"And your plate will be filled to overflowing..." Acts 31:12

This week is Thanksgiving and things at Luther aren't that different from other places. Many of us will travel somewhere to be with family or friends. Some of us will stay here and have a small gathering of family or classmates in our apartments or dorms. Some of us are taking the opportunity to give back by serving at community meals. Some of us will spend our brains out the following day. Many seniors will be filling out ELCA candidacy paperwork that contributes to their near future in big ways (i.e. regional/synodical preferences for first call).

Pretty near all of us give thanks to God that we have this week off. It's a great chance to catch our breath and either catch up on classwork we've fallen behind on, or to get ahead with papers and reading that will soon be making its demands upon us. After the break, there are three short weeks until the end of the semester so this is a great period of reprieve before the final sprint.

My wife, Natalie, and Toby and I are waiting for his sister to make her arrival. She is "due" today and yet shows no signs of leaving her cozy, womb-enshrouded, placenta munching, cervical-plug-keeping-out-the-as-yet-unknown-and-frightening-world. We already give thanks for her and the great support we have here at seminary in the form of friends, co-workers, and numerous professors who have offered to babysit at our very whim (thanks Dr. Throntveit!). Even still, we'll cook hormone-infused turkey, yams baked in herbicidal goodness and thank God that we haven't yet gotten some form of cancer, and pray that female Julin-McCleary comes out screaming soon.