Year One at SVOTS is Done :)

Here is a brief summary of our year and a little update so you know what we "8-plex" Bozeman have been up to. (We live in the 8-plex at the seminary and everyone here is identified by where they live and who has lived their apartment before them.) So, above is the center of the SVS bubble: the chapel. We've spent countless hours in the Three Hierarchs Chapel this last year worshipping God and celebrating the Eucharist! Lee has sung in the choir, read, and served in the altar while the kids have also served many services in the altar. Meanwhile, we've spent lots of time outside "the bubble" exploring New York, new jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. !

Some of our favorite moments in pictures so you can see what we've been up to:

Above: We've seen so many new things from Ellis Island to Coney Island...from the Metropolitain Museum of Art, Central Park, the Bronx Zoo, the Natural History Museum, Jones Beach, Kite Flying in Greenwich, the Mystic Seaport, Times Square, and West Point to name a few---it has all been a HUGE adventure!

Above: We participated in this year's March for life in Washinton, D.C.

Above: Jude's become a pro at navigating the subway!

Winter at SVS was loads of fun due to the snow...

Our first year at seminary--i.e. tow semesters--is finished! We can't believe it honestly. For me, the adjustment has had it's high and low points. I've made some wonderful friends, actually enjoy some aspects of my shoe-box sized apartment (easy to clean!) and I really do love New York. All surprising.

The struggle has been the flipside of the above: my job took some getting used to as all new jobs do, New York living has been a bit of a culture shock, and living in community is work, work, work.

Lee has done a wonderful job of balancing everything from going to church twice a day during the week and attending many services on the weekends, to playing Mr. Mom, to working hard at his studies and attending countless hours of classes, choir rehearsals, seminars, etc. As usual he has stayed calm, cool, and collected. Jamey and Katie and their kids have been a constant source of support & entertainment and we LOVE living near them!!

Now summer is here! The boys will have a break from homeschool while I continue to work full time on the floor at the hospital and teach childbirth classes. We hope to take a trip in August to Florida and this week we have Lee's parents visiting NY for the first time.

This fall Jude starts 7th grade and James will be in 5th! I'm back in school in August to continue working towards the elusive & ultimate Master's degree @ UMKC and I'll also work two nights a week on the floor, teach childbirth classes and homeschool! SHEW!

Lee starts hospital visitation hours this summer and has been looking a lot at chaplaincy and how to incorporate a 400 hr CPE program into his already full workload. His course load for this next year includes classes in things like Greek and Homilitics, Lord have mercy! We are trying to prepare for the future with the knowledge that God's will WILL be done in all things--so we are not anxious! :)

God has been good to us as a family--we have been under His protection and he has kept us all "going" as it were. We are still thankful for & covet your prayers for us as we move into the second year here at St. Vladimir's.