First Post of the Decade :)

Hello friends,

So last night I had a dream that all of you staged a surprise road trip to Nebraska and we all went to see all the sights and had a wonderful time, and I cried because I was so happy to see you! When I woke up this morning I realized I really miss you guys a lot, and I do a truly terrible job of staying in touch! So for the sake of saying "hi," staying in touch, and keeping this blog going, I was wondering if we could all answer a few questions - just something simple to spur interaction and keep us connected. I'll start.

1. What are a few significant events or milestones that have happened in your life since the last time we talked?
Job-wise, I am currently working at a portrait studio in Lincoln, it's a pretty fun job. I take pictures of kids and families and design portrait packages for them. The only thing I don't like about this job is that there are constant reminders from the district manager to raise our sales average, raise, raise, raise. It takes away from the creative appeal of the job and makes me feel like a corporate slave. But as we're not paid on commission... I get by :) I also recently interviewed for a community health educator position with the Nebraska DHHS Office of Minority Health. It'd be awesome! Part time and temporary, but a foot in the door and good experience. I'm hoping to hear back about that one soon.
There have been a few deaths in my family recently, my great-uncle and my grandpa both passed away over the holidays, that was a lot to deal with. I was with my grandpa when he died, and it was the first time that I've been with someone as they died. My whole family was there, and I think he knew he was surrounded by people who loved him. It was a difficult experience, but not scary or traumatizing like I thought it might be.


2. If you could describe your life right now as an ice cream flavor, what would it be and why?
Java Chip, which probably isn't too surprising :) I wouldn't say I'm dependent on coffee, but it does enhance my day - it takes a lot of energy and enthusiasm to get small children to look at a camera and smile at the same time, especially when there are several of them, and especially when it's usually their nap time/they're hungry/ they're not getting along today/ they want grandma/ they don't like their shoes/ mom's been bribing them with candy all day/ ... you get the picture :)

3. Read any good books lately?
Right now I'm working on a historical novel called Pieternella, Daughter of Eva. It's about the daughter of the first Khoikhoi/Dutch woman in Cape Town, South Africa. I'm about 100 pages into the book, but very few things have actually happened so far because Pieternella's flashbacks are a major part of the story. Also, I don't have as much time to read as I used to, so the going seems really slow. I do have some reading goals, however, and I'm hoping to stick to them! Next on the list is Les Miserables :)

4. What is the most stressful thing in your life right now, and how are you dealing with it?
I'd have to say that still living with my parents is the most stressful thing about my life! Like I said, I love my job, but it doesn't pay that much and it's part time, definitely not enough money to pay bills, loans, and support myself. So until I get another job, I'm still at 1012 High Plains Road. It's especially tough after living away from home for 6 years and being used to doing my own thing without having to 'check in' with anyone or have to explain my schedule/actions/choices, etc. I am really grateful to be able to live there, it's just a little too much drama for me sometimes. I suppose I'm dealing with it by working as much as I can and spending as much time as I can out of the house with friends. It feels claustrophobic when it's just me and my parents in the house. I'd like to be able to say we all get along just fine, but really they're ready for me to be out of the house and I'm ready to be on my own again and to have my own space. Ok, enough complaining! Next question :)

5. Any recent noteworthy culinary adventures?
Yesterday I made breakfast crepes with scrambled eggs and spinach seasoned with sage. Yum :) A few lucky crepes were blessed with Nutella as well - always a good idea. Creating recipes that combine my and Brandon's tastes has been an ongoing adventure. He's a meat-eater and I'm a veggie-lover, so much of the time we just end up doing our own thing, which is just fine. Sometimes though, I try to put together 'culinary compromises,' such as making pizza with his & hers sides or using turkey for meat-based foods rather than beef. I haven't worked tofu into anything for him yet, but we'll see :)

6. What was the happiest moment of the past week?
Brandon and I went country dancing on Sunday night and that was a lot of fun :) He's not a big fan of country music, so when he does something like that I know it's only out of love ;) The beauty of compromise is something I've really been able to appreciate more and more with Brandon. We don't feel like we have to like all the same things or have the same interests or be the same person in male and female forms, thank goodness. We're able to be ourselves and do our own things and also be open-minded. So he goes country dancing with me and I play World of Warcraft with him :)

7. If we were to go on a road trip this spring/summer, where would you want to go?
I never did make it up to Maine/Vermont/Mass., I think that would be a fun trip if I can make it out there. Or something completely different would be fun too - A trip to the Southwest - Arizona/New Mexico/Nevada - would definitely be different. Thoughts? :)

I guess seven is a good place to stop. If you have any more questions you want us to answer, add them! I realize this is no replacement for a personal visit or conversation, but it's at least something we could each do on our own time to keep up communication :) I hope you're all doing well!

Love and hugs to each of you,

Megan

Three Semesters Down, Three to Go!

