First Semester Reflections

So, I am coming to the end of my first semester of seminary at the University of the South School of Theology. There are less than two weeks left and the crush of finals is upon us all. It has been a really good semester in terms of my formation, though I think my grades may not be quite as what I had hoped. Seminary has been a challenge on a number of levels but the formation has been extraordinary.

Katie and I have made some great new friends here who are part of an exceptional support group here at Sewanee. There are people in our class, in the Anglican Studies program, the Master of Arts in Theology program and in the other classes of the Master's of Divinity programs whom we have grown close to. It has been a great transition for us in so many ways and we have been truly blessed to be here at this special place.

A few weeks ago, I was elected to the position of student trustee to the Board of Trustees of the University. The Board is made up of bishops and appointed or elected representatives from each of the twenty-eight owning dioceses. This is a position some of friends from Pensacola have held and they all thought there would be good ways for me to make a contribution to the school. Additionally, it will give me a chance to represent the School of Theology to the broader university community. It will be an honor and privilege to serve the School of Theology in this capacity and I am hoping to have an opportunity to serve the University faithfully as well. The position is a two year appointment and I think my duties may begin as early as this spring when the university chooses a new Vice-Chancellor. I will not have any role in this search as it is already well underway, but the Board may seat new members then. More on this when I know more about the responsibilities.

Classes have gone well, though getting back into the swing of academics after a seven year lay-off has been an adjustment. The work has not been so much difficult as it has been thought provoking, stimulating and challenging for my faith. The Advent Term for juniors (the first year students are called juniors, the second year: middlers, the third: seniors)requires core courses in Spirituality for Ministry, Church History, Old Testament Foundations and a study of the Creeds. I opted to take Hebrew on the advice of my academic advisor and that has been especially helpful in my understanding of the Old Testament. I've probably read more this semester than I had in the previous four years combined (upwards of 3000 pages). The reading has done a great deal to expand my understanding of who we are as a Christian people, our Judaic heritage in the Old Testament, the historic faith of the Church, our public profession of faith and the depth of spirituality required for the call we have taken on.

We have been blessed with tremendous support from our friends and family back home. Our parish, St. Christopher's, and my former parish, St. Jude's, have been very generous in helping us financially. Many of our family members, beginning with Jenny helping us move in back in August, and friends in Pensacola have come up to visit us, as Katie has chronicled. It has been wonderful to have our two world combine from time to time and we look forward to continuing to introduce more of our communities to one another.

It's late and I have a long day of classes tomorrow. So I'll conclude the wrap up of this semester later. Blessings and peace be with you all.

Thanksgiving on the Mountain

This has been a very wonderful and hectic two weeks! To start with, Peter was elected Student Trustee by his classmates. It is an honor that we both are very excited about. He is planning to write his own entry soon about this position and his birthday celebration.

This past week we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with three very dear friends from home. Luke flew into Chattanooga on Tuesday and stayed with us for a week, Casey and Addie drove up Tuesday night and stayed thru the weekend. On Tuesday night Luke joined us for a Soup Dinner hosted by another couple at the school. He got to meet a whole lot of our friends up here. Luke's a real trooper, so he took the overwhelming crowd in stride! On Wednesday I took everyone on my self-guided campus tour, we relaxed around the house and enjoyed a fire (and S'mores) in PW's new fire pit outside.
Thursday we watched the Macy's parade and had a delicious (and HUGE) Thanksgiving Dinner. Another seminarian offered to smoke turkeys in his smoker, so we took advantage of that and made all of the dishes that we would have had if we had TGD at home. YUM! Here's a pic of PW making his tasty mashed potatoes! After dinner we walked to Green's View planning to enjoy the beautiful biew with a bottle of wine, but it was WAAAAAYYYY too cold! We called PW to come get us and sipped our wine while enjoying a game of mah jongg (and Thanksgiving leftovers)!

On Friday and Saturday evenings I had to work, so Luke, Casey and Addie did some exploring on thier own. Friday night we all drove to Murfreesboro together to do a little shopping before I had to work. On Saturday Luke and Casey hiked to Bridal Veil Falls, it's one of my favorite places! I hated that I didn't get to go with them, but I was so happy that they came up here to spend the holiday with us.

On Monday Luke and I had lunch at Shenanigan's, a must-dine pub at Sewanee, and then spent some time with my friend Jen and her son Bill. We had coffee at Stirling's and visited some new sites on campus that I didn't even know about! Our next visitors get to see the Community Garden and drive down super curvy Roarks Cove Road to the Valley.

