One done, five to go...

I have completed one semester of seminary, amazing.

Not this year...

     We gave it our very best and we almost pulled it out. We led most of the game 6-0. We missed our 2 point conversion and they made their extra point so they won by 1. Bummer. PV said "it's almost easier to lose by 50 than lose by 1." I guess he's right. Oh well.
     We had a great turnout from SSW and had a lot of fun. We re-convened at SSW in the courtyard and had food and drink for all. Laura said, "we always win the party." And we do, even the Presby's said they love coming to our place for food, fellowship and fun after the game.
     There is some talk of doing a Spring game, maybe soccer. That would be fun too. So for the next 364 days they get to revel in their victory and we get to strategize for our win next year.

GO THURI-BULLS!

Game Day!

The Countdown Begins...

     ...and the excitement builds! We are less than 36 hours from kick-off of the 2010 Polity Bowl. The team gathers tomorrow afternoon for a final walk through and strategic planning. There is talk of a possible Pep Rally. We are going make sure we all have our shirts, black with white art depicting the ferocious 'thuri-bull'; that alone should send the Presby's running. However, if that doesn't work we will pull out the real thurible and smoke them out. Our tight-end doubles as the Thurifer, he's our secret weapon.
     We have been invited over to the Presbyterian Seminary tomorrow night for a Homecoming Dance, formal or fun formal dress requested. Family and friends of players invited, very nice gesture of hospitality. The Dean of Community Life has warned us against having too much fun and staying out too late, "we have a game to win on Saturday morning".
     Come on out Saturday morning to St Andrew's Middle School (34th and Shoal Creek), a spirited and possibly incensed time will be had by all!

   Blue & Black

we've got your back

there isn't much that we lack.

We'll run, we'll pass, we'll pull the flag

they'll never catch us as we zig & zag!

GOOOOO.....SSW, HEY!

corny, I know...

RAH! RAH! RAH! SIS! BOOM! BAH!

     Here we are, less that one week from The Polity Bowl. The Polity Bowl is the annual flag football game played between the (Episcopal) Seminary of the Southwest and Austin (Presbyterian) Seminary.  The Flying Thuri-bulls for SSW have been practicing for over 2 months now and we are ready to beat the Presby's! We have our own Darvin Adams, Cam Newton and a pretty darn good tight end too.  I can't name names, just in case the Presby's have spies...
     Earlier in the fall I wrote that I am the snapper for the team and am looking to be voted MVS (most valuable snapper) for the 2010 Flying Thuri-bulls. Please vote early and vote often so I can claim my place in Polity Bowl history at SSW.
     It was quite comical today because they pressed me into running routes and going out for passes, now that was a sight! I caught my first pass, and a couple more, I surprised myself. Now I have to work on throwing the football.  My team mates are kind and patient, and I am giving them an opportunity to practice their pastoral skills. As I said earlier, thank goodness for the no-cut policy, I would be deprived of lots of laughs and good fun. If you want to see it for yourself, please come to St Andrew's Middle School field in Austin, TX next Saturday at 10 am. (I am so lucky most of my fans are far and wide so I can be saved from this embarrassment.)
     Believe it or not, this is all part of my seminary education. I am being spiritually formed by being a part of the SSW flag football team. I am doing it to be a part of something that is bigger than me and to contribute to a community that means something to me. I am responsible for helping shape what the community is to be now and in the future.
     Formation happens. To be awake and notice opportunities, is part of what it means to be alive, to grow and stretch into the unknown. The adventure waits in the unknown.

Bidden or unbidden, God is present.

    

Feast of All Soul's ~ Durufle Requiem

  

In Paradisum

In Paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu susicipiant te martyres,

et perducant te in cicitatem sanctam Jerusalem. Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat,

et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habreas requiem.

                                                                                               Maurice Durufle

                                                                                       

May the angels lead you into paradise: may the martyrs welcome you upon your arrival,

and lead you into the holy city Jerusalem. May a choir of angels welcome you,

and, with poor Lazarus of old, may you have eternal rest.

