James Ordination!

The gang gathers to raise a glass (or two) to our dear friends James and Mary!

The Rev. James Kosko

Ok so better late than never. I have finally gotten my act together to get this post done. Everyone please feel free to add your comments about the ordination. Although it was probably the longest ordination I've been to yet it was worth every minute to get to see James loved on and affirmed by such a great cloud of witnesses.
Ok so now I've done my part all-be-it a little sloppily (I'll get the hang of it someday) Who knew it wouldn't put the pictures where I wanted them but you all get the idea anyway.

Love to you all, can't wait for the next one!

Cheryl

Katrina News

The Presbyterian News Service has written up and posted, with photos and video, how recovery is going in Katrinaland. There is a rather distressingly long video of a car drive through the now non-existent 9th ward

To view the stories - please click here.

If you want to see an astounding video of the storm and the surge coming ashore into Biloxi then click here

There is an interesting analysis of the storm's impact on Biloxi and D'Iberville at the The Weather underground - and a very personal story of how the storm was deeply devastating to the community of St. Martins just east of D'Ibeville.

A story that haunts me comes from this site:

"One of the odd things that has occur ed since the storm, probably due to continuing issues with bringing the phone system back online, is that the sub station regularly receives 911 calls from locations that currently are nothing but slabs, from these areas. Answering the call, there is only static on the other end. There is a list of addresses, numbering about 20 in total, hung up on the wall for the dispatcher, noting these locations. We think that possibly the last calls from these locations were 911 calls, and are somehow still electronically in the memory or database of the phone system."

A Red Letter Day!

Dear Friends,
February 18, 2007 was quite a day for ordinations! Blessings to James & Mary as they venture out into their new life of ministry! And congratulations and blessings for Paul Phillips who was also ordained in the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy on the very same day. Paul will be serving at St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis MO as chaplain. The hospital, I believe is somehow affiliated with Presbyterians. Leanne Van Dyk, former prof of Systematic Theology at SFTS and current Dean/VP of Western Theological Seminary was also ordained on Sunday, February 18. So all-in-all, it was a RED letter day to be sure. I attended Leanne's ordination and felt that I was standing amidst a great cloud of witnesses in the chapel at Western -- and somehow felt a sweet connection to the ordinations of James and Paul. Call it a Spirit thing!

The man who preached at Leanne's ordination used to serve on the board of trustees at SFTS and was part of the search committee who called her to SFTS back in ?? and is now pastor of Westminster Presbyterian, Grand Rapids. Leanne has an identical twin sister who was there too -- kinda freaky in a good kind of way. Leanne and Greg Love are pals -- in fact, Leanne encouraged Greg to apply for the position at SFTS way back when. Interestingly (to me), he, too, has an identical twin. BUT they didn't know that about each other -- luckily, yours truly was able to make that connection for them! Another man with whom I spoke (Don Butyne) at Leanne's ordination was on the faculty at SFTS for 8 years and served as interim dean for 3 of those years. So I felt very close to my community at SFTS even though I am, at times, what seems light years away.

But that's for another blog. For now, I just wanted to let you know about the other ordinations. Think of you all often and send you loads of love!! Keep in touch when you can!!

Jenn's Update

Today there are over 800 jobs posted on the Church Leadership Connection...yet nothing has worked out. However, I just had an interview with Family and Children's Services in Tulsa, OK and it was great! They affirmed me and my gifts and wanted me...and I want to be involved in their mission! I haven't felt this happy, calm and complete about something in such a long time.

The position is a Family Support Specialist, which basically means that I am working with families and parents that have kids in Head Start and Early Head Start (infants start at 6 weeks). I go on home visits and form relationships with both kids and adults, helping them set goals and giving them resources they might not otherwise get. I am really excited and I thought I would share this with my friends :) While it's not an ordained call, I really do feel like this is a call to ministry and I believe God's hand is there guiding this endeavor.

I miss you all! Take care and God bless :)