Home

Reading week is approaching, and many of our seminary friends and classmates are heading home for the week. Several have spouses in home cities; others have family in the location they left; and all of us have dear friends "back home". So, there are status updates and conversations about leaving to go home or, at this point in the week, having safely arrived there.

Since arriving at 85 Templeton Way in July, I have logged a lot of hours wishing to go back to Denver, missing my family in New York, and more generally wanting to be almost anywhere but Sewanee, TN. I have compiled mental lists of all of the gross, annoying, bothersome things associated with living here. I have cursed the mold, the mildew, and the sogginess of the ground while yearning for the desert climate I left behind. I have had beautiful dreams of the beautiful grass in beautiful Denver.

And I realized today, "This is home."

As far as I know, we will still return to Colorado after Jordan's three year stint at seminary. I still miss my dear friends in Denver, and I still sometimes wish that I had my family close by me. The gross, annoying, bothersome things (here) are still gross, annoying and bothersome. But I am home.

When I walk into my house, it smells like my house. (Admittedly, that's not always a pleasant thing!) I have established those corners of disorganization that function as a catchall for things I want to put out of reach or out of the way of other members of my household. I know where I'm going. I understand the abbreviations and nicknames common to the community. (I'll write another entry on that another time.)

This place - the town, the school, even my house - is home as I have never known it before. I feel loved ... nurtured ... mentored ... welcomed. The love is Christ's love. It is a love that asks for nothing in return and demands no change in me. It is freely and gently given with genuine gratitude for God's love for us. It doesn't always accompany friendship or fondness, and, yet, it is truly love. The nurture is not condescending or chastising. It has been at turns practical and mystical. I have felt the prayers ascending to Heaven like incense. The mentoring is at once humble and wise. It is as if folks have intentionally brought me alongside them and still retained the understanding that they know what I do not. The welcome transcends "inclusiveness" and "tolerance". It is the welcome that marks true Spiritual hospitality. The community, as one, has broken its circle and made a place for us.

And that place is home. Sewanee truly is a special place, and I am deeply grateful that we were called here to call it home, if just for a season. I pray that what we are given here, we will give to the next place that we call 'home'.

The Simple Life ;)

If I were again applying to college, I would have a lot of extracurricular activities to list! Well, I suppose that's only true if I were to include my children's activities (fair, don't you think?) and social events.

Among the four of us, we have soccer, dance, parents' morning out program, spouses of the seminary board (secretary), serving as an acolyte, kids of the seminary (K-OS), choir x2, Bible study, intramural flag football and intramural volleyball. Then, there are the countless events that go along with being on a college campus: art exhibitions, visiting lecturers, musical performances, and theater events. Add to that the casual dinners, the community worship, and volunteer jobs, and there's a full schedule! Jordan has also been quite busy with reading for his classes, but he is striving for balance more than excellence. As the dean of the School of Theology put it, "You can't get an 'A' in life." When he has a chance, I will have Jordan write an update that focuses more on classes and worship at the seminary.

Jordan and I recently invited students and spouses in the seminary community to join us in a prayer group. We have really missed our small group from Christ Church, in Denver. We did not realize at the time what an unusual group it was. We shared deeply, almost from the start, and we prayed comfortably with each other and for each other. Gifts of the Spirit, while not dominating the group dynamic, entered into our prayers quite often. I conveyed a similar vision for this new prayer group, and I was uncertain what the response would be. I had not seen evidence of a strong charismatic presence at the seminary or even in the community. However, several people (more than 14) responded, and we have met twice. We will continue to meet weekly and then re-evaluate at the end of the semester. I ask for your prayers for the prayer group. :)

Yesterday, a break-in occurred in our little neighborhood. The perpetrator(s) took some jewelry and made their escape on a four-wheeler using a trail quite close to the house. Our house is quite a bit more visible than the one that was burglarized, but the event still spooked me a little. I have been keeping our doors and windows locked, and I entertained the idea of getting a very large dog. I told my mother I would call her before I acquired any more animals. My mother is a very practical woman.

At the end of August, our car broke down. AAA towed the car to a mechanic in a nearby town, and a seminarian retrieved me and the kids from the side of I-24.

The radiator had blown, and the mechanic replaced it within a few days. When he ran the car with the new radiator in it, however, the new radiator almost blew up. This, apparently, indicated that something was wrong with the engine. We found out early last week that the head of the engine is irreparable. The mechanic found a replacement engine with fewer miles on it than ours, and he has ordered it (I hope). We should have our car back sometime next week! (We will pause here so that everyone can do a little dance of joy.)

Well, you might suspect that an engine, even a used one, is expensive. It is. Please pray for financial provision. We have several possible sources of help. I'm a little worried that each one will expect the others to cover our need with the result of no one sending us any money! (Actually, they would send it to Christ Church, not to us.)

I'm sure that God has us covered, but knowing that you will be praying makes me feel better.

All in all, it is not exactly "the simple life," but it is good. Even with finding two ticks and hearing of a burglary nearby, I didn't once think about leaving. Thank you for your prayers!

Current prayer requests:

- that my return to a disposition of hope, faith, and love would continue

- that Jordan continue to do well in school despite putting more effort into balance

- for our finances and those of the other students (and families) here

- for our car

- for my artwork (see inkstreetdesign.blogspot.com)

A Good Place to Be

I am beginning to remember why I loved the fall as a child. The humidity breaks into mellow warmth punctuated by breezes, cool mornings and evenings, and the smells of fall. Our house is surrounded on three sides by tall, old trees. Lately, there has been light fog on several mornings, making the height of the trees more pronounced.

