not all who wander are lost…

Happy 2008!

Hope everyone had a great holiday season. I had a good time of relaxing, sleeping late, hanging out with family, friends, and the boyfriend.

I know I’m late in posting holiday greetings and haven’t had anything up here in a while. I can’t even say that December was any crazier busy than usual….I just think I needed to take some time off to relax and refocus. I didn’t do or have a lot planned for the youth group and they were all pretty busy anyway - so it worked out well to take a short break. Now I’ve got to get back in gear!

Annual Family Christmas Movie and Dinner
(and we celebrated my brother-in-law’s birthday)

Here’s a pic of an original painting I just finished on Dec. 30th.

My friend, Tiffany, commissioned me to do this painting as a Christmas present for her boyfriend (who happens to be my “adopted” red-headed brother, Steve). Tiffany asked if I would do it way back in May, and I said that I would love to and thought I would have plenty of time over the summer to paint….well that didn’t ever happen….so as usual, I work best under pressure and I just barely got it done in time for their gift exchanging on New Year’s eve. I am not so good at cityscapes, but that was Tiffany’s only idea/request of subject matter - something Baltimore. So I decided to do a impressionistic view of the pub where we hang out most Wednesday nights down in Fells Point. I couldn’t resist adding Steve and Tiffany in the front….

He liked it. Tiffany was happy. It was fun to do and fun to get paid to paint (usually I give paintings away as gifts).

anyone who knows me, knows I strongly dislike snow.  Some have even seem me cry upon seeing snow….nurmerous times.  I just hate the cold wetness and the bleakness of it all….the white sky and world do nothing to inspire anything but sadness in this artist. 

When I left my house this morning, it wasn’t snowing.  As I drove to work, the white flurries started.  I decided that I was going to try and not be so depressed about it this year.  And today hasn’t been so bad.  I still strongly dislike snow, but I’m trying to just deal with it and pretend like it doesn’t bother me so much.  It has snowed all day.  But I decided to go out on my lunch break and buy a fun warm hat at Ross (since I forgot one this morning and to help with the cheering up).  Now I’m waiting around work since I have a meeting at church that hasn’t been cancelled as far as I know.  I don’t figure that there is any good reason to deal with all the traffic to go home, only to turn around and come back out again. 

Last night my friend Erin came over for dinner.  We had a good time catching up and talking about our weeks.  After dinner, she helped me put together my advent wreath.  I love advent!  Our church gives us an advent wreath kit each year with fresh greens, candles, and a devotional.  We made the beautiful wreath below (sorry for the picture quailty - it’s a phone pic) and then read the advent devotion for yesterday.   My family grew up doing advent and reading devotions after dinner.  It was nice to be able to share that with a friend!

This weekend was slightly a blur.  A good blur, but a blur nonetheless.  Friday was a relaxing night in with the boyfriend over for dinner.  Even though he’s going through a lot right now, we both just had a great time relaxing together and not doing or thinking about much of anything.  Saturday morning I had good intentions of getting to the gym…..but didn’t wake up until after 10am….so it didn’t happen.  I had lunch with my artsy friends, Jennifer and Alex.  Alex was in town for Thanksgiving during her off-shift (she works at a wilderness therapy place down in the mountains of NC) and always has great stories.  This time was no exception - she was telling us about the girls she works with and how she was recently stalking Ani Difranko in Ashville.  Good times.  Then Jennifer and I went to a bridal shower for a girl from our Bible study.  Made it home just in time to go grab dinner with boyfriend and head over to another one of my high schooler’s plays - Romeo and Juliet. 

After church on Sunday, I met with my 2 parent volunteers to go over scheduling and events for spring.  It was supposed to be a brief meeting, but ended up being nearly an hour and a half.  It was good to get so much done though and we were all glad we had taken the time to get it (mostly) squared away now - before all the holiday craziness.  I’m excited about what we have planned - but it also a little intimidating, because I know its a lot more than I did last year and going to be a lot of work.  But I think it’s still all manageable.  Especially when, as we are leaving both the parent volunteers start divving up all the tasks, such as scheduling, emails, getting parent chaperones, etc. - so that I can simply plan and run the activities and be there for the kids.  Which is great - because the details are what bog me down. 

