Three Months of Internship

I'm three months into my internship, and I'm happy to say that at the moment my kitchen is clean and there is food for the week in my fridge. That didn't always happen last semester, so I'm managing to take decent care of myself here. 

This first three months has been so incredibly full of experiences for me to learn from, it's amazing to find I'm about a quarter of the way through this internship. First I made it through two weeks of my supervisor being in another country. Of course, as is the way with things, I ended up finding out how to deal with the death of a congregant and do a funeral beginning three days after he left. It was a hard week, but I learned a lot about myself and the church, and I was able to walk with a family through that awful first week after someone you love dies. Honestly, it probably wouldn't work for everyone, but having my supervisor out of the country for two weeks in the second month of my internship was really good for me. I had to trust that I knew what I was doing, because I was the only one there doing it. I'm certainly not done, and I still have moments of fear that I'm not good enough, but that was certainly a good step in the right direction.

Dealing with my depression has been harder than I expected, but that was much more unreal expectations on my part than anything truly wrong with internship. There is a part of me that would really like to ignore my depression away, and that part of me gets the best of me on occasion. But I'm continuing to learn that my own illness isn't something I can just ignore, and that learning to deal with and manage it makes me a much better person and pastor. And I'm happy to say that I'm actually making progress. It'll take time, and depression is probably always going to be a part of me, but I am learning and growing, and internship is helping me along that way (along with a counselor, my antidepressants, and some fantastic yoga). And I am constantly learning (and if you're reading this you should too) that I am worth the care I give myself so that I'm not always on the brink of tears, especially in my work in ministry.

And despite all of this, I am also incredibly happy where I am. I love this church, and I love the work I do here. The people at this church are passionate about feeding people, so we do, in many ways. I have been getting to know the people here and I've learned almost all of their names. On the last weekend of each month I have the opportunity to lay hands on people whom I care about, offer them God's healing blessing, and mark the sign of the cross on their foreheads with oil. I do this with children and the elderly, and it is beautiful no matter what. 

I've had a chance to preach four times, with my fifth coming up this weekend. I am joyful at the prospect of sharing the gospel with these people I've come to care about. I want to tell them that God loves them as often as I can, because I believe it's true (for you too: God loves you). 

I work with the high school and confirmation youth every Wednesday night, and I've found I love it much more than I expected. Sometimes it's difficult, sometimes I wonder if we're getting through, but I'm helping these kids learn about the faith they have been raised in, and I've even seen one kid who wasn't raised in the faith decide it was for him and get baptized the week before he was confirmed. 

Once a month, I gather with people from this church at a bar, have a beer, and talk a little bit about God with them. And we talk about our lives, what's going on, who we are. I love that I can gather with these people and enjoy time and beer with them. I truly love this work. 

I haven't seen Silas in person since Labor Day weekend, which is awful, but in a little over a week we're going to meet in Kansas City, where we have some very good friends, and celebrate our fourth anniversary. It's amazing that we've made it through four years together of not being in the same city, two of those years of not even being in the same state or timezone. I'm glad that we're able to make it for a couple more years until we can perhaps live in the same place rather than different ones. 

In a few minutes I'm off to have dinner with the leaders of the high school youth group. George will perhaps be annoyed with me for leaving again (he guards my shoes every morning), but it will be great to spend some time with people who are interested in our youth (many of whom don't have kids in the youth group themselves, they just want to help) and have some delicious food to boot. 

I think it's going to be another good week. 

May the peace of God be with you all.

One Week In

So I've been working for a week now, I've been to several services, meetings, lunches, and even a wedding. Every day last week I walked into work fairly certain that I had absolutely nothing to do, but I found myself keeping busy and learning new things.

I am not yet entirely settled into my new apartment, because I took my time last week getting over my cold. That means this week hopefully I'll actually manage to make my apartment look presentable to me, much less anyone else with higher standards than I have. For now, I'm using a box as a footstool, and I keep pulling things I need out of boxes and bags as I need them.

