1,000 Gifts

It's been a long time since I last posted my list of things I'm thankful for--so I thought I'd take this lazy Saturday to catch up a bit! A friend of mine is posting hers monthly, that may be my new plan :)

Thank you, Jesus, for...

300. A delightful evening watching and mocking the second Twilight movie, New Moon with my husband.

304. Getting all my candidacy paperwork written and turned in.

310. The incredible support and feedback we have each received from our respective small groups during a difficult ministry situation that arose.

311. Getting to spend a delightful morning on the beach with Jenn Moore and the rest of her bridesmaids, picnicking, praying, chatting and enjoying God's creation.

313. Watching Jenn and Josh get married, such a great day!

316. The engagement of THREE good friends all in 1 week! Jenn, Megan and Becca--lots of weddings coming up!

317. An incredibly encouraging session meeting with the elders at my home church.

322. Coffee, dinner and conversation with Seattle friends.

325. The movie Oceans, such amazing sea creatures exist!

333. Getting to teach students about the sacraments in Confirmation.

335. Sunday afternoon naps.

340. God provides work for us!

341. Video chatting with Lily

344. GPC has a new pastor! He starts in August.

345. Homemade peanut butter brownies

346. I am officially a candidate for ordination!

349. Getting an hour of 1 on 1 time with my head pastor from Seattle.

350. Coffee with Dianne, one of my mentors and role models from Seattle

354. Moleskine journals

355. My new haircut :)

362. Sipping coffee in the sunshine

362. Giftcards to restaurants

367. I finally made it through Pride and Prejudice!

369. Birds singing in the background as I write this

371. Clarity in my desire and call to be a pastor.

379. Ice cream sandwiches

385. Piles of clean laundry

388. Skype date with my nieces and nephew in Japan

397. A clean house

406. A delicious meal with a professor of ours and his wife

408. Vanilla ice cream with fresh cut peaches and strawberries on top

409. A quiet, lazy Saturday morning.

417. Watching Confirmation kids wrestle with their faith

7 Quick Takes Friday

Happy 3 day weekend everyone! I think I've decided every weekend should be a 3 day weekend...but they didn't ask me, so I seriously doubt that will happen. But it would be nice...

Here's what's been going on around here lately...

**1**
It was my first full week of work in a long time...and I gotta be honest, I'm a little tired! It just felt full! I worked each morning this week for 4 hours in my new office, led two preaching groups, graded and gave written feedback on 7 sermons (I might have been a little behind...), and started working a few hours for the other new job I was hired for this week, which is working part time for a preaching institute that is being created here. It is definitely going to take me a few weeks to get the hang of this whole working thing! But I enjoyed getting up each day, going into the office, having tasks to do and recording my hours on a time card, so I am thankful for being employed!

**2**
I finally finished reading Pride and Prejudice about a week and a 1/2 ago. Finally! I have very mixed feelings about it, on one hand I was slightly entertained by the story line. On the other hand I was bored by the verbosity with which the characters felt the need to speak. It went on and on and on. So I think it may be awhile before I pick up another book by Jane Austen!

**3**
Last Saturday I went to our church's half day "Almost Silent Women's Retreat." This is a brilliant idea for anyone who has to plan a woman's event! We gathered at 8:30 for breakfast and chatting at someone's beautiful home. At 9 they did a brief introduction to silence, solitude, and how to approach a time alone. From 9:30 to 11:45 the 14 of us were turned loose to go spend time in silence however we wanted. Some went on a silent hike in the nearby hills of the neighborhood, but most of us found sunny patches in the beautiful backyard, spread out a blanket and enjoyed time reading, resting, journaling, praying, and observing nature around us. At 11:45 we were called back together for a 15 minute debriefing time--what did people learn, how was that for you to spend time in silence etc. From 12-1 they served a delicious lunch while we fellowshiped around the tables and then headed home. It was a fabulous idea for an event--a great balance between time connecting and time alone. Definitely will be copying this some day when I'm planning events!

