Happy Christmas Eve

3 comments

• Hey~

  So happy to have found your blog. My husband is also going to seminary– just finished his first semester & is on the ordination track. We have three little fellas (twins-5, & a two-year-old) & have found most folks in his program are either younger (with no kids) or older (also second career) who either never had children or whose children are already grown.

  There are very few of us here with little ones & we are the only ones with THREE. We’ve found it extremely challenging as we had made really intentional decisions when our first were born to create a life where we both could be extremely active parents. Now P has had to learn to negociate student/seminarian work & expectations with parenting & he doesn’t have obvious role models or mentors to look to (they very well may be here but we haven’t found them yet).

  I am home this year as a full-time parent (yup, that’s right= a family of five with no income) & haven’t felt totally welcomed into the community. We are all, in theory, welcome at the majority of things but they mostly just aren’t designed for little kids (general ya-ya moving & shaking vs. quietness; bedtimes; etc) but we do try to go to as many community events as possible to remind folks that there are seminarians with kids & we are a part of the community as well.

  Let’s face it– most seminarians will end up doing ministry that involves children in one way or another. However, when the work is overwhelming (& it is here) & you are 24 years old with no kids, I can see how you might appear not to notice the small number of kids around or think about what a seminarian parent or partner might be facing. However, I wonder how that bodes for future ministry…Will be curious to hear if you & your wife find it different at your site.

  Wish you all well. Will be checking back often. GOOD LUCK.

• Sara,

  You might be interested in checking out my blog as well (shameless plug) under the seminary bloggers tag. Our families sound as though we are in the same boat. We are expecting our third son (all under 4) in February.

  I would love to talk with your husband and offer what little insight I am able as well as glean some from him and his experiences.

  God bless.

• Sara – Thanks for the comment. It will be interesting to see how many of the students have kids and what it is like. I guess my only thought is that a lot of what is not available via the seminary is found (one would hope) in a local church.

  Also, I’d be VERY interested to hear how you two are making it on NO income. Just a Gal is a SAHM but I am a web developer and we have some friends and family chipping in to cover expenses (time will tell how well this will work)… but no income sounds stressful! Please, do tell!