At the church I'm getting to know people well. I have always said I'm terrible with names, but I've been actually practicing this time, and I'm surprised to say that it's going well. I'm still learning a lot about the church and finding my place, but I'm beginning to feel settled too. I am working on my first sermon (which is two weeks away, of course) and I'm exciting about getting a chance to preach at St. Stephen soon.

This weekend, I attended a wedding rehearsal and ceremony so I could learn about the pastor's role in a wedding. It was really nice to attend, even though I didn't know the couple. It's nice to see a couple so happy to be getting married. I got to work with our wedding coordinator at the service, and get an idea of how the behind the scenes things work.

Today, I was finally feeling well enough to get back to working out, so I decided to check out the yoga studio that is conveniently located directly across the street from my apartment complex. I went in for a class, and it was fantastic. The class was made up of people of all ages, sizes, strength, and flexibility. The teacher was great at emphasizing that we all do what was best for our bodies, an attitude important in yoga practice, but not always seen in classes. I'm definitely going to keep going, because it felt so good to get back on my mat again.

I'm also finally settled in to my kitchen at least, so I could actually do some proper cooking. I brought a few cookbooks with me to Iowa, and tonight I made a bean and potato hash as well as homemade granola for breakfast in the mornings. Having a kitchen and George insisting on cuddles makes me feel pretty much at home, and I think it's going to be good here this year.

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.

Fourth Week Already

So here I am halfway through my fourth week of this semester of seminary, and I am surprised that I am already here. It's going exceptionally well, but I think this year is going to go by fast.

I love all of my classes this semester, preaching and systematic theology probably the most. Preaching is great because it's a class that involves practice rather than just theory, which is one of the things I love in ministry. Systematic theology is fantastic, because it is exciting to finally be learning the ins and outs of faith and beginning to be able to develop and argue theological points so that I know my faith better than before. I'm already planning on taking at least one and maybe two more systematic classes in upcoming semesters, and I can hardly wait for any of them.

I am also thoroughly enjoying my job as sacristan. Sometimes it means responding to emails about the next days service at 11:00 at night, but it is a very rewarding job, since I love being part of worship in this way. Right now I am working on sewing several red banners for the sanctuary during our big Trinity Days service next week, and I am so happy that two things I love, sewing and worship, get to come together. And George and I are learning to get along okay when I'm sewing so he won't try to attack the projects.

Silas was in town a little over a week ago, and it was wonderful to have him back up here (he hadn't been since February!). We made gumbo for friends, watched old episodes of Doctor Who, and went down to Cincinnati to visit Hofbrauhaus and watch the Cardinals beat the Reds. I love those weekends, even if they do get me a little off my homework schedule, and I am basically caught up now.

My next really big event is my endorsement panel, which is coming right up. I'm scheduling it now, and I am hoping that my nerves won't hike up too much leading up to it. I had a great conversation with my candidacy coordinator this past summer, so I am trying to look at it with excitement, rather than trepidation.

Now that I am almost a month into the semester, I am beginning to feel settled. Worship is almost going at a regular pace, which I think may be all I can expect with that, I'm figuring out how much work my classes will take, and I might even eventually find time for crafting and whatnot. For now, I'm about to head off to my Lutheran Confessions class, but I imagine my blogs will become more regular now that I am more settled. Goodbye for now!

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

Finally on Spring Break

Midterms are done. It feels like the whole campus has sighed deeply after a mad rush to last Thursday. And now we have a week long break!

My midterm week was busy too, and I noticed that all of us seemed to be cracking up just a little bit. Monday evening I was sitting at the library circulation desk doing my Hebrew homework and I just started laughing uncontrollably. The people at the computers nearby (luckily people I know well) began looking at me with concern. I was laughing because I had looked up a word I was translating, and it turned  out to mean "exterminate" in English. This should not be funny, but anybody who watches Doctor Who might get it. That is the common call of a certain villain in the show, robots that look a bit like pepper grinders, and I was suddenly imagining Jewish Daleks. This was Monday and it was already clear that it was time for a break for me. 

