Advent, School, and a Bed

I have continued my attempt at grasping deeper into this whole “Advent” thing again this year and find it richer and more meaningful as ever.  This season it was primarily facilitated by the opportunity to preach on Advent week 3 (Joy!) for my friend and mentor Rev. Jon Twitchell in Cape Elizabeth. Being able to meditate and read into the Advent passages have been so wonderful and meaningful.  These last few months I have had 5 or 6 preaching opportunities and each time it always challenges me to dig deeper into the passage at hand as well as the church and people I am with.

Father, forgive me, for I have not believed.

Father, forgive me. I forgot your grace.

-Caedmon’s Call

I have also been gearing up for a return to NTS in January. I have not taken a class since last January, and there is a real excitement to printing off the syllabus, poring over it, creating a spreadsheet with due dates, going through the book list, and meeting classmates online.  I will be traveling without wife and children this year, but am rooming with another friend and mentor Rev. Richard Waller from Millinocket. I’m dreading being away from my family for two weeks, but the time spent at NTS always proves refreshing and formative. This will be first attempt at taking both a morning as well as evening class, so may not be so refreshing this time :o)

Today was a big day in the Donahue house: Andrew has a bed!  After a beautiful bunk bed was graciously given to us, we took the plunge and set it up today to replace Andrew’s crib.  He immediately loved rolling around on it, but it was a little more difficult when it was time to lay down.  This may have been more in part to the time (about an hour past his normal bedtime coupled with a very short nap earlier in the day!) but after 3 or 4 rounds of picking-him-up-and-putting-him-back-in-bed, we read through a book together (followed by our normal nighttime routine where I hand him the book to “read” as he falls asleep) and he curled up, cuddled his blanket, and hasn’t made a peep since! He’s only regained his normal nighttime routine a few days ago after 2 weeks of battling a cold and needing to be rocked to sleep every night, so I have been a little on edge all week about this.

On the agenda: Watching the children’s play again tomorrow, a fun christmas-y themed youth group, and a pat’s game at 8.