new frog pond

Looks like I will have a book review in an upcoming issue of Christian Century. I am still waiting to hear on the book proposal but I'm okay with waiting right now. Meanwhile, I have a couple other assignments to work on for the Chimes & Presbyterians Today. And a chance to preach on one of the high holy days of the Associate/pulpit supply preacher... (the Sunday after Christmas, the Sunday after Easter, Fourth of July Weekend... )

Meanwhile - spring is starting to bust out around here. Below is a picture of a bush over by the creek where the most amazing mass of leaves are pushing their way out of a monster-sized bud:



This is what the leaves look like once they are out and expanded:


Be rich with life, be explosively green this spring!

TribalChurch.org

TribalChurch.org

Don't know if you all are familiar with this site -- just had to share!
Have a blessed week!
love,
steph

Update on Heather

Hello friends - I survived my surgery really well considering. I hardly had a bloody nose and only threw up once. I spent a week on my back with my mom nursing me back. Swollen and black and blue are my new look. That and the space between my teeth which is already about 5 mm. Hard to believe they can move the teeth so fast . . . that's why it hurts! I am still turning my expander and will do so for at least 5 more days. Today I am going off my big pain meds so we will see how it goes. I was tired of feeling nausea all the time. I am home alone for a few days (Lars has big days at work) and then my mom is coming back to keep me company some more. Right now the battle is depression as I spend my days on the couch looking ugly and feeling like crap! But, back to work by Wed next week - at least half days . . . I hope.

Encouraging News

I got a nice note from an editor today saying that he enjoyed the book proposal and was planning to pass it along to his colleagues for their review.

Still a long ways from the "yes" but hey, what a nice note, eh?

Anitra

thanks

Thanks for your prayers and concern. The infusion yesterday went smoothly with no allergic reaction :) I will have to go and have an infusion every month. Currently I am really tired and weak, which the nurse said was normal. However, I am hoping that the fatigue and weakness are more from the cold/flu I have and that this won't be a monthly event.

Thanks so much! You all mean the world to me.

Much love, Jenn :)

Prayer Request

Hello friends! Things here in Wray are going great. I love the congregation and am enjoying the simple life of a rural pastor.

On Wednesday I start a new IV medication for my MS. Since my body has stopped responding to other forms of treatment this is the next step. Although they assure me that Tysabri is now safe, 3 people have died from taking the medicine. So, needless to say I am a bit worried. My dad has come up to be with me and take me to the first infusion, so that is comforting. So, if you have a little extra time, please keep me in your prayers as I begin this next step of treatment for MS.

On another note, Harold is in Malawi, Africa on a mission trip until February 29, so keep him in your prayers as well.

Take care and much love!

Brace Face

Friends - Here are pictures of my now strange face. I have clear braces on top and metal on the bottom both with blue rubberband thingys. You can also see the torture device that has been installed on the roof of my mouth. I now speak like I have a mouth full of marbles. I sound awful - which will be a joy as I try to preach on Sunday. The trip to the ortho did not go well as they could not get the expander in - the glue had begun to dry. I was crying in the chair from the pain of them forcing it on my teeth. My surgery is now scheduled for Thursday. I will turn my expander two times a day for 12 days and a total of 24 turns. We are going for a 8-10mm expansion. When I finally get back to work in March I will have a large space between my two front teeth. Oh the adventures . . . no wonder most pastors quit after the first year : ) Just kidding - so far my congregation has been great - though we'll see how patient they are after tomorrow's super slow sermon.

Brace Yourself for Valentines Day

Friends - Tomorrow I go in and get all my gear put on. I am getting a palatal expander on the roof of my mouth which looks something like this . . .

Then I am getting cermaic braces on the top and bottom teeth which looks something like this . . .

I will post pictures when I am able. On Tuesday next week I have my surgery to cut open my upper palate so it can move with the expander . . .

Please continue to keep me in prayer.

Confession

I like ants.

