Southern Luv!

In between church hopping and house shopping Greg and I have actually had so many opportunities here in L-ville for which I am so thankful! Not only is Greg being equipped through his learning, but I have been so blessed by being fairly involved with the seminary community and I love how they provide so many opportunities to learn and be stretched and just enjoy. It is truly a blessing to be here and the only drawback is having to say no to an activity because there is such an abundance!

1) Seminary Wives Institute
The first resource is the seminary wives institute which is the brainchild of Mrs. Mohler herself. She has a huge heart for equipping ministry women both intellectually and spiritually and has set up this accredited program specifically for people like me. There are about 20 different courses you can take and can end up with a certification through Boyce College if you complete all the requirements. Classes are led by faculty wives and faculty themselves (including one taught by my boss, Dr. Mohler) and are fairly rigorous and rich in content. The course I decided to take is Intro to Biblical Counseling which has been amazing! It is taught mainly by Dr. Stuart Scott (writer of The Exemplary Husband) with support from his wonderful wife, Zondra. I have learned so much from this class and it really has perked an interest in me to continue to learn more about Biblical counseling and perhaps even sit in or enroll in a seminary class or two next semester. Next semester I plan on taking Sem Wives Baptist History with one of Greg's professors and following that perhaps a discipleship class or marriage and family class. I feel blessed to be so equipped!

2) Southern Events

Southern has so many events going on all the time. From breakfasts with missionaries or lecture series by professors there is always something to participate in (I would know, part of my job is to post advertisement for these events online!). One of the great events the seminary put on two weeks ago was the annual Fall Festival. It was so much more than I had imagined. There was a carousel, mechanical bull, giant inflatable slides and bouncers, scavenger hunt and caricature artist. The hot dogs and burgers were free and people went around giving out candy and popcorn and snow cones! One part Greg and I particularly enjoyed was the BMX stunt show! It was really neat to see co-workers and meet people in such a fun, family centered atmosphere. It was highly impressive and although we left before the fireworks, we heard they were fantastic and even played the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack, haha.

I didn't know I married a Korean or that my mouth was so big!

3) Family Life Conference
Part of completing the Sem Wives Institute is to attend the Family Life Conference which is hosted by Dr. Hershael York and his beautiful wife. Last Friday Greg and I went to the candlelight dinner and met some more seminary couples and then sat under the teaching of Dr. York for the first session. Then on Saturday morning we had breakfast and a men's and women's breakout session. I was incredibly encouraged by Mrs. York and her candidness speaking about marriage and marital intimacy. It was such an encouraging time of being built up and Greg and I were both very blessed by what we learned this past weekend (not to mention the free book!). I also love how they see it as a ministry and the cover charge is only $10 for the both of us. Wow =)

 Us at the Family Life Dinner

4) Adopted for Life
Another random event was a panel discussion and book signing in the bookstore on Thursday before my SWI (sem wives) class. Dr. Russell Moore, Mr. Dan Dumas and Dr. Randy Stinson made up a panel to discuss both the theological and practical implications of adoption. It has been so neat to see couples with trans-racial children and how they have adopted this child into their life to be their family just as God has adopted us as sons. Greg and I have been thinking about adoption and it is nice to know that there are so many people and resources to help us as God continues to soften our heart for the nations and orphans. Plus we got our book signed!

5) Pendergraph Fellowship
Also, last Tuesday night after a time of worship and a message from Mrs. Mohler, a group of ladies went to the Mohler's for dessert with the Pendergraph women's fellowship group which meets monthly to connect seminary wives, seminary women students and boyce college students in fellowship. I find that surprisingly it is harder to meet people in a forced fellowship setting (some people aren't too friendly...sad), but one of the cooler parts was getting to see Dr. Mohler's house and his library is HUGE! It's basically the whole basement of the house. (will post pics soon). I'm not sure if I'll continue to go to this group, but it's nice to know it is there and availlable.

So there you have it, definitely plenty for us to do! I'm even passing up a great opportunity to go to a financial seminar this weekend in order to sleep in, not burn out and house hunt (a good trade off I think). Yay for SBTS!