The first holiday season of our marriage

We meant to post these pictures a while ago, but just haven't had a chance. This was Daniel's first autumn experience in Tennessee! I sadly was not there. He took these pictures, even the one of himself, which is impressive. He enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at Centennial Park (the one with the Parthenon). and jumped in piles of leaves until his childlike heart's desire was quelled. As a result, he picked me up from school covered in little bits of leaves (in his hair, clothes, all over the car) and it's been wonderful to enjoy the changing of the season here.









Tennessee is truly beautiful if you get a little bit outside the city. It's a place just bursting with green. One of the places that has become our haunt is Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. We go there Saturday mornings before Daniel goes into work. We just walk around, sit and talk, climb trees . . . :) This last week we ate at the Cheekwood Restaurant called the Pineapple Room. Daniel had a veggie quesadilla with roasted red peppers and melted brie, and I had a turkey quiche (very festive as it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving!) Here's just a sample of what it's like:



In addition to just generally enjoying how beautiful it is, we've also been enjoying our first holiday season as a married couple. We decided to take a trip during the Thanksgiving holiday, thinking it would take our minds off of not being with family. And we spent the Wednesday before Turkey Day in Atlanta - at the High Museum of art. I posted about the exhibits in the last post, but let me say they were amazing! I wish we could have taken pictures of the pieces we most liked to share with everyone - but alas for copyright issues! One of them in the Louvre collection was a sculpture called "Lion killing a snake" by Antoine-Louis Barye. The original piece in itself was amazing, but they had also collected miniature and trial sculptures for the masterpiece. Seeing the evolution against the final product was incredible.



We pulled this off the internet to give an idea of the piece. It's larger than life size - it's huge.





I'm not one for modern buildings, but this Museum was an exception.

And of course, the crowning joy of our holiday season . . . getting the Christmas tree! Even as I write Daniel and I are sitting in the glow of our tree, eating chocolate chip cookies and drinking a glass of riesling. Yesterday was in fact our 6 month anniversary, and we decided cookies, wine and a christmas tree at home was the best way to celebrate. Oh yes, and listening to the audio version of Lord of the Rings.

This is the story of how the Baugh Christmas Tree came to be . . .



Getting the tree from the Boy Scout Troop 87 lot at a church in Bell Meade



Getting it into the house



Lights!!!



There! Almost done, just need to turn the lights off . . .




And perfect. :) What a wonderful Christmas season this will be.

Thanksgiving

Well, it's Thanksgiving week, and we are missing family very much. I have the week off, and Daniel has most of it off, so we are going to make the best of it! Wednesday Daniel and I are going to drive to Atlanta, GA (four hours away) to spend the day at the High Museum of Art. They have really cool exhibits right now - one of them is a collection from the Terra Cotta Army of China, and another is a collection of 90 pieces from the Louvre. So we'll be spending the day there, and driving home either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. On Thursday, we've decided to go out to eat instead of trying to cook . . . :). There is a restaurant close to our house called Ellendales that has a Thanksgiving buffet (it looks really good), and that way we don't have to cook a whole lot of food for two people. And besides, sauteed fennel and apples with cardamon butter and roasted walnuts???? (That's just a sample of the menu) I was freaking out about not messing up the green beans. This will be a much more enjoyable meal, I think. :) However, we will be thinking of family and looking forward to Christmas.

I'm enjoying the short break before the end of the semester (which will be intense!) I got two papers done and turned in on Friday, and that was a major accomplishment. Now I have to write three more papers and apply for summer programs!

Daniel is also wrapping up classes and he has an awesome schedule next semester! He's taking three audio classes - go Daniel! He's still at the studio two days a week, and working quite a bit at the store. He's been busy :)

A good day

Yesterday was a good day. It was a crazy busy one for Daniel - appointments, two tests, classes, covering shifts at the studio - but he made it through! One of those tests was to test out of having to take a preliminary lecture in the history of audio engineering, and he passed!!! This is particularly exciting not only because it is one less class he has to take, but also he can start taking actual hands-on audio classes next semester. Go Daniel!

Also, I made all my arrangements for the American Philological Association conference in Philadelphia this January! (Yes, I know, I'm a nerd!) I was looking over the schedule just now, and I'm really excited about it. There are several panels on ancient near eastern topics and late antiquity, which have been capturing my interest this semester. And two of my friends from ASU will be there, and it will be great to catch up with them!

