Journey to Ordination

This is a letter that has(or will soon) go to my church.  There will be a few like it as I complete the journey toward ordination, and I'd really like to share them with you now... As a way of tracing my journey for myself, and for my loved ones who don't get my church newsletter.

My dear church,

It’s crazy to think a month has passed since I got to preach for you about my call.

Now I want to tell you where it started.

If you’ve heard me preach, you know I hold a special place in my heart for Camp Christian.  I grew up counting down the days to Camp Christian every Summer, and to Youth Assembly at Epworth every winter.  These youth assemblies made God accessible to me and also put me in touch with people who’d influence my faith for the rest of my life. 

Camp is holy ground, where God comes close to earth, and we come so close to God, that we can hear one another.  I felt the truth in the love of God for me (Yes! Me!) the first time I went to camp.  There were people there who helped me sort out all of the things an 11-year old girl needs to sort out, and where it didn’t matter if I was part of the “in crowd”… I was a child of God and that was enough.  Over the years, the fact that I am a child of God took on deeper meaning and was felt more deeply at camp:  It’s the place where I first worked with youth as a Chi Rho counselor, and where I’ve watched those first youth grow up.  It’s where I did a lot of my growing too.

If you ever had any doubt about camp, set it aside.  It’ll change your life, whether you go as a camper or a counselor.  I truly believe that, with all my heart, because I experience it every time I go.  And even though I’m a counselor now, I might have to count down the days till I’m there again…

See you soon,

Sarah

The William Morris Master List

This is another post in my effort to follow along with Pancakes and French Fries and the amazing William Morris project she's been working on, and encouraging others to work on too.

Okay, friends… a master list.

My apartment, seen below and to the right (terribly off-scale,but you get the idea) being a single lady in a major metropolitan area on a student budget, is the size of a shoebox, and only mine for another 3 months, as of tomorrow.  And I think I’m just now figuring out that the ticket to living in a shoebox is to stop thinking that a bedroom and a living room/kitchen area as having defined rooms like a house. 

A teeny apartment has zones, not rooms.  I have not defined them as well as I could have.

Entry… Cooking… Workspace…Lounging…Storage…Sleeping…Wardrobe...Craftspace.  You know, that sort of thing. 

They overlap, in a silly messy sort of way in my apartment, when they exist at all.  Horizontal spaces and chairs collect clutter, bookshelves overflow(did I mention I am in 19^th grade? Textbooks add up), and things get shoved places so often it’s comical.  Or, it was, before I realized that I’ve surrounded myself with flotsam and jetsam to the point where I don’t have space to live anymore.  So, as I forsee "shoebox living" for myself for the next few years, it’s time to rethink some zones, and things that will live in them.

Entryway:  space to store things that I take with me.  Where paper things land to be sorted, and things like a purse and keys can have a home.  Featuring a reminder board, and maybe(hopefully I’ll actually start going again) a gym bag.

Cooking:  My kitchen is teeny-tiny, and crammed full of food and the things used to prepare it. 

Food:  Store dry ingredients, snacks, spices, and sundry other things… in a pretty, functional way.

Cookware:  For a 24-year-old, I have a lot of it, gifts from my grandmother when she broke up housekeeping.  I want to be able to use it all, because heirlooms aren’t meant to be all pretty things that sit on shelves. The utilitarian stuff should all be just that: utilitarian.

Workspace:  My kitchen table is so much more, as kitchen tables must be in these itty bitty spaces. But mine is one of those horizontal spaces that just collects things much of the time…

Lounging: My coffee table already doubles as storage:  It’s also one of those horizontal, collecting-things places though. 

I have an easy chair I’d love to reclaim and slipcover/re-upholster, and the ottoman that goes with it. 

Storage/Crafting:

Here’s the thing…  I have hobbies.  I sew, I just learned to quilt, I make jewelry, and I’ve been known to collage and scrapbook.  All of those things come with supplies, and the supplies have a way of needing storage.

Fabric:  Cataloged, counted, and stored

Patterns:  ditto

Notions(zippers, thread, buttons… everything you need to sew clothes/quilts that isn’t fabric): Accessible when I need them, not scattered when I don’t.

Art supplies:  Separated from school supplies and stationery, and all of the above ready when I need them. 

Sleeping:  Keep it more for sleep, and make it pretty.

Wardrobe: The thing that started it all. More will show up on my sewing blog about wardrobe, because I’ll be sewing lots, if not all, of my new clothing in 2013.

Closet/Dresser:  Organized, and generally pared down to what is useful and beautiful

Accessories:  Ditto.  Make things/hunt vintage to fill in the holes.

So... yeah.

