A New Semester Is Underway

It's been a long time since I actually wrote a post on here that wasn't short and completely lacking in news, so I thought I'd take the time for a real update.

Last semester was hard, not academically, but emotionally. It's over now and I'm glad of that. My classes weren't so bad, but they weren't spectacular either. Of course, that probably had to do with my inability to concentrate on much of anything, so I won't blame my instructors.

Just a quick rundown:
Preaching - I like preaching, surprisingly enough, probably because I love spending the time in preparation and feeling inspired with something to say.
Hebrews - The class was structured in such a way that we barely used our Greek, which was a tad frustrating considering that's why I took the class in the first place.
Systematic Theology - Dr. McCormack is my new theology hero and Barth's doctrine of election has made the Reformed tradition a bit easier for me to swallow.
Women in OT Narrative - Hebrew is the bomb and we used it a lot in this class, so I was pleased with it from start to finish. Some people complained about having a paper and a final exam, but I liked having the grade spread out a bit more.
American Church History - Dr. Moorhead is a fun little man who knows more stuff than any one person should know. I loved trying to scribble down every important thing he said and thought the tests were completely fair.

My grades haven't come in yet, so maybe I'll feel differently in a few days...

I'm still having some difficulty finding a field education placement, but at least I've gotten the process underway by contacting a few sites. There's a church in the West End of New York City that I'll be visiting this Sunday. Commuting to NYC every Sunday is not my idea of a good time, but being in an urban, ethnically diverse setting would probably be a good stretch for me. We'll see how that goes.

Break last week was fun and relaxing. Emily's generosity allowed me to spend a long weekend in DC and Northern Virginia, an area I haven't visited since I moved to school in 2006. We did a lot of laying around her lovely apartment watching Melrose Place and football and some haunting of familiar places, like Chipotle and Bangkok 54 and the Falls Church. Mostly, it was wonderful to see Emily and Mary Katharine and enjoy time with friends knowing that there was no schoolwork to be done.

The rest of my week was spent at Jordan's house in Pennsburg making books. Over Christmas I used a gift card from his mom to purchase enough supplies to make a bunch. So, while I was there, with no schoolwork, I managed to make nine, of which I will be posting photos in the next few days. My goal is to get them listed on Etsy by Wednesday afternoon. My other goal is to actually sell one. The problem is, now that Christmas is over, Etsy sales are moving rather slowly. Worst case scenario, I have a huge stock for next Christmas season. One of the books I made was a photo album Sarah, Jordan's mom, commissioned as a gift for her younger sister's wedding gift. It's one of the best and prettiest books I've ever made, but I forgot to take pictures. DOH! This semester, I plan to make one book a week for fun and, hopefully, for just a little profit since I can't keep them all and not everyone I know wants a book for his or her birthday.

If there's something I left out and you'd like to know, just leave a comment and maybe I'll answer with a blog post dedicated to you!

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