5 Weekly Graces Vol. 26

Slowly but surely I am settling in to life here on the East Coast. It is definitely different than California, but it has been good so far. As I reflect on this past week (though I may be meshing two into one - it's been a lot of transition/processing haha) I am overcome by the beautiful experiences of grace and hospitality that have been extended in this new, remarkable place.

This week I am thankful for:

1. Small Worlds

On my first day of work I met a colleague whose daughter went to undergrad at my school. I asked her name - partly to be polite and partly because the school is small enough that I could have known her - and it turns out I knew exactly who she was! Between my being sick most of freshman year/ studying abroad fall of sophomore year and her transferring halfway through sophomore year, we only overlapped for about a semester, but our paths definitely crossed. She kindly reached out to me on Facebook when her dad mentioned it and we met up for coffee. The world is too small, y'all. Yay for a friend in the area!

2. Great Colleagues

I cannot even begin to say what a warm, welcoming, super-willing-to-help environment the school I am working at is. The number of faculty who have reached out and offered to help me in any way that they can is humbling and so heartwarming - #blessed doesn't even begin to cover it.

3. Early Dismissals

The majority of out school is not air conditioned and like much of the States, we've been having incredibly hot weather. Friday's forecast was a scorcher and it was the last day of summer before the students arrive, so we were told at about 9am that offices were closing at noon and we had the rest of the day off! A huge perk especially after learning that my job doesn't fall under the typical snow days category... womp womp

4. Retreats

Another indication that I am in the right work environment: the school year began with a faculty retreat devoted to reflecting on our mission as educators and how it meets the needs of our students and the world.

5. Neighborly Neighbors

And for my final moment of grace this week, a big shout out to a fun night of Kan Jam, Cornhole and homemade beef stew courtesy of the super nice couple that lives below me. People in Connecticut are so nice! I can't get over it!

How was your week? Any fun end-of-summer plans?

Peace,
Sarah

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 25

Only a short time home this summer means filling my days with fun and friends which means it was hard to choose just 5 moments of joy this week - the best kind of dilemma if you ask me. I'm soaking in this precious time off and trying to do just about as much as possible before the big move this weekend.

1. Road Trip
My plan for moving to Connecticut included staying with a friend of a friend for a week or so while I searched for housing. Unfortunately, they didn't have the space for me until a few weeks after I already had to be in town for work so I had to make new arangements quickly. Luckily, I have amazing friends who are willing to road trip last minute with me in search of housing. So last Wednesday I took my first trip to CT and looked at a bunch of apartments on Thursday. I loved having time to spend with my friend and time to see my new home and workplace. It is stunning. I can't wait!!

2. Apartment Found!
Our last minute trip was an amazing success. I found an apartment I am absolutely in love with that is within my budget and only 10 minutes from work! I will definitely have to post some photos to share with y'all as the move-in process begins.

3. Fish Fry
My best friend and roommate from college, who also took the road trip with me, is moving from Erie, PA to Florida this week and her family hosted a fish fry to send her off and celebrate her dad's birthday. It was lovely and I was able to car pool with another friend from college who I hadn't seen in a while and catch up. Good friends, delicious food, perfect weather - what else could be better?

4. Dinner Date
Tacos, brownies, long conversations and a good friend from high school - another great visit with an amazing woman. She's the best.

5. Concert
Last, but not least, my cousin has been playing local country music shows for a few years and Saturday he played with one of his friends at a local winery in Ohio. I went with my family and had a ball. It's great to see his passion for music and the joy our family feels seeing him on stage.

That just about sums it up for me. How were your weeks? Any moments that have you just beaming with joy?

Peace,
Sarah

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 24

Another week has come and gone and honestly, I am just trying to soak in as much time here at school as I can manage. It's amazing to see how much one place can impact you in such a short period of time. It's only been three years and I can clearly see the difference between myself when I began my degree and myself now, just over a week away from being finished. But yes, I am ready to be done and to move on to whatever this next stage in life will be...