Before Luke's flight out on Tuesday we took a hike to Thumping Dick Hollow. The trail was steep and very slippery from all of the fallen leaves, but it was awesome!
The trail followed a small mountain brook, we had to walk across rocks next to a washed out bridge and climb over big fallen logs on our way down a rocky, steep trail to two caves. When we got to the first cave we realized that we didn't have a flashlight. Oops! We didn't let that keep us from exploring tho. We used Luke's iphone flashlight (Yes, The iphone does have an app for that!) and the flash of my camera. Here's a pic of Luke as we entered the cave. It was super dark!! And here we are inside the cave.
The caves stay at a constant 55 degrees year round. It was actually kind of warm compared to the outside temp. The Sewanee website said there were Native American carvings inside the cave, but without flashlights we were unable to find those. I am really looking forward to exploring the caves again.

Over the next few weeks we will be making a trip home and PW will be wrapping up his first semester of seminary. It's so hard to believe that we have already been here that long! In some ways it seems like we have just arrived, but we have made friends that it feels we have known our whole lives.

Our next venture should be a Bed and Breakfast...

I think we are getting into the swing of things here at seminary. It's starting to feel like we're at home and not on an extended vacation. Peter is enjoying his classes and has been making some extra money by acting as a shuttle service and driving visitors to the University back and forth from the airport in Nashville. He has met some very interesting people and is really enjoying the experience. I am adjusting to my new work schedule. It is difficult to learn an entirely new job, with weird new hours in a new health system, but I work with some really great nurses who are eager to help me in anyway possible.

This past week we had a visit from Peter's sister Donna and her husband Chris and Peter's mom, Dottie. Donna and Chris arrived Tuesday night. They joined us for the Spanish eucharist and community lunch on Wednesday and I took them on my go-to tour that afternoon while Peter was in class. Wednesday night we went to Chattanooga for some delicious barbeque and....

It was a great day!

Dottie joined us Thursday evening. We went to dinner Thursday at a tasty Greek restaurant in Cowan, toured All Saint's Chapel and played some mah jongg. On Friday while I slept to prepare for work, Peter took the fam to the Natural Bridge.


It's such a beautiful setting, and so peaceful. I could sit there for days.

On Saturday, Donna and Chris left and Peter and his mother hiked to Bridal Veil Falls. We made the hike earlier in the season, but the falls were dry. Not this time! With all of the rain we've had lately, the creek and the falls were full and BEAUTIFUL! I hate that I missed seeing it.
When Peter and I hiked this there was no creek at all! They climbed to the top and spent some time just enjoying nature. Dottie is an outdoorsy person, so she enjoyed the falls too.

On Sunday Peter and Dottie went to church on campus at All Saints Chapel then Peter spent the afternoon in the library and Dottie went to the Walmart down the mountain in Decherd.

On Monday, after I got off work, Dottie and I went to Murfreesboro to shop. I found some pretty awesome boots that I will be going back to buy next week and we discovered a really cool accessory store called Charming Charlie's. It was so cute! They have everything!! I'm looking forward to buying some kicking stocking stuffers there for Christmas.

Tuesday was Dottie's Birthday. She sat in on Peter's Church History Class that morning and we made her dinner that night. Wednesday we all went to Morning Prayer then to breakfast at the Blue Chair. Peter was scheduled to be part of a photo shoot for the School of Theology website and Dottie and I were recruited for it as well. We ate breakfast with our friend Joe and got a little taste of what a reality show must feel like! It was a fun morning and a nice end to her visit.

As I write this we have just finished our regular Thursday night Happy Hour with some friends. It's been one of the really great things about our lives here. Happy hour at our house started when Peter was still "geographically single"as they call it up here, inviting a few people over for drinks. It's a great time every week. Though a few of our regulars weren't here tonight, it's always a highlight of our week.

We look forward to Peter's Thanksgiving Break and Luke's visit!

Dubose Lectures and the Return of the Prodigal Cat

This has been a very eventful week! It started out with an interesting email on Sewanee Classifieds. A brown tabby cat had been found by an undergrad and was in his dorm room. He sent out a mass email wondering if anyone on campus was missing a cat. We didn't want to get our hopes up, Loki had been missing for more than six weeks, but PW replied with a description of Loki. Moments later he opened an email and there was a picture of our cat!!!!! After six weeks of living it up in the woods Loki was in a dorm room across campus! We immediately hopped in the car and brought her home. I won't say she's THRILLED to be trapped in the house, but it's getting cold and we really don't want her running off again.

