What a difference a year makes

May 2017:

I wrote a garden report about a year ago, and in the last 11 months and change:

I moved around my sewing room, for the umpteenth time.
We put in new beds on the front of the house, purely for the love of flowers.


I completed a whole year of preaching.  And Jon did too- and we got into a groove of being a preaching couple, passing like ships in the night on Sundays, between the insanity of Sunday morning and seeking blissful quiet after days full of people.
I conducted my first full funeral.  And my second.  And my third.
I picked the first zucchini I grew from seeds, and the first butternut.  Both were delicious.

There have been ups and downs, purchases and purges, mountain snowfalls and waves rolling in on the beach.  Thunderstorms have lulled me to sleep... and lately, little nudges from inside have woken me up.

Wonder doesn't begin to describe it- making the choice to be parents... anxiously waiting for a positive test, and finding out something has taken root in me, no bigger than a poppyseed- and that in that tiny thing we could find hope enough for a lifetime.

Hearing an impossibly fast heartbeat, seeing a blob on a screen, watching my body and the blob both change and grow...  Seeing a sweet profile, and seeing my own profile swell and round as winter turned to spring and the promise of new life in the world meant something entirely different- as the hope of ressurection and the breadth of possibilities offered to us by our creator took on new wonder.

This time last year, our lives looked very different- and this time next year, they will be different still- Jon will be serving a new church.  We have three weeks left in this house, with this garden.  And three months left as a family of 2-plus-dog.

I want to write more- to stretch these muscles- and I have said it before, and I'll probably say it again. Time will get away from me again, but maybe not another year.

Starting Again

In the new year, it seems to be the tendency of many to begin something new, or to pick up old hobbies/practices/diets.


There are pots of tea that wait for mugs and friends and conversation.
Blank composition notebooks waiting to be filled with thoughts, dreams, prayers, and worries.
By my bed, books of reflections and deovtions wait to be read and thought and prayed over.
There are sermons to write and preach.

My bike has been largely stationary, waiting to be a bike instead of a sculpture, since I fell off of it in March last year.
There are SEVERAL containers full of fabric and a much-neglected (although not as much recently) sewing machine that beckon me to act in creativity.
There are pots and pans and recipe cards that could all use a workout.
There's a gym membership that is waiting to be renewed.
Dance shoes that want to go on my feet and move me across a floor.

And, lest we forget, syllabi, books for class, papers, exams, committee meetings, and pile upon pile of paperwork that will cross my desk in the coming months.

And a (very cute) calender that I'm not sure will hold it all.

But, you know, so many of these things are soul-filling, and necessary.  There are things here that contribute so much to who I am and who God means for me to be, and I think that the power of a support system and the sanity saving of that calendar and those lovely to-do lists it'll happen.

And if it doesn't, life WILL go on.

The Jesse Tree

I'm working at a funky little Presbyterian church under the title of "seminary intern"... I miss my Disciples roots dearly, but I'm discovering some awesome things too.

What that title, in all of its ambiguity means, is that I am getting to learn a lot in this community of faith, and although I wasn’t much of a fan of this facet at first (It seems that seminary interns always wind up working with the children and not doing much else), I am beginning to really enjoy the time I spend with these children, and live into the gift that I have for working with them and their families.

We began advent early.  We started yesterday. 

You see, we’re making Jesse Trees together, using as our guide Geraldine McCaughrean’s absolutely beautiful book. 

And it means I get to walk through these narratives on my own.  And make things… And look at all of these narratives and how they weave in and out of one another. 

And y’all? 

I get to spend amazing time with these kids and their families. 

The journey that I am embarking on is one I may share here, because the curriculum is a work in progress and it seems like this is a good venue for sharing and learning in it. 

Holidays.

I love them so...

I have slept.  

I have eaten.

I have celebrated reason for the season.  I put a nativity under the tree, and participated in worship both Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  It was a 3+ hour drive one-way, but SO worth it.  Because...

I have hugged my mama:

Ain't life sweet?

Hope yours was good too.

Resolutions up soon. 

GREEEEEEEK

I'm screaming that title, by the way... and I should be working on flashcards and memorizing things and relocating to coffee shops where I can study out of visual range of my bed... I have a vocab quiz at 9, tutoring at 8:30, breakfast and study time at 8, and spin at 6... oy.

But, to end on a positive note,

My sermon went well. Would you like to see/hear pieces? I'll pass it on. Comment!

Spin class with bike shoes... clipped in? AMAZING.

And I danced yesterday. SO good to see friends.

I met with my new lifegroup today. Being prayed for in that way... wow. And reading scripture in a group? More wow.

Alright. Greek, here I come.

MIA, That's meee!

No better reason though...

CYF conference had 68 youth from June 5-11, and I was privileged to be one of their 10 counselors... High school was one time when church camp was the best place on the planet.

Then, I moved apartments the next week and planned for...

