Summer in Retrospect

As you might have guessed from the scarcity of blog posts, the new academic year has begun.

Belying my mournful attitude last week, I have pretty much snapped back into work mode and haven't spent much time pining for the summer. Still, I wanted to say a few words about the summer as a whole...

So, remember my "realistically ambitious" summer plan from back in June? That whole thing pretty much makes me laugh now! But, I definitely can't call the summer a waste...

• I did learn to read French and passed my department's language exam.
  
• I revised a seminar paper for possible inclusion in a publication. (More on this later, if there is good news to report.)
• I did keep up with studying Syriac pretty well, though in recent weeks I've had to put it on the back burner for my sanity's sake.
• I only finished one book for my second-year reading list, but it was a long and important book, so that's still not bad, and I am on pace with my fellow second-years.

All told, it's not as impressive or as neat and tidy as my original list. But for a grad school summer, I think it's a respectable set of accomplishments. And I've learned by now that very little about grad student life is neat and tidy. :-)

Aside from school things, it was a fairly quiet summer, without many adventures. Part of that was because financially, things were pretty tight. While I don't relish the thought of being that broke again, I really hope I don't forget what it feels like to be a struggling grad student. Maybe someday, I can be in a position to help out another young academic household. I think that'd be a grand blessing!

Above all, I've learned that God always, always provides, even when circumstances are not looking that promising, or when I'd prefer that the "providence" look a bit different from what He intends. This is a truth I am slow to learn and, I expect, will have to learn in various ways again and again.

I'll do my best to update again soon to tell y'all about my new classes, and about some other stuff that's going on (good stuff!), most particularly with my husband. :-)