So, it's officially paper time, and I'm quite nervous about it. I have a paper due this coming Friday, and I'm having a total block on it. It's for "Ancient Origins of Religious Conflicts", which is primarily a history class, and I've never really written a "history" paper. I write papers on specific texts, which may incorporate other people's interpretations of historical events as they pertain to the texts, but I've never written a paper like that myself. It's hard! Events have a never-ending amount of causes and repercussions, and connections to current events, so which do you choose to include? Alas! :)

My paper for Latin seminar will be much more fun, and more up my alley. I'll be discussing the use of descriptive language in different authors' tellings of the Hylas myth (Herakles' "squire"/pederastic love interest). Most specifically I'll be looking at how non-narrative elements such as descriptions of sights and sounds have a narrative function. My paper topic for Greek seminar is still in the works, but I have an idea and need to ok it with my professor. I want to look at the Greek construction of the Persians as Other and Enemy, and how that specific construction was used later in antiquity for propaganda and polemical works - specifically, how Augustus used it to characterize his battles against Antony, and how Philo used it to characterize Egyptians and not Romans as responsible for the first pogroms and violence against Jews in Alexandria.

Okay, so have I bored everyone yet? Sorry, there's just not much else on my mind right now except school work! That, and looking forward to seeing everyone in Arizona a Christmas time.

Miscellany

I sit here waiting in a dirty house for Daniel to get home . . . There was a time when I was the kind of wife that cleaned while her husband was away at work on Saturdays, delighting in taking care of the home for him. Alas, that wife is gone, and here (to stay probably) is the wife that HATES to clean alone. And what is more, she hates cleaning the bathroom most of all! So I have learned that I clean better and faster when Daniel is there to keep me company, and I'm much more cheery about cleaning the rest of the house if he takes care of the bathroom. I love marriage! :)

I have been reading many posts about the election, in addition to discussing it with friends and other family members. What an interesting jumble of thoughts and feelings! I confess I did not vote this year, for which I feel extreme guilt. But a part of me knows that even if I had, the minute I reached the poll I would have frozen. I chuckled when I read Rachel's comment - the conflict between "European tendencies" and personal convictions! But all I can say is that even if I didn't vote and hadn't a clue who I felt best fitted for the job, I prayed very, very hard for the outcome of Election Day, and I'm confident that the Lord heard those prayers. He is faithful.

Interesting side note - has anyone ever read any A.S. Byatt? I've been reading several books by her lately, and wondered if anyone else had. I am amazed and delighted by how talented she is - her prose is beautiful, and her stories are absolutely flawlessly crafted, in my opinion. But she discusses religion (in very specific Judeo-Christian terms), always from a negative and a positive side in her novels. She never really comes down on one side or the other, it seems. It's as if the agnostic character is praised for intellectual capacity and the Christian is praised for tenacious and genuine faith. One gets an edge on the other, then the other has the upper hand, and you are left wondering what in the world she personally believes! But all this to say, she has some beautiful passages describing a more difficult, tortured faith (which I'm sure most of us have experienced at some point or another), and I have appreciated them.

Oh, and Daniel and I have been enjoying fall very much. It's cold, it's cloudy, the Nashville skyline is a mess of red and yellow trees, all dropping their leaves everywhere! We have yet to jump in a pile of leaves (something I don't think I have ever done), but I'm sure that will happen soon. We enjoyed the morning by going to Cheekwood Botanical gardens, and enjoyed walking the grounds. It's absolutely beautiful, and we discovered an entire section I was totally unaware of. They have a Japanese garden, which is quite lovely, and is Daniel's favorite part, I think. When we left he said, and I quote, "Being in a place like that makes me want to be Sherlock Holmes. Or at least, be in 18th century clothing like Sherlock Holmes, wrapped up in a flannel blanked. Smoking a pipe. Or, just being outside wearing anything smoking a pipe. Yeah, it's just the pipe I want." :) This after spending the previous evening watching Sherlock Holmes episodes. Now, mind you, we have not seen the famous Russian version of Sherlock Holmes which is supposed to be the best rendition ever - but until we see that and pass judgement on it, Jeremy Brett is the best Sherlock Holmes of all times. Although I suppose I might have been a bit too zealous in praising him lately, because Daniel told me he had a dream a few nights ago that I was cheating on him with Mr. Brett. :)

It's about bedtime . . .

I have discovered that going to bed at 10:00 pm when you have to get up at 6:00 am is quite possibly one of the most wonderful things in life. Enough sleep? I've never known such happiness!

Daniel and I have just not had good luck with restaurants out here. We try new restaurants, with varying degrees of success, but always long for our old familiar haunts: Four Peaks, Delux, YC's, etc . . . ::sigh:: We basically have our Christmas trip scheduled around restaurants and the people that correspond to that restaurant!. :) We really are foodies.