Thin Place

     I went to church in Marble Falls in the Hill Country today. I have felt pulled to go back to the Hill Country since our visit to Mo Ranch in late August and today was the day to return.
       Marble Falls is about 50 miles from Austin west/northwest on Highway 71  The climb is gradual and the view is a surprise. Along the way, I catch glimpses of Lake Travis off to the east. I go through places called Bee Cave and Spicewood, past Paleface Ranch, and Muleshoe Trail Road. There are hard edged hills that roll to reveal high and low country. There's a lot of rock and dirt, short trees, scrub pines and dried up creek beds. (We don't get much rain here.)
      I take in the odd beauty. The landscape stirs something deep inside.  I can't get enough and I don't want to leave. There's a rugged soulfulness and it leaves me without words to describe it, it's a thin place. What I know about these thin places is they call us back; back to our deepest and truest selves where we connect with The Divine. Places such as these are where my soul is wide awake in anticipation of the beauty of creation. It knows it is getting fed, feels like it is being nourished but is never full.
          Awe and wonder prevail, there are no words, only the soul speaks.

Back to School

     The campus is waking back up after a week of Fall Break, it was a great week. Tomorrow we go back to the rhythm of school, classes, Work Study, Chapel and study. I've seen some of my classmates around in the last couple of days. Some who left and came back said they missed being here. We are becoming a community who misses those who leave and welcomes them when they return. It's not the same when we're not all here. This is "home" now to many of us who are here
           I read the newspaper everyday, (except one). I watered our community garden, am back at the gym, traveled to San Antonio, watched Auburn play and win two really exciting games (we're #1 in the BCS!!!) and I made some new friends.
     I did "...learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. " (Everything I Ever Needed To Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum).

       It was a nice week and now it is back to school to do what ever is there to do-more papers, more reading, more projects and presentations and more prayers.

     Many prayers for our sister seminary, Virginia Theological Seminary and the loss of their Chapel to a fire. Our Chapel is the spiritual center for our community and I trust it was for theirs. One friend remarked this afternoon, "It is so sad, I don't know what we'd do if Christ Chapel burned." A moment's pause and she said, "Oh, yes I do. We'd pull together and find a place to be together, they will too." Yes, they will; and the communion of saints will be singing, praying, holding them up and holding them together.

Thanks be to God!

Mid-week Update

     I am so grateful for this Fall Break, it's been like a long hot bath, relaxing, indulgent and comforting. It's given me the time to get caught up with life which is not so easy while school is in session. I've been ticking off many things I needed to tend to and I have accomplished a good bit. There's a lot relief in getting those things off my list.
     My week has been most enjoyable and the weather has been beautiful. I had coffee with a friend, lunch on the patio at Austin Java with 2 other buddies, taken long walks, watered the community garden and yes, read the newspaper, everyday! Well..., almost everyday. (I missed today because I forgot buy one while I was out.) I had my car washed, found someone to cut my hair and on Friday I'll use the manicure gift certificate I received from being part of the Phon-a-thon.
     I will be refreshed, recharged and ready to go into the second half and looking forward to what I will learn and how I will grow... some more.
    
Sleep with the angels and fly with the Spirit.
Peace be with you this night.
Amen

Donna

WHEW!

     I made it! My Fall Break started yesterday at 3 pm. This is what my week before break looked like-Midterm in Liturgy I, a reflection paper for Spiritual Formation, a paper for Text & Context about story and listening, a paper for Bible and Hermeneutics AND (almost) all the required reading for every class. I have not been in the classroom for a very long time and I can say I spent the first 6 weeks figuring out what it takes to be a student. I don't have it all figured out but I have a better idea of what it looks like.  By the way, it looks like lots of books, at least 2 yellow highlighters close at hand, time in library and later nights than I am used to.
     Yesterday, as the mid-term exam was being handed out, I announced "This is a milestone, folks! We made it and we are all still standing!" I don't know about my classmates but I can say, I feel like I have accomplished something. I went to every class, I went to Morning Prayer, Eucharist or Evening Prayer every day and I did all the reading I could possible do. I now know that I can not do it all, even if I want to but I do have to give it my best committed effort. Grace abounds in this place.
     Fall Break is welcomed with open arms. I am going to rest, paint my bathroom, play and read the newspaper-everyday. I have not read a paper, including the Sunday paper, since I started school. Who would have thought reading the paper would be a luxury?
     I am  going to take a couple of trips to San Antonio to visit St Mark's in downtown San Antonio. (San Antonio is about 1 hour 15 min. each way. I will need to think about travel time as I consider it for my Field Education). St Mark's looks like a fascinating community to me, they are doing many things that excite me, particulary The Workshop. One of my professors, The Rev. Dr. Jane Patterson is a Co-Director of The Workshop (http://www.theworkshop-sa.org)%20and/ has graciously opened a couple of her activities to me, I'm excited about the visit.
     I haven't had the energy to post in the last couple of weeks and I've missed it. I'll have some time to catch up on my posts this week, there is much I want to share with you.
     Until then, "O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen" BCP 832