I think they are very cool and they do interesting things both individually and as a group. I think they are important little clean up critters in this world and I like having them around. As long as "around" is outside. Not in my house. Especially not in my kitchen.

Which is where they tend to show up after a long rain or it turns cold outside. And who can blame them? Its warm, there's food, and its not flooding the nest.

At first I tended to squeal a little bit and then squish as many as possible with a paper towel but there seemed to quite a few more thousand. I tried talking to them but human-ant interspecies conversation doesn't seem to work well.

So I looked on line and read my organic pest books and decided that pretty much my only option was to set out the puddle of death. Its a high viscosity slow acting ant poison. Its sweet so once an ant discover its yummy lethal goodness, pretty much several thousand of its brothers show up to lick it up and take it back to the next to share with the others.

I hate putting it out. I really don't want to kill them. I just want them out in the yard. Not pets. Yet, this is our second invasion in the upstairs bathroom and we've seen two waves this year in the kitchen so far. I noticed a couple wandering around the living room a few days ago but they apparently decided it wasn't worth calling in the gang. You can see how this could go.

So - the night before last when I was reluctantly picking up the bottle of death goo to spread out the banquet of doom, I screamed like a girly girl when I discovered the ants were already sucking on the pour spout. For some reason it makes me think of cars lined up in the McDonalds drive through lane....

Last night, the population was starting to drop. I could see some of the ants carting off the bodies of their brothers back toward where ever it was they came from.

Today there are no ants. Just the placid, still glistening puddle of death gently reflecting the morning light.

Why can't they just stay outside?

Time on your hands? Wanna go to Geneva?

In honor of Calvin's 500th birthday in 2009, a host of groups and churches have put together all kinds of seminars and events - and a Calvin-centered-hymn-writing competition. Winners get travel and accommodations paid to Geneva for the celebration. Details are here:

http://www.calvin09.ch/media/pdf/interaktiv/Liedwettbewerb_E.pdf

And more info on the celebrations are here:

http://www.calvin09.ch/EN/home/home2.html

I can see it now...

"His theology comes with some gravity,
That's the way of total depravity..."

Snow daze

Well, here we are! Winter has definitely arrived and it shore is purty! This is a photo of Hope College Dimnant Chapel -- inside reminds me a whole lot of Stewart Chapel but about three times as large -- really beautiful.

It has been snowing most of today...and snowing...and snowing...outside my office window, the icy branches have tiny red berries still clinging on for all they're worth! The seminary was actually closed due to weather this past Wednesday for the first time in 15 years!

Life is good. I have been appointed by Dean VanDyk as an adjunct faculty for next academic year to co-teach a class for seniors "Launching Your Ministry." How cool is that??? And yesterday I submitted my application for the DMin program (what am I thinking???). Having a great time -- love what I'm doing here, love the people who put up with me, love our home and love you all for being so supportive when all this started. I've been here one year and 30 days. Can you believe it?

Jim started a "seminary singers" group with yours truly as accomplice -- however the students have suggested another name: Creme de la Croom! We sang in Chapel this morning -- not up to SFTS standards as far as numbers go but the majority of folks here seem to read music so it makes for fun rehearsals.

Almost time to trundle out and scrape the windscreen! So TTFN and loads of love to you all!

Ordination photos

Hi everyone! I'm getting my feet underneath me at Santa Clara, and also have already had my first vistors: friends who were in town for a wedding - and who also brought ordination photos...



Here's a slightly blurry one where Cheryl is about to give me my robe...



...and here's one of my dad and me looking very serious as we serve communion.

Theological Pop Quizzes

I have two stepsons who are loosely Unitarian in their upbringing. They are also very bright and interested in the world around them. Living with them is something like a never ending Trivia Pursuit game. I might be walking out of the bathroom and bam, there's a question like, "how many presidents earned over $250,000 per year?" or "What do you think of Obama's electablity against Gulliani?" Sometimes I can answer the question, sometimes I tell them to go look it up on-line. Mostly I enjoy watching their curiosity and their thought paths at play.

Sometimes though, its tough.