Speaking of new restaurants, one the least successful experiences was last night. We decided on a whim to try a new pizza restaurant by school. While the pizza was good, and service was good, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back there because one piece into the pie I went to grab a second and watched in slow-motion horror as I proceeded to knock over the pizza pan, throwing pizza all over the table and floor! Yeah, it was horrible. But the manager was great - he was over at our table within 30 seconds, and offered to get us a new pizza to replace the mangled one now spattered all over his tile. He was very sweet, and I appreciated that in my moment of utmost embarrassment!

But, in other more exciting news, I just discovered I have a week off for Thanksgiving! (Alas, Daniel only has two days) And what this means is that I will be spending every second of that week working on seminar papers, woo hoo. But seriously, that was wonderful news to me - a cumulative 500 lines of ancient languages to translate and two seminar papers? Heck no.

It's been getting very cold out here, I'll have you all know! :) Like hats and gloves and scarf and coat weather. Absolutely beautiful. I should also post pictures of the change of the season - for all those in Arizona, that's when the leaves on trees change color and fall to the ground, whereupon you rake them up into a huge pile and dive into them! (We have yet to do this, but it's coming soon.) All the trees at Vandy are bright yellow and red, and everywhere are squirrels and chipmunks running around. I recently discovered I love chipmunks, they are stinkin cute. :)

de socero nostro . . .

We received four packages from Amazon.com this week - all of them presents from Daniel's dad, Scott! It was like Christmas! I had fun picking them up from the rental office, because the woman gave me a very stern "Will you have money to pay rent this month?" look and said in her sweetest, most saccharine-sweet voice, "My, you have been doing alot of on-line shopping!" I tried to explain that they were gifts, but she didn't believe me. :)

Daniel received very cool blue tooth headphones, a live Pixies DVD, and I received two Loebs (Marcus Aurelius and Livy - yay!) Thanks, Scott!!!

So, that was the highlight of the week. In other news, it's getting to be about that time when I have to write millions of papers! The first one is for my Ancient Origins of Religious Conflicts class. A wonderful class, by the way, but very difficult. Pray for me!

Also, things for Daniel at the stuio are on an upswing! Let's keep praying! He went down to two days at the studio, as opposed to five, which turns out to be a good thing. We have more time together, and he has better shifts (during the day, so generally more sessions).

We're going to carve a pumpkin today, so I'll post pictures of our attempts later today. Happy Halloween!

It's pouring in Nashville, and I'm sitting in the grad seminar room looking of out its very old, very large windows. I love rainy days,although here it means you will automatically be 20 minutes late to wherever you are going, because everyone drives around 25 mph here with the hint of even a sprinkle of rain. But it made for a lovely time in the car with Daniel on the way to school.

Having Mom here was wonderful. It's nice to familiarize family with your life - now she knows what Vandy looks like, and where we like to eat, and what our apartment looks like so that now when I talk about these things, she knows what I'm talking about. :)

Mom couldn't catch a flight into Nashville, so Daniel and I decided to drive to Chattanooga to pick her up (it's about a two hour drive). The drive was wonderful. It's mostly through forests and over a couple of rivers, not many cities at all. Daniel and I think we'll do it again over Thanksgiving break. There's alot to do during the drive itself. For instance, the Jack Daniels distillery and Tennessee's two or three wineries are along this route. There are also many natural wonder-type stops which would be fun. On the way in we stopped to buy fireworks, which I am very excited about! I've never played with fireworks before . . . I was too scared to get anything big, but it'll still be fun.

The highlights of Mom's trip: 1) dinner at The Gerst House, a restaurant/brewery with "traditional" German food & drink and "traditional" German music. 2) Cheekwood Botanical Gardens (reminiscent of Hunington Library in Pasadena) 3) Cooking Indian food and watching The Office 4)Shoppingin antique stores.

All in all, a wonderful time. I was very proud of Mom, because she even petted our rats (yes, we have pet rats and we love them!). I had a hunch that most of our time together would consist of eating and giggling, which of course it did. :) And it was fun to discover Nashville for a second time - we've been so preoccupied with school that we haven't really been outside of our apartment or campus. There are beautiful parts to Nashville, and after this week I am determined to enjoy them more.

What's your most embarrassing moment? Here's mine . . .