The goal this week is to conquer some paper and horizontal surfaces.  Paperwork is on the radar already, so I'm gonna move with the momentum.  

The William Morris Project

Welcome!  This is the first time I've ever linked in to anything like this, and I'm hoping y'all will keep me honest and give me some tips and hints along the way.  Thanks for dropping by!

Y’all, have you seen the William Morris Project over at Pancakes and French Fries?

Oh.  My.

Such inspiration.

Last Thursday, I spent a long time looking at impeccable closets and teeny, tiny wardrobes over at small notebook, and I got led to Pancakes and French Fries, and I, without taking a before picture or a picture of the donation pile, the alteration pile, or even the lists, cleaned out two trashbags of things to donate, and a good-sized canvas bin of things in sore need of repair. 

The pile of empty hangers is magic, y’all.

And I found things I didn’t know I still had. 

While reading through the master list that Jules made whenshe started the William Morris project, I thought it might be a really good idea to make a master list of my own. 

I have 3 months left in my apartment- why start now?

Because there’s always a reason not to start, and friends, life is enough of a reason to start.

Look for mine soon.  

Slow and steady...

Gym: joined. Membership used? Well...

Clothing made? Yup.  A shirt, and 1.5 skirts so far.

Prayer? Continually a work in progress, but I'm praying in color through Lent. And hoping to be really good about reading the Daily Feast.

Ordination progress? Certainly. I submitted my last paper for the region, and it's a strange way to feel- to be done minus some paperwork and final meetings happening this weekend.

Cycling? Not so much... I really need to. And I'm thinking it might just be a matter of registering for a metric and pushing through and training for it.  I have a few in mind... Just a matter of biting the bullet and throwing my name in a hat.  It's a bit emotional to think of doing it... My last training ride was almost a year ago.  Part of me wants to hold out and start training again after a year, exactly. Just to be all poetical.

Dancing? A resounding YES. And I know I need to bike because of how good dancing feels, and how good I feel when I dance.

Cookin? More... Not the best stuff for me, necessarily, but at least it's from whole ingredients and many of them are organic.

But here's the biggest thing: I'm not beating myself up over ANY of the things I have yet to get to.  There aren't too many things on a to-do list that won't wait for me to get to them, and for that, I am beyond thankful.

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.

Resolutions: A Redux and a look forward

Last year, I got specific in a big way in a journal entry that was several pages long, but I put it in a nutshell for you guys and I'll put the central kernel of that nutshell here for the whole world to see, once more:

"I want to end this year further down the path to who I am."

And you know (whoever YOU are), I think I did.
I think that it is inevitable to grow... But I like to think that I did lots of that this year.  Selfish of me, I know, but one's twenties are meant to be selfish.  Kyoko Escamilla had it right in the quote featured in this doodle.

And I want to be selfish, and build up the cocoon of this community to strengthen myself for what life is to look like:  I want to keep growing into who I am meant to be, and who God is forming me to be, in all of the messiness, the hope, the tears, the dancing, and the songs.

Can I get an Amen?

Organizing frenzy

Fall is here, and for some bizarre reason, it makes me want to nest.  I have stripped beds, cleaned bathrooms, and gone through closets.  I made 2 trips to the clothes closet last month to give things away, and will likely bring that number up quite a bit in the coming weeks.

Having access to all of my things-giving them a use- has suddenly become more important.  William Morris said it wonderfully, and Lisa Congdon  lettered it beautifully... So, while I am thankful for my things and my ability to purchase/obtain/keep them, my aim is to remove at least 1 everyday that does not meet these qualifications.

Tips are welcome.

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. 

I'm more than a little okay with the fact that this blog has had no pageviews in a minute...
It;s about to be reinvented to talk about my life as a Seminarian in search for balance and a way to care about me... In mind, body, and spirit.
I want to eat well.  And healthily.  And frugally.
I want to move my body.
I want, more than anything, to stay in touch with the still, small voice that started this journey.

And I want the accountability of sharing bits and pieces of that journey with you.

Hey look! It's me!

Jerry Burns took a picture of  one of the second moms of my childhood, Morgan, and he featured her on his amazing new-life resolution, 21 Days. It takes dedication to do anything for 21 days in a row, and you are rewarded(or cursed) with a habit.  So, Jerry has endeavored to form some habits.
Writing a letter of thanks every day.
Playing guitar for at least 30 minutes a day.
And taking a portrait every day.
 Well, I was Day 199... So it worked, friends.  And I got to have a coffee and conversation with this guy, who's pretty cool.

And, I think it strenghtened my resolve to get better habits in place too.  So, hopefully, you'll see the fruits of some of those here.