Time management

One of the things discussed at my interim review was how I managed time. Well the next couple of weeks will be areal test! Bible study preparation. School assembly essay deadline, pastoral cover, tutorials, probationers conference,  service preparation and just eleven sleeps till the youngest child's wedding! At the moment everyone seems quite calm so hopefully that will continue. I'm looking forward to the conference as the last one was really overshadowed by my dear Old Man facing his last days. This Wednesday would have been his birthday and its now almost 5 months since he died. I still miss him and I expect I'll have a bit of a down day on Wednesday:( in spite of the endless reading, I am finding my Sacramental course surprisingly interesting, discovering how our heritage was shaped. Just a shame about the clash of deadline and wedding!

Essay Stress

Living eating breathing Luther Calvin and Zwingli and the more I read the more confused I become. The actual essay deadline is March 11 th but since my daughter gets married on the 8th two weeks today!! I'd really like to have cracked it by next Friday before I head off on my probationers conference for the weekend. Everything is remarkably calm on the wedding front even though the photographer phoned on Monday night to say he'd been knocked off his motor bike ( on its maiden run) and was in hospital ( broken femur) and likely to be so for at least a week,  good thing his daughter is a photographer too so no stress there! And I'm relieved he didn't come off any worse. I experienced one of those moments of total calm yesterday as we looked at our ecumenical Lent Bible study, led y the parish priest, that sometimes God just seems to send when you most need it. We were looking at the betrayal of Jesus in Johns Gospel which highlighted the total calm of the events. There was no sense of panic or stress as portrayed by the other Gospel writers. Something the majority of the group hadn't really noticed before. It's worth a look. So, next week essay, essay, essay!  Feedback for first ( ungraded ) essay was " covered salient points but needs to be more prosaic!) any ideas what that means in relation to essays?

Mid term review

I was really pleased with my mid term review report, and the fact that I'm enjoying my placement so well was apparent. Less thn two weeks till my ( hopefully) final probationers conference which I'm really looking forward to, the last one was overshadowed by thoughts of my Old Man and worry tht he'd die while I was away. This one will be a distraction from last minute wedding jitters! This last week has been manic, there seems to be a spate of deaths at the minute, fitting in visiting the families whom we know well, getting essays finished, submitted, starting the next, reading so much about sacramental theology my brain feels numb sometimes, I yearn for a minute to read something that's not to do with my course! But in one of those moments of total clarity I felt a deep sense of Gods peace and affirmation of my call today. Just as if He knew I was weary and tired after a long week. I'm away from my placement for the next three Sundays with a pulpit supply next week, then probationers conference then wedding, though I'll keep up with my weekday commitments, to be honest I don't think I could do all this and be in full time employment so I'm very thankful for the fact that I have these months to concentrate on my training. Not much time for blogging ut I'm thinking once the wedding is past, things might feel a bt flat.  Had to laugh at  words of advice re daughters hen night in town next week " have a good time but remember how close to ome you are". Now I've no idea what he's expecting will happen!!

Post hen weekend

Survived the weekend, it was brilliant though flumes and bony people don't work well together, my back is raw! It w a surreal experience swimming in hot water under a frosty starry sky absolutely stunning! Back to reality and my first essay eek! One down three to go. Still trying to work out what it is that Luther actually promotes! There've been some heavy reading sessions this week. Only four more weeks till the youngest child gets married so now on the final countdown. Been missing my Oldster recently, it would have been his birthday this month and he was supposed to be reading at the wedding:(   Also had a spate of funerals to contend with so its been busy. Supper on Saturday night with the Bishop elect of Hungary! Wonder how his Sacramental theology is! Got some stuff from local Priest who is just lovely but had to augh when I read one of the headings on a print out he'd given me which was entitled Protestant errors, maybe best not to incorporate that!