On Wednesday our dear friends Eric and Shelley Long and Steve Bates came up from P'cola for the Dubose Lectures. The lectures consist of an opening Eucharist, lunch and two lectures on Thursday, a fancy party Thursday night and a final lecture Friday morning. We had a fabulous time!!! On Wednesday evening we had our regular Thursday night Happy Hour Crew come over for cocktails and to meet Eric, Shelly and Steve. On Thursday while Eric and Peter attended the lectures, Shelley and I went exploring. She took me to the Natural Bridge just off of campus. It was so pretty!!!

We walked across it and climbed down.
There was a really cool cave and fire pit underneath.

There were carvings in the rocks, some dated 1901. Pretty cool!


After the bridge we went to the convent to enjoy the lovely view and the gorgeous fall colors.
On Thursday night we got all gussied up and went to the Dubose banquet and party. There was great food, friends, drinks and a band with dancing. It was actually nice to have an excuse to get dressed up. I realized I haven't worn my sexy heels since we moved here! A good time was had by all!

Pictured below are Shelley and me with Peter's classmate Joe Wallace.

And here are Peter and me with Sara and Mark.


I had to work this weekend, so I missed the trick or treaters, but Peter said we had plenty of them! Our friends Jen and Chris brought their little boy Bill by before I went to work, so I got to see him. Such a cutie!

This week Peter's sister and brother-in-law are making the trip to TN to see us for a few days. It's been so nice to have visitors!!

So, this is fall?

Fall is here! At least that's what people tell me this is. We don't so much have four seasons at home, so I don't really have anything to compare it to! I do know that the weather is gorgeous. It gets cooler than I like at night, but during the day the temperature stays in the mid 60's and the sun shines bright.

On the job front, I finished my orientation in Nashville this Monday and start at MTMC Friday night. I have an orientation period on the floor where I will be working with an experienced RN. I'll be with her for the next three weeks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. I am a little nervous about my first night, but I am very excited to get started.

Peter has been out of town all week on his semi-annual fishing trip with Tom Theoni. They were joined by several of thier friends and PW got a chance to relax, unwind and work on all of his papers that are due next week. On Wednesday I was feeling a pretty serious case of cabin fever coming on so I decided to go off the mountain for a short hike. I drove into Monteagle and went to the South Cumberland visitor's Center. They had lots of little displays and tons of maps and hiking info. From there I drove about 40 minutes down the road to the Savage Gulf/Stone Door hiking area. I chose the area because I had done it before in Dec with Peter, Eric and Shelley and I knew it was a very easy hike. I also knew there would be a lot of people around so I felt safe by myself. I walked the mile long path to the Savage Gulf overlook. It was beautiful. I learned at the visitor's center that this was the place shown at the end of the TN travel commercial ("Come to Tennessee, We're playing your song!"). But I forgot my camera in the car, so no pictures. I have a feeling I'll be heading back here as the leaves continue to change tho. On the otherside of the parking area is a very short path down to a waterfall. I stopped by my car and grabbed the camera and headed down to the waterfall.

I don't know what it is about water that makes me feel so peaceful, but I could have sat and watched this stream forever!

The path leads to the stream and you can walk out all the way to the edge of the fall. The path then continues to a little deck that gives you a beautiful view of the waterfall.

On Thursday my friends Jim, Carolyn and Stephanie came up from Pensacola to see me. I gave them a full tour of the campus, or movie set as Jenny refers to it. We went to Green's View:

Lake Cheston:

And all of the other pretty places to see. I really like showing off my new town! So, come up and see us...I give a pretty good tour!

Sewanee Fog

So we had heard about the infamous Sewanee Fog, but we had never experienced it until recetly. Let me tell you, it's seriously thick stuff! Sewanee is located ontop of the Cumberland Plateau and fog just settles in here and stays for days! I took a few pictures after I got home from work yesterday just to give you guys an idea, but you really need to see it to believe it! The above picture is the Sewanee Football field. There is a fence around it and of course goals and a scoreboard, but all of that is pretty much invisible in the fog.


Above is the view from mine and Peter's favorite picnic spot Green's View.



And here's the golf course. The fog kind of adds to the Harry Potter, magical feel of the place.

Besides the fog, my other excitement this week was driving 200+ miles roundtrip to Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville every day for orientation. The drive was brutal. I left before 5:15 every morning and arrived any time between 6:40 and 7:55 depending on traffic! The drive home took at least 2 hours everyday, but I made shopping stops in Murfreesboro pretty often to break that up! Nashville is a very cool city and Saint Thomas is HUGE. I was very impressed by the hospital. Mr. Madden, my old CEO at Sacred is there part time now. I saw his office today, but I haven't seen him yet. Maybe Monday...It's my last day of orientation. I'll be working on the floor soon and I am so excited!

Hope everyone is having a great week. Will post more soon.

Exploring the Boro...