Some things we’re planning for next spring:
- In January: my Bible study group of girls (young adults in our 20s-30s) wants to do a sleepover for my youth group girls where we share with them some of the things we’ve recently been studying about women of the Bible - maybe focusing on Esther and watching the movie “One Night with the King”.  I think this will be a really neat thing - I love to expose my youth to young adults who are living their faith - since there are very few young adults at our church right now. 
- In February: 30-hour Famine - which will be another first for this church.   The youth have been begging to do a lock-in and I decided if we were going to do one, it may as well have a good purpose!  And I just think it will be a good, new experience for them in fasting and thinking about hunger in the world. 
- In March: The youth have annually cooked, served, and provided entertainment for a fancy dinner to the senior citizens in our church.  It’s a favorite event for both the youth and the seniors. 
- In April:  Our church’s annual youth group retreat.  It was an incredible time last year - and a first for me to plan/write material for the whole retreat weekend.  A lot of work, but very worthwhile. 
- and we’re gearing up for our second High School mission trip.  And I’m really excited because I already have a parent chaperone on board!  Last year I was begging and God provided at the last minute - this year I’m really praying for more youth and we’ll need more chaperones….

It was a “big” youth group night (middle and high) - Sunday Night Live - this week.  And I had been praying about it and had done a little thinking/planning during the week.  I had a vague idea about the scripture point and thought illustrations through enough to know that I was going to play some games and do some activities with newspaper - so I had spread the word to parents to save their recycling for us.  But that was about it.  I unfortunately waited until Sat. night/Sunday to do most of my planning.  But it surprisingly didn’t take long to come up with the programming and talk for the night.  I was kind of amazed and wondered if I was slacking off and not going as deep or interesting as I used to…but after the night went off well, I realized that maybe I’m just getting better at it.  What used to take me days and days to think through just to come up with the ideas, then setup the details hours and hours ahead of time….seemed to have taken me so much less stress and time this week.  I guess I know a lot better how to plan activities that will last long enough, but not too long, know my youth well enough to know what they will “get” easily and what they won’t, and just am a lot more comfortable with it all.  We ended up playing games and making snowmen out of newspaper.  Then finding happy vs. sad stories and talking a little about them.  We talked about advent and Angel Gabriel bringing the “good news” and then they dramatically retold the Christmas story using newspaper costumes and different themes.  Sounds a little cheesey - but I’ve got a pretty crazy bunch that likes that sort of thing.  We did some worship and I read them the lyrics from the song Rebel Jesus by Jackson Browne (Bebo Norman recently did a neat cover of it on his new Christmas album).  We discussed the song and their thoughts about the Christmas season.  

The Rebel Jesus

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants’ windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
They’ll be gathering around the hearths and tales
Giving thanks for all god’s graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

          Well they call him by the prince of peace
          And they call him by the savior
          And they pray to him upon the seas
          And in every bold endeavor
          As they fill his churches with their pride and gold
          And their faith in him increases
          But they’ve turned the nature that I worshipped in
          From a temple to a robber’s den
          In the words of the rebel Jesus

          We guard our world with locks and guns
          And we guard our fine possessions
          And once a year when christmas comes
          We give to our relations
          And perhaps we give a little to the poor
          If the generosity should seize us
          But if any one of us should interfere
          In the business of why they are poor
          They get the same as the rebel Jesus

But please forgive me if I seem
To take the tone of judgment
For I’ve no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus.

On Friday night, I had a little time to cook - and made a meal that I really enjoyed.  I made this Chicken with Tarragon Cream Sauce.  It looked like it was going to be a little time consuming, but really turned out to be quite easy - only took 20-30 min.  I substituted dried dill for fresh dill/tarragon, and I used 1/2 heavy cream and 1/2 skim milk (next time I may try doing it all with skim milk and see if I can still get a similar consistency).  It was so good and creamy - picky eater boyfriend came over and actually enjoyed it too!  I served it with rice and salad.  Enjoy!

  “You need only do three things in this country to avoid poverty - finish high school, marry before having a child, and marry after the age of 20. Only 8 percent of the families who do this are poor; 79 percent of those who fail to do this are poor.”  
                                                                                        - William Galston

well I’ve finished high school, I’m already over 20, and the plan has always been to wait until after marriage to have a baby (or even sex for that matter).  So far, so good!  It is sad to think of how many people make their life harder by not doing these 3 simple things. 

mmm….hot tea…English style - with lots of cream (actually skim milk) and sugar (which probably negates the skim milk, but oh well).  A good relaxing end to the day. 

