Kentucky Landings

Well, Richard is away today at a Willow Creek Leadership Summit, so I can have a turn with the new computer. It's been in heavy usage with 8 papers due on Monday, and several others due over the next fortnight - all 'works in progress', so blog time is somewhat of a novelty!
Wilmore is starting to feel like home now - we have enjoyed the local fourth of July parade, eaten the local pizza, joined the bank and the library, and are currently melting in near 100 degree heat [35 or so in Celcius].

Richard is well ensconced in the study - to the point that a colleague felt obliged to check that he hadn't 'skipped the country' as he had disappeared from view for so long, amongst the books.
Simon and Theresa were able to choose their school subjects today at West Jessamine High, which makes the daunting prospect of starting into the US school system suddenly seem very real. Kristie had her orientation on Tuesday, and we all visited West Jessamine Middle School tonight as she showed us around.

For the children, summer days have passed happily here among the 24 'Beeson Kids' [ages 7 months to Simon, 16] playing on the large, dusty, dry front lawn. For our girls, water fights and a lemonade stand have provided tough competition to my attempts at morning home-schooling indoors. Simon's preference has been the Tolkein shelves of the Asbury College [Uni] Library across the street. So the home-schooling was a bit half-hearted: we did well at reading, writing consisted mostly of e-mails/ postcards home, cooking was ok so long as chocolate chips were an ingredient, and Simon slogged away at algebra in preparation for shifting up a grade with the change of school curriculum. Social studies we found every time we stepped outside the door and explored a little more of the new world we are are settling into. Science has definitely revolved around the variety of critters crawling, flying and climing around us. Red cardinals, squirrels, velvet 'ants' [a flightless wasp with an attitude] and one large black widow spider which tried to invite itself indoors!

I am enjoying getting to know the Beeson wives - a wide variety of very capable, high achieving women. Today we were sharing about the difference it makes whether or not our churches allow us to develop deep and natural friendships of our own, as I have at ECW, or require such an egalitarian approach that all relationships remain [equally] surface. We concluded that it has enriched our ministries deeply wherever we have been allowed to thrive personally, and stunted it wherever issues of jealousy or mistrust have surfaced. We do have organised bible study time, and the odd fun outing, but generally such philosophising happens, like most things, on the front lawn, amidst kids on bikes, babes with grazes, and water balloon missiles, while the hubbies study [or goof off with a football].

Richard has completed Spirituality of Leadership, and is about to launch into the first Preaching practicum. The goal is to read about a book a day, and write several papers at the same time to avoid the inevitable bottlenecks of due dates. The pattern of teaching is to pack each subject into a 2 week intensive. Each intensive seems to cover about one semester of work, and to rely on about 40% of the work and assignments being completed before class begins! The short breaks between one intensive and the next are quickly coming to be regarded as gold, because that's when the real work can happen. Once those 8 preaching papers are safely in, Richard will snatch some blog time too, and update you on some of the reflections that are taking shape as the weeks pass.

In the meantime, we are very mindful of friends and family dissolving in the NZ winter rains, and pray for you often by name. May God touch and bless your life where you need it most.

Y'all come back now, y'hear!
Blessings
Jane