certainly helped. We had a great time shopping and all found new clothes we're really excited about. I should be pretty well set for  the rest of the season now. After dealing with poorly fitting clergy shirts earlier this week, finding clothes that fit well and that I look good in really made my week.

This next week is fall break, which will be nice, but I'll be keeping busy too. I'll be working at the library most days, as well as going to the Healthy Congregations National Gathering, which should be really interesting. However, having the week off will be nice, and I can use the time to get recharged for the next half of the semester. I'm still having a hard time believing how long I've been here. I feel like everything is going really well, though, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester.

Wishing y'all all the best,
Kathryn

Cheap books and Endings

Hello again. I've just had a very busy week followed by a lot of laying in bed.

This week my exegetical paper was due, and I ended up writing most of it the day before it was due while I was working in the library. However, I think it turned out quite well, and I actually really enjoyed writing it. Shortly after that I got my assignment for my take home essay final for Church History, which is due next Friday, so I'll have something to keep me busy.

I also had my last assignment for Race Ethnicity and Religion, which I was happy about, because that has been an interesting, but difficult class. Tomorrow all I have to do is attend and participate in our last class and it will be done! Next session I will be taking Teaching Adults, and I'm interested to see how it will turn out. So classes are still definitely keeping me busy, but they're good and I'm managing to fit everything in.

I've also been working quite a bit this week. I am still working at the library, of course, and I absolutely love that job. I love being there and seeing everyone come by and I love seeing the books as they come through or as I wander through the stacks and I always seem to find another book I want to take home and read. I am also working in our Contextual Education office on a project to gather data on all of our internship sites for the past ten years. I spend a lot of time going through files, but I actually enjoy seeing the data and learning more about where we send interns.

Finally, this weekend I was working on a high-school retreat that was in. I went grocery shopping and I led a small group for a workshop on vocation. It was interesting to talk with the high school kids about what they were thinking about for the rest of their lives and sharing my own story of finding my call and my vocation.

On top of all of that, this weekend was the Augsburg Fortress warehouse sale, so a couple of friends and I left early in the morning to be at the sale plenty early, and it was quite an experience. I ended up with four clerical shirts, twenty books, and an alb, for an incredibly little amount of money. The books were only a dollar a piece! It makes me happy to have an alb and a clerical collar of my own, because it feels like I'm moving more firmly into my new path.

I also made my last Ministry in Context visit today, and I've written a reflection paper to turn in tomorrow. The process of visiting was really interesting, because it made me begin to realize what was really important to me in a church. I'm very intuitive, so I would leave a church with a gut feeling of whether I liked it or not, but then I would consider where that feeling was coming from and realize why I liked or disliked each church in turn. However, I am really looking forward to being assigned to my site, because it will be nice to have a regular place to go which will hopefully be welcoming here.

Now, despite all of that excitement this week, I actually realized I was getting a cold on Wednesday. I'm usually awful at taking care of myself when I'm sick and I just keep going at the same pace I normally would trying to pretend like I'm not ill. This time I took a entirely different tack. Both Thursday and Friday afternoon, after I finished the things that had to be done for the day at Trinity, I came home and promptly got into bed to rest for the entire afternoon. I ate a lot of soup and drank a lot of fluids and by now with all that rest I am actually feeling really good and ready to go for the next week. I'm proud of myself for taking the time for actually resting and taking care of myself and I think I've proven to myself that I should do this every time I get sick.

That left me a little behind on my schoolwork, but I'm catching up now, and at the same time I'm making yogurt! It should be a good evening.

Wishing for your prayers,
Kathryn

I Can't Believe it's Almost Fall Break

This week was definitely a full one.

On Monday last week, I had a full 13 hour day, with only time for meals as rest. I officiated my first morning prayer service, which I really enjoyed because I was able to practice chanting in front of a small group, so I knew if I screwed up they wouldn't care. Then I worked at the library, had a lovely lunch with a few of my classmates, worked for the contextual education office and then I had my first spiritual direction meeting on Monday afternoon.