I’m thankful for tea - in general.  Love good sweet iced tea all year long and hot tea in the winter time.  Grew up on both. 

No, it’s not decaf, but caffeine doesn’t really affect me, so I’ll still probably sleep fine.  Long. random day - first of all, I was back to work….and my mind had a hard time switching gears from the “do absolutely nothing” mode I had been in.  But I got it somewhat in gear and tried to be productive.   Boyfriend has been having some serious church/denominational issues in his ministry right now and messaged and said that he had just found out that he had a meeting with his supervisor’s supervisor at the office right next door to where I work and wanted to know if I wanted to have dinner afterwards.  I knew this was going to be a stressful meeting for him and he would likely want to debrief and relax a little afterwards, so I was happy to be able to meet him.  But then I realized I had accidentally left my cell phone at home that morning and that morning and he wouldn’t be able to call and let me know when he was done….so I had to run home and get it during my lunch break. 

I’m thankful for the fact that I get an hour long lunch break everyday!  (this is the first job that I’ve ever been given more than an hour for lunch)  I’m thankful for the job too!

So after all that, we did go out for dinner, things still need a lot of prayer for boyfriend and the future of his career as a pastor in this district, but he’s doing ok and we’re just praying that God’s will would be done.   After dinner, since I missed my workout class to meet him, I did over an hour on the elliptical trainer at the gym and my body is exhausted.  But…I haven’t been to the gym in way too long, so that’s not all that great.  But I know it’s just because I need to get back into a better workout habit than I have been lately. 

I am thankful that I can go and workout and am healthy - I feel really energized and more self-confident after working out. 

And I’m thankful for a great boyfriend, an incredible family, and awesome friends. 

I had a great Thanksgiving!  It was just an incredibly nice and relaxing time with family and the boyfriend.  He and I dropped off my car to the shop on Wed. to fix the driver side window that had come off its track (it was really weird and oddly angled when I rolled it down and made a crunching sound when I tried to get it back up…) and then we went over to meet up with Patrick and Katie to head downtown for our weekly pub gathering.  Fun times - a little crazier than normal, because apparently there are a lot of people who like to get drunk on the night before a holiday.  Then we all crashed at my parents (nope, we weren’t at all drunk, just for the record - just didn’t feel like driving there the next morning).  My brother and Dad got up and ran a 5K with my sister Emily who has taken up running recently.  Even though he hadn’t been training or even running much at all, Dad still managed to finish before Emily and Patrick.  Emily wasn’t at all happy about that, but she still beat Patrick so that helped a little.  I stayed home to help mom bake and even got up early (8am) to make breakfast and all.  Just a nice relaxing day….good food, fun time playing board games, and watching a random family-values, movie that my mom got called “No more baths”.  Katie’s boyfriend came over and watched that with us - which was pretty funny b/c he is a huge movie buff and of course this was one he’d never even heard of.  But they still both stayed and seemed to be enjoying it.  The rest of the weekend was spent sleeping in, starting a painting (a commissioned piece for a friend of mine to give to someone for Christmas).  Fun, fun, fun.  Oh and I almost had to preach on Sunday!  Our pastor was on vacation and had gotten another minister to cover for him….but that minister didn’t show up.  The elders at my church had tried calling and everything, and they were getting pretty panicked.  So they came over and asked me if I felt like preaching!  I was pretty shocked to say the least, and asked if they were serious. They said they didn’t know what else to do and I said if they really needed me to, I supposed I could come up with something….but that I was supposed to be teaching a room full of middle schoolers that morning (I was filling in for their Sunday school teacher who was on vacation too).  I also just said maybe they could do something interactive, like ask members to share how God had blessed them and what they were thankful for this year.  They liked that idea and said they could do that and I could go teach the middle schoolers.  : ) 

I’m so thankful that God has allowed me to be a part of that church and feel honored to serve the youth and their families.  Who knows?  Maybe I will preach there some Sunday morning…..

Here are a few pics from my birthday partying and Thanksgiving…

my friends threw me a fun party and my good friend Erin made an incredible Oreo cake! 

me and my sisters (Katie got me that necklace as a gift - it’s from Ten Thousand Villages)

my little brother took this one - which is why it’s tilted - he likes doing things a little differently…

here’s the one I took of everyone else after Thanksgiving dinner

and after dinner mom and us girls “attempted” to make Origami cranes….some of them turned out better than others….it was partly b/c Emily had recently read “1000 Paper Cranes” with her 6th grade class…and partly b/c Katie had been trying to UTube teach herself how to do it and mom and I thought we could remember how on our own….fun times….

