1. The beginning of the third week, and I finally feel pretty much better after getting really, really sick in Oregon.
2. Going to spend the next three days plowing through my last paper (on which, thankfully, I had had the foresight to request an extension) so that I can maybe enjoy at least one long week-end (instead of the 10 days originally planned) before . . .
3. Summer Hebrew starts a week from today. Two quarters worth jammed into 8 weeks, and we all know how gifted (far from it) I am in ancient languages. Kiss this summer good-bye, until . . .
4. Two months from today I will be on an 8-day silent retreat, back at Guelph. I am torn between apprehension in memory of having been on retreat when Chicago Son died and a longing for the silence, the river, the sunrises, the labyrinth, the wide open spaces, the prayer, and ~ did I mention the silence?
5. Gregarious Son is taking the LSAT next week. Too late for law school this fall, which is a very good thing in a life ~ all our lives ~ which will be filled with tumultuous memories at the end of the summer, but who knows what it may lead to later?
6. The Lovely Daughter is at home and has begun her job search in earnest. It's beyond wonderful to have her around.
7. The yard is looking nice. All cleaned up and some flowers in ~ quite a change from last year, when I rushed from seminary to Chicago to CPE and then was too steadily exhausted from those overnight on-calls to think beyond the occasional lawn-mowing job.
8. The house is a disaster. I'm hoping that we will get the guest room re-plastered and painted this summer. So far it has taken about two months to pull down a couple of lengths of wallpaper and clean up the plaster dust, so the re-do plan might be a bit too ambitious. I have no idea how people like Quotidian Grace actually build an entire house.
9. Also ahead this summer: movement toward candidacy status in the ordination process. I have about finished the six essays (thanks to help from a RevGal!) and meet with my Session in two weeks, my CPM at the beginning of July, and the Presbytery at the end of July. All Presby-speak for The Process.
10. I think a great deal about a comment my friend Julia left over on Desert Year some time ago: about how sometimes things happen that you think you cannot possibly survive, and yet somehow you endure and move forward. Apparently that is the case, at least most of the time for most of us. I wish it were true for all of us but, for those of us who are left, there is increasing energy and laughter and ~ each other.
2. Going to spend the next three days plowing through my last paper (on which, thankfully, I had had the foresight to request an extension) so that I can maybe enjoy at least one long week-end (instead of the 10 days originally planned) before . . .
3. Summer Hebrew starts a week from today. Two quarters worth jammed into 8 weeks, and we all know how gifted (far from it) I am in ancient languages. Kiss this summer good-bye, until . . .
4. Two months from today I will be on an 8-day silent retreat, back at Guelph. I am torn between apprehension in memory of having been on retreat when Chicago Son died and a longing for the silence, the river, the sunrises, the labyrinth, the wide open spaces, the prayer, and ~ did I mention the silence?
5. Gregarious Son is taking the LSAT next week. Too late for law school this fall, which is a very good thing in a life ~ all our lives ~ which will be filled with tumultuous memories at the end of the summer, but who knows what it may lead to later?
6. The Lovely Daughter is at home and has begun her job search in earnest. It's beyond wonderful to have her around.
7. The yard is looking nice. All cleaned up and some flowers in ~ quite a change from last year, when I rushed from seminary to Chicago to CPE and then was too steadily exhausted from those overnight on-calls to think beyond the occasional lawn-mowing job.
8. The house is a disaster. I'm hoping that we will get the guest room re-plastered and painted this summer. So far it has taken about two months to pull down a couple of lengths of wallpaper and clean up the plaster dust, so the re-do plan might be a bit too ambitious. I have no idea how people like Quotidian Grace actually build an entire house.
9. Also ahead this summer: movement toward candidacy status in the ordination process. I have about finished the six essays (thanks to help from a RevGal!) and meet with my Session in two weeks, my CPM at the beginning of July, and the Presbytery at the end of July. All Presby-speak for The Process.
10. I think a great deal about a comment my friend Julia left over on Desert Year some time ago: about how sometimes things happen that you think you cannot possibly survive, and yet somehow you endure and move forward. Apparently that is the case, at least most of the time for most of us. I wish it were true for all of us but, for those of us who are left, there is increasing energy and laughter and ~ each other.
10 comments:
10: Amen.
Best wishes on "the process".
The best advice I received in regard to Hebrew "just keep showing up". We did a semester and then a three week intensive and blessed with a most pastoral graduate student who is now teaching at Hartford Seminary (those lucky students). It is a beautiful language to hear spoken.
I have to admit: I share your anxiety about your being on retreat, as you were last year when Chicago Son died. I (and many) will be holding you in prayer.
(((GG)))
re: Hebrew: just try to learn the alphabet before you start. There's an old Barney Live in Concert CD that has a sung Alef Bet song which is how I did it. Yes, Barney. The big purple dinosaur. I know.
So good to hear all that is going on, all that is coming up and all that is going well. You have so much good in the works. I'm thanking God now.
...I took a summer short course in a (computer) language some years back. The metaphor that came to mind then was "like drinking from a fire hose"...
Here's hoping for a weekend to take a deep breath before you have to face the saturated Hebrew!
All the rest is possible in part due to #10. So glad to see this one particularly. I'd love to study Hebrew with you this summer. I have a rudimentary knowledge, as I'm sure you do from your years of teaching where you did.
In seminary, we learned the Hebrew alphabet by singing it to the tune of "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Beer helps.
I've done the 8-day retreat in Guelph (if it's at the same Jesuit center that I was at) - it was healing and life-changing after a very difficult time early in my ministry.
I'll be thinking of you and praying...
heartwarming post ... blessings on the process and time with loved ones
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