Obama and Visitors

Hi all-

Hope you had a pleasant weekend. I started my weekend by going with 2 friends to listen/see Obama, one of the Presidaential hopefuls, down at Town Lake on Friday. It was my first ever presidential political rally- I have been to smaller, state legislative size rallies before- but this one was massive. Over 20,000 people came out to hear what Obama had to say, admist the misting rain and listening to somewhat subpar music prior. He's a neat guy with a pretty unique back ground, and a lot of his platform ideals I think I can get behind. It will be interesting to see how this political season will play out, how very long that it is.

Also this weekend, I went to a dinner party last night to celebrate the birthday of one of my friends here, John who turned 31 today- he cooked a pretty tasty meal (including homemade icecream-yum) and we played Apples to Apples -which is a personal favorite- well into the night- so that was the other out of the ordinary thing for me this weekend.

On a different note- YAY! I now have two sets of friends scheduled to come and see me! Margot (and growing baby boy) and Scott will be coming into town St. Patty's weekend and then Tom and Allison (and growing baby) will be here the week of Easter!!! (Note: You do not have to be pregnant or married to someone pregnant to come and visit). It's such an uplifting thought knowing two of my closest friends (and their spouses) will be here relatively soon- I am missing NC tonight and my friends/family there. With that and the knowledge that spring break is only two weeks away I will sustain. And my Canes have a two game winning streak going, lets hope they can string together a few more consecutive wins (like 18 or so)... if only I didn't have a paper due on and a test this Tuesday- life would be so much better...

I guess that's all for now. Take care.

Carrie

Just checking in...

Hi all-
So I just finnished watching "the devastating conclusion" to the 3 episode story of Grey's Anatomy. It was interesting.... Who I am kidding- I love that show.

All right a couple of little updates...
1) As part of my training for the mini-tri/ getting in shape thing I have started running- I really don't know how some of you who run for long times or distances do it. But I completed 2 miles today running a little and jogging a little and walking the majority of the time- I completed my first mile in 14 min 50 sec and my second one in 16 min. In other words, I am pretty pleased, but I still have a long way to go. I didn't bike today, but yesterday I managed 5.5 miles in 20 min and 32 sec. Progress...

2) I have added two new links over on the left here. The first one you can click on and it will take you to my internet radio station- Yahoo has this thing where you can select the type of music you like and the artists you like and it will play them as well as others they think you will like- it's not always on the money- but it's still a pretty good sampling of what I like. It's free to do though, so if you want to have your own station, that would be cool. The other thing I have added is the Daily Lectionary, if you click on the day, it will even pull up the Scripture for you to read, I think that is pretty cool too.

So I said a couple, and I am going to leave it at that. More to come later- oh and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONOVAN!!!
(who will be 44 Saturday)

yep- not even in NC and I can still give him a hard time... that's real talent ladies and gentlemen...

take care,
C

12 weeks!

Ok, so there is a lot that can be said about the measurement of time of twelve weeks, for instance, our semester is 12 weeks long (of actual instruction time, add in break and reading week and final week its fifteen weeks long), of which I am 2 weeks done with....

or it can be the countdown to something that is coming up...
and that my friends, is what this twelve weeks stand for...

you see, I set this goal when I was about to turn 29, that I would complete a triathalon (not a full iron-man one mind you) by the time I turned 30. I started working out, training in August, and then one week into September, I threw my back out and that was the beginning of the end of that start-up...

So, since I missed the "by thirty" self-imposed deadline, I have decided that I want to try to complete one while I am still 30. I began to do a search for a labor day tri in the Austin area, and lo and behold there is one, a full one... but connected to it, was a race, much earlier in the season, that is designed, in part, for beginners,... it would be considered a "sprint" triathalon, but it's actually a little shorter, it is a 300 meter swim, an 11 mile bike and a two mile run (okay walk for me)... and it's in 12 weeks... it's called "the Rookie" and I am planning on participating in it. The race takes place on Saturday, May 12th, right before finals. You can check out the race by going to http://www.texastriseries.com/events/rookie/ -It takes place in New Branfuels, about 45 minutes south of here (where the Shlitterbon is).

Over the next 12 weeks, part of what I will be writing about, will be how the training is going. My friend Melissa is going to do it with me. We started working out together Jan 2nd, and although we didn't decide to do this until this weekend, we have in a way, been preparing these last 6 weeks...

the fun part, is that, unless we want to pay a lot of money and join a membership either at UT or the Y, is that we will be swimming at Deep Eddy and Barton Springs, which, for those of you who don't know, are man made, spring fed pools that are open year round that stay between 68 and 72 degrees year round... so it's going to be cold... fun stuff!

