Halloween Fun

This Halloween was just a little different than most years. In addition to the usual trick-or-treater ducking (complete with turning out all the lights in the house and turning down the volume on our movie, so people think we're not home), we added one extra activity. A pregnancy test. Matthew and I made a special trip to get a new pack (the ones we had at the house were expired) and made a stop at McDonalds on the way back. I took the test, and we got results so fast, I had barely set the timer for 3 minutes. When I saw the read-out, Matthew thought I had seen a mouse because I yelped! Yep, we're pregnant! I went to the doctor the next day, and he confirmed it. I got pre-natal vitamins and the name of an OB to see down in Winchester. So far, it seems the due date is the end of June, which works out perfectly for us- Matthew and I will both be off of school by then, and I'll have several weeks to freak out and finish "nesting."
So far I've been feeling really good, no morning sickness or any of that stuff. I'm just becoming an expert at napping- I'm tired all the time. I've really had fun telling our friends, and they've already been great about offering to help out. (We already have a virtual army of friends ready to babysit.)
So keep us in your prayers, and I'll TRY to keep up on my blog, so you all are up-to-date!!!

Septuagint 1, Laptop 0

Hi Everybody!
Yes, I've been absent for a while, and no, CPE didn't totally eat my brain! I'm back and healthy, and already in the throes of my Middler year, Wahoo!

How fitting is it, then, that my triumphant return to the blogosphere is centered around an epic battle. This battle embodies many things, Science vs. Religion, Faith vs. Physics, or more specifically the Septuagint vs. my Laptop.

In this corner, we have my Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Torah!It is used in our Greek class and various other Bible classes. It's a about the size of a double-thick Book of Common Prayer, and has been a lot of fun to page through.

In this corner, we have my laptop. One would think it would be sturdier than my Septuagint, but we've all been wrong once or twice before, haven't we?

What happened was this. I was putting a few books away on a shelf above my desk, and my Septuagint literally flew off the shelf and attacked my laptop! (Well, not literally, but it sure looked dileberate!) The result? I have two keys missing, and a great blue scar running across the lower left corner of my laptop. The book? Not a scratch. That's one tough book of Scripture!!! :)

We're half-way done!
I can't believe I've just finished week 5 of CPE. It's been a crazy summer so far, with lots of ups and and several downs, but I think the hardest part is behind me. You know, the "Oh no, I have no idea where I am or how to find my way around this hospital or what to say to this patient, and I feel like I'm in the way of the nursing staff" part. Here's my list of how I know things are getting better...
1-I haven't gotten lost on the way to the cafeteria in almost a month.
2-I can identify that frightened look in a patient's eyes, when THEY'RE trying to find their way to the cafeteria!
3-Once I see a lost person, I can usually help them find where they're trying to go.
4-I can suit up into the apron-gloves-mask combo for contact precautions in less than 10 minutes.
5-I can help a patient order lunch from their room. (Think roomservice...)
6-I've learned that if a nurse asks me if MRSA freaks me out, they're referring to the bacteria, not some person named Marissa.
7-I'm able to communicate to nervous patients that they don't need to be dying in order to get a visit from me: I can do more than "Last Rites."
8-I don't feel like I'm cheating when I use the "Clergy" parking pass to park at the hospital.
9-I spend more time charting my patients than trying to remember my passwords to get into the charting programs.
And....
10-The lunch lady doesn't give me the 3rd degree before giving me my free "Chaplain coffee."

So you see, there is hope! Good luck to all my other CPE friends out there. See ya in August!

Hi folks!
Sorry everyone, I know it's been a while since Quiet Day!
Matthew and I are spending the summer in Naples, Florida, and we're enjoying it a lot! It's a little hot and humid, but we have the Gulf of Mexico to cool us down! The beach is beatiful, and we get to go at least a couple of times a week to look for seashells. The people are nice, the weather is great and the shopping is fabulous (especially compared to Sewanee- they even have a Starbucks down here- ha ha).

Quiet Day

Today was our Spring Quiet Day, in addition to being Maundy Thursday. What is Quiet Day you ask? Well, the day is a requirement for all students, and most of the faculty show up as well. Picture this: You get up in the morning and go to a convent. You have morning prayer and you hear someone give a talk. After the talk, you sit and meditate or journal or read the Bible for an hour. Then you hear another talk, meditate, maybe eat some lunch, have another short prayer service, and keep repeating this pattern until the day is finished. Did I mention that nobody except the guest speaker talks for the whole day?

What a battery charger! For starters, I got to wear my pajamas, a pair of bunny slipper-socks and my Birkenstocks. I took my over-sized pillow so I didn't have to sit on the floor, and the fleece Packer blanket my mother-in-law made for Matthew. Other people were there in their "comfort clothes," blankets, one person even brought a sleeping bag! Any day that I get to wear pajamas all day is a good day!