A quick update - I'm sorry for slacking. As usual, school and work and internships have kept us abominably busy. But, I do feel as if I have finally hit my stride in seminars. My hands still shake when I give presentations (like this morning), but at least I have overcome my abject fear of talking and am able to contribute occasionally. I feel for the first time as if I am a contributing member. And I am learning (although it is difficult) to let things go as quickly as possible . . . I think once I'm out of this program, nothing will ever embarrass me again. By way of an example of public humiliation, I will share a story which up to this point I was too mortified about to share. But now I'm ready. :)

So we have our first seminar on floor 2 of the Classics building, and our second seminar on floor 3 of the same building. One day after first seminar I was walking out with my professor discussing some upcoming event. I, in my absent-mindedness and exhaustion-induced stupor, believed myself to be on the 3rd floor instead of the 2nd floor (they look almost exactly alike). So, while walking out I pulled out my key to open the grad student study room (right across from seminar room on floor 3) and attempted to open it . . . but failed. All the while my teacher was looking at me strangely, but I didn't know why. She finally walked away, and I tried again with the key, only to discover at that moment I was in fact attempting to open someone's office!!!

Embarrassing, huh?

:) I'm becoming much more emotionally flexible, shall we say. I just don't have the time to break down about the things I used to. It's probably a very good thing.

It's been a beautiful rainy day today, and Daniel is home tonight - so we will be spending the evening enjoying the weather, eating sour skittles and watching scrubs! A lovely evening, no?

We have just purchased . . .

OUR TICKETS TO COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We can't wait to see everyone. And I promise, a proper update will come soon.

Love you all.

Mission: Chocolate Croissants

We went to the public library last Sunday to study, and found it to be a beautiful building. Next door to the library is a small cafe called Provence, which advertised many delicious looking pastries in their window. They were sadly closed that day, but we resolved to come back this weekend to enjoy a cup of coffee and chocolate croissants. And this we did this morning, after a few setbacks and one or two minor meltdowns (we're always so tired by the time the weekend comes) . . . but at last, we found ourselves in the attempting-to-be-European-and-not-failing-too-badly-type cafe, eating wonderful paninis and . . . chocolate croissants! Now we are in the library, but after just wonderful food, all I want is to lay my head down and sleep. We didn't sleep too much last night, as we stayed up late cleaning the house and watching Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett version, my favorite Holmes of all).

This has been a rough week for me in many ways. I do believe that graduate school has humbled me to such a degree as I have never experienced before . . . I suppose that is a good thing. And there are many good things that are coming out of our experiences right now, but they are the "tough but good" lessons in life. Academically speaking, I have been raized to the ground and found that all I really have to cling to is self-motivation and my work ethic. I being to wonder now if further post-graduate work after this master's is really what I should do. I'm afraid that my academic interests have always been to increase my own knowledge - but a member of academia needs to constantly have more to offer others, by way of papers, books, articles, classes, etc. I want to continue, I want to learn more. But to what end? For myself, or to enrich others and offer something to the greater academic community?

Being away from family has also been hard, but again it has been a positive thing. Moving away does teach you that you don't really have much to depend on but the Lord, and the support systems He chooses to put in your life. I have said before how thankful I am to have Daniel right now, and I will say it again! Our marriage has provided a constant companionship that I find necessary to being happy and centered, and just generally sane. And what is more, he is an unfailing source of unconditional love and acceptance. Every time I walk onto campus I feel judged and measured up and criticized in countless ways, but Daniel is that voice that says, "It doesn't matter what they think, because I love you." And he doesn't care how many grammatical mistakes I make in my translations . . . :)So I feel much more at peace this weekend than I have for a few weeks. In a very strange way, I was brought to my lowest point this week only to discover that it isn't all that bad, and that I'll make it through. (Does that make sense?)

Of ziplines and public humiliation

So Sunday night was very interesting. The Classics department held a party in honor of the new grad students at the house of one Tommie Corlew - the Classics secretary. Most everyone was there, except two of the more anti-social grad students (can you believe they didn't come to their own party?!). And the evening was centered around food, alcohol, and a zipline that the Corlews put up for their grandchildren. There is nothing quite like seeing all your intellectually intimidating and personally frightening professors whizzing by on the zipline . . . Daniel of course went on it, but I was too scared. The food was very good, and conversation was also good. Daniel made friends with my Latin professor, who seemed to gravitate toward him - they spent probably an hour absorbed in conversation. I did my best to keep a couple of the more shy people feeling comfortable. All in all, a good evening, and it was nice to have everyone meet Daniel.

