Happy New Year!!!
Thanks to Charles for keeping some semblance of communication with ya'll. I'm not even going to try to explain; suffice it to say that 2010 was a weird year.
Starting with Ordination exams in January (which I passed), moving straight into CPE (clinical pastoral experience) in February, my dad and my grandmother dying within a week of each other in March, then the Presbytery policy for circulating my PIF (Presbyterian for resume) only after final transcripts are in coming to a head in June--I was ready for a break.
The good news about the Presbytery policy is that it was changed. Through the assertion of my bad attitude and some other folks questioning the policy, the Committee on Preparation for Ministry re-evaluated the requirements in the Book of Order and determined that their policy was outdated. I was able to complete final assessment in early September which means I was given approval to seek a call. I completed my PIF in early November (yes it took me two months to complete) and have applied to two churches myself and have been referred by the database to 8 others. So, the process is well on its way and we may yet move from here to my first call. We can only trust that the Holy Spirit knows what needs to happen.
My summer was relaxing and uneventful after all that happened at the beginning of the year. I was able to get some sewing done %u2013 pajamas for S and a couple of dresses for B and her dolls. You can see one of her dresses on the pictures page. I did some reading, not much, but enough to keep my mind active and I preached at Sardis in August. Over all, I had a great break.
The kids started school at the beginning of August, which gave me a month to myself before I started classes just after Labor Day (the beginning of September.) The fall semester was full, but not overwhelming. It seemed like busy work to me--like I was just going through the motions without any enthusiasm. I took Church History, Ethics, and Wisdom's Wonder-Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. I liked the Wisdom class the best and spent the least amount of time on it because the other two classes were more demanding. I would have liked to have spent more time in the Wisdom literature, though. Grades aren't in yet, so I don't know how I did. I'm anticipating two B's and an A. I might be surprised with Church History though--the professor did not give us grades on our work throughout the semester, so I might have done better than I think I did.
Both kids have been sick, which is weird because they are usually very healthy. B came home with Strep throat in early November. Poor girl, suffered with that for a couple of days before we realized that it wasn't an ordinary sore throat. She bounced back quickly once we got her on some antibiotics. Fortunately, the rest of us did not get it. S did develop some cold-like symptoms with a low grade fever shortly after that but no sore throat. He seemed to recover and went back to school, but developed this really nasty cough. Could hardly catch his breath and started vomiting after a coughing spell. Had all the symptoms for whooping cough but the doctor refused to diagnose it. We finally insisted that he be tested because B was starting to develop the same cough. It was not whooping cough which is good. The doctor treated S's cough like asthma and prescribed steroids and an inhaler. The inhaler seemed to help but we did not give him the steroids. (I'm not keen on medication and giving him both inhaler with steroids and regular steroids just seemed like an over abundance of steroids. In other words, too much is too much.) The cough still persisted. So we called in the big guns and went to the chiropractor who adjusted his back which was a mess from all the coughing and gave him some supplements. His cough is actually getting better now.
I'm hoping the upcoming semester is more energizing than the past one. I'm taking an exegetical class in Romans as my elective and two required half courses in World Christianity and American Religious History as well as auditing a class on Covenant and Creation. Auditing means I don't need the course to graduate and I'm not taking the class for a grade--that is the no stress option. I'm looking forward to the Romans class because I'll be translating again--ending my seminary career the way I started it--in Greek.
We have already started to pack--mostly books. Of course the Christmas stuff is stowed for moving now--cookie cutters, special dishes, holiday trappings and wrappings. We're sorting other things like the floppy disks we've been storing--Charles moved the info to his hard drive. They take up a lot less space now. They were mostly pictures, old documents, and things that were important to save before there was so much space on hard drives. I've packed my class notes and files and am looking at my pottery and other dust collectors for my next box.
I have one accelerated course in January to complete which starts on the 6th. Until then I'm finishing up a new dress for B and getting a head start on some reading. I hope ya'll have had a great Christmas and your New Year is productive and happy. I appreciate all your prayers and look forward to what God has planned in the future. I'll try not to be so long between updates this year.
Peace,
Diane :)