Yup. I directed camp for Chi Rho... Middle School. Oh boy. 43 Campers and 7 counselors kinda make all that work worth it. SO worth it. Oh well... back in Spin, back on the bike as much as I can be... Life returns.

Finals week has a Finally!

Amendment 10A passed in the Presbyterian Church(USA) yesterday.

Finally. It is rare that you will hear me and my DoC self say this or type it, but GO PCUSA!

In other news, I have:

• 10-15 pages of exegesis left to write... at this point I am filling in an outline
• 12-15 pages to write up an awesome interview
• several pages of journaling
• an open-book final

... And then no more school for a month and a half. YAY!

Back to it. Bye friends.

Some random things...

Today, I'm booked. But it's a good kind of booked...

Church Carnival from 8-2

Make a dress or take a nap

casserole in the oven

Luau

Go dance! Live band! Become an official card-carrying ASEDA member!

Also, I love Old Navy. I ordered things online which are pending shipment, and paid... oh, half price from the original total. Thanks to a coupon and things being on sale. Only one shirt was full price, out of the 7 or 8 things I picked out. And free shipping? Heck yes! Summer basics I'm too lazy to sew and have absolutely no need to try on because I already have some version of them? Heck yes!

And finally, God is good. Family have been spared from tornado damage, and I realize not everyone was so blessed. But there are already organizations hard at work to begin to make things right when their world was turned upside down. It puts things in perspective, bigtime. Finals and papers are small potatoes by comparison.

We are small. God is good.

Yesterday was a long day, but I learned some very important things. Like where I can and can't get work done. And that limits exist for good reason, and although I have come far with time management, I still have FAR to go.

But that's not what I wanted to tell you about.

Yesterday, while frantically trying to get through the list of tasks that never seems to end, I found that we are small, and actions can speak SO much louder than words at times. It's Holy Week. A hug made a big difference. And chocolate made a difference, bigtime.

But as I was writing the sermon I am preaching tonight, I was a bit of a me-monster, and got very bent out of shape about something that, in the grand scheme of things, is small potatoes. It took something completely small and kind of rediculous- getting sprinkled on while on the way to my apartment- to remind me that I am but a brushstroke. I'm just someone continuing this magical tradition of sharing the word of God with God's people, and my job in that right now is to get out of God's way.

God is good. God sends us those reminders when we are close to tears or already crying, and good things come out of what God gives us to say... But not when we don't listen. And to listen, sometimes we just have to be still... let the starch go out of our spines and sit and eat with friends instead of wolfing down food by ourselves... God loves us and cares for us, but there's only so much God can do if we aren't willing to love ourselves and our neighbors.

Sermon in 7 hours, class in... oh, 1 and a half?

I should get some work done, I just thought I'd share.

aaah.

Not a scream, an exhale... just a good day.

Really.

It feels so good to be a "real person" again after being so sick last week- and I think that Tuesdays are just really good days for me spiritually that today has been awesome. I started the day, before I even got out of bed, by just being still and praying for like 5 minutes, and it somehow improved the mindset I had for the whole day. Maybe it's just been a good day, but maybe I'm onto something with this whole starting with God thing....

Add in good news this morning, time with my lifegroup and a semi-productive schoolday? BAM! Now for more productivity- a meeting and fellowship with a co-worker, a paper, and a sermon. The list keeps growing, but I'm back, baby! I feel human again, which is sooo nice after being sick. I forget how much of a wimp I am sometimes.

Holy Week, bring it on.

Bullets of Holy Week

Maybe this is my way of seeing if I can do it all... This week will surely be full to bursting

Monday:

• Staff meeting, class, and paper-writing time.
• Cooking dinner for 3 of my dearest friends!

Tuesday:

• NT paper due... I got an extension because I got Strep/Scarlet Fever... I didn't even know that still existed!
• LOTS of time to work on sermons and papers... oh, and paperwork.
• My awesome life-group meets!
• Camp out after dinner at a coffee shop? I think so!
• Maybe... just maybe... cut out a dress... I'd like to make a new one for Easter.

Wednesday:

• Watch a friend's gorgeous little 3 or 4 month old girl to relieve some stress on her part. I'll take the skirt of that dress to hem, or some embroidery, to give my brain a break.
• Back to translating more make-up work... I'm sure plenty of people will be doing much the same thing
• Dinner with friends
• finish up sermon #1... Preaching Maunday Thursday!
• go dance if my sermon is done
• Clean my apartment... My mama is coming to hear me Maunday Thursday!

Thursday:

• class, then some sermon freak-out time
• finish homework like a crazy person
• class, then my mom is here
• preaching
• wind-down time, maybe with a bottle of wine, definitely with my Easter dress.

Friday:

• Prayer vigil at church
• lunch with a friend from high school and my mama
• more time with my mama
• I'm sure there's homework, there's definitely a scholarship app and a sermon for Monday...

It's possible, right?