Update

Life is full! This last week has been Convocation week...see Matthew Kemp's blog post if you're interested in reading his description of this. It pretty much sums it up in some humorous terms! Anyway, as Forrest and I are both in Chapel Choir, one of the "work scholarships" we have, we got to sing for the Convocation service. It was a beautiful service. Lovely music. Fragrant incense. Some Latin spoken, which was pretty cool to hear. I thought of Timothy and how he would have loved to hear it. (As I was in choir, my neighbor babysat the kids at her apartment during the service. It was really great to be undistracted for a service!) The sermon was also really great, about how our faith is attacked in different ways throughout the church worldwide, and some of the subtle attacks in our nation on our faith and an exhortation to stand firm. Really inspiring. Several people received degrees: most earned, one bestowed (honorary)--to Metropolitan Jonah.

Other things to fill up life:

Homeschool...which is going pretty well, although this week we had a couple of days off, and now we're struggling to get back into a routine! But the boys are doing well, learning new things, and Noelle is beginning to sound out 2-letter and 3-letter words. I'm thinking she may be ready for kindergarten math also.

Evening prayer. Mondays through Thursdays, I try to get to evening prayer at chapel. I love going, although it really feels like intensive training time with the kids. This week we really haven't, just with a variety of different things going on that have been prohibitive. Right now Anastasia has a cold (which gives her a pathetically cute laryngitis-voice) and so I'm probably going to stay away from chapel for a little while. That's a little bit sad, but it's okay...sometimes it's nice to stay home from it. I have been doing morning prayer at home with the kids, and want to get in the habit of doing evening prayer at home on the days we don't go.

Thursday evenings they usually have "community Eucharist" which means it's specially geared toward the whole community coming. This I love. And although I was wary at first, I have been letting the kids (Noelle & up) go to Godly Play, which they do during the service for the younger kids. They have really enjoyed it and it's a worshipful thing for them, and they come back into the service for communion. This week, the evening Eucharist isn't happening because of Convocation being yesterday--but that's just as well, that way there isn't something to miss tonight! :-)

AT1 (Ascetical Theology) class on Monday nights, which is always interesting, educational, and spurs me on to improve my spiritual life. Fr. Klukas is the main professor for this class, and he is not only a riot but also a person I greatly respect. He obviously has a deep relationship with Jesus, and is not afraid to talk about his own weaknesses.

And then there's grocery shopping, family movie night (which we do on Fridays), and always something to do in our community life. Last week we had our Fall Festival, which was a lot of fun. The kids of the community went out and trick-or-treated at all our apartments, then we went on a hay ride over to the gym for activities and snacks. After about an hour being there, we got back on a hay ride that took us around campus, and there were sightings of the Black Monk! OooOOoooh! Then back to the Peaks circle for a bonfire, and Jason Collins told a story about the "Nashotah Lake monster" and how Bishop Parsons fought it and slung it halfway across the world, where it landed in Loch Ness. LOL.

Forrest's midterms are going on circa now also. He had his Greek mid-term, which he thinks he did well on, and he has two papers due next week. If you think of him, pray for him in this hectic week!

I'll try to get some pictures/videos up soon. Anastasia has a prayer she says for Forrest and for me (very similar to each other) each night when we tuck her in, and I got her praying for Forrest on video. It's really cute...although I'll probably have to put up a caption of what she's saying. I'd better scoot for now!