**4**
I am reading a fantastic book right now as part of my quiet time, one I would highly recommend to anyone who struggles in their relationship with God. The basic premise is that as Christians we have been taught things in the church that are actually not true about God, yet they have become SO ingrained in us that they have created an untrue narrative about the God of the scriptures. I know this is true in my own walk. For instance, how many of us believe that God is angry at us? Or how many of us believe that God blesses us when we are good and punishes us when we are bad? According to studies of Christians done by Baylor University in Texas, a majority of evangelical Christians have these ideas about God somewhere in their narratives they tell about God. James Bryan Smith writes a book reminding us that in order to understand God, we have to look at Jesus, at what Jesus tells us about God, and that needs to reshape the narrative in our minds about God. It's delightful, I just wish I was going through it with someone. There are great discussion questions and spiritual discipline exercises recommended for each chapter that would be fun to go through with another person.


**5**
On Sunday afternoon we are driving up to the Fresno area to spend a night at my sister's inlaws house because Megan, Nathan and the baby girl are going to be there! So excited to play with Lily-girl and see my sister! Cuz really, who wouldn't want to hang out with this one:
**6**
Charles preached his last sermon of seminary last night and did a great job. He has learned so much and really done a lot of work to try and figure out his style of communication over the last three years! Good work baby, I'm proud of you!

**7**
My new favorite website these days is called kirtsy.com and is a great collection of articles and things found around the internet that would be of interest to women. You can go here and find links to all kinds of things other women have found and wanted to share, some of these finds are so fun! Feel free to check it out for yourself, or if not, here are my favorite links from the past week:
A couple did their engagement photos based on the movie Up--these are incredible!

Dumb Pointless Laws in California that are guaranteed to get a laugh!
The Story of Stuff (do you know where all our stuff comes from? And goes?)

so, what would you say?

This week for our Confirmation students the topic was the authority of scripture--where we got the Bible from, how we know we can trust it, what do the words inerrancy and infalibility mean and where do we as leaders and our church in general fall, and what can they say when people ask them questions about why they believe the bible. We recognize that at some point they will encounter people who will ask them questions that they haven't been exposed to or prepared for in church and we think that's not okay. If someone is going to poke holes in what they have always assumed to be true about scripture we wanted it to be us youth leaders where we can help them reconstruct some of what they've been taught rather than a college professor who doesn't care about their faith. We talked to them about how we fall into the "we believe scripture is infallible" camp of people, not inerrant, which made sense to them, they even picked that camp before we told them that's where our church tends to land.

Sunday morning they received a talk on the background of where we got the New Testament, and then in the afternoon they were broken into groups of 5, and each group was given a real life scenario of a conversation they will most likely have about the bible at some point in their life. They were given time on Sunday and time last night to come up with responses to their scenario and then they presented them to the whole youth group last night. After their presentation each group sat down one at a time with a panel of Chuck, George and I to receive questions, feedback, critique, and so we could point out where there might be holes in their arguments. We told them we needed them to think deeply about these scenarios. There weren't easy answers, we were not going to tell them where to find any answers, and their answers needed to include something from scripture. We had a bunch of theology books there for them on Sunday, theological dictionaries and a few other books and told them they needed to actually research what people were saying on whatever topic they had. It was a fascinting exercise to watch. We don't ever make them do anything very academic, and some didn't like that it felt like "school" to them. But we also realized that the church does a lot to just hand kids their faith and doesn't help them look deeper or think critically about things very often. Some of these kids are about to graduate and will be in college next year and at some point will have to answer questions that we know they aren't necessarily prepared to handle. Each group had one kid in it that has a ton of bible knowledge and 3-4 kids who don't, so of course the 1 kid ended up doing most of the work and presenting. But then when it was time for their conversations with us, we had a chance to ask each student questions to press them a little deeper. Some were a little uncomfortable, some said, "wow, I didn't realize that what we said might not work as a response," and some enjoyed being pushed harder. All in all they did a really good job, we were proud of them, but we also reminded them that arguing people with "facts" isn't always helpful because there are just as many facts that can be thrown at them for why believeing in the bible isn't smart. So we talked to each group about responding with their own stories, experiences, and encounters with faith and community to answer a lot of questions because people can't argue with your story.

So, what would you say if you were confronted with one of these 3 scenarios?

"Your friend Susie grew up in the church and knows all the bible stories but dosn't think they are relevant. She asks you why you think the bible is relevant. How would you respond?"

"In one of your classes a teacher tells you the bible is like any other mythological text and it is no more authoritative than Homer's The Iliad. Your friend comes to you after class and asks you how you can still be a Christian after what your teacher just said. What do you say?"

"Your friend comes to you and says, 'I saw a preacher on TV who said that the Haitian earthquake was a result of their sin. Do you believe this?'"