When we first arrived in Sewanee, the bugs completely, well, freaked me out! I encountered tics, huge horse flies, mosquitoes from the jungles of southeast Asia, and more daddy longlegs than I've ever seen in one place. Well, I am now able to look at the many bugs on the porch or the garage and use them as teaching moments with the kids. We've talked about walking sticks being able to regenerate their legs; daddy longlegs' nasty habit of eating each other; and what the smallest insect in the world is. (It's the fairy fly, which is actually a wasp.) As I write this post, I'm serenaded by the seemingly hundreds of katydids all around the house. It's a sound that I now find comforting and indicative of home, at least for the next few years.

The community here at Sewanee was the main reason Jordan and I chose to come here, and we were right! This is an incredibly safe place to be in the tumultuous process of formation as a clergy family. I was on an airplane once that hit a lot of turbulence toward the end of the flight, and the landing was very rough. Once we were on the ground taxiing, everyone aboard started clapping. That's about how I feel right now - the clapping part, and that's only because of the community at the School of Theology.

Jordan's classes this semester include Hebrew, Old Testament, Creeds, Church History, and Spirituality for Ministry. He has commented on his work in Hebrew and Old Testament connecting him to his Jewish roots in a powerful way. He is enjoying his professors and classmates, alike. He is finding the balancing act very challenging. When we were in Denver, he pretty much went to work, came home, and did church stuff on the weekend. Here, it is all thrown in to every day: family, school, personal care, legal work, and worship. Please pray for him in this regard.

The children are doing quite well. I am homeschooling Skylar this year, and that is going well. We mostly focus on reading and writing, but, of course, the whole day is a learning adventure when you have a child this age. Eli is participating in a parents' morning out program twice a week, and I think he feels much more comfortable there. He's talking more to his teachers, and he's less nervous when I drop him off. I think he also enjoys being the one going to school, while Skylar stays home. Skylar is really enjoying soccer and dance, and Elijah can't wait to don a soccer uniform after seeing Skylar play!

I am doing the usual mish-mosh of young mom stuff plus a slew of things at the school. I'm in the choir - no kidding - and the spouses' spiritual direction group. I also do a women's Bible study, and we're starting a prayer group of possibly 14 people, which I am organizing. I'm also the secretary of the spouses' board. I'm pursuing my longtime interest in photography a little bit, and I'm hoping to take a class in photography at the college.

We have a puppy, which we adopted primarily as a friend for Gabby, our dog that we had in Denver. The puppy's name is Daisy-Baisy (Daisy Mae for short). She is ... a puppy. You could pray for all of us with regard to Daisy! She's a wonderful, sweet dog, though. She has learned to sit before receiving her bowl of food, and she has also learned how to make each one of us crazy. She's a very smart puppy. :)

As some of you know already, we had several unexpected expenses upon arriving in Sewanee. Among other things, we needed to purchase a refrigerator and a dryer, and our car is currently on its fourth week in the shop because of radiator and engine issues. Please pray for financial provision, wisdom in managing the car situation, and honesty on the part of the mechanics. This is just one way that the Sewanee community has loved us: rides and borrowed vehicles for a month!

I'm going to end here for now, but I'll update soon.

We're here!

I'm sure many of you in Denver have wondered what has become of us. You have this vague recollection that we were heading off to seminary, but that seems like it was ages ago. Let me catch you up.

The drive from Denver covered a week, July 17-23, because we decided en route to stay two nights instead of one in Kansas City and St. Louis. (The children's museum in St. Louis is absolutely terrific!) Everyone had a much better trip because of those two extra nights.

We've experienced our share of hiccups in the process of settling in to our new home: unexpected appliance purchases (refrigerator and dryer), problems setting up internet and phone service (many phone calls and 2 tech visits), and the usual broken or temporarily missing items.

We are now feeling settled physically, and we are gradually getting settled spiritually and otherwise. We are attending a church, St. James, not far from our house. The congregation makes it a point to welcome children (and all of the accompanying noises, movements, and messes). This makes worship a very relaxed experience for me - well, as relaxed as it can be with a 4 and 3/4 year old (Skylar is counting down to her birthday) and a 2-year old.

Skylar had her first day of pre-K today, and she was very positive about it. She is registered for youth soccer and for a dance class. She already has two friends, whom she has invited to her birthday party. She is adjusting very well, and whatever stress she is experiencing, she takes out on her brother.

Elijah loves the space we have here. Our house here is more than twice as big as our apartment in Denver, and we have a large yard. He heads outside first thing in the morning, sometimes in his pajamas, and he usually sneaks in one more ride on his trike as Daddy is drawing the bath at bedtime.

Jordan and I have sorely missed all of the pieces of our support system in Denver. We have just begun to find those here who will form the foundation of our new community. Sewanee does a magnificent job hastening this process with lots of "down time" during orientation, during which the classmates can begin to gel into a community. The school also organizes and hosts multiple events from picnics to luncheons, which give more opportunities for building relationships. I especially appreciate the extent to which spouses are included and cared for.

Classes have not yet begun for Jordan; orientation has occupied his days. Orientation will continue each day until classes begin on August 27. I am probably going to avail myself of the opportunity to take French classes, and I hope to connect with a psychology professor in a research project.

Thank you for all of your prayers! Please continue to lift us up.