On Tuesday Peter and I went to Murfreesboro to celebrate our fourth anniversary. The actual day isn't until Thursday the 8th, but Tuesday worked better for us. I took him to Middle Tennessee Medical Center first so he could see the hospital where I will be working. The current facility is so cute. It's in a beautiful neighborhood, similar to North Hill in Pensacola. It was built in 1927 as a 37 bed not-for-profit hospital and underwent 5 renovations and additions over the next 60 years to become the 220 bed hospital that it currently is.



After driving around the hospital and surrounding neighborhood we drove to Murfreesboro's downtown area. There are lots of little cafes and shops. We stopped into one little place called the Blue Rooster for a cocktail. Maker's Manhattan. Mmm....

For dinner we planned to go to a burger joint in another part of town. On our way there we passed the new location of MTMC. We couldn't get too close because of the construction barriers but it looks awesome! It's going to be a high tech 286 bed facility. I am so excited about being part of this transition.

After we looked around as much as we were able we headed to dinner. Directly across the street from the new hospital location we spotted a Pei Wei! Pei Wei is an Asian bistro operated by P.F. Chang's. It's YUMMY!!! As soon as we saw the sign we forgot about our burger joint plans! Peter had never been to one before but I went with Luke in Orlando and raved about it for weeks afterwards. We had Lettuce wraps and Orange Peel Chicken and Spicy Thai Dynamite. YUM. The whole area was a very cool outdoor mall. We got to do some shopping!!! We went to Marshall's (where I got a pretty amazing winter coat) and Ann Taylor (where I bought some long sleeve tee shirts) and walked all over. There was a Ross, Belk, Victoria's Secret and a Maggie Moo's. There's also a Jason's Deli which PW was thrilled about! It's been way too long since I've been out shopping. We had a blast and I LOVE Murfreesboro. It's a great city and I think I'm really going to enjoy working there.

Another week on the Monutain..

Another busy week and weekend since arriving at Sewanee has come to a close. Tuesday Peter's class was cancelled so we took a walk to Green's View, a scenic overlook about a mile from our house, and had a picnic. It was a little chilly but the sun was shining and the view was gorgeous!

I made the drive to Murfreesboro Thursday to fill out all of my new hire paperwork at MTMC. I had to take a medications-math test and do my drug screening. I was also able to explore the new hospital a bit. It's small, but very clean and nice. The employees I met were all super friendly. I really can't wait to get started! On Friday we officially closed on our house in P'cola. We were thrilled to have that weight lifted, but it was bittersweet. We loved our house, our neighbors, and our people in Pensacola. It is another marker in our separation from the place we have called home for all of our lives together. One of the other seminary spouses, Jen, and I went to Nashville with her 14 month old son Bill. We ate lunch at a BBQ joint and explored Broadway. There were tons of bars and little stores. Think New Orleans but with a country theme. I liked it a lot. We went to Trader Joe's for some groceries and spent a little time driving around the city. I will definitely make a return trip there!

Saturday morning I woke up early to drive to Sevierville, TN to see my mom who was in town visiting her brother. I had a great visit with mom. We shopped and walked around Pigeon Forge, went to my Uncle Cint's restaurant and heard him play guitar and sing at a benefit at a local church. The trip was very short, but it was a lot of fun. While I was hanging with some family PW was at home ordering us a washer and dryer!!! YAY!!!! We have been blessed with a pretty awesome neighbor that lets us use his anytime we want, but having our own is going to be so nice. PW spent the rest of the day studying his behind off. He has a ton of reading to do for school and gets that done much faster when one of us is not at home!

Today has been a lazy Sunday. PW and I just reviewed his Hebrew vocabulary words and he had a nice long chat to catch up with Ken and Andrea. Looking forward to another week in the adventures of a nurse and a seminarian walk into a bar. Stay tuned! :)

So this is blogging...

Peter and I have been on the Mountain for about a month now and thought this might be an easy way to let everyone see what we are doing. He is attending Sewanee University School of Theology and I have just been hired as an RN at Middle Tennessee Medical Center. Peter spends his days in class and I spend mine exploring this quaint little town, meeting people and unpacking boxes.

Life on the Mountain is indescribable. It's beautiful, the people are friendly. It's almost like Mayberry but with a ton of undergrads and liquor. We live in a 3 bedroom duplex with our crotchety old poodle, Froo and our fat cat, Tweak. Our cat Loki moved up here with us as well, but she bailed after Tweak and I got here. We believe she is making it on her own with her mad hunting skills, but we would like it if she'd check in with us once in a while.

That's it for the first entry. I'll post again soon with some pictures of our place and some of the adventures that we have already had.