In gratitude for all that was, all that is and all that is to come,
Donna

The World of Lost Toys

     I have had a week to put this last week in perspective and share it in good humor. Last week I kept losing things; I couldn't remember where I put things, what I was supposed to do, where I was supposed to be.
     Last Tuesday morning I went for a walk, came home, got ready to go to Chapel and could not find my eyeglasses anywhere! I looked high and low, in every drawer, in between the sheets, under cushions, outside, no glasses. It took me one hour but I found them; on a tray I put on top of the refrigerator. Huh? Needless to say, I missed Chapel. Another day I printed off some assignments and promptly misplaced the sheets, finally found those. I lost my phone, lost my calendar and lost my patience!! I spent my week looking for lost toys, feeling lost, and feeling off balance because of changes in life.
     Life is changing, it's supposed to. I'm changing, I'm supposed to. Seminary is about change. Change is giving up the big stuff like dear friends & companions, Saturday night movies, my church home, AU football tickets/weekends and Publix. (Those who know me, know I love going to the grocery store and there is not a grocery in Austin anything like Publix or The Pig-so I'm really at a loss!) It also means giving up the little stuff, weekly manicures, my local library card, and walking the Lakeshore Trail.
     Change is about finding. Finding new ways to do and be, new places to go. It's learning new ways of expressing myself. And, change is also about being found. Here's what I believe about being found; it's all there. We have all we need to be all we already are.

So... go, do, be, find, change, discover, risk.

 Thanks be to God!

"...deny oneself and take up one's cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses one's life for me will find it." Mt 16:24

Time to play

I have finished my second week of classes, turned in one paper, am working on 2 more and need to get my CPE papers together for the psych interview next Saturday. This week I realized I was spending too much time studying, working and worrying about all the school work waiting to be done and I had not given myself any play time. I told one friend that I needed to play because all work and no play makes me cry, ...really.
     This is what I am going to do for playtime(s). After Friday class ends at 2:30 I am going to The Posse East and hang out with whoever happens to be there for however long I care to stay. The Posse is a bar at the end of the street where major theological discussions are continued, started or ended beween students, faculty and staff. Then at 4:00 I am going to the park for flag football practice. SSW and the "Presby's" (Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is in the same neighborhood) have a friendly and long standing flag football game every November. It's called the Polity Bowl and we are the "Thundering Thuri-bulls" (play on thurible: a metal container used for incense in a procession on high holy days). We have shirts with numbers and everything! SSW won last year for the first time in many years and we (the Juniors) are determined to win again. I'm the snapper, because I can't catch a ball to save my life-not so great at blocking either but they have a no-cut policy, just like all good Christian schools! My teammates have said they are going to nominate me for "MVP Snapper" - I hope I win!!! Look for the results after November 20th.
     Now I have a group of football buddies to hang out with and watch football-not anywhere close to being at Jordan-Hare on a fall Saturday but will have to do...We went down to the Posse to watch OU and AU but UT fans had swarmed the place after their embarassing loss to UCLA. I guess they were there nursing their loss. So off we went to the Weeks Center (student lounge) to watch the games. We watched the first half of OU, turned on Auburn and then headed to the Posse at halftime. My friend Jamie and I showed the Posse what AU fans do to support their team-and taught them all "War Eagle-Hey!" We will have them doing it and singing "it's great to be and Auburn Tiger" before the season is over! We need a care package of shakers if anyone is so inclined.
     You might wonder where seminary fits into all of this...well it really does. I am learning about creating new life and new community and who I want to play with. I thought of this poem as I was finishing this up. It is a perfect reminder for how life is, how it will be and how it can be if we remember what we learned when we were so young.

"ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. 

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

My first paper for seminary is finished...

...complete with footnotes, citations and a Bibliography. Do you know how many years it has been since I wrote a paper with footnotes and a Bibliography? Too many to own up to, sorry. The assignment was write an essay and use the hermeneutical circle to explore and interpret the text from Ezra1:1-4. Sounds simple and quick doesn't it? Well, it probably will be in 6 months. Right now it is a challenge to stay focused on the questions asked, to understand them and answer them.
The good news is the first paper is done and will be handed in tomorrow, then it is on to the next one. The next one is a short paper as a writing sample. I am looking forward to doing it and getting it back because it's purpose is to measure our writing ability and that is one of the skills I want to develop. I want to be a good communicator of the written word and want writing to be easier and more free flowing.
This blog has been lots of fun and good practice for my writing. I really enjoy writing this and coming up with catchy headers and creative topics that will let you all know what and how I am doing. I hope you will send me your ideas or questions about what you want to know as it will be more fun to respond to you.