I made it through, though, writing a two essay midterm for church history, a one essay and questions midterm for Old Testament, finishing my performances for Music in the Contemporary Church, and generally attempting to keep up with the regular work of all my classes as well. I took Friday and Saturday completely off, and it was glorious. 

Saturday was quite an interesting day too. I finally got my insurance settlement for my poor totaled car, and it was time to go get a new one. I took my friends Sarah and Kaeleigh with me, partly for a need for a ride, and also because they are good company in test driving cars, and tried out a pretty blue Subaru Forester. I decided I liked it, talked with my dad, he talked with the salesguy a bit, and by the end of the morning I wrote the biggest check I have ever written, paying for the car outright. 

It is wonderful to be able to drive myself around again, and I love the car. I'm even going to try to keep this one for longer this time! Luckily we're at least done with snow until next winter. It's especially nice to have a car again, because it is a little easier for me to remain involved in my MIC site this way. I had a meeting with Bonnie on Sunday and yesterday evening I was able to attend a Justice Ministry meeting there. I love to see how this church is working on moving out into its community and helping in whatever ways they can. They are developing a close partnership with First English, an urban church, and it is beautiful to see that partnership growing and solidifying. 

Being on break is lovely, because I am working plenty at a very quiet library, and then spending the rest of my time crocheting. That crocheting is actually homework, however, because I am making a wall hanging of Luther's life and theology for my final in Church History too. I'll add pictures as I complete it, because I think it's pretty darn nifty.

Finally, I have mentioned this on Facebook, but I'm going to say it here too: I am walking in the AIDS walk in Central Ohio this Holy Saturday, with a group from Trinity and Bexley Seminaries, and I am looking for sponsors. All of the money that is raised will go to help those both locally and globally whose lives are affected by AIDS and who cannot afford medicine or treatment. Please consider donating a few dollars to my 5K by going to www.tinyurl.com/KathrynWalks and clicking the Support Kathryn button. It's quite easy and all electronic. 

Thank you,

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.

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

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

A quick update

I have had a good, but rather busy week, and I'm already well into my next.

Silas and I had a great time last weekend, going to German Village to explore food and books, going to the Columbus Art Museum, and going to a local Greek festival. We also cooked, had friends over and went out to a labor day cookout. It was a very full weekend.

Since then I have had my second week of class and I am getting settled in to a new routine. I'm not too worried about my schoolwork this semester because it seems to match pretty well with my last few semesters at my undergraduate. I am enjoying most of my classes this semester, and I think I'll be able to learn a lot from them. I'm deciding what other groups I want to be involved in, and that can be tough when it means starting with one group and then choosing to leave it.

Yesterday, I went to visit a church in town as I am beginning my visits to find a Ministry in Context site. This will be the church I work at for the next two years, and will hopefully be a good growing experience for me. I liked the church I visited, which was a large suburban church that seems very alive and relaxed. They also seem like they do a lot with community, and it actually reminded me of Abiding Grace a bit.

Now I have to get re-used to Mondays at seminary since we skipped last Monday. I've already worked and I came home to cook up my dinner - fish and spanakorizo (a Greek spinach and rice dish) - which should be delicious. Soon enough my classes actually start, and then I've got choir tonight. Should be a good day, and a good week, but I'm certainly keeping busy.

I'll write more next weekend.

Kathryn

First Full Week of Classes

So I'm writing this blog a little earlier than normal, because the reward for my first week of classes is a visit from Silas! Because of that I intend on being a bit busy this weekend.

