random news

News #1:

From the UMC California/Nevada Conference website:

Mahoney, Kathy

Change Date: 7/1/2007

From: Kernville UMC
To: Windsor UMC

This is a significant congregation in the community - way to go Kathy!

(google view - campus on the left of the main road)

News #2

Sharon LaTour is serving as Commissioned Lay Pastor at Garberville Presbyterian Church. I was in the area camping (Richardson Grove) last weekend and went up to worship with her and the congregation. Sharon was great- the congregation is dedicated - the food spread afterwards is a full on lunch - the sanctuary is beautiful in its simplicity and use of redwood - and she has great musicians. I look forward to hearing how her ministry will grow and serve that community. Ginny Rose was also there and serving as lay reader. Ginny is living in the parish house in Scotia. (google view - church is to the north of the arrow)

News #3

Robert Hattle is back on the Northern Californian Coast - working at the hospital in Arcata for the summer. Ghost Ranch needed to gear up for its summer program and the nursing money is very good at Mad River Community Hospital. Robert stopped by at the Richardson Grove campsite on the way up from a great program on Process Theology at Claremont in LA. It was good to see him.

Got News? Time to post! camping? travels to exotic locations? picnics in the local park?

Anitra

Kai Emily

Just to let you know Heather and I have a healthy new niece in our family. She came this morning at 7:15 am and is 8 pounds 1 ounce. Mother and baby are doing great, especially since mother got an epidural the second she rolled into the hospital this morning at 3:00 am. My sister is aware that Kai means "and" in Greek, but keeps ignoring me when I say it and then she reminds me that it also means ocean in Hawaiian and Willow Tree in Navajo. With a 2 and a half year old and a brand new baby around, please pray that at some point my sister and brother-in-law get some rest.
It also looks like Roux, the dog, may not need to have surgery. We are taking her to have an Orthopedic consult this week, yes we are taking our dog to an orthopedic surgeon (yes I know, good lord).
Also the Red Sox are in town playing the Braves, we are going to two of the three games, just to let you know that makes this the best week ever.

Peace and light,
Alexis
aem-kmcg.blogspot.com

Doug Adams

Bobbie Dykema, a grad student at GTU, sent out an email today indicating that Professor Doug Adams is seriously ill and she is requesting prayers for his healing and strength.

Armstrong Houshold

We had a graduation in our house as Silas graduated from pre-school.

Here is receiving his certificate from the School's Superintendant.

It is also baseball season and the boys are both playing in the city league. They each had there first games this week and had a great time. Did you see Silas smile. He fell this spring on the back stairs and knocked his two front teath loose. The dentist had to pull them. He's pretty cute without them.

Megan and I are doing well. She is on vacation with her mom in Ireland and Scotland before we take our High School students to St. Louis, MO on our mission trip. We would ask for your prayers over the next month as our schedule is packed full. We pray everyone is doing well.

Another Ordination

I was able to attend the ordination service in Denver for Matt Gearke this past Sunday.

Matt will be serving as Associate Pastor (youth and children's) at Spirit Lake, Iowa.

He will be making the move and beginning ministry in July.

Let's all remember Matt in this time of transition.

Holy Ground

Friends -

Some of you may have heard in the news about the shooting in Moscow, ID that involved a Presbyterian Church two weeks ago. A gunman shot and killed his wife at home, shot at the police station and killed a police man, and then entered the church and killed the caretaker there and shot himself in the sanctuary. Needless to say it was a huge tragedy and shock in the small college town. That was my home church and the church that supported me on my seminary journey. I found out the morning of the shooting (Sunday) as I was preparing for worship in Wilbur which was quite a difficult time for me.

Well, last Sunday the congregation re-entered their worship space for the first time. One of my parishoners covered for me in Wilbur so that Lars and I could attend. It was very moving for me to share in the service with my church family and it meant a lot to them that Lars and I came. There was a lot of hope in the service as we sang songs and prayed litanies for healing. Halfway through the service they brought in the communion elements and water for the baptismal font. As the pastor poured the water into the font and we sang "Holy Ground" I choked back tears.