The three talks were interesting, but really the best part was time set aside to just sit and meditate. I really enjoyed just sitting and not feeling guilty about all the work I have to do. Any school that has a required day to sit and be quiet for a while is good in my book!

The Bishop is Coming! The Bishop is Coming!

Wow, what a couple of weeks! We were on Spring Break two weeks ago, and my Bishop was in town last week.

Spring Break was kind of a bust. I had so many papers due that I spend the whole week writing and doing research. The nice thing was I got to sleep in, and when I took a break from my work, I could go into the living room and Matthew was there to hang out with me. (He had Spring Break too!) There's nothing like sharing Daily Show Reruns at 1:00 in the afternoon with your loved one to perk you up! :) The good news is I got all my work done in time for the Bishop's visit.

I think it's official now. Fond du Lac has the coolest Bishop ever. Bishop Russel E. Jacobus was our Bishop-In-Residence at Sewanee last week, and we just had a great time. He was a big hit with my classmates, and even showed his support by attending a concert put on by Shrimp Boots, a seminary band. He sat in on some classes, met with some students and faculty, and participated in a community forum about church politics. Here's what some students have said...
"Your Bishop is so cool."
"We don't share the same political views, but even so, I would work for him in a heartbeat."
"He is so pastoral."
"I would work for him if I could handle the weather in Wisconsin!"
"He has such a cool name!" (I didn't make that one up!)
and on and on...
So...
Thank you to Bishop Jacobus for a great visit. We're all looking forward to seeing you again next year!

Spring in March? Unheard of!

Sorry, all you Wisconsinites! I just had to share how gorgeous it is down here! This photo was taken by seminarian Rob Goodrich at one of the local fields. Yup. Those yellow things are daffodyls.

This picture is from our back yard. There are more now, but I didn't want to rub it in! :)

Any suggestions out there for fun bulbs to plant in the fall? I'm open to suggestions, since I get to see my handiwork in March!

In Like A Lion

We had some crazy weather here this last week. Wednesday it was gorgeous. 70 degrees, sunny, light breeze. Almost all of the daffodyls in our back yard are in bloom, and they're beautiful!

Well, Matthew woke up on Thursday and said, "It's March!" and I said, "Do you think it will be 'in like a lion' or 'in like a lamb?'" As Matthew was leaving for work, he opened the door and said, "It's definitely 'in like a lion.'" Wind, rain,the works. It rained most of the day. They actually closed the public schools at 1:00 because of several tornado watches down the mountain.

I rode my bike home after my classes (the peak of the storms had passed by then) but it was still raining very hard. Thanks to Mom and Dad for the rain gear they got me! It worked really well! My shoes, however, were just full of water. I don't think my shoes have been that wet since I went on back-to-back water rides at Great America when I was a kid! It was great fun, expecially since it was still relatively warm outside (60ish) and I love rain, especially if I'm just going home so I can towel off and change into pajamas!

More Monkey Business

You won't believe the weird luck I'm having with my monkeys and their heads! I got a great pair of monkey socks from my mother-in-law, Roberta, for Valentine's Day. They had hearts and monkeys on them, and a little monkey head-bauble on the back (like a pom pom.) Well, I was in class last week, and I realized there was something under my shoe: a monkey head! Not again! I picked it up and showed it to my friend Mark. It went something like this...

Me: I lost my monkey head!
Mark: What?
Me: Yeah, my monkey head! See? It should go right here on the back of my sock. Just like... Oh no! Where did the other one go?


Yes, I lost both monkey heads. That's like three in two weeks! I walked all over the building, hoping to find the other one on the floor some place, but no luck. But then. . . .

My friend Danae gave me a ride to school yesterday, and I found Monkey Head #2 (or is that #3?) in the parking lot, right next to her car! It came back! What a great way to start the day! On my friend Eric's advice, I am going to make the returned monkey head into a pin for my academic robe, so I can always remember how my monkey came home. You know? When I heard that nothing is too big or too small for God, I really didn't think that would apply to sock decorations, but maybe it does!

Oh, the monkey-manity!

We had a bit of an accident in the junior classroom Wednesday night. Many of you may know Matt and I have a bit of an obsession with monkeys. We have a monkey clock, a monkey light-switch plate, a monkey toothbrush holder, and among other things, a pair of monkey bookends. Each bookend is a monkey sitting on a pillar wearing a fez and reading a book. Ugly, but cute, you know? They've been an object of equal amounts of love and derision in our classroom, where they live on my desk.