"Guide us waking, O Lord and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.  BCP p.134

If it's Saturday, it must be SEC football (even if I'm in Big 12 territory)

Try as I might, I can not do school work and watch Auburn football. The Auburn-Clemson game has just ended and it was vintage Auburn-Clemson football, a barn burner! Jordan Hare looked beautiful on TV - the blue out from Auburn and the orange of Clemson. This is the first time in 5 or 6 years that I have not been in the stadium for a home game and for the first time I was really homesick for my old life.

Auburn did not disappoint, they kept me on the edge of my seat and made me wait until the third quarter to see some of what they are made of. Funny thing, some things can't change-I was jumping up and down, running every yard with them and slapping my knee at mistakes and bumbles. There are at least 3 Tigers out here so I'm not alone. (Funny thing, the Development director for SSW is an Clemson grad and he was at the game.) One morning in chapel Rob Dixon had on an Auburn Tigers t-shirt. It took me a few minutes to remember that I not in Alabama anymore-an Auburn t-shirt is not a norm.

I have confidence it will be a great season, they grew up a lot tonight and it will be fun to watch them keep growing up. Cam Newton, Darvin Adams, Michael Dyer and Ontarrio McCaleb just some of the real deals and welcome back Zac Ethridge!

It is time to get some sleep so I will be refreshed to make up for the study, reading time missed tonight., it was worth it!

WAR EAGLE from Austin!

How does your garden grow?

I have just come in from an hour and a half of working to prepare a community vegetable garden for my Spiritual Formation class. Our class met with shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows and gloves in hand at the spot we are going to grow the vegetables. We started by scraping the weeds off the top layer, turning the dirt, building frames for the raised beds, and loading 12" of (really good) dirt into the boxes. It was amazing how we and it all came together. There are some members of the class who have no interest in gardening (Christine) and others love to do it; amateurs like me and serious sustainable gardeners like Jeremiah. Christine gets the good sport award, she hung in and contributed a whole bunch!! She gets the "Good Sport/Golden Shovel" award - YEAH Christine!

I love the garden and to garden, it is a thin place for me, it asks for my complete attention. When I get into the garden, I am aware of the dirt, the weeds, the sunlight, what plants are there already, what season it is. I ask, am I preparing the garden for planting and growing now or later? What will grow here or there, and with what companion plants? What fertilizer is needed? Where do I need to create beds and boundaries?   See a weed, pull it, dead flower, pinch it. Cut back the leggy limbs and branches to force bushier growth. Watch the garden grow, see how it grows, tend to it's growth. Weed it, feed it, water it, enjoy it.

I will have much more to write about my spirit as our garden grows. For me the garden is a wonderful place to explore my seasons of spirit, and a rich place to feed my soul. I always close the garden gate behind me with a sense of having created, loved, tended and nurtured the beauty of my little corner of God's world. It always make me smile. I know why God looked over all God created and said "it is good."

O Heavenly God, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him though whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen    BCP p 814

Week One of classes is...

...finished. It didn't take long to get into the material, there are times when I feel like I am drinking from a fire hose.  The good news is I am getting a clue as to how the course material is weaving together; Liturgy I, Bible & Hermeneutics and Text & Context are winking at each other. I love the Liturgy class and so glad it is more than I hoped! We are looking at the symbolic meaning and historical context of our Eucharistic tradition and ritual. It is theologically founded and grounded in the basic human need of being fed. I don't mean this in a slight way, I mean it in the deepest and truest sense of being fed, eat bread.

My first seminary Saturday was spent as one might expect-reading a few hundred pages. It was a beautiful day so I could sit on my deck and enjoy the day. My neighborhood is pretty quiet so I could get a lot read. UT cranked up around 5 for a 6 pm kickoff. It was very Texas! They play all the real Texas country music   classics over the loudspeaker, time to kick it up in those cool boots! I heard that I could turn off the TV sound and listen to the PA at Royal Stadium, I didn't believe that was really true, but it is! I could hear the roars and every word from the announcer. I would look through the window at the TV and see what they were yelling about (7 second delay). Those Longhorns wore themselves out at the game so no need to whoop it up afterward on the street. (I am close enough to the stadium that people park on my street and walk.)

