Well, we're finally home for Christmas and it is wonderful, yet bittersweet.
Wonderful: it is great to see all of our old friends and family again! We went to church at our home parish on Sunday and we'll be at both Christmas eve services tonight. We have had such a great time catching up with old friends and seeing how everyone is doing... somehow they've survived without us! The kids are having an absolute blast and spend every waking second playing with friends and shopping and baking with their grandparents. Marti and I are trying to get some rest and even the baby seems to be soaking in the peace of this well-earned break. We plan to visit St. Augustine a few times before we head back to Sewanee, especially for our anniversary next week (fourteen years).
Bittersweet: we miss Sewanee and all of our new friends. It is strange to be visiting and having fun and not be able to share or "debrief" with my trio of Sewanee cohorts. I also miss daily morning prayer and our chapel. The term ended on a good note, I think everyone felt secure about their finals, and surely no one is ready to start class again, but I think I do miss class already. It feels odd to have no assigned readings and no homework.
I think this is the way that seminary is supposed to feel, like an in-between time. You have two homes and no home, two lives and yet no "real" life just yet. So through prayer and with God's help a community comes together, a community of in-betweeners, all waiting for their "real" lives to resume.
My prayers for God's peace and blessings are with you all,
Jon
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Snow Days, Rainy Days, Final Days
So, our final exams are here and we (all the students and spouses) are very excited to have the term ending! Sewanee has been really great to us, but we're all a bit worn out and looking forward to a nice long break. Academic life is not harder than working life, but it is wildly different. Instead of having pretty constant streams of activity, which is what I had in my last job, we have constant streams of activity combined with blindingly furious outbursts of study and work, these come in the form of 8-10 page term papers and 4 hour essay exams.
It snowed on the mountain a week ago and that was so fun! The kids had an absolute blast and spent more time outside than they did when the weather was warm. The snow fell for just about 8 hours, but it stayed on the ground for 3-4 days, especially in the shadows and woods. Sewanee is a breath-taking campus, a really beautiful place, and when it was covered in snow, it was a winter wonderland that could make Santa jealous. Of course, since it is Advent and NOT Christmas, there is no Santa yet. It is a blessing to be in a place where Episcopal Christians are in the majority and to experience a whole community restraining itself from Christmas-mania in order to observe a holy Advent.
Today it is raining outside, the snows have been gone for days and it is warming up a bit. Last week we had lows in the 20's most of the week... that's pretty cold for a family from Florida. It seems like our gas furnace runs nonstop and we're looking into some insulated curtains for our bigger windows. We do have a large fireplace, which helps a lot, but the house can get pretty cold when the fire finally burns out after we all go to bed.
Next week we'll be headed back to Jacksonville for two weeks. This is such a thrill for us, we can't wait to see all of our family and friends and to worship in our home church. Despite our profound appreciation for being here, in the back of our minds we all recognize that living in Sewanee is temporary. See you all soon!
blessings,
Jon
It snowed on the mountain a week ago and that was so fun! The kids had an absolute blast and spent more time outside than they did when the weather was warm. The snow fell for just about 8 hours, but it stayed on the ground for 3-4 days, especially in the shadows and woods. Sewanee is a breath-taking campus, a really beautiful place, and when it was covered in snow, it was a winter wonderland that could make Santa jealous. Of course, since it is Advent and NOT Christmas, there is no Santa yet. It is a blessing to be in a place where Episcopal Christians are in the majority and to experience a whole community restraining itself from Christmas-mania in order to observe a holy Advent.
Today it is raining outside, the snows have been gone for days and it is warming up a bit. Last week we had lows in the 20's most of the week... that's pretty cold for a family from Florida. It seems like our gas furnace runs nonstop and we're looking into some insulated curtains for our bigger windows. We do have a large fireplace, which helps a lot, but the house can get pretty cold when the fire finally burns out after we all go to bed.
Next week we'll be headed back to Jacksonville for two weeks. This is such a thrill for us, we can't wait to see all of our family and friends and to worship in our home church. Despite our profound appreciation for being here, in the back of our minds we all recognize that living in Sewanee is temporary. See you all soon!
blessings,
Jon
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