So among the many things I've left undone is this blog, for which I ask forgiveness. There just seems to be no free time ever. This quarter, like the three before it and like August term, has flown by. I credit having come (almost) to the end of the first year of seminary to all of you who are praying for and sending good thoughts my way. Thank you.

The plan is to leave Alexandria a week from tomorrow. I have one more class tomorrow, then two reading days, then finals Thursday (Hebrew and Foundations for Theology), Friday (New Testament and Monday (Old Testament). I hope to leave after my final Monday morning. Thankfully, I don't have to drive the 15 hours to Vicksburg by myself--my mom is flying up Friday so she can also enjoy said drive. Hopefully, we'll arrive safely in Vicksburg early Tuesday morning. I'll spend a few days there before heading to Birmingham for CPE. That's the plan, anyway.

I've been trying to think about all the stuff I've learned this year. Aside from being able to read Hebrew a little and having a much better understanding of and appreciation for Paul, for example, I've been trying to figure out how I've been "formed," which is what is supposed to be happening. Living away from home in community is not easy. There is lots to complain about, lots to grieve, lots to feel insecure about, lots to criticize. You get the idea. In the words of my friend Susan, "Some days I just don't feel like being formed." Amen and amen.

But there is so much more to be thankful for, and I try in spite of my overly critical nature, to hang on to that. Some days it's easier than others, for sure, but I am thankful to be here learning how to love people who don't agree with me, whose ideas seem kind of wacky, or who just drive me nuts. And I am thankful they are all trying to love me in return. Hopefully, at the end of our three years together, after worshiping, studying, eating, celebrating and commiserating together, we will have formed one another into pretty decent priest material.