2009 Recap

2009 was a busy year for me. My last semester at University seems like so long ago. When 2009 began I was living in a studio apartment in Missouri working two internships along with a full load of classes to finish my degree. In May I graduated and moved back home for a month then followed my parents to St. Paul for another month. [Congrats to my Mom for passing her summer classes with flying colors!] Then my Dad and I drove to the east coast with a car packed to bursting with my stuff to move into a dorm room and start summer Greek. After Greek the real work began with the fall long term which I just completed, and now I'm back in Colorado hanging out with my family for the holidays.

I went from being a senior at University to being a junior at Princeton Seminary. [Why they call the first years juniors is still beyond me.]

I went from organizing a once-a-week chapel service to attending daily chapel.

I downsized from a studio apartment to a dorm room.

My car has gone through two scheduled maintenances meaning I've driven at least 6,000 miles, and I'm almost ready for a third.

I went from working at a church and studying primary documents to studying church and working with primary documents.

I upgraded my phone to a touch screen with a full keyboard and internet access.

I have crossed off two of my life goals: graduate from college and see a Broadway musical.

It's been a busy year, and our family is preparing for a party to welcome in the new one. I am blessed to have a home to return to and a family who loves me. I am blessed to have the luxury to attend any masters program.

May God bless your new year and many after this one!

Merry Christmas-tide!

Yes, Christmas really does last for 12 whole days! It's called Christmas-tide, and it's the basis for that song that everybody knows part of but not the whole 12 days... yes, that one!

I'm back in Colorado after several delays and detours. I ended up in St. Paul overnight, but thanks to the Mom Network [better than any cell phone company can offer] I had a place to sleep and a family to welcome me. The traditional Christmas events are in full swing. We had a clam sauce pasta dinner with some local extended family, and some last minute shopping. I participated in my home church's Christmas Eve service which was wonderful. I also attended a local church's 11pm service. Even though it felt very late, it was magical to walk out of the church after midnight knowing it was truly Christmas.

Now we're in full swing of Christmas-tide joy. I head back to Princeton on the 3rd. Class starts again on the 4th, but for now I'm not thinking about that.

Snowapalooza 2009

Because of an unexpected snow storm, my flight was canceled. It has been rescheduled for tomorrow evening, and I am resting from finals which were difficult. I am lucky enough to be in my dorm with some other people who are either stuck or staying here. Tonight my friend Sara and I made tacos for dinner to go with the sparking cider I picked up to celebrate finals being over. We are hanging out, watching tv, vegging, reading fun books, playing video games and just resting. Today I took a long nap. It was great. I'll be back home soon.

Alternative Christmas Gifts

If you're still wondering what to give people for Christmas, try an alternative Christmas gift. These come in all different ways.

1. Give a Kiva gift certificate. These can be in amounts between $25 and $10,000. Kiva is a wonderful organization that connects people like me who have some extra money. In April of 2008 I paid $25 to Kiva which has been recycled three times now. This $25 has been used in microloans to small business owners in Peru and then Pakistan. Today I received an e-mail saying the loan had been payed back, and I logged onto Kiva and found another small business owner I wanted to support. Once that person has payed back the money, I will get it back. It's a re-usable gift that helps small business owners across the world.
My Kiva page.

2. Find local non-profits to donate to. For example, the Rainbow Network was a group I was involved with in college. It started in Springfield as a way to help long-term development in Nicaragua. Donate in the name of someone you love.

3. Heifer International is a fun way to find alternative Christmas gifts. You can buy animals in the same of someone you love which go to people living in third world countries as a sustainable resource. For example, you can buy a llama for $150. If that's too much, buy a flock of chicks for $20; or buy a share of a larger animal.

You can impact someone's life incredibly for a very small amount. Please consider buying alternative Christmas gifts for the ones you love.