 I am assigned 2 Work Study jobs, one at the student run bookstore and the other as a member of the "Super Squad". In case you are wondering who the Super Squad is, we are the best dishwashers this place has EVER had and I happen to know that is a high standard! Between chapel, classes, study and work I have little time for much of anything else. I think I am getting into a study schedule that will work so I will have a little more time to go play. Good thing I had those 2-1/2 weeks before school started!

The biggest challenge is finding rhythm. It occured to me this week that this (really) has been more than picking up life as I knew it and moving here. I am starting all over with most everything. I don't have all the staples in my pantry or fridge that I just had on hand. I do, however, have a community of kind and generous folks who understand. I know, with certainty, that I am not alone nor are they. It has been easy to become a part of the community and it makes the transition less awkward and lonely.

If I don't go to bed now and get some sleep the world really will be "all Greek" to me tomorrow! (Greek at 8:30 on Thursday mornings.)

Peace be with each of you this night.

Donna

Persians, Babylonians...

...Israelite, Israeli, BCE, leitourgia, Schemann, pre-exilic, , STP, Assyrians, liturgical theologians and The Hermeneutical Circle. Just a bit of what I heard today and this is from only 2 of the 6 core courses, no more fun in the sun for me!

Tomorrow is the first day of school

Here is part of a message from a dear friend (retired teacher) who wanted to "wish you good luck as you begin the academic part of the experience. Get a good night's sleep and eat a good breakfast...polish your boots and fill your lunchbox...sharpen your pencils, etc.....
All I have left to do is lay out my clothes! Oh, the days...

"Ice cream for breakfast"

We had so much fun at Mo Ranch. Tony Baker (Theology), Micah Jackson (John Hines Chair of Preaching) and Jana Strukova (Spiritual Formation) were the professors/advisors who designed this time for us. No rules, "we are adult learners and if we want ice cream for breakfast, we can have it". Except the kitchen locked the ice cream freezer until lunch so we really couldn't have ice cream for breakfast ~ bummer. That's OK, I now have a new perspective; Live life like you have the choice of ice cream for breakfast.

One of the main attractions is an old fashioned metal water slide and you use a wooden sled to ride down. It is probably 2 stories high and the slope looks very gentle until you are about 1/3 the way down and you begin to pick up speed-a lot of speed! If I can get some pictures up you will see sheer terror on my face! The first ride I ended up with a mouthful of water and I came up sputtering. Of course I wanted to do it again, so I did! It was too much fun!  I was asked, "You went down that slide? You bet. I didn't come all this way not to go down the slide!"

There was a group who opted for the Ropes Course and I was sorry I didn't sign the waiver for that. One of them was The Big Gulp. You are harnessed in, pulled up to 52' and let go to fly, Peter Pan fantasy fulfilled. The others I would not have done, climbing a 25' telephone pole, standing on top of it and jumping to catch a trapeze. The other was climbing a rock wall, I don't have enough upper body strength to do that

The Ropes Course is at the top of a mountain near the Chapel on the Hill. The views are really something-well worth the hike. It was dusk and I stopped at the Chapel on the Hill  to take it all in and I noticed at least 10 vultures circling, quite low I might add; vultures are very present in the Hill Country. It was kind of creepy and I so decided to move on. Later in the week I was talking to my friend Jennifer who has an interest in Native American spirituality and she told me vultures are symbols of renewal and resurrection. They were welcoming me to my new life, that is pretty cool and very powerful.

We played games, sang songs, talked, walked and got to know each other a little better. I am a part of a very special class who will do great and wonderful things here at SSW and beyond. It is exciting to be in the midst of this moment in time God has called us to be a part of. 
In anticipation of all that is to come and all that will be...

