And...we're back!

Hey there-

We are alive and well...and Stephen has a job!  Sorry for our lack of updates.  We are going to try to write more often.  But yes- the good news is that Stephen has a job. :)

One Friday night a neighbor of ours came over and asked if Stephen would want to start work the following Monday.  We were of course ecstatic but also caught off guard because Stephen hadn't applied or interviewed or anything.  We were a little sad to say goodbye to the flexibility of the very part-time work he had been doing.  He has nice co-workers and a good work environment though so we are very thankful for the opportunity.  He works for a company that just got the contract to help make Cars Land, a new part of Disneyland.  What is his job you ask?  The short version is: he pushes a button on a machine that bends wire.  Not super exciting but it is technical and he is carrying out the work that the engineers of the company need done so he's getting to see another side of his field.  There is a good chance he could be hired as an engineer there, or at least promoted, so that is the hope.  Another neighbor of ours, a good friend of Stephen's, also just got a job there so now he gets to carpool with two friends, not bad!  The job is full-time and pays well enough for us to be comfortable and save money, so we feel great!

I am doing well- I have a full load this quarter again.  I am taking:

Spirituality & Mission
Teamwork & Leadership
New Testament II (I took part I in Seattle a few years ago)

They are good courses, all required, and all taught by female professors so it's a bit different than what I've had in the past.  For Spirituality & Mission we have already taken a day-long contemplative retreat at a beautiful retreat center called Mater Dolorosa, about 15 minutes from here in the hills or "mountains" (they are just 5 minutes north of our place...kind of in between hills and mountains- and they were what was burning all last summer).  The course has exposed us to an array of spiritual practices that I am so excited to learn more about and use in my own spiritual journey, such as solitude, silence, the Jesus Prayer, Lectio Divina, and Visio Divina to name a few.  We have studied communities from around the world as well as people of faith in history, and how they connect(ed) with God.  It sure is refreshing to be taught about the multitude of ways to connect with God, beyond, "Read your Bible every morning for 30 minutes, then pray."  The God of the universe speaks in many more ways and is a bit bigger than that...right? 

This time in seminary is such a gift and I am working hard to be mindful of and enjoy.  It is a well-known fact that for most, seminary is a time of life when students devote the least amount of time to spiritual practices, due to the work load, when it seems like it should be the other way around.  But there is no humanly possible way that I would ever be able to read all that is required of me and do everything else in life that needs attending to.  So balance is the key as well as letting go of aspirations of doing everything perfectly, all the time. 

Also, we have decided that instead of doing my required practicum this summer, I will take a course or two and we will go to Norway for our good friend Elisabeth's wedding to her fiance Jarle!  We are so incredibly excited and I can't wait to experience Norway with Stephen.  I can't believe it's already been seven years since I was there.  Elisabeth is a very good friend from boarding school.  She came to Seattle two years in a row, first to visit me, then for our wedding.  So I definitely owe her a visit.

So that means I will be finished with courses on campus this December and then will do the practicum next summer, hopefully in Lebanon.  There is a special "Lebanon Practicum" through Fuller for five weeks in Beirut.  It is our dream to go to the Middle East together so this would be a perfect way to see it- with purpose and with friends there, as my roommate from Egypt will be working at the program we were a part of in Cairo.  We also have made a very good Swiss-Turkish friend here in Pasadena who has invited us to Istanbul.  So if everything goes smoothly we should be able to see those places plus Israel.  Insha'allah! God-willing!


Lastly, Stephen is off to Denver this weekend for a short visit.  Ticket prices were cheap and we celebrated his birthday a few days ago so we decided he should go home for a bit as a gift.  I wish I could go with him to meet our two month old niece Eleanor Grace Pratt- "Ella." :)  Belated CONGRATULATIONS to her parents, David (Stephen's oldest brother) and Annie and her big sister and brother, Ezra and Aurora!

I think that's all for now...I'm off to read No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu. 

-Jill