Study break

I have been a little MIA lately, but I have a good excuse. Yesterday was the pageant which went wonderfully. This week is finals week, so it is nose to the grindstone every day. My schedule is nicely expanded. Wednesday I have my church history final. Friday is my Old Testament final, and my final exegesis paper is due on Saturday at noon. I have been hard at work all day, and I need a little break. So I checked my mail, and I found that my mom sent me some chocolate santas to make my finals better.
Thanks Mom!

First Snow

It's snowing right now for the first time since I've lived in Princeton. I am starting my third season on the East Coast. When I moved in during the summer it seemed like such a long time until winter.
The snow reminds me of a Christmas carol that we're not supposed to sing yet.

"See amid the winter's snow,
Born for us on earth below,
See the tender Lamb appears,
Promised from eternal years.
Hail, thou ever-blessed morn!
Hail, redemption's happy dawn
Sing through all Jerusalem,
Christ is born in Bethlehem."

Watching, watching and hoping for Christmas to come...

Hope

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer." Rom 12:12

I have many things rattling around in my brain today. I have having trouble extracting the ideas of one class from another and from what's going on in my personal life. My understanding of certain ideas is not limited to one aspect of my life. I may be studying the Psalms in my Old Testament class, but I am seeing Advent in the Psalms. Advent is the season of hope, and all the Psalms whether they are cursing Psalms, lamenting Psalms, or praising Psalms end with hope. As one of my text books says, "For people who pray are people living in hope" [Ellen Davis--Getting Involved With God]. The Psalms are prayers and songs to God and about God from individuals and communities.
I am currently doing an Advent study on Advent hymns. At the same time, I am assisting a local church in their Advent children's pageant. My job is to help children from ages three or so through middle school learn Christmas songs. The songs they are learning are pretty traditional and include Once in David's Royal City, He is Born, Nino Lindo, and Away in a Manger. Just because I know these songs doesn't mean that these wonderful children do. What is old to me is new to them. I see great hope in the children for Advent to be over and for Christmas to come. Christmas means time off from school, special food, Christmas cookies, family time, etc. We are excited for Christmas to come, and we are expressing that through song.
So you can see the different threads running through my life today. My brain is buzzing with all these ideas, and I don't have them in a neat package yet. All I know is that today I have great hope from many different places. I have hope through children. I have hope through prayer. I have hope through song. I have hope through Psalms. I have hope through my community. I have hope through my friends even though I know many of them are struggling for different reasons. At this point in time I feel like I can only express my gratitude for the hope that is growing in my soul and to pass on what I am feeling.

Sometimes a Light Surprises a Christian when She Sings

I have four classes on Tuesdays, and usually they are self-contained. But today something odd happened in my first class. Then again in my second. Then again in my third. And I know it will happen in my fourth class.
Music happened.

In my first class we had a guest lecturer talk about the historical interpretation of the Psalms, and we sang "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" [#171 in the Presbyterian Hymnal].
In my second class we translated Luke 19:1-10 for yesterday, and today we were talking about the various exegetical issues in the passage. The passage is about a man named Zacchaeus who climbs into a tree to see Jesus. And, yes, we sang the song "Zacchaeus was a Wee Little Man".
Then I went to chapel where we heard a wonderful sermon about how God's grace is so abundant that we rebel against the idea of it. And we sang Amazing Grace without accompaniment with the last verse in a round. [Incredible]
My third class is a survey of early and medieval church history, and today we studied Eastern and Western mystics including Hildegard of Bingen who was a Benedictine abbess who had incredible visions and also wrote music. So we listened to a modern setting of one of her songs on the CD "Vision: The Music of Hildegard von Bingen".
My fourth class will be later today. It's choir, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to sing. We are working on music of an event called Carols of Many Nations which is next week.

Today is World AIDS Day. You can support World AIDS Day by contributing here. We stand in solidarity of those who have HIV/AIDS as we support raised awareness and a cure. Here at the Seminary we are having a worship service tonight remembering those who have died from this disease and praying in support of a cure. There are many myths still circulating about AIDS, so the first step is to educate. Here are the basics.