Not always straightforward answers huh? We definitely do not want to turn these kids into little apologists--giving them a handful of pat answers to throw back. We wanted them to wrestle deeply, figure out how this scenario connects with their own story, and see what they came up with. Definitely a worthwhile experience!

It's That Time Again!

Whew! I think I am grateful this week is over! It's been a bit of a whirlwind, and I am super tired! Lots of big events this week, so here's the latest...I think I mostly had 1 per day of the past week with a few exceptions, so here you go, beginning with last Saturday evening:1: Saturday

We spent the evening with friends from church celebrating a bunch of May birthdays. Ashley (one of our fellow youth leaders) was throwing a birthday party for George, and we kind of incorporated the other May birthdays as well. Here are a few photos from the night:
The refrigerator turned Jeopardy board for team triviaThe cake Ashley made for George--Ice Man from Top GunThe May birthday peeps2: Sunday
BIG day at church! We elected a new pastor (after being without a head of staff for about 4 years now) who is going to be so wonderful for that congregation! He's coming to us from Arizona, and this will be his first ordained call, even though he has 16 years of non-ordained ministry experience. He's young (39) and my favorite thing about him (other than his incredible preaching skills of course!) is that he wears 3 earrings :) This congregation needs someone to blow their prescribed expectations of what a pastor is/how he looks etc out of the water. I'm pretty sure Chris will do just that! He starts August 1, and we're excited to get to be here for a bit to see him in action.

3: Monday
Another travel day for me. I flew back to Seattle for a 48 hour trip to be able to meet with the Seattle Presbytery Tuesday evening. Monday evening when I landed, my friend Missy and I cooked dinner for our other friends and hosted "Family Dinner" as we often call these meals. It was great to see people and enjoy conversation over delicious food and wine.

4: Tuesday
My dear husband turned another year older on Tuesday, and I couldn't be here to celebrate with him :( We are really celebrating June 6 when we go see The Lion King, but I was still bummed to not be here. He had others celebrate with him, which was great, definitely a gift of living in community! Happy birthday honey, I love you and am so thankful for you being born!

5: Tuesday
Tuesday was a big day! I met Tuesday evening with the Seattle Presbytery so they could vote as to whether or not I was ready to move to the next round of the ordination process, called Candidacy. For those non-Presbyterian folks out there, a Presbytery is made up of all the churches in a given geographical area, and is a body of people who make the decisions for the local presbytery. So all the ordained clergy from all the churches in the area come together, along with a certain number of elders from each church (determined based on size of church--so Bethany, my home church has 4 spots for elders at Presbytery). This body of people (totaling about 300 in Seattle--although not all come to every meeting) makes a lot of decisions for the churches in the area. They also help determine the readiness of potential pastors for ministry. So I flew up to be interviewed by them for about 10 minutes (I had spent about an hour with a committee of people from the Presbytery 2 weeks ago, and they made the recommendation to all of Presbytery that I be passed to the next round, so Presbytery doesn't have to spend a huge amount of time on each potential candidate). When they're done asking you questions, they escort you out of the room, vote on you, and call you back in. If they've approved you, you walk in to applause--it's always an encouraging sign when you are still in the hall and you can hear the applause start! I'm not eligible to be ordained yet, it's still a longer process than this, and one day I'll write a post explaining it more because I get a lot of questions--most often "so why don't you have a job yet as a pastor?" that I'm kind of sick of answering! But as of Tuesday evening, I am officially a "Candidate" in the PC(USA) which is very exciting :)

6: Tuesday
As I'm walking out of Presbytery, my pastor from my home church, Dan, approaches me and asks for a ride to the ferry boat since his ride left half way through the meeting. I adore Dan, and haven't ever had a chance to have a lot of 1 on 1 conversation with him, so I was thrilled to get so much uninterrupted time with him. Between the drive to the ferry terminal, waiting in the ferry line, and the ferry ride back to Seattle I had over an hour of conversation with him which was one of the highlights of my week. I basically just said, "Okay, so what advice do you have for me starting ministry?" and we covered all kinds of topics of conversation--from whether pastors should still wear robes or not, to how to raise "Pastors Kids" who don't hate the church, to adjusting and growing into the title "Minister," to more political issues in the church of homosexuality and trends of using feminine language for God. We covered a LOT and it was wonderful! He was so encouraging, and I left the conversation more convinced than ever that I want to be an ordained pastor, and I'm going to be patient and wait for an ordained call, I don't want to take a non-ordained director position, I want to be a pastor and I'm willing to wait for that to happen.