It was amazing to see the way the church as a whole reached out to this community in need. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance had been in to help work on the church so there was no sign of the violence that took place there. They had also visited with church members and community neighbors to talk about emotions surrounding the tragedy. There were cards and emails from all over the country expressing support for the congregation and their healing process.

My biggest realization from the experiance was that God never left the space. That while we were re-claiming, re-dedicating the space for worship, the truth was that it never stopped being a worship space. That even though tragedy and evil entered in - God was still present and the holiness of the space was still intact. It was a moving lesson on the presence of God in our lives in times of pain as well as in times of joy.

For those of you who may have seen the news and remembered it was my church thank you for your prayers. It was the prayers of people around the country that have helped this congregation to survive and will continue to help it thrive. Thanks be to God!

Nothing new really.

It's funny how much a dog can become just like its owner. We just found out this morning that our dog Roux has torn her Anterior Cruciate Ligament( ligament in the knee, also known as the ACL) and has arthritis in her knees. Apparently she is not as much as a mutt as we thought because she is predisposed to this injury as an almost pure breed Burmese Mountain Dog. For those who don't know every single member of my family has arthritis in our knees and wrists, we have all had at least one knee surgery, and my mother, sister, brother, and father have all torn their ACL's. So Roux is going to have surgery next week, and if you pray for dogs, pray for Roux. And if you know how much I love my dog, pray for my sanity during her surgery and recovery. Thanks.

Another Walk Across the Stage

Audrey Margaret Rasmussen graduated from Wilson High School in Portland Oregon last Friday night.

There is something about that silly song - Pomp and Circumstance - then when it cranks up and lines of young men and women start walking into the room - lines that include my daughters - well, I have this tendency to want to break out into deep sobbing. It comes from nowhere, I'm just fine, kinda bored, waiting for it all to begin and then... that music cranks up and the robed ones begin to appear and there it is....

I ran into Jill Holseth. She walked SFTS just this last month. She is still doing on-call chaplain work at Providence and is getting ready to take on the ords. Her daughter and second and last born also graduated last night.

Blessings from Taize

Hi folks! I've got just one month left in Europe - it's hard to believe it's almost time to come back to the U.S.A. I finished my masters thesis last week and am now waiting on comments from my advisor, after which I have a few weeks to kick back before I defend the thesis and hop a plane for home. I would covet your prayers for June 10 when I'll be preaching a sermon in Calvin's Auditoire (I hope not to get struck by lightning...)!

After finishing my thesis, I spent the past week with my dad at the Taize community in France. Let me tell you, the ritual of Taize worship three times a day, interspersed with simple living, Bible study, sharing with others and personal time for reflection, is not a bad way to spend a week. The photo here shows the brothers sitting inside the sanctuary. About 2,000 people were there this week (most of whom are young adults, teens to 30ish), and they can accommodate something between 6,000 and 10,000. Singing those Taize songs with hundreds of others is quite an experience - the music just washes over you. The existence there is rustic - think church camp for adults - but it's worth the trouble it takes to get all the way to France. Once we all have study leave (time and budget) built up, we should take a class trip...

Magna Cum Laude

We flew back to Washington DC on Saturday the 12th - we got in around 5 pm local time to Dulles Airport. We decided to get around as much as possible on the Metro - so our hotel was in Dun Leaving (the daily rate was at least below $200/night!) a block away from the local Metro stop but about 30 minutes from downtown DC. I love the metro. I think about Aimee whenever I ride the escalators (ride on the right, walk on the left).

On Sunday we got up, got ourselves organized and rode the orange line to the Metro stop, then switched over to the red line and continued north to the American University campus at Tenlytown. There is a shuttle from the metro stop to the campus and there were lots and lots of somewhat confused but very proud parents heading back from the first round of stage walking.