Wednesday, December 23rd marked the end of semester number three at Trinity School for Ministry. Which is awesome, by the way: you should all go. Well, just kidding. Maybe you shouldn't all go, at least not at the moment. But I was thinking that if I were not already going to be a priest and do theology for hopefully the rest of my life, I would look on retirement as a ripe time to go to seminary just for kicks. As it is, I shall probably have to go back and study physics when I retire . . . although that begs the question of whether I will still be capable of higher mathematics at that point in time. Hmm . . . I do hope so.
Semester number three was somewhere between good and okay. Had a couple of fun classes--one called Bible and Mission which was really a great big Bible-study session looking at things from a missiological perseptive. For all you missionary types--and my, my, my there are a number of them on this blog--we read Christopher Wright's The Mission Of God which was quite good if you haven't read it. Its only flaw, I believe, was that it was 540 pages long and altogether too thorough. Other than that, it was wonderful, the point of the book was to construct a hermeneutic of mission and I thought he did quite a nice job. The other class I found very helpful was Anglican Way of Theology--basically a lot of different readings in systematic theology in major Anglican thinkers from Thomas Cranmer to Michael Ramsey. In the process, I discovered a few new theologians to feast on. Ramsey's good--makes me wish he was still alive and kicking in the See of Canterbury. Although he may be best on what it actually means to be Anglican. Richard Hooker is good--an Anglican doing apologetics against the Puritans (if I remember correctly), Thomas Aquinas style. You can imagine how happy that made me and how unhappy it made most other people in the class. (I do admit, he had a disturbing inclination to form grammatical constructs in much the same way Yoda does . . . .)
Finally, there's an English chap by the name of Austin Farrer who is my new favorite. I just discovered him last week by accident. I wanted to do a paper contrasting the way another English author by the name of Joseph Butler (author of the Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, etc) does apologetics/theology in the Enlightenment period verses another Enlightenment figure, Leibniz who is rather famous for a best possible world theodicy that Voltaire mocks in Candide. (By the way, if you haven't read Candide, you really should. It's online at Project Gutenberg if you don't feel like going to the library. Although some of us have read Candide in the original French if I recall correctly.) So anyway, I found Leibniz's Theodicy online, also at Project Gutenberg, and found that, lo and behold, he wasn't just another religious capitulator to the spirit of the age like Immanuel Kant, he actually sounds like a Christian most of the time. (Which just goes to show that reason doesn't have to be the devil's whore, now does it?) A little too moralistic, but beyond that, his theodicy is actually based on his metaphysics, which sounds nuts, but actually works fairly well. (Leibniz, you may or may not recall, is the monad man.) He does as good as job as any as account for the then "new" physics with a corresponding non-Aristotelian metaphysics. Farrer is the editor of the version of the Theodicy found on Project Gutenberg, and was actually good enough in his introduction of the work, to explain a few things, like why Aristotelian metaphysics had become a pain in the bum to the biological sciences, especially, and why "pre-established harmony" is not actually a God of the gaps hypothesis and is much better than the Cartesian solution to the body/soul dilemma. (Leibniz also wrote the Theodicy in French, obnoxiously brilliant linguist that he was--and hence Dr. Pangloss in Candide if you have read or do decide to read it.) Farrer is otherwise a priest and philosopher of religion who lived and taught at Oxford the same time Lewis did. I think he wrote a sermon on Lewis' death as well. But all around, a good fellow to read. Not too technical, either.
Other than that, I am in St. Louis for the next three weeks because people decide to get married all over the USA and I do like weddings quite a lot . . . . Rebecca and Jared are supposed to be here tonight for the Urbana conference, and perchance I shall get to see Megan while I am here . . . ? I miss her laughter. We shall see. It snowed on Christmas yesterday when I got here . . . and my family did Christmas as we normally do, with Christmas carols and a potluck feast and wonderful punch made by my aunt. We also played Balderdash, which was a new thing, but very humorous. Got to record some of it on my camera, which was nice. Now I have proof how goofy the Curry Clan is. Anyway, I hope you all had a good Christmas celebration and hope to see you within the next couple of months.

Peace and Goodwill!

a quickie =)

Wow! Amy, thank you! This is so fun, having our own blog =)

I hope you all are doing well! I spent last weekend with Kara up in NYC and it was awesome/crazy/exhausting/exhilarating. I got to see the dance that she choreographed not once but twice, saw the Rockefeller (sp?) tree, the gift shop of the Met, and the year's first snowfall!!!

Please pray for me - this is finals week! I am finishing up a research paper on embryology and ethics, and have two 5-page essays to write on the Meaning of Everything (our professor is quite ambitious) and an exam on Trinity & the Church.

Love and miss you all!

Bethany

p.s. Amy or anyone - is there a way to establish a 'quick link' to this blog so I don't forget that it exists =)

better late than never :-)

Hello friends! I'm not quite sure what took me so long, to be honest; but anyway, despite the delay, here we are! I wish I could write a really inspiring first post for you to read... but I've never 'blogged' before, actually, and am feeling rather intimidated! Not to mention the fact that I am at work, and have probably used up 9.5 minutes of my 10 minute break by now. So, without further ado, let me simply say that I can't wait to read all about you. :-)