Other than that, the weekend was just busy with sleeping and homework. Daniel started at Omni yesterday, and sounds very positive and excited about it. I think I'll have him post to let you all know how that is going for him! We found out yesterday that the studio is within walking distance of the Vandy Classics building! So we were able to WALK to meet up for dinner before he went in. I'm a little sad that he'll be gone now almost every day from 5-11, but I suppose it will force me to be more productive . . .

As to the public humiliation, well . . . let's just say grad school is kicking my butt. I feel like there are a couple others who are in my boat - the one that's rapidly sinking - but others are infuriatingly ahead of us in terms of knowledge. Right now the problem is mostly vocab, and the time it takes to translate. I'm averaging about 20 lines per hour (the average weekly work load is approximately 400-500, so that's what, 20 hours a week), and that's just for the two grad seminars. There is one student who basically comes into class unprepared and sight reads beautifully every time. Who the heck sight reads ancient greek?! As a first year grad student?! I feel like ripping his intelligent little head off . . . Okay, just kidding (sorta). :)

So life has been busy, but Daniel have enjoyed our time together cooking and planning our trip to Europe next summer. I'm going to focus on getting into the Rome program at the American Academy in Rome. So right now we're trying to decide whether he'll come stay in Rome while I'm in the program, or if we'll meet up before/after to travel together. I just found out this weekend that they are as of now requiring all participants to stay on-sight, with no housing for spouses, so we would have to live separately for the six weeks I was studying. That's not really very fun, I think. So we're looking at what kind of trip we can make together after I'm done. Hurrah for trips to Europe!

Dreaming about being in Venice with my hubby . . .

On a Thursday night, wishing it was Friday . . .

Another week is winding down - and I'm ready for the weekend. But I had a good night last night. I met up with Anna Molinari and we went to the Reformed University Ministries meeting on campus. It's a pretty large group, around 100 students, and I enjoyed it. It's a typical sort of meeting of singing and then a brief message. Again, I am struck by the quality of the musicianship. They sing mostly hymns and more subdued contemporary songs (much like Midtown), but it was a powerful experience. A hundred voices echoing in the chapel, singing beautiful and powerful music. . . amazing. But more than anything else, it's just wonderful to see such a large group of God-loving students. A friend of Sean and Cate's who is also studying at Vandy said that the campus is spiritually dark, and I understand now what she meant. So after a week in such an atmosphere, seeing the students gathered at RUF or at Midtown is very encouraging.

This has been a tough week for me. I find myself slipping under the homework load. I find myself behind the other grad students, and have to work twice as hard to keep up. But my wonderful husband planned a wonderful night last night for me to relax - pizza, beer and a movie! I shudder to think how awful being here in Nashville right now would be if I didn't have his love and encouragement.

Evidently Daniel's district manager at the store said that she liked him so much she wants him to stay on at the store, even if it's one day a week. And the greatest part is that he gets to choose the hours! So he'll have the freedom to choose when and for how long, to fit in with school and internship. Honestly, I am blown away by the Lord's provision.

Good News!

Sorry it's been so long since I've written - on top of just generally pulling my hair out over the amount of homework I find myself with, our internet was shut off (cause as yet unknown). But now I have a minute to catch my breath and write from school.

So, as to the good news! Daniel has an internship at OmniSound Studios!!! He starts next Monday, so details are forthcoming. But this is a step in the right direction, and a good place for him to be at right now. It is a typical internship - he'll be answering phones and such - but their emphasis is to give the intern a full picture of how the music business side of it all works. So he will be interacting with clients, etc. Yay for Daniel! If you want to check out where he'll be at, their site is: http://www.omnisoundstudios.com/home/

As for Classics, they're not being very nice to me right now . . . :/ I've never had so much to do in my life. But one positive point is that all Classics grad students went out this last Friday, and got to know each other. The four newbies went out after this, and just generally had a good time searching for sushi and ending up at a sketch taco bar (where everything you ordered, no matter what it was, all looked and tasted alike). I feel a little more like part of a cohesive group now, and like we were able to relate on a personal level.

In other news, I finally got to see the 40 foot statue of Athena inside the Nashville Parthenon! She's just as big and gaudy as I thought. People actually donated so that she could be gilded (with real gold!) like the original! And I'm looking forward to Wednesday of this week when I'll be going to Reformed University Ministries with Anna (daughter of Mom's good friend that just started at Vandy). I'll let you know how that is.

And, Daniel started helping out with sound at Midtown this Sunday, as well. It's been a very sound oriented week for him, no? He'll be in rotation with a team of guys, and he'll start out doing monitor mixes. A little sad for me, because I have to be without him, but I'll find Anna to sit with. And it's wbat he's supposed to be doing.

We found our camera!