Meanwhile, another great gaggle of family dressed in their sunday best stood around outside the auditorium with young men and women dressed in blue gowns and hats. Looking around I could recognize the master's gowns and hoods plus the Phd hats. I couldn't help but remember how it was to walk - just a year ago...

We walked over to Dana's dorm where she was puttering around still packing up, talking to friends and generally hanging out. The room is the kind of room I lived in when I was in college. Concrete block walls, built in dressers and closets and two beds, two desks, two bookcases and a rug that has seen perhaps way more then should be contemplated. We talked, then she dressed and we walked out to find her friends, a suitable place to take photos and eventually, to go our all too rapidly approaching diverging ways but in this case - we to the bleachers and her to line up into the blue gowns. They marched in and if I hadn't been holding a video camera I would have broken out into deep deep sobbing the need for which surprised me. I remember dropping her off at the kindergarten door on the first day of school and then turning away and how I started sobbing then.

The graduation itself was classic: speakers, name calling and stage walking. No one went long and mercifully most of the speechifying was interesting. At the end, the class stands and walks back out. Dana passed in front of us, not knowing how close we were, and then away from me - out the doors into the world beyond. "Wait!" I wanted to cry out. "Where are you going? How can this happening so soon?" But without looking back she marched out with her head lifted high and a proud smile of accomplishment.


Dana has her first grown up job: Para-Legal in a Bethesda Estate law firm Now she needs a place to live but in the meantime.... she is spending a couple of weeks here before work starts. If anyone knows of a nice place to live in Bethesda, we're taking suggestions. We're also shopping for the professional clothes and apartment stuff and so on. And I'm stocking up on Kleenex boxes for the drive back from the Oakland Airport on May 30th. How did my Mom ever do this?

Fresh Start

In the Atlanta Diocese of the Episcopal Church there is this wonderful clergy resource called Fresh Start. At the beginning of any new ministry, whether or not you are a new rector, an old rector in a new church, an associate pastor, a chaplain, or any ordained clergy person who starts any new job anywhere in the Atlanta Diocese you are required to go to a clergy support group three times a month that meets at the diocese every Thursday for the first year of your ministry; and then after that you are required to go once a month for the next year. And then after that you can come whenever you feel the need for some connection. They also hold monthly support meetings for clergy in urban churches, in suburban churches, rural churches, chaplains, pastoral care clergy, older adult ministry clergy, and youth and family clergy. I don't think the Episcopal church does support any better than any other church, or that being forced to spend every Thursday out of touch and in a meeting is great, but can you imagine during your first call getting to sit around and talk to other people going through the same thing and getting advice from clergy who have already been through it? As well as getting to get away from the pressures of your job for a few hours on Thursday morning, plus they have a free breakfast. (who doesn't love free food). I only post this because apparently support like this can be done, clergy can be connected and according to the pastor's who go, it is a lifesaver during the first year of ministry. I just emailed the Bishop for the local Methodist District saying maybe this Fresh Start thing isn't such a bad idea for the Methodist's here in Atlanta. Now who should I contact to get in touch with a Presbyterian who can contact their own leaders? (note sarcasm)

Tulip Time & Elephant Ears

Yes, it's Tulip Time in Holland and that means Elephant Ears are back! Seems that many folks live for the deep-fried batter, slathered with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. This is as close as I ventured to said ears as folks were claiming space before the parade. Instead, I opted for a safe, rather ordinary hot dog and chips from the vendor next door.

Meantime, back at the ranch...Sammy is enjoying watching the birdies on the feeder we have mounted on the deck. Jim took 2 days to stain/seal the deck in, what felt like, gale force winds! We've also started working in our yard -- see all the green green grass in the yards across the little lake? We are coaxing our little yard into becoming pretty and green, too. The little oak tree that we brought with us from San Anselmo (Jim found it growing out of a crack in the cement at the SFTS Maintenance Shop on Ross Ave) has just this week shown signs of new life. We celebrated by planting a weeping willow, a Japanese maple and 2 Douglas spruces.