I'm really excited about doing spiritual direction, as well as the counseling I've begun, because I think both are really helpful on teaching me how to deal with transitions, such as this one to seminary. Spiritual direction is nice because it's time where I can really focus on my spiritual life instead of just my classes. I love everything I'm learning, but sometimes I can spend too much time in my head.

After that I had class, dinner, and then another class at which point I realized that my day had been too long and I had to check out a bit. Finally I went to choir, which actually made me feel much better. We're singing a Mozart mass, and it is absolutely gorgeous. However, that meant I left the seminary at 8:30, and I had arrived a little before 7 in the morning. I was going in when the sun was coming up and leaving as the sun was going down. If a day like that happens again, I'll need to schedule in a walk just to get out and move a little.

And that was just one day. Thankfully, my busiest one.

Tuesday was a little calmer, and I had a skype date at the end of the day, which always makes for a wonderful evening. Wednesday was pretty busy again, so I was pretty pleased that this week was Trinity Days and I didn't have to focus on classes on Thursday.

I did get to participate in the eucharist service on Thursday as a torch-bearer, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I haven't been able to help with a worship service for awhile, and I do like being involved in that way.The rest of Thursday and Friday were rather quiet, which I definitely needed. Today I made my second to last MIC visit, and then I spent a fair bit of the afternoon crocheting. Taking time to do that with friends on Sunday afternoons is a wonderful way to enjoy a bit of sabbath rest.

Now I'm getting ready for next week, which includes a group presentation and a ten-page exegetical paper.

Wish me luck!

Kathryn

Trying New Things

It's been another full week here at the seminary, and more things have happened than I expected.

This week I decided to volunteer to take a more active role in the Morning Prayer service put on by Bexley Hall. I will be officiating in a couple of weeks and will both officiate and read the lessons several times this semester. I'm looking forward to it because I really love going to Morning Prayer, as I find it to be a good way to start any day, and I will have the opportunity to practice leading and chanting in front of a small, supportive group of people.

I also ended up volunteering and being selected for a role I wasn't expecting to take on. We have a campus group called Life Together which works on creating a rich community life for the entire campus. I am one of the Junior class representatives to Life Together, and I think it will be an interesting experience. I hope that we come up with ways to keep this community going, because I love the community here so much. That role also meant that I attended a faculty meeting on Friday with other representatives, which was certainly interesting.

Classes are continuing to keep me busy, although the workload is not awful this semester. I'm fairly certain it will be more difficult in coming semesters. I am enjoying most of the reading I'm doing, but of course there is always some classwork I will find more enjoyable than others. One of the more interesting things I am doing is working on an exegetical paper about the story in Matthew in which Jesus walks on water. It's fascinating to read the studies that have been done on the text, and next week I'll be pulling that all together into a paper of my own.

I am also working on a contextual assignment for my Faith Seeking Understanding class, and I am actually going to ask for help with it from those who read this and are members of Abiding Grace Lutheran Church. I am going to be doing my assignment on Abiding Grace, and that includes a timeline of important events and memories from the life of the church. If anybody wishes to let me know something that they think was important in the history of the church, please let me know. My project will be better if I'm not only relying on my own memory. I think that should be an interesting project, especially since I so much love Abiding Grace and I think it has been going through a wonderful journey since its conception.

Other than school things, I am keeping pretty busy exploring Columbus and seeing what it has to offer. This month I am visiting churches to attempt to find what will fit well for me for a Ministry in Context site, and visiting a different church every week is interesting so far. My friend Erica is going with me to many of them, because she does not have a MIC requirement, so we are having a good time finding out what is offered around Columbus. I'm hoping to find a place that will be a good fit for me and will offer a lot of opportunity for me to learn and grow.

This morning I went out thrift store shopping with Erica, and I have found that that may be how I buy clothes for quite awhile. We had a great time, and I bought several things for very little. I love adding new clothes to my wardrobe, but of course since I'm trying to only take out what I need in loans while I'm here, I don't have a lot of extra money floating around.

I'm also still working at the library and on the hospitality team, and both are jobs I really enjoy. I love both libraries and hospitality, so the jobs fit my personality well and getting paid to do my homework in the library is not half bad either.

Now I'm off to do a bit more reading for the weekend, and then tomorrow I'm going to rest and learn how to crochet!

Kathryn