The other night - I had about 15 minutes to eat my dinner & find my shoes/socks/stuff and get out the door for choir practice when my younger step son (age 13) asks, "So, what do you Presbyterians believe about heaven?"

yikes!

So we had a conversation that touched on life after death, the new heaven and earth, Revelations, the holes in Jesus' hands, A God that is always creating, and meanwhile my elder step son is throwing in questions like, "So, explain atonement for me..."

I made it to choir practice on time, with shoes and socks on my feet but I had to postpone atonement for another time alongside of explaining why apocalyptic writings are a mis-reading of Revelations and an overall review of Eschatology & Christology.

I'm going to be sooo ready for a floor examination should that day ever come to pass.

mmmmmm

This is my first effort at making bacon. Real bacon. It has just come out of the oven where I slow roasted it after brining in a simple salt/sugur/pink salt brine. It tastes very good. Seriously.

It has a twin in the refrigerator, still in brine stage. That one I want to smoke. I just need 3 hours w/o rain. Or a tarp.... hmmmmmm

In the Mail

Two years from first thinking that not only had the time come, I actually could do this...
Seven years from first dreaming that someday I might do this...
There it is in the mailbox - the book proposal.
Now its up to someone else.
And yes, in all probability, quite a few more someone elses

But there it is: a dream now out and loose in the world.

Peace!

Update

Hello. An update on Heather and I. I have started a new job. I am now the Development associate at The Samaritan House, samhouse.org. I am mostly going to be writing grants and doing research. The Samaritan House, founded in 1986, transforms lives by helping homeless men and women achieve self-sufficiency through personalized employment readiness and life stabilization programs. If you can't tell, I've written that sentence this week many times. I get to sit in my office and write and be creative and I don't have to talk to other people, I love my job.
Heather, of course, is a complete rock star at her job. She got the church through Christmas with flying colors and with everyone's heads still attached. Apparently that hasn't happened in recent memory so everyone is falling all over themselves to tell her how awesome she is, something we all already knew. Her programs are growing and the kids follow her around like little ducklings, she is so good at her job. The presbytery of the Cascades is a whole other story, but keep Heather and all of them in your prayers as they figure out what to do next. I have decided to hate them all for a little while, I'll get over it I'm sure, currently just sending them my spite. (If you want details, ask Heather, not my story to share).

Our marathon is in a month, yes we are running a real 26.2 marathon on February 18th. We ran 18 miles this past Saturday, will run 20 next weekend and training is going well. Our next goal is a triathalon, training for a marathon takes up too much time. After a year we have decided we really like Atlanta, who knew? We don't think we will be here forever, Portland can wait for a couple years for us though.
Peace and light

Update on Heather

Friends - Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. I have survived the gum graft. For a while there I was really swollen and black and blue. I was calling myself "Big League Chew" since only half my face was doubled in size. There was no way I could do church on Sunday so Lars filled in reading my sermon and leading worship. He was a big hit and is now in demand, which is good because I have more sick days coming up. Right now I am still tender on the roof of my mouth and I look like Frankenstein at the graft site but its not too bad. I got my stitches out yesterday which was a big improvement. There is a bit of an issue with an area where I have lost feeling at the graft site and I need to go back and have it taken care of, but not until I recover from my big surgery. Next week I start the braces preparation, its like a never ending nightmare for this girl who hates the dentist chair. Thanks for your prayers.

Wind Gusts to 55 mph or so

We used to have a fence.

We still do I guess, only its kinda done with being a fence. Or at least with being a good fence. Right now its a tired fence. A laying down fence. A broken fence, rotted out at the base and no longer able to separate, delineate, set the boundary. Our neighbor's yard is open to us and our yard is open to him.

Which is okay with us as neither of us have dogs and our kids are big and his kids never ever go outside. Seriously, I practically never see them. He is Vietnamese-American and from L.A. He owns an auto repair shop a few blocks from here and it looks like he and his family really all live at the shop in that "Gonna make the American Dream" way.