Texas Hill Country

For the last 10 or so years it has been the tradition at SSW to take the Junior class to Mo Ranch just outside Hunt TX for a 2 day retreat; in the Texas Hill Country. The Hill Country is spectacularly beautiful, put it on your must-see list. Head west of Austin on 290 and the countryside begins to change to hills, sheer rock face cuts, open land with lots of horses, trees and some Longhorns.
Another tradition is to stop at the historic spot where Bishop John Hines (founder of SSW) is said to have been ordained to greatness-the Dairy Queen in Fredericksburg. 28 of us descended on the Dairy Queen and I'm not sure they have figured out yet what happened that afternoon! Fredericksberg is a lovely community with deep German and Czech roots and it is also the heart of Texas wine country. For you history buffs, we went through Johnson City, home to LBJ and past the LBJ Ranch.
When you take the Southwest turn at Kerrvile toward Mo Ranch you begin to travel along side the Guadalupe River. There is little to no river bank, many properties have stone/concrete patios built out into the river for diving and sunbathing. The river is a crystal green (think Gulf blue only green) and so clear you can see to the bottom at 15'. No muddy water and river grasses in this river! You go across low water crossings that have the 5' flood markers at the crossing; I think these are the places where horses ford the river. During the flash flood season (anytime it rains as they only get 15"-30" rain/year) it is recommended that you travel the long way from the north so you don't get washed away!
There is something magical about the region. One friend remarked, "I now understand why my friends from the Hill Country speak of missing and and loving it so much, it is beautiful here, it draws you in" . Unfortunately, I did not take my own pictures and can not figure out how to upload those that are posted on our SSW website. I will get someone to help me with that tomorrow and get some pictures up for you to see a little of what I am talking about. I will be writing about the retreat and getting that up within the next day, classes start on Wednesday. Liturgy I and History & Hermeneutics, light day for classes.

We are now oriented...

We have finished the meetings on campus part of our orientation. We were measured for vestments today, trained on the customs of our peculiar place, Christ Chapel and finished our Orientation. Tomorrow we are off to Mo Ranch in the Texas Hill Country http://www.moranch.com/ for a 2 day retreat. From the description of the time we will be there, it really will be a retreat, meals are the only scheduled activity. I will be back later in the week to tell you all about it and hope to have some pictures to post.
I love hearing from you any way you wish to send greetings, please send a hello every now and then. I welcome snail mail, it's fun to open the mailbox and have a note or card. My address is 608C Bellevue Place Austin TX 78705. Oh, and oatmeal raisin cookies are always welcomed!!

#2 - Campus Quest

Yesterday we heard about CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education), Hispanic Ministry concentration, the Hispanic mission for January term and went on a Campus Quest. Campus Quest was another scavenger hunt talking to people in their natural habitats (offices). There are all kinds of fascinating people who add to the color of SSW. A woman who can drive a dumptruck, an instrument certified pilot, a full professor who made his living playing video games before he received his higher calling and the music professor worked on editing and contributing to the 1982 Hymnal, fascinating!

I have 19 fellow travelers, about 50% female/male and average age is probably mid 40's. So far, I have had a chance to talk to almost everyone. We come from all over, Diocese of Olympia Washington, South Florida, North Carolina, Texas (of course) and New Zealand! There is a couple here who have roots nad family in Clanton & Decatur but have been sent by and come out of the Diocese of Olympia-how about that?

I became officially enrolled at Seminary of the Southwest at 4:30 yesterday afternoon. I have 16.5 credit hours preset for me to take.
Classes include
Biblical Langage for Teaching and Preaching -read GREEK!
History & Hermenutics I
Spiritual Formation fo the Person
Formative Traditions in AMerican Christianity
Liturgical Music I- I had to have a "voice interview"- much to my surprise I can sing!!!
Liturgy I
Text & Context-Explorations on Formation & Experiential Learning
Intro to Theological Research and Writing
Think I will be quite busy this fall, I hope I have time to watch AU Football!

I would say I am about as settled as I can be for now, which is quite settled actually. It is now just a matter of living into the space. For those of you who do not know, I have a wonderful garage apartment with 5 windows- great light; it is less than a block from school. I am behind an adorable family, Mitch, Camille and Jimmy  who started 1st grade this past Monday. I can walk to most everything I need, the neighborhood is fabulous, lots of places to walk and I can hear what is going on at the UT stadium - band practice, games whatever...

I LOVE Austin. It and SSW are perfect for me, I am excited about what lies ahead. It will be challenging, enlightening, maddening, frustrating but above all, a journey unlike any other I could have possibly imagined. I welcome your companionship along the way!

Peace,
Donna

Day 1 Orientation...

 ...is complete. (Thursday August 26th.)The morning was nuts & bolts - Registrar, classes, insurance, advisor assignment, work study.... The afternoon was too fun! We teamed up and went on a scavenger hunt around Austin using (very) clever clues to find Austin landmarks and places of interest including the food trucks, Cathedral of Junk, Elizabeth Ney Museum/gallery, to name only a few. More tomorrow...