Today is my birthday - I am now 28 and getting closer and closer to 30. But I’m not too upset about it…it’s been a good year and I am happy with where I am in life for the most part. Today my mom and little brother are going to come and have lunch with me. Tonight I’ve got my Bible study and will have a good time with the girls there. I already had the big friends party last Saturday night and it was great to be able to catch up with a lot of friends there. I am truly blessed to have so many awesome friends who are there for me.

Today I’m not only celebrating my birthday, but I’m also celebrating the birthday of my sponsored child, Alejandra, who lives in Honduras. She is turning 4 years old today. My family had always sponsored children while I was growing up and I had wanted to for a while - but with college and being a broke student for so long, I wanted to wait until I could really afford to sponsor a kid on a consistent basis. This summer a blog that I read regularly reminded me of that desire to sponsor a child and I realized that I am definately in a more stable place and can and should be giving more to people in need.  Immediately after reading Carolyn’s blogpost, I went over to Compassion International’s website to check into it more….and Alejandra was the girl who first popped up in the “sponsor me” section.  She was absolutely adorable and when I saw that she and I shared a birthday, I knew it was a God-thing and I signed up to sponsor her.  I just got my first letter from her yesterday.  It was actually her mom, Jenny, writing to me about Alejandra and Alejandra drew a picture on the back.  It totally made my day to think that I could impact a family in such a huge way - when I’m really only sacrificing a very small amount of money each month.   If anyone out there is thinking about sponsoring a child - I would definately encourage you to do it today or as soon as you are able. 

Happy Birthday Alejandra!

Yesterday night was our once a month “Sunday Night Live” which is a bigger event night, combining middle and high school students.  It is also more outreach focused and I encourage students to bring friends who don’t normally come to church.  Unfortunately, since I had been sick, I hadn’t planned as much or as well as I usually do…but it went pretty well anyway.  God is good.  We did a “Choose your own adventure” themed night, talking about how to make wise choices.  I had a series of choices where they could pick the games, activity, and how they wanted to help with worship.  It was slightly chaotic, but fun, and I enjoyed hearing their thoughts and discussion.  I’m just always amazed at how God can use us even when we’re weak and unprepared.

Oh and the one student whose mother recently died is doing pretty well - we talk regularly and she’s trying to figure out what a new “normal” is for her and her family now.  But her faith is strong and she’s still really wanting to come and be involved as a student leader.  I gave her a blank sketchbook and crayons after the funeral and instructions on praying in color (see earlier post) as something she could use as an outlet to pray, get out what she’s feeling, or whatever.  She has been telling me that she’s really liked it and she brought in the book by Sybil MacBeth that she just found at her local library to show me.   I thought that was pretty cool and am glad that its helping her out.

yay!  It’s Friday!  I’m finally feeling a little better.  My throat was kind of sore on Monday, really sore on Tues., and finally on Wednesday I went to a minute clinic at the drugstore to make sure I didn’t have strep throat (thanks to the childhood radio drama Adventures in Odyssey episode about one of the characters dying from untreated strep, I will forever be scared into going to the doctor for sore throats).  I found out that not only did I have strep, I also had an ear infection.  So onto antibiotics I went….but still was at work, because I’d probably already made anyone sick that I was going to at that point.  Also it felt kind of silly to go home just because I found out that I was really sick.  That night my ear did start to really hurt, so I was glad I had already been to the doctor and had started meds.  I went into work around 11:30am yesterday - mostly because I hadn’t gotten much sleep and felt horrible when I woke up.  Several hours later and with a lot of drugs in me, I figured I was ok enough to go into work.  Still didn’t feel great though.  Still don’t feel amazing today, but everything is hurting a little less, and now I’m just feeling kind of drained and dazed.  I think I can rest up a little this weekend, so that should help. 

I just have to come up with something to do for youth group this Sunday evening….I haven’t had a chance to think about it much at all….which is really unlike me.  Usually I at least know what theme/scripture we’re going to be focusing on a few weeks in advance and may still have to come up with games/details the weekend of….but this weekend I’m going to have to come up with everything…fast…..oh well - it will be interesting.  Thankfully, I work best under pressure.  Not that that is something to be proud of - I’m really kind of upset with myself that I haven’t thought about it more….but I know that God will help me come up with something and it will get done. 