Happy Easter! St. Luke's Episcopal, Kalamazoo. Jim's first Sunday was Palm Sunday and we all gathered out in the courtyard, the daffy-dills, hyacinths, forsythias all in bloom. The next Sunday -- Easter -- we were bundled up, ringing bells and singing our Aaaa---lle-llllu-iiiias through chattering teeth! It's a lovely church -located right across the street from First Church, K'zoo. (No, I haven't been there...yet.) Jim is serving as the interim rector and seems to really enjoy that kind of work; there are 18 openings in the Diocese of Western Michigan.

Well, I reckon that's enough for now. When I saw this sign on the marquee at the Knickerbocker Theatre, downtown Holland, I couldn't help but think of you all...and us all! How strange it is to remember where we all were less than one year ago and to be writing you from this new space and place. What a dance it has been! Hoping this finds you all well and enjoying "bright sacred days and warm blessed nights."

The potential dangers of the BLOG

I had a sad reminder the other day of the potential harm a BLOG can do. I know we all know to be careful but it doesn't hurt to remember before we post that anyone, and I do mean ANYONE can read what we write. (Including your CPM) Recently an SFTS student has gotten into some hot water with his CPM because of his personal Blog. How who got ahold of what I do not know. I do know he goes up for candidacy this week and has been told that the issue may come up on the floor of the Presbytery. YIKES!
That said I do love having our BLOG to keep track of what's new with all of us and hope we will continue.
love and blessings to you all,
Cheryl

things that grow

Here is this starter pix for the 2007 Kitts-VonSeggern Vegi garden. On the right are about six plants of broccoli which sat around small and not doing much till the recent run of warm weather and then went straight to skinny stalks of blooming flowers skipping over the buds-we-get-to-eat stage. Also some califlower which shows signs of simular intentions. In the front are a bunch of carrots that I planted last July and which refused to show up till November/Jan last year. They are doing some root work but some are going straight for the flower/seed stage a well. In the middle are a range of tomato plants and basil. My little tomato starts that I showed in an earlier post had a great start from seed but then refused to do anything more once they put out their real leaves. If I put them out, I'm thinking I should also just put up a sign saying: Snail Snacks Here!


Speaking of snail snacks - I have been working on rehabing a strawberry patch that existed when I showed up. As an Oregonian not only am I picky about my coffee, beer and salmon, I'm also opinianated about my berries. May is not strawberry season. Yet here they are and once in a while I get a few before the snails snack on them. At any rate, they are pretty.






I also planted rasberries last year. Bill and the boys have expressed doubt about how high the canes were going to grow. They are no longer questioning me on this issue. We'll have a small harvest this year but next year should be quite plentiful.

I am hoping to put up some strawberry freezer jam from one of the local farmers markets this spring. I miss that fresh taste and have run out of the supply from two years ago.

Its odd living in this climate - things just move faster than one expects. Yesterday and the next few days will be pushing 90 degrees. Water districts all over the bay area - and I suspect over in the central valley too - are declaring this year as a drought year so I don't know how well my tomatoes will do before we're done.

One more picture of that which grows so fast:




Dana Marie Rasmussen graduates from American University this Sunday at 4 p.m. She's out hustling up an apartment and a job. She wants to stay in Washington D.C. I'll post photos next week sometime.

Anitra

New Jobs

Heather and I have both had two weeks to settle into our new jobs, not that two weeks mean we necessarily get to settle into anything. My church fired their church secretary two days before I started, so right now I'm a church secretary. I make copies and use my M.Div to use a hole punch and figure out whether or not to capitalize church in the bulletin. It's really hard. Also the Episcopal Church has just entered into full communion with the Methodist Church, so I have found my ordination loop hole. I can be ordained in the Episcopal Church and get to pester (I mean serve) in the Methodist Church. Heather's church is going well. She is running into all of that church stuff that you run into in a new job; politics, loyalties, and the crazy parishioners who if you let them could take up all of your time.
But the good news is that we are moving into our new house. We just painted all of the rooms, the previous owners had painted EVERY SINGLE ROOM a crazy, institutional yellow. The living room is red and for right now the rest is white. We are putting in an herb garden and we are planning our garden in the backyard. It was very inspirational to see Heather and Lars garden on its way, makes me want to go out back. We have to teach Roux to stay out of the mommies strawberries, she loves strawberries. If anyone knows anything about the growing zone we are in I would love the advice.