Sadly, they got bumped Wednesday night, and all of my books got knocked over, as well as the bookends. I was approached by several classmates after chapel Thursday morning, trying to prepare me for the "shock." "There was an accident." "There were some injuries." "Just be ready for an awful sight." So, I walk in to my classroom, not knowing what to expect... There they were... My books scattered, my poor monkey bookends on their sides... Wait! What happened to his head????

Sure enough, one of my monkeys was decapitated in the accident. THE HORROR! My classmates sprung into action, snapping pictures of the scene (which will be posted as soon as they send them to me!) People gave me their condolences. I was actually contacted by the pastoral care committee. (I received a condolence card the next day. Really!) I couldn't have asked for more support! I can only hope to always have such loving and caring friends by my side! Actually, we all had great fun with it too. The drama! :)

So, I submitted my monkey to Woody, the I.T. guy for a revolutionary head re-attachment procedure. Hopefully, he will come through the surgery okay, without too many side-effects from the super glue. I'll let you know when we know what the outcome is! In the mean-time, I hope everyone is more careful with their monkeys!

It's Here!

Well, it seems the flu has hit the Schnaare household (would that bee the Schnaarehold?) I just sent Matthew to bed and he was all shivery. It's not even 9:00 yet! We're crossing our fingers that he feels a bit better in the morning. The guy hates calling in sick, especially since they just had two days off because everyone else had the flu! Great timing!

I've been checking out some other friends' blogs and stealing ideas. (Thanks Matthew, Eric, and Amanda!) Keep your eyes open for new additions like links to other sites and my word-bank!

A Winter Day Off

Today was a big day: I actually got to go "off the mountain" for a few hours! (That's a big deal around here since I spend most of my time studying! The only time I've left campus this month was one Saturday when I went with some friends to buy a book case from Wal-Mart!) Matthew was able to go shopping with me in Chattanooga, because school was canceled. Why? Was it a snow day? No! The schools were closed because the flu has hit Tennessee! It's a bummer for all the people who are sick, but it was nice for us to have a little field trip. We went to Kohl's, Target, and Starbuck's. Big day, right? :)

You see what passes for excitement around here! But really, it was a great distraction from all of my reading. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining, and it was a balmy 48 degrees! It still doesn't feel cold enough to be January, but I could get used to it! The "southern folk" down here still think I'm crazy for not wearing a coat all the time, but I love it!

Greek Procrastination

I'm taking a break from my Greek homework. I've got Greek coming out of my ears!

I thought I'd mess with my blog a little. Here is a picture I took in our backyard this summer. We have lots of cardinals and lots and lots of squirrels who love our bird feeder. (Thanks again, Marie and Anna!)

Speaking of squirrels, here's a true story. I'll even use visuals, so I can practice adding pictures!

When Matthew and I moved to Tennessee, we bought a washer and dryer set. The day that Home Depot was delivering them, I went into the laundry room to make way for the delivery guy. Now, as you just read, we have a ton of squirrels around here that love our bird seed:
Well, I thought the laundry room was a good place to keep the extra bird seed, since it was a concrete room, and it should be safe from any pillagers. That is, except for the hole in the wall for the dryer vent. (I've never owned a dryer before!) So I walk in the laundry room, and no kidding, this squirrel jumps out at me from behind the bag of bird seed, and is totally flipping out. I scream and get the broom. (Yes, I was that housewife with the broom and the screams!) I finally coax it out of the laundry room, then out the porch door, and he runs for safety. I go back to the laundry room, and bang on the door: "Is there anybody else in there? Come out now, before I get the cat!" Nobody answers, so I figure it's safe. But, no kidding, as soon as I walk in, Squirrel #2 jumps out, ricochets off the walls, and finds his way out the dryer vent hole. Luckily, he (or she) was the last one, but they must have been there a little while, because they had tried to chew their way out of the room:

Yes, those are real tooth-marks!

Well, with the help of some friends up the street, we finally got the washer and dryer installed, and it's been laundry heaven around here ever since. But I'll never forget the day I had to fight two squirrels for the right to wash my own clothes without buying a roll of quarters!

I love happy endings!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed my silly little story. Tune in next time for more silly stories from Tennessee. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a bit of Greek to translate!

Testing...Testing...1,2,3

I'm so excited! I've never done a blog before! This is for all my friends and family back home in Cheesy Wisconsin who would like a more informal update while I'm at seminary in Tennessee. (Hence the play on words, seminarian + Anne = seminarianne.... Get it? Hmmmm...)
Stay tuned for pictures, stories, and general trivia about living in the South. For instance, did you know that to say "Bless his (or her) heart," isn't always a nice thing to say? Neither did I before I moved here! Oh the things you learn! :)