Merry Christmas! Although it is a bit early, I’m always excited for Christmas and celebrating what it represents. Yes, I’m one of those people who start playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving. Thankfully, between my own rather impressive digital Christmas music collection (thanks to after Christmas sales at the Christian Book Store in years past) and Spotify’s somewhat more limited offerings, I’m set to enjoy the spirit of Christmas all month.
Last year I was blessed with quite a few cool, rainy
days during December and I did a lot of Christmas cookie baking as well as stolon
and such for my Church’s coffee hour.
Baking has been one of my favorite stress relief outlets since vet
school and at the end of the year here, once the students have finished exams in
November and gone home, it is perfect timing.
This year, unfortunately, I may not be able to do so
much baking. For one thing, it is
shaping up to be a very hot summer. For another, we may not be finished with
the students until Dec 18th.
With all the delays due to Corona virus we have been really pushing to
finish before the end of the year. The clinic was closed another 3 weeks during
this second term due to staff and student cases, so our already tight plans
have been further compressed. To finish
out the term, the students only had 1 week per rotation instead of two. Please continue to keep the students in your
prayers as they are expected to learn the same amount with less time to do so
(both for theory and practical skills).
One of the extra stresses this year has been taking
over the lecture portion of the final-year small animal course. Usually I just
help with the clinical portions, but the lecturer in charge of the module
resigned early this year and I volunteered to finish out the year. This has meant putting together quite a few
lectures and tests. Imagine having only an
hour to cover all the clinical aspect of dermatology (skin), urology
(kidneys/bladder), emergencies, fluid therapy, etc. Yikes!
It generally takes me 10-15 hours to put together each lecture and then
another hour to record the audio for it.
I have much more sympathy for my old professors now.
Thankfully, we have been having some student Bible
studies again on campus. We are meeting
at my house in the garden where we can be socially distanced. Many of our normal attendees are not back on
campus, but for the ones that are, it is a blessing to meet in person again. I have also been taking students to my
church on Sunday mornings since the campus student churches, that many attend,
are still closed. My new seven-seater
vehicle is already being put to good use!
As the year finishes, please keep my ministry in mind
for end-of-year giving as that can provide a good portion of my yearly
support. Also, CVM has an awesome Animal
Impact Gift Guide (https://gifts.cvm.org/collections/all)
that allows you to give a chicken or goat or such to someone in need (though
CVM) in the name of your friends and family.
It can be the perfect gift for those people on your list who are hard to
buy for.
Enjoy the Christmas season, friends and family (as
much as you are able during this difficult time), and never lose sight of
Christ, the reason for the season.
No comments:
Post a Comment