7: Thursday
I started a new part time job yesterday working at Fuller 16 hours a week. A good friend of mine hired me to work in her office as an assistant, doing all kinds of projects, which I'm excited about! It felt great to get up in the morning yesterday and actually go to work for the first time in awhile! I have my own desk, my own computer, and she had gone on facebook before I got there and printed some of my favorite photos for me to put on my bulletin board already, so when i walked in, the first thing I saw was my smiling baby niece bouncing in her jump a roo!

7 Quick Takes Friday

Our week in a nutshell. Or seven nutshells.

**1**
I am apparently suffering from severe ADD when it comes to my reading list these past two months! What I loved about it for the first 6 months is that I was so focused. I am the kind of person who always has several books going at once, which means more often than not I never finish any of them unless it's a great story. So for awhile I was getting all kinds of reading actually accomplished because I was only reading 1 book at a time (what a concept!) All that came to a screeching halt when I began Pride and Prejudice. I know I wrote earlier that I was enjoying it. Well that enjoyment stopped rather suddenly after the first 1/4 of the book. Wow, I have been struggling to get through this thing for like 2 months now! Last night I had a late night babysitting job while the husband took his wife to the airport for a red-eye and I brought my trusty kindle and made myself read for an hour and a 1/2. I actually am getting back into the story, but good grief this is a wordy, slow book! Sorry to all you Austen fans out there, I don't think I'll be converting anytime soon!

**2**
Last Sunday I was the teacher for this week's confirmation class, and it was a lot of work but really fun. The topic of the week was Worship and the Sacraments and they chose me because as my husband said, "we don't know anyone else under age 40 who gets super excited when the term 'sacraments' comes up!" It's true. I do. It was fun to try to communicate why that is the case to a bunch of teenagers, I'm not sure how successful I was, but it was fun to try!

**3**
We just bought our plane tickets to Colorado for August to celebrate my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary! I'm so excited to spend several days there with family playing and hanging out together!

**4**
So I've been struggling leading my preaching group this quarter. I've TA'ed for preaching classes a lot, this is probably my 9th group of students that I've walked with through the learning to preach process, and I love it. This particular quarter though, without going into details, has been so frustrating. I have never come across any blatant gender issues here at Fuller. Yes, there are guys here who don't believe women should be pastors, but they chose to come to Fuller, and Fuller is VERY vocal about men and women being created equally for ministry, so they knew coming in where Fuller stood. This is the first time I've seen some blatant discrimination directed both towards me as their TA and towards the female student in the group (it doesn't help that she's the only one). It's been a frustrating group to figure out how to lead, and been really discouraging for me as well. Yeah, that's about all I can share, it's just been frustrating :(

**5**
This weekend is a BIG weekend for our church community! After about 10 years without a full time head of staff pastor we have a candidate coming to preach his candidating sermon on Sunday! Our Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) has been working so hard for the last 18 months reading resumes, watching sermons, conducting interviews, visiting candidates in their home towns, inviting candidates to come here etc and after all that we finally have the name of a man who looks incredible, who I am super excited about! We'll see what happens when the congregation votes on him on Sunday after the service!

**6**
I got to video chat yesterday with my darling baby niece who showed me how she can almost sit up all by herself without the pillows just like a big girl! She looks so proud of herself, I love it! I get to see her Memorial Day weekend which I am VERY excited for!My parents latest visit to RI, looks like they read lots of books together!
**7**
This morning I woke up to flowers and an "I love you" card from my husband. Definitely made my morning, he's the best :) I also got one of the best presents in the mail this past week. My best friend knew it has been a tough month and sent me a Pinkberry gift card in the mail because she knew how much I love it. She even had to order it online because they don't have Pinkberry where she lives. I am loving it. A lot.

"Have You Done Your Quiet Time?" Why I think we have got it all wrong...