I've officially finished my first week of classes here at Trinity, and it has been a bit of a roller-coaster. My Mondays are long, as I try to get here for morning prayer at 7:30, then I work, have class, and then choir, which ends at 8:15. My classes that day are Race Ethnicity and Religion and Person in Ministry. I think Race Ethnicity and Religion is going to be a fascinating class as we discuss what race and racism looks like in our world today and how religious institutions should respond to it. I still haven't decided as much about Person in Ministry. I think it will be a useful class in beginning to teach me basic skills I'll need as a pastor, and the reading should be interesting, but so far we've mainly only gone over the syllabus, so we haven't delved much into the actual subject.

On Tuesdays I have my two favorite classes - New Testament 1 and Church History 1. Both of my teachers are fantastic and I thoroughly enjoy the subjects. Our books for those classes are really interesting too, so I won't mind getting the reading done. The New Testament course will only cover the Gospels and Acts, and I'll learn the rest of the New Testament in the spring of my Middler year (quite a ways from now, it seems). Church History 1 covers the beginnings of the church to just before the Reformation, and while I know a fair bit about the first couple of centuries from a religion class I took at OSU, I'm looking forward to learning more about the rest of the intervening time.

My one other class this session is Faith Seeking Understanding, and I think it will be an interesting course that will have me better understand both my own faith and other views on faith. Then during Session 2 I will take teaching adults, because I think I could learn a lot from that class.

I'm now working regularly at the library (I'm writing this from the circulation desk computer) which is great because I have some time to work on my reading or homework, but I also love being around the books and roaming through the stacks. And it's a good place to meet people, because I see everyone who comes in while I'm working, and unlike my undergrad the library is a place nearly everybody goes and most people do not try to avoid.

Along with my school and work things, I have been working on bringing all the other aspects in my life into balance this week. That is not always easy, and I've had some emotional highs and lows, but I'm beginning to find time for what's important and not give too much time or energy to any one thing. I'm still finding time to hang out with friends, and also trying to find time to be active, which is one of the more difficult things. This afternoon I'm mixing the two - my friend Erica and I are going to do some yoga together, because we both love it. Then there are also plenty of opportunities to gather with the community, including the Common Meal at Bexley Hall on Thursday nights and a bonfire in the seminary courtyard on Friday nights.

All told, I am keeping plenty busy and I haven't even quite finished adding everything to my schedule. I am going to start doing some spiritual direction here. This is a good place for it because it's quite cheap and this is a good time in my life to do spiritual direction. I'm trying to find one more job to add just a few hours onto my work schedule and then I think I'll be busy enough. I also officially took out my year loan this week, and it ended up being less than I expected, which was nice. That was due in part to a Munderloh scholarship I just found out I received. I'm hoping to have even more scholarships next year, leading to fewer loans. The less debt I accumulate the better.

Now for the rest of the morning, I am going to start on my readings and assignments. I've made up my calendar for the semester, and the workload doesn't look too bad, but better to be ahead of things than behind.

Kathryn

Busy Week

This has been such a busy week that I keep forgetting that today is Sunday and I have to go to class tomorrow.

In Greek we learned about participles this week. Since I didn't know what a participle was in English before we started, it was quite a bit to learn. But it went well enough, and we just have one more week before we've successfully completed the class.

This week I also began another job and spent quite a bit of time on my first. I have been trained for working at the library and I'll start working there regularly at the beginning of the semester. I love libraries, so I think I'll enjoy the job. Plus I have incredibly free Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, so I'll have plenty of time to work. I spent a lot of this weekend working on my job as part of the hospitality team for a retreat. They came in on Friday night and left this afternoon after lunch. I was there to help cook and serve three meals, as well as getting their rooms ready earlier. It was hard work and I am sore all over, but I still found it really rewarding. I love cooking, so cooking for people and being able to share that with them is lovely. Doing all the dishes by hand is less so, but necessary.

I am continuing to feel more at home here and more part of the Trinity community. I've also had the rather new problem of having to pay attention to my own social limits and making sure I take introverting time. Especially since I was busy much of this weekend, I've had to take extra evening times to sit alone and recharge. It's not a terrible problem to have, but I'm glad I know myself enough to be aware of those needs.

