Hunter Family Columbia Seminary, News August 31st 2009

Hello From Diane 8/31/2009
My summer has been so awesome! I got reacquainted with my sewing machines and my family. I've been able to recuperate from stress related ailments--nothing serious just annoyances that needed attention. Turns out I just needed to relax a bit and everything sorted itself out. I also managed to get confirmed as a candidate for ministry by the Charlotte Presbytery--which means I spent a bit of time in Charlotte this summer. Thanks to my friends, Drew and Angela, who put me up during this process and certainly kept me sane.

The candidacy process is quite remarkable in the Presbyterian Church. After being an inquirer for at least a year, a candidate has a series of questions to answer that include information about Presbyterian theology, vocational understanding, and self awareness. Things like what it means to be Presbyterian, my personal faith statement, and what I perceive the role of a pastor to be. Of course, I answered all those questions between studying for the Theology final and the Polity final in the spring (which was a feat in itself). I then presented before my church those responses for their approval, then to the Presbytery committee, and finally before the entire Presbytery. Not an easy process, but very necessary to ensure the quality of leaders in the church. This is only one hurdle in a row of many to get over before I can pursue any pastoral position. The next big deal is Ordination Exams scheduled for the end of January.

In the mean time, I start my fall semester the week after Labor Day with classes in Reformed Theology, Pastoral Care, and Christian Education. Overall, a seemingly calm semester as the Theology should have some repetition for last year's Theology--just more focused on the Reformed tradition. Pastoral Care is more about how to help folks in crisis but also about personal understandings of self, crisis, and preconceived ideas about appropriate responses in situations. Christian Education is right up my ally--preparing lessons for different age groups, learning styles, teaching styles, etc. I'm ready! I'm also scheduled to preach twice this fall and hopefully a couple more opportunities will present themselves.

The children are back in school (they started on the 10th of August); S is in 6th grade and is becoming too cool to be seen with Mom. The biggest change for S is the changing classes and this new routine has shaken his concentration. He's lost his band book at least twice since starting school. He just gets flustered and forgets to put it in his folder or the latest is either a matter of mistaken identity (someone picked up his folder by mistake) or someone stole it from his folder during gym class. Hopefully it is the former and it will turn up as it has the past times. S is registered for soccer again this fall as it will probably be his last season because he ages out of the recreation department's offerings and must go to a league. He doesn't believe he has the skill necessary for the league soccer--which is his way of knowing his own limitations.

B is in 3rd grade (going into 10th; go figure) and loves her new teacher. She hopes to be chosen for safety patrol which is responsible for helping kids get to their busses, emptying recycling containers, watching for assistance opportunities on the stairs and at the doors. We are trying to find a tennis instructor for B, which we will probably find at the girl's college down the road, we just need to put the word out. She has decided that she wants to play the violin when she is old enough to be in the band. Fortunately, that isn't for a few more years.

Charles is still searching for a job. The latest lead has come to a second interview which took place this past Thursday, unfortunately he found out on Monday he did not get the job. He is only about stir crazy (actually that would be me) puttering around the house. He has managed to digitize a good amount of his cassette tapes, though, which minimizes the storage area of his music. He has started running regularly again, which helps to keep him from going completely mad. He swings back to the apartment for me after his run and we do a "warm-down" walk together.

Charles told you about our family road trip in June through GA, SC, NC, VA, WV, TN and KY. It was fun to get away for a bit, to visit with the family, and see some parts of the country we haven't seen before. We hope to resume of our annual beach trip to Charleston, SC over Labor Day Weekend this year since we haven't been on for two years. Mostly dependant on the job situation though. Otherwise, our next big holiday is Thanksgiving where we normally gather in Ohio with my family. Again, the job situation drives the decision at the moment.

A big step we are taking as a family is a change in worship venue. Although, we love our adopted family who accepted us as their own when we first arrived here, we are all definitely ready for a change. I have my own theological reasons for this (which I won't bore you with) but the children also have expressed some issues that demonstrate a change is in order. Charles pretty much ditched our present place of worship about a year ago, so we've visited a few places over the summer and I think we've found a possibility for a new home-away-from-home. Pray for our edification in this process and minimal pain in the extraction from our old home-away-from-home.

We'd love to hear from you, just click the Contact us button and drop us a line. Knowing folks are thinking of us is such a wonderful blessing. Of course, thank you so much for your prayers (especially for the job search right now) we really appreciate them more than we could ever express.

Blessing from Christ our Lord,
Diane