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful Vandy campus!



This is the main building, where the Classics department is.



This is moss on my building - I'm just amazed that I live somewhere where moss exists!



A typical path. The campus is technically considered an arboretum!



The first thing I saw on campus - Mr. Vandy himself.

So I have had my first two days of classes - a very interesting experience. I am taking two graduate seminars. One is on epyllia (literally "little epics") and the other on Greek historians. I am also taking History of the Roman Republic and Ancient Origins of Religious Conflict. For the time being I am also sitting in on a Horace (Latin Poet), but I can only take four classes, and I can't decide whether to drop one of the classes to take this class (which I really really want to take!). So far I have liked my professors, especially the two teaching the seminars. One, Dr. Wikkiser, just came from the school where my mentor Dr. Easton is teaching now. :) I don't know much about the other, Dr. Petrain, but he blew me away with incredible knowledge in the first session, and he clearly is a very good teacher.

One of the great things about this campus is that the Classics grad students have their own seminar room. It's just a room, full of almost every conceivable Classics first and secondary source we could wish for, and it's just for us. In fact, it's always locked, and we actually get into it with keys! That made me feel very, very special. Thus far the other students still seem shy and distant - I don't know if they are all just still out of sorts in their new environment, although Classicists are notoriously bad at all things social. We shall see.

Daniel starts class tomorrow. He was able to get into classes that will count toward his major: Pre-Calc and The Old Testament. His program requires many Gen Ed courses, of which these are two. I think it's probably a good thing he will be taking the OT class, while I am taking this Religious Conflicts class. I think we'll be able to talk about it and offer each other good information back and forth. And he will be approaching it from an academically Christian perspective, while I am being taught by a non-Christian.

So, things are back to normal for me - I am constantly in a text, spending my time doing nothing but translating, and I love it! Daniel is still working through issues with school in terms of getting an internship - the way it works is that he has to be enrolled in an internship class before he can apply to most studios. As they are unpaid, legally it needs to be for college credit.

Otherwise, all is well here. The last two days have been rainy and overcast. It's been wonderful! We miss you all very much.

Midday Musings

Here we sit after another wonderful Sunday morning, eating the leftovers of our indian meal last night. I start classes tomorrow, and Daniel starts on Wednesday! Hurrah! I'm so excited to be starting. We had a wonderful evening last night -an unofficial "the summer is ending" celebration. We went out to with friends last night to the Music Row area. And while Music Row is not my favorite place in the world (last night it resembled the chaos of Mill Ave. at its most crowded, bleh), it was fun to shoot pool and talk with friends. But now school starts, and the all consuming, ever present "I should be studying right now" burden will be placed on my shoulders, ne'er to be lifted again - for two years, anyway. :)

And along the lines of school, I thought I'd share part of an e-mail I wrote to Gordon today. We've been discussing various education options (namely seminary vs. divinity school), and he asked why I would be thinking about the next step even before I've started classes. So here is little of what is on my heart right now:

"There are two reasons I'm thinking about the next step already. The first: after it looked like graduate school in Classics would not be a possibility for me, I felt a strong draw to seminary and it excited me. It felt like it fit. In a very real way, that experience made me view this MA program in light of seminary. I think that Vandy is a stop on the road to seminary, while Daniel gets on his feet. Second reason: the first thing the Department Head said to us was to consider each class and each paper and each activity in light of what our post-MA goal is. For good or for bad, from the beginning of college the education system requires us to look ahead and plan toward our ultimate goal. The Lord can work anything out for me (obviously, as I am reminded every day I'm on the Vandy campus), but if I see Vandy as a means to the end (seminary), I have a responsibility to make choices that will help me down that road.

What I want to do after Vandy - I will preface what I'm about to say with the full knowledge that things may drastically change, and I am open to that. I may decide I'm actually called to raise llamas (unlikely, but hey . . .), and I'm open to change. But at this moment, and for the past several months, I feel that I am being led to teach Greek in a seminary setting. My gift is Greek and my passion is Greek - in a very real way I feel it is a waste to dedicate my life to Greek unless it's to teach people Greek to facilitate their roles in the body of Christ. This is what the Lord has put on my heart in the last few months. And if this is my calling, the Lord will work out the details, as He worked out the details so that we could here in Nashville together.