I've been reflecting lately on Spiritual Disciplines, and on how they are often taught in our churches. If you are anything like me, spiritual disciplines often become part of your weekly checklist that sometimes become a scorecard to determine what kind of Christian you have been this week. Does this mental conversation ever happen to any of you? "I read a Psalm today, so I think I get a 'point' for that, and I went to church on Sunday and mostly paid attention to the sermon, so that is probably another 'point,' but I came right home and yelled at my husband because I was tired, hungry and cranky from all the time at church, so that's probably a minus point. I forgot to pray before I ate last night, so that might be a minus point too...dang....back at zero...guess I'll try again tomorrow...." Does that resonate with anyone else? So often we are led to believe that the definition of a good Christian can be boiled down to how many Bible verses one reads in a given week, how many bible studies one attended, how many pages filled with meaningful, thought-provoking prayers and reflections in one's journal, and of course, did we listen to Christian music on the radio, or did we (gasp!) listen to the pop station 'all those teenagers listen to?' I've had several conversations this past week about this very topic and have been inspired to try something new. This whole "spiritual check list" just wasn't cutting it for me because well, I'm not sure this is what God asks of us. I think we've been doing our teaching on spiritual disciplines and on cultivating one's relationship with God all wrong.

The bottom line is that all these actions are trying to draw us deeper into a relationship with God. A relationship. And we all have different ways of developing relationships in our lives. Which means I think that it's okay if we all have different ways of developing our relationship with God. One thing I have always loved about my husband is that he is so disciplined in his life (for the most part!). When it comes to his relationship with God, he does the same process of walking through prayer and scripture every morning. When we got married I tried emulating him a bit. Yeah...it worked for all of 1 day for me...I just could not connect with God the same way he does. Then I realized, well, he and I connect with people very differently, it makes sense that we would connect with our Creator differently. I need a bit more flexibility in my "quiet time" routine. And until recently, I wasn't sure how to create that space.

So I've started trying something new, and I realize this is completely impossible for most people with little kids at home (unless you tried during a naptime maybe?) or who work full time, but I wanted to share what I've been doing. This is literally something I have struggled with my entire life, never really being "in the mood" to read my bible or pray very well. This seems to have changed a bit for me recently and I think the catalyst was giving myself a bit more space for variety in my 'quiet times.'

My friend Jenn gave us bridesmaids beautiful photo storage boxes and I decided to make that my quiet time box.I filled it with my journalMy gratitude journalThe Book of Common Prayer (which has the daily lectionary readings in it...more on that in a second)Note cardsAnd a book I'm now reading at the raving recommendation of two friends of mine in Seattle, The Good and Beautiful God
My ipod is nearby if I want worship music and I bought a special candle to light only during my alone time. My idea was this. Somedays, I want to write in my journal and process something. Some days I have a ton I'm thankful for and want to add to my list in my gratitude journal. Some days I am praying for someone and feel like one of the best things I could be doing at that point is to write a quick note to them to stick in the mail. Some days I want to get lost in someone else's ideas of God and want to read a book for awhile that helps me think and connect with God differently than I would choose to on my own. I have come to believe that reading something from God's word each day is a must, even if I am not "feeling" like it, so I do start each day reading the daily readings from the lectionary (part of that is because my Committee on Preparation for Ministry has asked me to practice this discipline for 2 years, and I think it is a great tool so I am agreeing to try it). (An explanation is below for those who don't know what the lectionary is).

What I have found is that this seems to be working for me. I have given myself freedom to not do the same exact routine every day. I don't want to be doing a formal "bible study" right now where I have to answer questions someone else has come up with, I want to be free to read, think, form my own questions, and write about what I am actually getting out of a text rather than what someone else is telling me I should be getting out of a text. (But during other seasons I have wanted a more structured learning time, they key for me has been letting myself learn to be flexible with where I am instead of doing what others tell me I should be doing). I start my day with a cup of coffee and time alone at my desk with my quiet time box and see where I end up. Like I said, this isn't going to work for everyone, but I'd encourage you, if you're like me and often struggle with how to connect with God, to think outside the box a bit. What are ways you connect with people? Could they be applied to God? What things do you enjoy doing when you're alone? Reading, writing, thinking, praying, drawing, making lists? Could any of those things help you connect with God? (Another fun resources I have been given is called Praying in Color and is a great, super easy, fun way of incorporating doodling and color as we pray for people). People always told me to have a specific space that you regularly came to meet with God and I've never tried that. But now, having cleaned off my desk completely, sans framed photos of my closest family and friends, I have a space that feels like "mine." And it seems to be working. Any other suggestions or ideas for people? What do you do to help you connect? What about keeping going through dry seasons?