Aimee in action

Or maybe that should be "Aimee Inaction."

Hello, all, and greetings from behind my computer screen, which is where I spend most of my time these days. Our master's theses are due May 31, so I'm usually to be found sitting here in my room, typing away. Or - occasionally - checking in on the SFTS blog. Sorry I've not offered an update for a while. For those of you curious about my upcoming plans (ha! like I've got those), I finish the thesis by the end of May and then hang out here for several weeks until I do the defense June 26 or 27. Then, July 5, I'm comin' home!

For my part, I've been thinking of all of you and our sweet time together last year at this time. In fact, last week I had a series of dreams several nights in a row where we were graduating again, getting our robes, moving out of our apartments...just like it was yesterday! You are all in my heart, even from afar - and I miss you.



Just for fun, here are some photos from earlier this spring - before I was glued to my desk chair:

My sister and I are standing in front of the cathedral in Vienna, back at the beginning of March. She's doing a semester abroad in Austria, so we're both enjoying a European lifestyle this spring. In April, we met up in...


...London, where took this action shot of me getting on a slide at the Tate Modern museum. Remember the "hydrotube" enclosed water slides? (There was one out on McLoughlin Boulevard in the 80s, if you remember, Anitra - all the rage for kids' birthday parties until someone sued over an injury and they all shut down.) Anyway, some famous modern artists I'd never heard of installed these "sculptures" in the Tate - three twisty metal tube slides, just like the hydrotube, but without water. Very cool - though I'm not sure what makes it art, since I've seen the same thing in a smaller version at many a playground.

For those who are out of town

Visit SFGate for the details - A gas tank rolled over in the middle of the McArthur Maze and took out two connectors this morning.

"The elevated roadway that fell carried eastbound traffic from the Bay Bridge onto Interstates 580 and 980 and state Highway 24. It draped like a blanket over a roadway below, a connector from southbound I-80 to I-880 that also was severely damaged." (SF Gate - as the photo)

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/29/BAGVOPHQU46.DTL

Pictures from Wilbur

Hey everyone - We have been busy in our yard. A few of my parishoners came over and worked on roto-tilling what will be our food patch. Lars and I are really anticipating fresh grown crops. In the meantime here are some pictures of a flower patch, a snake (I was home alone and working outside but mustered enough courage to take a picture), and some indoor work with my first ever batch of sticky buns! Yum! - Heather

Good News from Hattle

Robert Hattle called from New Mexico last night to say that he has now passed all ordination exams. His CPM opened up a path for an oral exam on the final subject with them yesterday (he passed almost all the written exams) - and he passed.

Now he needs to wait until the Presbytery approves the process before he can be declared a certified candidate - which won't meet for a few more months yet but it is a good thing to have cleared all the ordination hurdles.

He is currently living at and serving as a chaplain at Ghost Ranch where he is developing a worship community that serves the community around the Ranch.

yet another way to avoid what I should be doing:

You scored as Moltmannian Eschatology. Jürgen Moltmann is one of the key eschatological thinkers of the 20th Century. Eschatology is not only about heaven and hell, but God's plan to make all things new. This should spur us on to political and social action in the present. Moltmannian Eschatology 80% Amillenialist 75% Preterist 70% Dispensationalist 50% Postmillenialist 15% Premillenialist 0% Left Behind 0% What's your eschatology? created with QuizFarm.com

Thanks to Aric Clark (aricclark.blogspot.com) for this delightful electronic bon-bon.

More to come the next time I'm motivated