The December push

I appologize for not posting in a while.  In December so far, I have written 5 papers and continued to study Greek every day until the end of classes last Thrusday.  Currently, I'm studying for my finals in Church History, Church Music, and Biblical Interpretation (all tomorrow).  I spent a big part of yesterday working on my Greek take-home final exam, and need to review it before handing it in tomorrow. 

It snowed earlier in the month, but didn't stick.  Yesterday morning it tried again, and this time left us with about an inch (which still persists).  It is beautiful, but cold.  The temps stayed in the 20's all day and get down into the teens at night.  I know this is just a for taste of what is to come. 

I look forward to the Christmas break.  We are flying John up here on Christmas eve for a few days - we really look forward to seeing him in the flesh (non-skype).  Also, in January, I'm going on a mission trip to Peru - more details on that later.

We have another offer on our house from a couple of days ago that is hopefully in the works.

I miss the Advent preparations that we were accustomed to for celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord.

We really see the power of God working in our lives, and we appreciate all of your prayers and support - please keep up the great work.

I promise an update soon (after tomorrow).

Blessings and peace as we prepare for His coming,
Richard

Aly playing piccollo (and flute) at the Christmas concert.

First real snow yesterday.

My Greek take-home final in the works.

Mid-Terms

Our driveway.  The yellow horrizontal band across the middle of the picture (at the end of the driveway) is one of the corn fields on the campus.  The corn has been drying on the stalk for feed corn - they just started harvesting it today.

Fall is here

This weekend, fall was here in all it's glory.  We went up to Holy Hill to the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians and from the top of the hill, all of the fall color: www.holyhill.com

The colors are pretty here at the seminary also (this was taken with my phone):

This is the Red Chapel (and the Blue House beside it) - the original buildings from 1842 - the chapel is still in use - these two little buildings 40 miles from Milwaukee (but closer to the natives) - pretty lonely.


Blessings and peace,
Richard

Matriculation

Last Thursday, September 29th, I became an official part of the community of Nashotah House - they call this Matriculation.  It is commemorated by a solemn mass (lots of smells and bells), and our promising to be faithful and honorable members of the Seminary - we sign an exceedingly old book (volume 2 as I understand), that contains the signatures of all the members of the community back to 1842.  Very inspiring and very cool.  We celebrate Morning Payer, Evening Prayer, and Holy Eucharist every day in this chapel - it is not uncommon for the altar frontal to change for every service.  Thanks and blessings to all for their prayers and support.

The blessing of an icon at the altar - I'm 3rd from the left.

Sitting in my stall.
Note the icon Gail gave me by my prayer book.











Day One

First day of class - Church History with Fr. Peay - starting in a few minutes.

Thank God and thank you,
Richard

Starting Today

Orientation starts today - we'll be reviewing some of the readings I've done (the books are still in the truck), and beginning to learn what we are to do while here.

I give thanks for all of you who have been praying for us.  It's finally time to begin.

Blessings and peace,
Richard

Patiently Waiting

Since the last time I posted, we finished packing the house, loaded the truck on Saturday (in the rain with the help of several "angels" from the church), lost the cat, stayed in Fort Worth and extra night with the wonderfully gracious Kings, found the cat, and drove to Wisconsin.  Immediately upon arriving at Nashotah House on Wednesday, the cat escaped again, only to be found in a tree in the forest behind the apartments.

We arrived at our assigned apartment only to find that the rodent concerns in our apartment that Margaret had discovered and notified them about while here at Aly's school band camp had not been addressed, and after much discussion decided that the best choice was to move temporarily into a furnished guest apartment nearby and wait for a different apartment to be cleaned and have new carpet installed before we unloaded the truck (hopefully moved in yesterday).  Well, the new apartment is painted and most of the cleaning has been finished, but no carpet yet.  The rental truck waits ominously on the other side of the parking lot from us.  We're still operating on our traveling clothes from the trip (we've now washed them all twice and and a third time is coming up today.

The weather is beautiful here - highs in the mid-70's and lows into the 50's.  We went to a wonderful arts festival yesterday in 5-O's. We are looking for things to keep us busy while we wait to unload and unpack.

As soon as we get the desk computer unpacked, I can download pictures.

Thanks for all of your prayers,
Richard

Almost ready to move!

Margaret and Aly (with her broken ankle) fly back tomorrow morning - we'll pick up the truck in the afternoon and start to load it Saturday.  Look at all the wonderful things we have (plus furniture)!

Adios, RadioShack!

After two long and stressful days, I'm finally done.
Anyone that wants to help us pack the garage tomorrow morning, come on by!

Packing and more packing

It seems as if we've been packing forever.  This weekend and Monday and Tuesday will be the final push before Margaret and Aly fly to Wisconsin for a week of band camp.