Ba!

In case you couldn't tell, that title was a spirant resebling Charlie Brown's argh. I'm issuing it retroactively, 3 of the causes for my overwhelmedness having been resolved by now.
First, the sermon. I preach in church on the 10th, but was supposed to turn in a manuscript to the pastor on Tuesday. Last night (Wednesday) at 10pm I chucked what I had written and started over. Today at noon I sent in what I had. I'm not happy with it yet, but I'm too close to it and need to take a few days off to let the text steep. In the mean time, I have to write another sermon to preach in class on Monday, but in an effort to remain unexasperated I've determined not to think about that yet.
Second, the class. I teach adult ed every Thursday evening. It's a curriculum for which there are daily theology and Bible readings. As of 3:30 this afternoon I had done no reading and no preparation. By 6:15 I had gathered literary sources on Grace (a sermon by John Wesley, a hymn by Charles Wesley, and the resurrection of Aslan from LWW), a playlist of songs about grace, a slideshow of works of art depicting grace, a movie clip about grace from "Luther," and three Bible passages about grace. I still hadn't done the readings, but class went pretty well.
Third, the application. I'm applying to do international field ed next summer and the rather extensive application is due tomorrow. I need to run to the drug store in the morning to print out a picture of myself to go with it, but other than that it's done. So if all goes well I will be in South Africa (that's my first choice) or Ghana or the Dominican Republic or Brazil or somewhere else entirely in 7 months from now.
I'm not out of the woods yet. I am in charge of an all-day retreat this Saturday (not teaching it, just running it), preach Monday, and have big papers and presentations coming up very quickly. But for now I can enjoy a moment to breathe. Ah.

Long Lost Motivation

I've entered this brief holiday break with a spring break mindset. Which is to say, homework schmomework. I need to write one sermon (Malachi 3:1-4) and do the exegetical work for another (an OT narrative to be chosen), start and finish my international field ed application, outline a final paper, and do all my normal weekly reading. So far I have finished reading "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, hung out with Rachel and watched The Nun's Story, watched 2 Harry Potter movies, had 2 Thanksgiving dinners, watched another movie, and slept plenty. This evening I'm having dinner with Kevin and Alisa and playing with the baby, then maybe going to see Babel. Maybe tomorrow I'll switch into 'work like crazy trying to get even a fraction of my assignments done' mode. We'll see. This is where my history of procrastination working out fine in the end starts to work against me. I know all those papers will get written. I think I've deluded myself into believing that I have magical paper-producing abilities.

Ah, the Giving of the Thanks

It's almost the big day. The day of eating and rest and not doing homework and being with great people. Over the last 5 years since I've been away for Thanksgiving I've enjoyed getting to join other families and friends. This year I'll join 2! At 2pm I'll go to Corrie and Shane's place for round one, the highlight of which will be seeing Jim and Janie (that right, Edwards! Eat your heart out Whitworthians) and playing with small children. Then at 5pm I'll go to my field ed supervisor's home to join her family and some others from the church for round two. I also get to housesit and borrow a car this week, which affords me a rare level of freedom and independence. I plan to make the most of it.
This afternoon I preached for my preaching class. It went well, especially considering I haven't delivered a sermon in about 4 years, and am not used to speaking from a manuscript. I enjoyed the process of exegesis and writing, and I'm glad to have the first one done so I can prepare for the next three.
On Wednesday Sarah and I are taking the o'dark am train to the City to hear Rachel preach at the 7:30am chapel service of Brick Presbyterian Church, then we may putz around the city for a bit. I love Manhattan, so I might as well stay a few hours once I'm up there.
This week's joy has been discovering that I can watch Brian Regan on YouTube. No I'm not a creepy stalker. He's my favorite comedian, and you should all check him out.

how 'bout that global warming, eh?

It was in the 70s today. I was walking through downtown Princeton in a t-shirt. In November. Although it was lovely to enjoy my hoagie outside on a bench with the leaves falling, and although it was splendid getting ice cream this evening and walking back to campus with a huge scoop of chocolate with cherries on a sugar cone, this can't be a good sign. I feel a little better about it because it's supposed to snow in Denver tomorrow.

the seatedness of your posture

A week with Shelly was just what I need to relax and refresh before being confronted head-on by the madness that will characterize the rest of the semester.
We went to see the band Velella Velella at a bar in St. Paul. The lead singer is a Whitworth guy. It was fun and loud and smoky and the band wore kids' Halloween costume.
We helped her new teammate, who coincidentally knows some seminary folk, move into his new apartment and watched her team leaders' kids for a few hours. They were having laugh attacks, and we ate pizza.
We went to the Minneapolis public library, which is huge and beautiful. It was a cold day for riding the light rail.

We ate Somali food for lunch (basmati rice and goat meat). I got my hair cut and we got manicures at the Aveda Institute. They have amazing tea there, and I like my hair cut (and so does Frankfurter Schwenkfeld). We had dinner with her roomie and another teammate (tomato basil soup from scratch) and watched Keeping the Faith, a movie I enjoy a whole lot.

We went to the global market and ate mexican sandwiches and pumpkin ice cream and enjoyed all the handicrafts made or imported by the international populations of the Cities
I got on a plane, got off a plane in Chicago, ate Chipotle with Fishy (took an awkward in the car at the passenger drop-off picture), then returned to here.

Apparently eating was a highlight. Of course I did some reading/writing while Shelly was at work, so Reading Week did live up to its name a little bit. I even translated some Greek, which I haven't done in ages. I love having friends to visit in cool places :) And I love Shelly and Fishy.

Feliz Compleanos!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIANCA!!!
Today is the day of the birth of the only Bianca I know.
Memories of Bianca:
laughing until I almost peed my pants during the first weeks of s-group telling life stories in her room, and the marathon s-group sessions that followed for the subsequent two years.
Biting and tackling in Didiers.
Nerts and the cup game in SAGA.
Being the "guest speaker" for her youth group retreat, including snow fights, singing, and much giggling.
Seeing many sea creatures for the first time (for me, not for her) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Apple-picking at Greenbluff.
Galavanting around the Twin Cities.
Cloister time. (See the Cloister below: me, Claire, Bianca, Shelly)
Many hours at Starbucks studying and smelling like coffee.
Galavanting around Seattle.
Squeeling over her and Andrew finally getting together.
Trying not to sing along during "Footloose" in Sacramento.







4 weddings, and counting. (See her and Fishy with Jeni's bouquet below)
Her falling asleep anywhere and everywhere.
The retreating cake knives from Jeni's locked house fiasco.
Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.
(note: Bianca has a knack for taking pictures, so she's not in them, and thus I only have a handful of digital pictures of her, although probably 1/2 of the pictures on my computer were taken by her.)