So I want to gear my two years toward that, and take hold of the opportunities before me. The human factors may dictate that we are to stay in Nashville for a few years. In terms of a divinity school: studying the Bible in a community of people who are not all seeking God is disconcerting, but not daunting. But the truth is, statistically I am an anomaly - people in higher education are not supposed to be Christians, so the world thinks. It will be spiritually an uphill battle no matter what school I go to, or what career I prepare myself for. And while the thought of being totally surrounded in my academic environment by followers of God that are passionate about Him and His work is very appealing and comforting (and that makes seminary so appealing), I have a very real sense of the urgency and importance of keeping Him first in and out of a community like that. My relationship with the Lord is my responsibility, and I am confident that I can grow in Him at a divinity school, at a seminary, or at a totally secular institution. Knowing and loving God is my goal, regardless of the environment I'm in. High school and college have taught me that, as well as my choice in friendships and relationships. Though, I think both Daniel and I have lately realized how important it is to fellowship and receive godly encouragement - and that does mean more than just Sunday morning. I do see how the two environments must be integrated and balanced, as you have said."

This comes after finding that Vandy has a PhD program comparable to the one I was so excited about at Fuller. Thoughts, feelings, reactions, advice? It would be much appreciated!

I took my diagnostic tests today - the ones I've been stressing about all week. It's hard to say how I did, or how harshly the faculty will "grade" the test. I bombed the Greek passages but was familiar with one of the  Latin passages -  that helped, but it will be rather ironic if I'm placed in remedial Greek and advanced Latin, as I've done twice as much Greek as Latin!

In any case, it was fun to tour the campus. The library is a very strange building - low ceilings, small isles, maze-like construction. It has a dark, very unfinished look about it, which I find very cool. I briefly introduced myself to one of the other grad students, but we didn't have a chance to talk. I also looked briefly into the Classics Department rooms - so cool! It's like it's a proper department! The Classics Dept. has its own study/sitting room, its own reserve library, its own classrooms and and seminar room! It really is amazing.  .  . Every time I'm on campus I am blown away that I have been so blessed to be here.

Tomorrow is the all important meeting with all the graduate students and the head of Graduate Studies! I am looking forward to it. The Classics community at ASU was very friendly and close-knit (there was sort of an attitude of Classics majors against the rest of the world). I'm hoping the same will be true for our small group. 

In other news, Daniel is diligently scoping out the studio internship opportunities out here. He starts school next week, as well. We would ask for your prayers that he can get into the classes he needs, since there was a monumental goof-up last time he registered and didn't get the classes he wanted (grrr). 

We miss you all terribly! Although Facebook has been a blessing (thanks Cate). I even connected with old friends from San Gabriel! Anyway, hope you all are having a good week.

Blessed Kingdom Days . . .

We sang a song in church today that was unfamiliar to both Daniel and me. Its simplicity, its repetition of such important and beautiful truths spoke loudly to our hearts. I tried to find the lyrics when we got home - I thought it was an old hymn, sturdy and passing the test of time. Turns out it was written by the church's worship team:

Holy holy holy Lord

Holy holy Lord

Be thy glorious name adored

Be thy name adored

Lord Thy mercies never fail

Lord they never fail

Hail my Savior Jesus Hail

Hail king Jesus Hail

Broken hearts, Lord, sing Thy praise

Brokenhearted praise

Clothed in mercy, saved by grace

By Thy cross of grace

Purer praise we hope to bring

Lord, we hope to bring

When around Thy throne we sing

Around Thy throne we sing

There no tongue shall silent be

None shall silent be

All shall join in harmony

All in harmony

In those blessed Kingdom days

Blessed Kingdom days

There will be one anthem raised

Singing endless days

Holy holy holy Lord

Holy holy Lord

Be Thy glorious name adored

This is the church we've been attending for the last five weeks. I love the way this church does worship. In a place where musical talent is always on display, and always seeking to be displayed, this church has quietly elected to go the other way. The band is not on stage, but is discretely placed in the corner, on the floor and almost out 

of sight. The instrumentation is always good, but mostly acoustic, quiet - the words are always forefront. The people of this church and the Spirit of this church has done nothing but refresh us and uplift us in our walk. We are so thankful.

In other news, school is son starting, and this upcoming week will be a difficult one for me. I have diagnostic tests that I have to take before Friday. These tests 

are supposed to determine how far along I am in my comprehension of Greek and Latin, which will then determine what level I am placed in this semes

ter. Aside from trying to overcome the general test-taking nervousness, I'm striving to remedy my laziness over the past three years. I fear I have not focused on learning vocabulary as I should have, because at ASU we were never forced to sight-read. So, in pictures this will be the whole of my next week . . .