Sorry about this long, disjointed post…this is unfortunately how my brain is working right now.  I did want to mention this article that I recently read that was interesting…..

Getting a Life: The Challenge of Emerging Adulthood

In this article, the author talks about emerging adulthood and how it has changed in the last few decades to look very different than previous generations experiences of becoming an adult.  Not a ton of new information - but well written and makes good points on how society and the church should be rethinking some of their views.  Here are a few paragraphs from the article:

There is a new and important stage in life in American culture, and it is not entirely clear that the Christian church understands or particularly knows what to do with it. I am talking about what scholars call “emerging adulthood.” This is the time of life between ages 18 and 30, roughly, a phase which in recent decades has morphed into quite a new experience for many.

What has emerged from this new situation has been variously labeled “extended adolescence,” “youthhood,” “adultolescence,” “young adulthood,” the “twenty-somethings,” and “emerging adulthood.” I find persuasive Jeffrey Arnett’s argument that, of all of these labels, “emerging adulthood” is the most appropriate—because rather than viewing these years as simply the last hurrah of adolescence or an early stage of real adulthood, it recognizes the unique characteristics of this phase of life. These, according to Arnett in Emerging Adulthood, mark this stage as one of intense (1) identity exploration, (2) instability, (3) focus on self, (4) feeling in limbo, in transition, in-between, and (5) sense of possibilities, opportunities, and unparalleled hope. These, of course, are also often accompanied by big doses of transience, confusion, anxiety, self-obsession, melodrama, conflict, and disappointment. Many popular television shows of the last two decades—Beverly Hills 90210, Dawson’s Creek, Seinfeld, and Friends, for example—have taken as their point of departure the character and challenges of this new, in-between stage of life. I think it all signifies something big and serious.

Stepping back for a final view, then, how might we summarize the general situation? For most American youth, there extends between high school graduation day and the eventual settling down with spouse, career, kids, and house a very long stretch of time in which to have to figure out life. For many, it is marked by immense autonomy, freedom of choice, lack of obligations, and focus on the self. It is also normally marked by high instability, experimentation, and uncertainty. For many, emotions run high and low, as hopes and exhilaration recurrently run up against confusion and frustration. It is not clear how much emerging adults rely in this life stage on the religious faith and beliefs with which they were raised. In any case, this socially structured and culturally defined phase of life seems itself to foster an intense concern with what is new, different, exciting, alternative, possible, and hopeful. Commitments that would curtail the exploration of options are often avoided. Ties to the social institutions of civil society, including church, are often weak.

How does or should American Christianity speak to emerging adults as people and emerging adulthood as a cultural fact? How can the church faithfully speak the gospel to 18- to 30-year-olds? The answer is surely not for the church to fall all over itself to quickly reconstruct its message and practices to somehow become more “relevant” to emerging adults. But oblivious disregard for emerging adulthood and the larger meanings and challenges it raises for church and culture surely won’t do either. For starters, American Christians—parents, pastors, seminary professors, counselors, educators, and more—can simply become better informed about the emerging adulthood phenomenon. Most people probably have at least a vague sense that something has changed on the road to full adulthood. But more clearly grasping the social forces generating emerging adulthood, its typical characteristics and concerns, and their implications for a faithful church will require sustained effort. Recently published good scholarship, in particular the books discussed here, provides a very helpful start in that direction. Having engaged and digested their findings, we will be better positioned to carry on the important discussions that emerging adulthood should provoke.

this past weekend…

was my sister and brother-in-law’s “grown-up  Halloween party”.  Emily was a referee, Katie was Rosie the Riveter, and I don’t know what I was, I just liked the wig. 

On Sunday afternoon we went for a hike at Harper’s Ferry.  The weather and falls colors were beautiful. 

Sunday evening was dinner with my good friend, Erin.  I brought over 2 pumpkins for us to carve.  Erin did a spider/moon that looked really nice.  I liked the pumpkin I had picked out and thought it looked tree-like because of the green veins going up it and the long, curled stem.  I was carving mine to enter in the pumpkin contest we had at work yesterday (Monday).  I was trying to beat this one co-worker who had won several years in a row.  I did end up beating him, but came in 2nd (not 1st like I was hoping…yes, I am way too competitive for my own good sometimes).  I won a $20 gift card to Target though - so I was pretty happy!