I'm really looking forward to the regular semester beginning, since I'll be taking several classes and more people will be here, including the whole of my class. I also might have slightly more free time, at least for the first week or so, than I do right now with near-constant Greek.

I'm also managing to keep up with Silas through judicious use of Skype dates. It's tough, but things like Skype are wonderful for staying close with people. It's interesting to see how I'm creating an extended family here while maintaining my close ties back home as well.

Finally, I finished cataloging all my yarn, and I have plenty to keep me busy for awhile. I'm still settling in, but as I work on organizing my hobbies and keeping them well stored and available I'm feeling more at home in my apartment. Cooking is good too, although I do have to work nearly constantly to keep my kitchen clean. Tonight my slow-cooker will be working all night turning a bunch of produce I've chopped up into a rather healthy potato soup. My apartment should smell delicious when I wake up.

Tomorrow I move on to verbs that are describing non-real action, so we'll see how that goes. I'm also finishing up my project on Jesus' rebuke of Martha, which is turning out quite interestingly. I'll present it on Thursday, and I think it, as well as all my classmates' presentations of their own verses, will be a very interesting end to the week and Greek class.

Well that's all for now, I'm off to turn my slow-cooker on!

I Got a Job!

I can't believe I've been living in Ohio for a month now.

Time is going by fast, mainly still because of Greek. We only have two weeks left and I've begun my final, which is an in-depth analysis of Luke 10:41-42, Jesus' rebuke of Martha. I chose these verses to study mainly because they are the culmination of a story I always struggle with, due to my strong identification with Martha. We'll see if I turn up any new understanding in the next two weeks.

I also started my first job this week. We have several retreats come to Trinity throughout the year and I am on the hospitality team for a retreat this next weekend. This includes cleaning, but also cooking for the retreat and making the visitors feel welcome while they are here. It's really similar to my old job at the Canterbury Center in Stillwater, and I love hospitality, so I think I'll enjoy this job. And making some money I didn't expect to make this month doesn't hurt either.

I did a couple more things to feel settled in this weekend. On Friday I went to a dive shop to get fitted for a wetsuit and gear for my open water training scuba dive in a couple of weeks. I'm excited to be finishing up my certification finally. After the slight discomfort of getting myself into a wetsuit, I was able to spend about an hour in the pool at the dive shop working on a few of my skills and remembering how much I really do enjoy being able to breathe underwater. I'm really looking forward to finally getting to practice in an open body of water rather than a pool.

On Saturday I took a trip to the Book Loft in the German Village, which is a house absolutely crammed full of books, many of which are on sale. I ended up leaving with a mystery and a knitting book about organizing and using yarn stash. I got inspired and now my couch is covered with yarn as I sort and catalog all my yarn. Having it in a organized, well stored place rather than just floating around in walmart sacks will make me feel more moved in and help me to use what I have rather than just buying more. My knitting skills will come in handy this winter, I think.

I'm continuing to meet new people here and get to know better the people I've already met. The sense of community I got when I visited here last year was spot on, and I find that I would have to try hard to not spend time with these people. My quiet weekends are nice for my introverted self as they give me a chance to re-charge from spending a week almost constantly with people. The only downside to my social life combined with my schoolwork is that my apartment may not be completely unpacked and settled into until fall break when I have more time off.

In a final bit of exciting news, today was the first time I was able to walk down the stairs in a normal manner rather than stepping on each step with both feet. A major milestone in the healing of my ankles! I've been avoiding yoga to keep from hurting them worse, and I can't wait until I can start again - I think it will be an especially helpful practice in the midst of my busy seminary life. That and my back and hips get sore with all the sitting hunched over Greek translations.

Tomorrow I'm leading morning prayer, learning about participles, and getting paid to clean an apartment that isn't mine. Should be a good day.

Kathryn