**The Daily Lectionary, for those who aren't familiar with it, is a 2 year cycle of scripture readings that you do each day. Each day there are assigned texts to help you experience the whole bible in two years. For every day there are 2 morning Psalms (one is always one of the praise psalms from the end of the book--Psalms 145-150), two evening Psalms, an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, and a Gospel reading. The readings aren't usually long, often a 1/2 of a chapter, and you do move around a bit throughout the church year (so the readings during advent would focus on the birth narratives etc) but in the course of 2 years you will read through the entire Old Testament once and the entire New Testament twice, and the Psalms multiple times. It's used by all denominations, and has been in existence for centuries, which I like. So many people read the lectionary every day that I know when I do so I am joining with people literally all over the world reflecting on a given text that morning. You can google it to find out more, but for the daily lectionary text you can visit the Presbyterian Church's devotional page here.

Authenticity

I recently had coffee with someone who I don't know very well. We are acquaintances, and have interacted in groups a tiny bit over the past year, but have only had one other one-on-one conversation. In our first 1 on 1 time together, she shared a LOT of personal things with me, things I was honored to hear, and happy to listen to and be her sounding board, but I was a bit surprised, at how much she told me. I'm a pastor and a chaplain, I am used to total strangers sharing a lot with me, this is an incredible honor, and doesn't phase me a bit. This person never really asked how I was, and we kind of went on from there. She wanted to have coffee again recently, so I agreed. We had coffee and she immediately started talking as soon as we sat down, again going pretty deep fairly quickly. I mostly listen, adding some comments every now and then, and eventually she says, "So Sarah, how are you?"

I struggle responding to this question at times (depending on who it is doing the asking). On one hand, I appreciate the question, especially since I never really received it the first time we hung out and I think she wants a friendship, which has to be reciprocal. However, on the other hand I was left unsure of what to say. How am I? Well, for the most part, I'm doing really well. I told her so. However not knowing this person very well at all, I wasn't comfortable sharing anything below the surfacy stuff with her. I think she wanted me to share a lot more than I did, but I can't run around sharing intimately with everyone I meet. I have my inner circle who gets to hear beyond the surface regularly, and I'm careful with who I allow access to those deeper places. Meaning, a second coffee date isn't quite the time to begin asking me how my marriage is, what God is really teaching me lately, or offering unsolicited advice. But at the same time I want to be authentic, I value authenticity a lot, and I'm pondering now whether or not true authenticity means disclosing copious amounts of personal information or if it's possible to be authentic and careful, or guarded, about what I choose to share. Anyone else struggle with this? How do you decide who to share what information with? God calls us to community but at the same time I think we are allowed to be discerning with what we share. Thoughts from others who encounter this dynamic with people? Those are my musings for your Tuesday!

Mom

I really do think I have the most amazing mom on the planet. I might be a bit biased, but I've had friends tell me that's true, so I'm just going to believe them. I wish I had profound words to write about all the lessons she has taught me, and all the ways I am the person I am today because of her, but I'm pretty sure no amount of words could capture how much she means to me.

Watching her become a grandma for the first time this past year has been such a delight because I can see firsthand how much she loves and cares for Lily SO well, and I know that same love and care were given to Megan and I before we were old enough to realize what was going on. I know that when we have kids she'll be just as present and will love our little ones just as much as she loves Lily, they will be so lucky to have her as Grandma.

Mom, as I think about you today, here are just a few things that are part of who I am that I know came directly from you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the ways you helped make me, me. Especially thank you for:

helping me learn to LOVE books, to always have a book around.

Teaching me the joy of washing and eating something directly from the garden on a hot summer evening.

For never comparing Megan and I, but letting us each be our own person and loving us exactly as we were.

Instilling in me a love of all kinds of vegetables--well, with a few exceptions (no, I will still not eat cooked spinach or beets...)

Teaching me to be a friend. You are an amazing friend, so faithful and so present when one of your friends needs something, I learned a lot watching you share life with people around you.

Showing me that true joy comes from serving first--making sure we never celebrated our own Christmas until we had first gone and served somewhere. You still volunteer all the time, which I know is something you received from your mom.

For all the long distance cooking help and over the phone medical diagnoses!

I could go on and on and on. Instead, I thought I'd share a poem that our pastor read in church this morning, a poem by Billy Collins, an incredible American poet from our modern era. Its called The Lanyard, I hope you all enjoy it, and happy Mother's Day to all the amazing moms out there!

The Lanyard - Billy Collins

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

Menu Plan Monday!