Well, that's the latest from me to you. That is unless, you want to hear my latest thoughts on hispanic theology or other school induced trains of thoughts...

Take care,
Carrie

the capicity to love

hi all-
So here it is the day where love is in the air... (excuse the gagging sounds you hear over the computer internet waves...lol)
Anyways- I have been thinking a lot lately about one's capicity to love. I am not just talking about the romantic love (although that is part of it too I suppose) but the incredible depth we have to love, and even to a much greater degree, the endless amount of love God has for each of us.

Two years ago today (Feb 14, 2005) I attended the funeral for my buddy Grant, who was eight years old and had non-hodgkins lymphoma. And so this time of year, I am reminded of him and his family and all those kids really who come for treatment at Duke. At his funeral, his little sisters gave each of little green glass pebbles, so as a way to remember him and to let us know that Grant loves us still. There was(and probably still is) so much pain in his family when they realized that Grant was dying... and (geez I am struggling with how to word this)... and yet they loved him enough to let him go, to understand that Grant was in a lot of pain and needed to be let go. And so they did. They made that horrible decission no parent should ever have to make.
And I think about how much love they must have had for Grant, (to overcome their grief, and their desires to hold on to him here) to give him up... to say goodbye... atleast for a while...

So yeah, I think about them when I think about love. I think about the people who care so passionately about what they believe in, about the God they believe in, who still some how fight to protect (and sometimes) and yet wind up hurting the very thing they love. My denomination (and my home church) is struggling with that. And I have to believe that all this stems from people who passionately care about the church, about God and want to find the best way to love and honor God. Because, if all this craziness is about anything less, then what are we doing? What am I doing here in seminary?

I believe that God gave us this remarkable depth defying ability/capicity to love one another and to love God. And sometimes, love can be painful, it can be lonely, heart-breaking, and it can sometimes blind us. But I think that God's love is good, that God's love is pure and whole. God, who sacrificied his own son for us, has no end in his capicity to love us. And that's the type of love that I pray each of you recieve this and every day. People will slip away, the grass withers, the flowers fade, and yet, God is eternal. God is the one constant in a world that is anything but.
Sometimes I find that I am filled with such love that my heart aches. It aches to protect, to nurture, to comfort and to be still with those who I know to love. Those days, those are the ones I cherish.

Blessings to you all...
C

week end wrap up

Hi all-

1st off- Wanted to know if you like the new site design? New year, new look... So I have finished my first week of the spring term and here are some of my thoughts on it:

1) I think I am going to enjoy the classes- the topics are engaging and the required reading (for the most part) is really interesting- so that's a good thing...

2) this semester is going to require A LOT more work than the last one, which I guess I should have expected, but man o man- I had over 350 pages to read assigned to me on Tuesday to be read by Thursday- my eyes were killing me... (several more papers this term to write as well).

3) For my intro to preaching class, which was responsible for 210+ of those pages to read- in addition to preparing and giving two sermons, we have to write an exegetical paper, memorize some prayers, write a book report, and keep a NPR radio journal- of which we are assigned to listen to two hours a week- as well as not to watch the news all semester- yep. there is that.

4) we still haven't recieved our grade from Intro to Worship- as Stan, the professor of class, has been continiously ill.

So... those are some of my first week notes... Tonight- Melissa and I went and saw a matinee movie (Because I said so- entertaining, did not require a lot of thinking, silly movie which was what we were looking for after a strenous week of thinking) and wound up stoping at the Taco Xpress for dinner- which is this incredibly eclectic (perfectly Austin) restruant because of the woman billboard thing we have driven by many times- see picture below- and were very pleasantly surprised by the quality and cost of food- not to mention getting to listen to a local band sing and play some music- all in all- not a bad Friday night.

So tomorrow I am co-hosting a baby shower for my friend Nikki- who is having a little girl next month- which should be interesting- I have never hosted a shower of any type before- and because of that- I also wound up going with another student today to pick out flowers to make arrangements for tomorrow- also a first for me. who-da thunk it?

Well- I think that's about all the ramblings I wish to share for now... more to come soon I guess.

Take care,

Carrie

New Term!

Classes for the spring term of 2007 offically got under way this morning here at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I just had one class today, Interpretation of Old Testament Texts (Hebrew exegesis) and then we had spring convocation. Fun stuff. Actually, today I had a bit of a stomach bug so it really wasn't all that fun. Oh... did my taxes this weekend and filed for the FAFSA... exciting life, I know... More to come later this week as far as initial impressions of the term.

take care,
C