1) I passed comps!

3 years of studying apparently paid off because I passed my oral comprehensive exams last week and will officially be graduating on May 21. I feel so much lighter, but still don't quite know that I believe it has happened. I bet it will sink in by graduation weekend though - hopefully haha

2) Massage #earnedit

To celebrate passing comps, I treated myself to a massage in an attempt to work out some of the tension I have been carrying from comps stress. I used a Groupon and a coupon they sent me via email a few months ago so it ended up costing me $3 for the hour. Yay for thriftyness.

3) Wine Tasting

A group of classmates and I headed up to Sonoma County on Friday for some wine tasting. I had never gone to Sonoma and was thrilled for the opportunity to check it out before leaving. It was a ton of fun and such a treat to get out of the city into a slower pace - much more my style - plus, it's wine.

4) Student Dinner

My job's main role is to bring out leadership skills in our students as they prepare to take a group of classmates on immersion trips both domestic and abroad. To thank our hard-working student leader, our team decided to take the group out to dinner. It was nothing fancy, just a nice evening to gather together for the last time and share some memories and gratitude. My favorite part of my job is working with these students. They are all absolutely incredible and I cannot wait to see how they change the world.

5) Mile-a-Day

I mentioned it in my May Goals post, but I am participating in a challenge to walk/run/move for at least one mile each day in May. Today was the 10th day and so far it is going great. I love being outdoors and this challenge gives me an excuse to step away from final projects and get in some cardio. It's not too late, you cans still join in and finish up the month strong!

How was your week? Any moments of great joy? I'd love to hear about it!

Peace,
Sarah

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 23

Happy Tuesday, friends! I hope that your week is off to a beautiful start! Mondays are my day off, so yesterday was a nice combination of relaxing and productive - though it could have been more of the latter haha

I think I might finally be getting back into the rhythm of regular blogging and I'm pretty jazzed about it. I've missed writing down thoughts and ideas and sharing with you all.

Per usual, the beginning of the week means the 5 Weekly Graces post where I round up five moments from last week where I noticed some good in my life. As you will see, last week was lovely :)

1. Walks with Friends

On Saturday my roommate and I took a walk to the Berkeley Rose Garden which is blooming and gorgeous right now. I wish I had a photo to share but we left our phones at home. I then took her to a hidden waterfall nearby that is one of my favorite places in town. It's tucked away behind the local park and hard to find, but so worth the walk. One of my roommates my first year at school showed me it's location and I suppose I have now passed it on down to the next crop of students.

2. Delicious Food

Monday was my night to cook for the community and I ended up trying a recipe from Pinterest for Mexican Chicken Quinoa Casserole. It was amazing! I always get a little nervous trying out recipes for the first time if I'm sharing the finished product. This super simple recipe did not disappoint and left us with leftovers for a few days after.

3. Catholic Underground

A group of friends from the retreat I helped with a few weekends ago came up to Berkeley on Friday for an event put on by the local diocese. The title sounds a little sketch, no? Basically, the event was praise and adoration followed by music from an independent Catholic artist, Kevin Heider. I had never heard of him before, but really enjoyed his music and ended up purchasing an album. His song The Waiting is beautiful. Oh, and if the world wasn't small enough, he is from Ohio and knows my roommate from college's husband. Crazy.

4. Community Happy Hour

My school has 3 buildings of student housing and the building managers hosted a "happy hour" on Friday for all of us to get together and mingle. It was super low key and just a lot of fun to see so many friends in one place this close to graduation. I'm truly going to miss the beautiful community here.

5. Camino Reunion

On Saturday night one of the professors who walked the Camino Ignaciano with me this summer hosted a reunion for the group. I had seen some of them here and there, but we had not all gotten together since last semester. Three cheers for good friendship, good conversation and good food.

What about you? What moments from last week have left your heart filled with joy?

Peace,
Sarah

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 22

So comprehensive exams might have pushed me into hiding for the past few weeks...