It feels great to be back in the swing of Menu Planning! For more people's weekly menus and recipe ideas, click on the photo below!

Monday: Baked Halibut with Feta, spinach salad
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Enchiladas
Wednesday: Youth Group
Thursday: Sarah's small group, Chuck gets leftovers!
Friday: Quinoa and Corn Salad with Pumpkin Seeds (we have been eating a lot of Quinoa lately and both really enjoy it!)
Saturday & Sunday: Left overs or dinner out

Snacks on hand this week:
Berry Muffins
Granola
Hummus
and because we've been eating really healthy around here lately, I think I'm going to be baking these...because they look amazing:
Peanut Butter Brownies

Back in the Kitchen

It seems like I've taken a bit of a hiatus from the kitchen in the past month. Our schedules are such that we rarely get meals together during the week, so I got lazy about cooking. But we have found ourselves eating out way more than we'd like and never having leftovers for lunch anymore, so I'm back to menu planning and cooking even on nights we won't both be home. Here's what we're enjoying this weekend, stay tuned for next week's recipes!

5 Minute Hummus
Real Simple Granola
Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins with Oatmeal
Southwestern Corn Chowder

7 Quick Takes Friday (not on a Friday!)

This past weekend was a bit crazy, so I never wrote anything, and it's Tuesday and I now have my first few moments of quiet and downtime in several days, so I thought I'd post a random update :)

**1**

Last week was the beautiful wedding of my dear friend Jennifer and her now husband Josh. It was a gorgeous day, the ceremony and reception were perfect, it was amazing to see this incredible couple begin their journey of life together, and it was such an honor to get to stand with her as they made their vows. Congratulations Jenn and Josh, I love you both!

**2**

I left LA immediately after the wedding (I actually had to leave the wedding a bit early) to jump on a plane up to Seattle, and I'll be here until tomorrow morning. On Sunday after church I met with the elders of Bethany Pres to be interviewed (essentially, it was more of a conversation than an interview) to test my readiness to move to the next round in the ordination process (called candidacy). It was such an encouraging meeting, I truly love this church and how incredibly committed they are to the process of discernment. They chatted with me for about an hour, then they send you into the hall to talk about you and vote on whether or not to let you go to the next round, and then call you back in. I was a little worried because it seemed like I was outside for a lot longer than I expected! When Pastor Dan called me back in he apologized and said they actually had so many good things to say about me he finally had to cut them off and call for a vote so I could come back inside, which was a very humbling thing to hear. They were SO encouraging and went on and on about how much they have seen me grow over the past three years, and how excited they are for this next phase of ministry.

**3**
Becoming a candidate isn't just a 1 step process however, Sunday was only the first of 3 interviews/conversations with different groups of people to decide on my readiness. In about an hour I meet with a group of about 10 pastors and elders from around the Seattle Presbytery (all the churches in the Seattle area). If they approve me I meet in two weeks on May 18th up here with ALL of the members of the Seattle Presbytery (about 200 pastors/elders) and they get a chance to ask me some questions about who I am, my sense of calling etc. That one definitely feels the scariest, but I was comforted a bit to find out that Pastor Dan is going to be the one moderating that particular part of the Presbytery meeting, and will be the one screening/fielding questions for me, which made me feel SO much better! At least it isn't a total stranger who doesn't know me!

**4**
Being back in Seattle has been so wonderful, even if it's been so much colder than a normal May! I've had great time catching up with friends, walking Greenlake (in the rain!) with Missy yesterday, enjoying Thai food with Darbee, catching up over dinner and ridiculously TV shows with Heather, having coffee with Julia (one of my mentors), and getting to have breakfast with Lynn tomorrow before I go. My heart is full, hearing all that has happened in the lives of my friends, and being back in this place I love so much. Not gonna lie, I would be thrilled to find a job up here somewhere!

**5**
We just found out my cousin Jason and his wife Stacie are expecting a little GIRL in September, which makes me very happy :) I like babies, doesn't matter what gender, but little girls are just exceptionally cute :)

**6**
Last Wednesday we had a bridesmaid picnic on the beach with Jenn which was SO beautiful and so fun, definitely a relaxing way to sit, chat, pray over her and enjoy God's gorgeous creation before the chaos of all their families arrived!
Me, Becca, Kristen, Jenn and Robin
**7**
One of the best parts of being back in Seattle? The COFFEE! Amazing coffee, not Starbucks, from local independent coffee shops. I'm in heaven.