back in the NW

Well, as my father-in-law commented yesterday, it's been a while since I've blogged. I mean, it's not like I've been busy or anything! OK, maybe the last week or so I haven't been THAT busy, but...anyway, I've taken a little break.

In the last month I finished my German class, graduated with my Master of Divinity degree, packed up, drove a moving truck across the country with a several-day stop in the Tetons, moved in and got mostly unpacked, and started swimming lessons with my kiddo. (Here's a picture.) It's been a fun and full month.

Right now my days are mainly filled with taking care of myself and Espen. I haven't really had time to take care of myself for a while, so it's really been nice! I get up most mornings at 6am, do centering prayer for a while, then do yoga until Espen wakes up. I got a new bike for graduation and that has been so awesome! I've never in my adult life had a bike that actually fits me and works well, so it's quite a revelation that biking can be fun and not that difficult. Espen and I very rarely use the car, because we have a great bike trailer with enough space for a bag or two of groceries or whatever else we need to carry (although that makes biking somewhat more difficult!). We've visited most of the parks in the area at least once, and even gone over to a F/friend's house not too far away, forgetting she lives on a HUGE hill! (I thought I was going to die. When I visit Leslie this summer she'd better know I really love her!)

"Taking care of myself" also means reading novels. I haven't read tons, but I read a little each day and relish the fact that I'm not procrastinating when I do so! I finished Eat, Pray, Love, which I really enjoyed, and I'm working on Bridge of Sighs.

My upcoming goals are to a) learn Spanish, and b) read Barclay's Apology as well as a couple other theological works, and compare and contrast Barclay's theology with others. I plan to compare his to two books I read in seminary. One is Daniel Migliore's Faith Seeking Understanding, in which he lays out the different theological doctrines with explanations from various perspectives from Christian history. The other is Freeing Theology, a collection of articles by various feminist theologians, edited by Catherine Mowry LaCugna. I'm going to try to set myself some assignments as if I was reading these for a class and had to write reflection papers or something. We'll see how that goes! Check back in and see if I'm doing my self-imposed homework...