A Change of Focus . . .

Having graduated (finally!) with my MDiv this past May, I'm taking a well-earned year off before diving into a doctoral program. A year off being a stay-at-home mom, prepping some papers for publishing, brushing up on my Spanish and French, and learning Latin and German. So, maybe not a year off.

But it is a year away from the classroom, be it learning or teaching. And I find my thoughts frequently drifting away from intricate arguments of interpretation and what's cutting-edge in the biblical studies world. I've got to admit, it's refreshing to be a bit more down-to-earth; academia so often seems most at home in the stratosphere! I continue to be grateful that I married a pastor, though--consistent involvement, even by proxy, in the heart of church life does force you to put feet and hands to what you learn in the classroom. I'll always be an academic at heart, but I'm grateful I've been consistently forced into the real world of real people and real problems.

That being said, it seems like a good time to look back over the last few (intense!) years of studying, teaching, growing up, and struggling to work out in life what I've been tested on in the classroom.

First up? Parenting . . . about as far from academia as you can get, I think!