This is excellent. I was one of those women who got married just before vicarage and then worked after we got back to Fort Wayne, but I can still say - yes, this is right on the money.
What the Seminaries Should Actually Tell Candidate Wives Instead of all the Overblown and Unnecessary Stuff They Do Tell Them.
Please read the comments. What Anonymous says is also very beautiful
I wonder if the sem prepares the soon to preachers kid fir he life the sre sboutbhave. I'm lucky, I was born into it. I feelnsorry, simetimes fotlr those teens and younger who are giingbto be PKs sndbhavebthe baggage that comevwith it. Its not easy snd csn bebdown right frustrating.
ReplyDeleteMost of the kids that I see at the seminary are pretty well "trained" by going through field work and vicarage with their families, but I generally only see the homeschooled ones, since my kids are in the children's choir with them.
ReplyDeleteMy own kids barely seem to notice. It is harder for them to have friends, but that may also be the homeschooling. The hardest part for them probably has been that their friends who are seminary families move away.
Perhaps I should be thankful that I "only" had six months as a sem wife, and the second three months were consumed by morning sickness! So I set out with no real expectations, and nothing to really make me miss my own time in FTW. Then too we had the odd experience of starting out very near my family then gradually moving farther away.
ReplyDeleteWe've talked about this before. It's a very similar life that we military wives live (although I think we move a lot more often). ;) The thing is the military has acknowledged this a long time ago. There is quite a strong network set up at various bases for military wives (and especially for commander's wives - which is really a parallel for pastor's wives). This, I think, is the big difference. There's a LONG list of people who have been there before us (the military/commander's wife). And we're given a built in support system that you pastor's wives have to go hunt down. And, of course there's a long line of pastor's wives who have been there before you current pastor's wives. However, they don't live next door to you when you move to a new congregation.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, is there a "Charm school" concept at Seminary? Like before vicarage? And especially before ordination?