And away we go!

It's already February, and sometimes it seems like life is moving so fast. My seminary classes started yesterday (textbooks aren't here yet, but for one of the classes, I don't need them just yet, and for the other, the professor emailed me the first couple of chapters -- so I'm getting by!)....I'm crazy enough to think that I can take two classes this semester on top of it all. The first class is Intro to New Testament 1 (we will cover the Gospels). This, I think, will be a very good but busy class. Lots of reading. The second class is Journaling as a Spiritual Practice. It is a pass/fail class...but I still think it will be quite busy (lots of reflecting).

This week, I will also start helping out with our Community Bible Study group. It is the same group that I was a part of last year and last semester. Last semester I only had time to participate, not to do anything extra. This semester, I've volunteered to lead a discussion group, and maybe do a couple of wrap-up talks. Should be good, hopefully I can manage my time well enough for this!

For LCC, we're quite busy with student leadership hiring. This week all of the applications are coming in, and next week will be the start of all of the interviews. It is a good but busy time. It is encouraging to see so many students interested in being a leader on campus.

And for some reason, all of my weekends in February are booked, and have been for a while...all good things. This weekend, I was supposed to go on a retreat with my student leaders (to the same place that Steve went to with his leaders -- to a colleague's house outside of town that has a sauna). We had planned to go last semester, but about half of us had the flu that was going around when the time came to go, so we postponed it to this semester. This weekend was supposed to be it, but we've been having one of the worst winters Klaipeda has seen in 30 years (there has been snow on the ground since Christmas time, and last year it never stuck around for more than a couple of days. Lots of snow....and colder than normal temperatures). Anyway, we had to postpone our retreat one more time because of frozen pipes at the house. Sooooo....hopefully the weather will change soon, and we can go on our retreat (probably won't happen until after Spring break). I'm still going to make dinner for my group and have an evening with games or a movie or something this Saturday.

The next weekend, we are planning on eating/cooking with our Albanian friends. We cannot get enough Albanian food and company! That same weekend, a colleague of ours is giving Felting lessons for an afternoon...and I signed up. I've never felted before, but seems really interesting. Maybe I will gain enough skills to make my own sauna hat? (probably not in one afternoon, but I can dream big :)

The next weekend after that, we are planning on having a Ladies Tea, hosted by a few of us women on the community life team. We are planning on inviting all of the girls at LCC for muffins and tea, and will have 4 speakers that will talk about topics that apply to women (this particular one is about the paths that women take...career, motherhood, both, etc). The speakers are various faculty/staff/wives from LCC. This is the first event of its kind, and I think it will be a success! Hopefully we will be able to do more of these in the future for the women here.
And, if you've been keeping track, you will also know that this is the weekend that our visitors will arrive! The chain is halfway between the doorknob and the floor. Yay! Hopefully it is not too wintery when they get here....one thing I can guarantee is that there will be significantly more sunlight then than there is now. It is amazing how a few more minutes of sunlight each day (each. day.) can lift one's mood! And visitors! Hannah, Eva, pack your swimsuits. We want to take you to the sauna and go for a swim in the sea.

Anyway, that's February in a nutshell. It has fewer days than a normal month, but yet we still manage to fill it with just as many things.


Oh yeah, and my favorite sport is about to start soon....the Olympics! I still have yet to decide who I will cheer for.

Hope everyone is doing well. Our computer is managing to hold on these days, and the power has stopped going out....so give us a call on Skype, we'd love to chat!