Already Almost November

WOW time is flying. It has already been two weeks since My friend Bri came down to see us. We had a wonderful time with her and I enjoyed catching up face to face. Thanks for coming Bri!!! Not to mention, it was fun to have someone else be so excited about the beautiful place that we are living in.

Josh just had his second seminar weekend of the semester. He presented the paper he was working on for the past four weeks. The paper was on a Christian biblical interpreter in the Middle Ages named Nicholas of Lyra. He is known for, among other things, having written a massive commentary on the whole Bible. Josh looked into how he interpreted the Old Testament in particular and tried to understand better the way he affected the way we read the OT today. The research and the interaction in the seminar were both good learning experiences.

A page from Nicholas of Lyra's Postilla litteralis on the Psalms, with the biblical text surrounded by Nicholas's commentary.

I (Josh--we're tag-teaming this blog) have my last game of flag football at San Quentin this coming Saturday. I and about 8-10 other seminary guys go and play against the prison team. They have at least three times as many guys and it seems they are all about three times as big as any of us. They also practice often, play every week against other teams, and are undefeated. (They have a baseball team too, which was featured in Sports Illustrated--the San Quentin Giants.) Needless to say it can be quite intimidating for 10 average-sized, white seminarians who spend most of their days sitting and reading and who haven't practiced and don't have any plays, to walk onto the yard of this massive, historic prison (known as "the Q") where 30-40 big guys who seem to spend most of their days working out, are either running their plays or watching us with big grins as we walk onto the field.

We get beat but it is very fun and good to get out there and run around. And it is the most physical flag football I've ever played, which I love. Some of the other guys I think are a little less used to or excited about the contact part of it. Each time I've been pretty bruised and sore for a few days afterward. It's fun but also a really good experience. One of our guys shares at half-time and they always listen very attentively and respectfully. Some of these guys are the nicest guys you'd ever meet. It's eye-opening, sad, thought-provoking, and challenging all at the same time. I think this Saturday might be the day the San Quentin Blues Brothers suffer their first loss ever:)

Stacy is starting to work more and more on the Christmas program for the preschool. She has to assign speaking roles for the four-year-olds (the tigers), teach the songs and motions to all the kids, make sets, and much more, all while still helping most days in the threes class (cheetahs) and taking her classes at the seminary too. And that is also not to mention her keeping the laundry done, the house clean, and her husband well-fed and well-loved. The busyness of the semester has definitely not let up for either of us.