I had originally hoped to at least keep up with the weekly grace posts, but clearly that did not happen. A huge thanks for all of you patience, love and support! It's good to have some space to begin writing again and I even have a few posts that were queued up but I never put finishing touches on, so there should be some more posts on the way!

Because I have skipped the past few weeks, this edition of 5 Weekly Graces is probably going to cover more than just last week. #sorrynotsorry

Also, I'm pretty sure all of these moments will have something to do with comps... it was kind of a big deal haha

1) Comps!

On Thursday and Friday I took the written portion of my comprehensive exams for graduation - basically the Bar for MDiv students. The exam lasted 6 hours and I wrote 17 pages trying to encapsulate all of the knowledge I've gained over the past 3 years of study. It was terrifying and hard and everything you would think it would be, but it was also very blessed and exciting in some ways. On day one I was so anxious that I was breaking out into hives and even cried a little beforehand, but once I sat down and looked at the questions in front of me an sense of patience and calm took over - I knew the material. I could answer the questions. Do I think I passed with distinction? No, probably not. But I do think that I passed and I have until May 4th to research my answers and come to the oral exam (yup, there's more) prepared to correct or add to anything I wrote.

2) Caritas

 Rather than keeping the weekend before comps free for studying, I chose to help facilitate a small group on Caritas (the young adult retreat I attended in November). A bold decision, I know. After much prayer and reflection I realized that if I didn't already know the material by that point there wasn't much I could do. So, instead of spending the weekend in the library, I spent it in prayer and reflection with some amazing people and found that much of my prayer led to a calming of anxieties and also just a beautiful quiet, which was just what I needed.

3) Surrounded by Love

The night before comps and the morning of I was flooded with so many texts, emails, Facebook messages, etc from friends wishing me luck and offering their prayers. A few people at school asked me how I was feeling just before entering into the exam and my answer was simple - I felt loved. What a beautiful grace to be filled with a sense of peace during such an anxious time.

4) Visitors

I'm hoping that my confidence in passing comps is true because in addition to my mom, grandma and little sister coming to graduation, my best friend from college booked a flight to visit too! I love having worlds collide and cannot wait to share this place I have come to call home with all of them! (Now I just have to make sure to finish all of my coursework in a timely manner as well...)

5) Roommate Date

To celebrate the end of written comps, one of my roommates and I spent Saturday evening checking some items off of my Bay Area bucket-list and my 101 in 1001. We began with mass and went for a walk around Lake Merritt in Oakland with one of our other roommates. The weather was perfect and the lake was beautiful. For dinner we went to a delicious Ethiopian restaurant and ended the evening at home with some salted-caramel gelato. It was a good night.

I'm still so filled with joy and love from the past few weeks. I'm in constant awe of the kindness and support shared by others and cannot begin to articulate how grateful I am for having such beautiful people in my life.

Where have you found the good this week?

Peace,
Sarah

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 21

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because I am currently on an immersion with students for the week and have limited internet access and only my phone to use it.

1. My mom

No particular reason. We had a lovely phone call this past week and I've been noticing a deep sense of gratitude for my mom coming about a lot in prayer lately. She's pretty rad. 

2. Roommates

I had to share some difficult news with my roommates and was honestly quite nervous to do so. Long story short, what I shared was very well received and I'm incredibly grateful for that. 

3. Immersion Time!

             

I'm currently in East LA spending the week with 11 college students as they immerse themselves into the beautiful community of Boyle Heights. We are only on day 2 and I'm already so incredibly touched by the depth and compassion that they are showing in reflection and discussion. It's going to be a good week. 

4. Flowers

            

There have been so many beautiful blooms all over California this month and they're even more vibrant and present now as we really get into spring. There are just so many different types and colors and scents. I love it.

5. Pan Dulce

No explanation needed. 

I hope you are all have incredible starts to your week. For those who are Christian, I hope you have an incredibly prayerful Holy Week. 

Peace,

Sarah

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