This weekend Bill & Kevin will sort out the wood and try to find a better place to store the now-retired fence pieces and make some sort of agreement about its replacement. It will be interesting to see how that conversation will go. Kevin is very pragmatic about things like yards (lowest maintenance possible) and fences (cement blocks ok?). Of all my neighbors here, I like them the best even though they are practically invisible (they never open their windows or their blinds) because they aren't trying to put their stuff on other folks.

Up till now we've lived next door to each other in that suburban live-and-let-live way. Now I'm starting to thumb through some Vietnamese recipes. I think eating together is very important when considering fences.

Prayer Request

Friends - This is a simple prayer request for myself. Tomorrow I am headed in for a gum graft. They will take tissue of the roof of my mouth and then attach it to my upper gums right side. I am hoping to be healed by Sunday, but I am planning to train Lars as a back up. I am mostly asking for prayers of peace. This is the first venture in what will be two hard months for me. Surgery this week, then near the end of January I begin braces preparation. On Valentines day I will be fitted with upper and lower braces along with a palatial expander which is a big peace of metal on the roof of my mouth. Then on February 19th I will have my big surgery which involves sawing in my jaw in several places so that my upper palate will become mobile. Needless to say all this planned messing with my mouth is causing me anxiety. Tomorrow it begins and in a few months it will just be living with braces - but right now I am having a hard time focusing on my congregation as my head swims with my own needs and fears. So . . . keep me in your prayers. And in February I will post pictures of my brace face! - Heather

To All A Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2007
Dear Family and Friends,



I hope this Christmas Season brings you all of the wonderment and joy you all are so deserving of. I’m going to do some myth busting. Even if you are a little naughty, no fat guy will come down your chimney and put coal in your shoes. Fact: I was naughty one year (not telling which one) and it didn’t happen. Then to test it again I was naughty the next year and it still didn’t happen, no coal. After that, I heard rumors that perhaps the whole white bearded fat guy thing was a hoax. Not wanting to push my luck, I have been good ever since. If any of you have been bad this year I would like to hear back and see how it went. Personally, I think its bunk but just in case, I bought some cookies and Coca-Cola.



Oh, how we miss those magical Christmases of our youth. I find that as the years go by I am starting to look increasingly like this Santa Claus character who has morphed a bit. Santa Claus started out as skinny St. Nicholas, a 4th century martyred Bishop from Turkey. He was noted to be the patron saint of the poor, pawnbrokers and prostitutes and most noted for his generosity toward poor children. A tradition of winter gift giving passing though most European cultures, incorporating pagan and folkloric effects, becoming SinterKlaas for the Dutch; gaining weight in the 19 century and becoming the American icon of conspicuous consumption. A simple satchel of sweets for children has now become over burdened with marketing ploys, usury, corporate greed and materialism. Culturally new, images of Santa Clause now prevail in Iraq and Afghanistan, since the onset of our military occupation. The jolly old man has become a symbol of empire.



In the last 14 months, experiencing the passing of both my parents, a favorite aunt and now a brother, I have come to know even truer, the greatest gift is to love and be loved. I wish for all of you this great gift. As a Christian, I know a story of a child who was born in a simple manger and hailed by night workers in a field. This innocent child of Bethlehem became known as the Prince of Peace for a new kingdom. Perhaps too, morphed through time and culture but also known to be the friend of prostitutes the poor and children.



I am fortunate that nearly all of my friends and family are without serious need. I have decided to make my gift giving this year to Heifer International. One of my internship churches here in California introduced me to this organization. The Heifer Project gives animals to poor families, teaches animal husbandry and does community development as ways to relieve poverty. I appeal to each of you to find out more about this amazing organization. In memory of my passed love ones, you, and the other beloved ones receiving this note, I have sponsored a water buffalo, a goat and bees. I will leave it your imagination to figure which of you remind me of a water buffalo, an old goat or being as sweet as honey.



Please be good, and may you know the Goodness of this season…

Pastor, Friend, Papa, Brother, Uncle, Robert (Bob) Hattle