Happy New Year!! From Diane
This semester has been a good one and went by way too fast. I learned a lot about Reformed Theology and how it is comes out in the different worship elements. For example: we looked at the prayer of confession and what it says about sin and the human condition or how the call to worship tells us what we believe about who God is. Reading the confessions, Calvin, Hodge, Nevin, and other "old dead guys" (and some very living girls and boys) and writing papers about them, I feel more prepared for the ordination exams.
In pastoral care, we examined our family of origin and what kind of issues we inherited from them. I have to say that the exercise did not bring up any surprises, but it still was very unsettling to complete. It brought up a bunch of stuff that I thought I had successfully buried. The good news is that I was only sad for a few days and then I was able to analyze the information and redirect what needed to be redirected and keep what needed to be kept. We also talked about counseling folks who are in crises--death, marriage, divorce, illness and other unpleasantness. This class makes me really wonder if I am cut out for this task. I'll probably tell my young marriage counselees to wait till their 30 then think about it and certainly if you can't wait--elope--it's cheaper.
Christian education was right up my alley. We learned about lesson plans--what a novel idea--plan for a Sunday school lesson. It makes it go much smoother. I learned about different learning styles and how to mix them into a lesson and I learned that everything we do as church has some component of education behind it. That includes worship, missions, circles, retreats, fellowship activities and Sunday school. The big question is--what do we want to teach people in these different venues? Mix that in with the Reformed Theology examined from the worship elements and--WOW--we learn a lot just by showing up to church. Preparing worship is a big responsibility when you look at it like that. Everything is a teaching tool.
I was able to prepare worship five times this semester--once a month in the "real" church and once for chapel here on campus. I also taught Sunday school at our new church--one lesson was for class and the other three for the fun of it. It was great to be serving again. That is probably why I've been so behind on my updates. The preparation for all this stuff took time and had to be squeezed between reading the "old dead guys" and pastoral care theory, writing papers, and preparing Sunday school lessons. It really was good for me to preach and teach--it reminded me why I'm doing this and gives me some experience too.
This next semester won't be so challenging that way--I'm scheduled to teach again for the month of February. I'll probably do a series again; I just don't know what yet. I don't have any preaching engagements scheduled yet. But I am scheduled to do my CPE (Clinical Pastoral Experience) program starting in February at the Presbyterian Homes of GA. It's a CPE offered through one of the local hospitals but it is based at one of the two Presbyterian retirement homes. I'll spend most of my time at the retirement homes and one shift of on-call at the hospital on the weekend. I like this set up because I'm not too keen on spending a lot of time at the hospital (but knew I needed some experience) and I love older folks--they have such great stories. I hope to take a class on worship through the life cycle too--it focuses on special services like funerals, weddings, baptism, etc. It depends on how my schedule shakes out with the CPE though.
To the children, B did get selected for safety patrol and has had two "jobs" already. The first one was escorting the first graders from Ms. Tavel's class to their busses and the second is holding the front doors at the end of school. She really has enjoyed her responsibility. We have not found her a tennis instructor but we have hired a tutor to work with her on her spelling. Here we have a straight A student that can't spell worth a hoot. Seems kind of weird, huh? Many of you know that dyslexia runs in Charles' family and I figured that both of our children probably did not escape it. (S does not have it) Well, my research indicates that the spelling issue is a slight form of dyslexia or possibly some other learning disability. The interesting thing is because she can read the school/teacher absolutely insist that she does not have a problem. Of course we haven't had her tested (she probably would blow the test out of the water) because it really is a slight form and the testing is expensive. The tutor just fell into our lap--it turns out a young lady in my Pastoral Care class overheard me telling a friend about B and jumped into the conversation with suggestions on how to work with her. I later asked the girl (she's in her mid 20's so she's a girl) if she would be interested in working with B and her face lit up and she got really excited. Turns out her former life was in teaching learning disabled children and is her passion. She has worked with B twice and has given B plenty of exercises to work on to improve her spelling. You know God was involved in that because I would never have worked out who to contact to help B (and I truly don't have the patience). B has decided she wants to play the violin (or fiddle depending on the day) so now we're looking for tennis instruction and violin instruction for her.
S has settled into middle school quite well now. He's over the hump of changing classes and is enjoying learning. I'm not sure how he does it, but he manages to get most of his homework done at school. He's getting straight A's as well so it doesn't seem like I need to worry about too much concerning school for him. He joined the STEMCELL team--which is a science and mathematics club. This fall they have been preparing and competing in Lego Robotics. His team made it to the second level (which happens to be one before the State level) and will compete next Saturday again. He's learning team work, programming, design, sportsmanship, and lots of other cool stuff. S is still in Boy Scouts and should be receiving his first rank soon--he's just shy some community service hours because he was sick the day the troop participated in a big event. He's almost made up those hours. His goal is to achieve Eagle Scout. He was disappointed that he wasn't able to play soccer because practice would be on Tuesday evenings--the same evening that he has scouts.
We were able to make it to Ohio for Thanksgiving. Visiting with the family just after that wonderful exercise in Pastoral Care was interesting--but not bad. I'm not so anxious about family visits anymore. I am still glad for them to be over though. We had fun; there was snow as requested by the children--just enough to make a small snowman and throw a few snowballs.
Mom and Dad came down just after Christmas for a few days. B showed off her class's greenhouses and the plastic had all blown off, so Grandpa fixed them up. He loves to putter on things and B got to help with the repairs. Grandma and I helped B sew a skirt too.
We spent Christmas Eve with our good friends the Whites with great food and great company. And on Christmas morning the children found evidence that Santa does exist--the cookies and milk were gone and the presents from Santa were wrapped in different paper. Not to mention that Mom and Dad would never buy the gifts that Santa left. So, the magic continues at our house.
Looking forward, I am taking the ordination exams on January 22nd and 23rd. I have cleared my schedule for the month of January to prepare for them. For my non-Presbyterian friends, ordination exams are the equivalent to the medical boards or the bar exam for lawyers. I have to recall the "old dead guys" and the new living girls and boys too. I have to be able to cite Presbyterian polity, worship and sacrament rules/traditions/etc., and I have to translate and exegete a passage from either the Old Testament or New Testament. Overall, not a fun weekend. The kicker is that the folks who read the exams can be pastors or elders in the church. So, it is possible that someone would read my exam that is not even theologically trained. I'm a bit worried about them because of the grading system, but hope that my preparations will be adequate. I don't want to take them over if I can help it. These exams are the next step in the ordination process--pass these then start the final assessment process where the Presbytery gets to examine me on the same stuff that the ordination exams are on. Once I've completed the final assessment process, I can start looking for a job as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church.
Well, 17 more months of this seminary gig. I don't know what the end result will be, but I am looking forward to having some semblance of my life back. Charles and I are already talking about packing for the move. We brainstorm where we will move to--the only absolute is that we will be moving at the end of May 2011.
Well, until then, blessings to you all in this New Year.
In Christ,
Diane