And this is only one of the ways my wonderful husband helps me get through it all ;) . . . Cate, your post about the donuts warmed my heart. While this particular batch was a little more than $2, the principle is the same. (All of this is supposed to last the entire week, by the way!) But don't worry, Gordon, I've been exercising. I take my notecards on my walks. I get some funny looks, but it's a good way to budget time. 

Favorite Things

One of the greatest discoveries we've made here is a Farmer's Market about 10 minutes away from our apartment. It's open every day, and it's comprised of 10-12 local growers. The produce is spectacular! Just tons and tons of vegetables and fruits, honey, homemade jam, homemade lemonade, a flea market, two or three garden stalls with plants and pots, etc. We've been three times now. We keep going back to a particular grower - his produce is good, and he is such a sweet man. He talks and talks and talks when we're there. Last time we had to draw attention to another customer he had behind him, making very rude faces and being very noticeably annoyed at his lack of attention. But we like talking to him, and we like his amazing two pound vidalia onions! (Which he pronounces, "veeedaaaya")

Also at the Farmer's Market is an international grocery store - this was such a discovery for us. One our favorite things to do back in Arizona was go out for Indian food. There was a restaurant in Tempe called Pasand's that we went to probably once or twice a week when we could. It left rather a huge hole in our gastronomic lives when we moved here. :) And not quite being able to go out and sample the Indian food of Nashville, we decided to start cooking for ourselves! The first few times we had to buy spices at the grocery store - which was expensive and they didn't have all that we needed. But then we found the international market! Tons and tons of all the spices we needed, and every Indian food you could possibly wish for. So we loaded up on half-pound bags of all the spices, bought some rice too, and have been enjoying homemade Indian food once or twice a week. :) Our latest adventure was homemade naan (which is a type of bread). I have decided that baking bread is an extremely cathardic experience. Kneading can be quite fun after a stressful day, and it makes me feel like I'm really accomplishing something in my cooking. Daniel enjoyed it, too, because he got to laugh at me covered head to toe in flour! It was EVERYwhere. . . 

Cooking has become a special time for us. We never really cooked together before that much, but now it's a daily ritual. We take turns cooking, as Daniel can make a much better pasta than I can, but we always do it together. I see him developing into quite a cook . . . he has so much fun when we try a new recipe. And he's already talking about what he wants to cook for people when they come visit. :)

A quick glimpse of life here

Just wanted to share some pictures of Nashville! We lost our camera in transit, so I'm sorry for the quality. We've been having so many fun experiences out here, I wish I could share all of them with you guys! But one of the best so far was a lovely Saturday evening Daniel and I spent at Centennial Park in the downtown area. The park is only about half a mile from Vandy, so I look forward to studying there after classes. :)

The Parthenon is a 1:1 construction that was build for the World Fair in something like 1896, then rebuilt in the 20's as a permanent construction. We haven't been inside yet, but it houses a 40ft reproduction of the Athena Parthenos, the original cult statue. It's rather ironic that I wrote no less than 4 papers about the Parthenon and the Athena in Nashville, and now I get to live so close by!

And as if the Parthenon wasn't cool enough, the part has a beautiful pond surrounded by even more beautiful trees! There are about 10 willow trees with benches under them - it's just amazing. And I couldn't help but share the picture of this beautiful knarly tree. :)

And now for the apartment:
The kitchen is pretty nice. We've been cooking together quite a bit lately, and it works even for both of us in there at the same time. On the refrigerator proudly displayed are Daniel's birthday cards from the girls. 

The dining room is probably my favorite room in the house, and the one I spend the most time in - studying Greek and eating. On the left are the cypress prints. They are so beautiful! And the table we got at a local antique store. 

The candles were a gift from Linda - thanks!

Yes, that is a giant hanging camel head sconce. Don't ask . . . ;)

Here is the jewelry chest Grandma gave me with Cara and Rob's silver dish on top. Mom - do you recognize the prints on the wall? Still have them!

Bathroom with the shower curtain I was so excited about, and the print Dad brought back from Italy for me. 

The beautiful amethyst vase Grandma gave me!

It's a wonderful apartment - we feel so blessed to be so comfortable when we're just starting out. The neighborhood is great to walk in, with lots of trees and fun houses. We have lightning bugs and bats that come out every night! 

As for Nashville itself, we are loving it. What a wonderful city! We recently discovered a great farmer's market, there are tons to beautiful, green parks and tons of fun things to do. We've been attending a church called Midtown Fellowship for the last few weeks. We're already involved in a young couples' small group, and they've been looking for a sound volunteer . . . :) Once again, the Lord opened the way for us. This was the second church we visited, but we immediately got plugged in and are loving it.

Love you all!