The First Glimpse of His Glory

I got the opportunity to preach for the first time ever on Sunday at church, which was probably the single most amazing thing I have ever experienced. I kind of think that God is a little crazy for leaving the responsibility of communicating His word and His message to inadequate and sinful humans, but I have to say, part of me feels unbelievably honored, and overwhelmed at the responsibility of that task. I'm not sure I have ever felt more fully alive as I did during the sermon, or more concretely felt God's peace...yeah I have a lot more thoughts, but I'm still processing them...

Another very fun part of the weekend was that my family got to be here! My parents came from Minneapolis, my sister and brother in law came from Rhode Island, my grandparents came from Colorado, my aunt came from Reno, and my cousin came from Washington DC to be here this weekend, which was wonderful! It was fabulous having such a large cheering section--plus a bunch of my friends from Fuller came and joined us that morning, so I felt very loved and supported! Anyways, since the Hanson family does not go anywhere without cameras, here are some photos from the morning for your viewing pleasure:

Look! That's my name! How crazy!with my pastor, Rossmy wonderful cheering section from Fuller: Ryan, Christina, Alan, Dave, Alethia, and JennGreeting the congregation at the door after church--this is my cousin Brian and Ia big hug from Papa

Another one from Dad

And another one from Grandma--the poor members of my congregation who got stuck in line behind my family waited so patiently to get through the door! And of course, since Mom and Dad were in town, that meant my friends & I got to go to lunch on them afterwards, here are Alethia, Jenn and I at the Elephant Bar

Long Awaited New Year's Photos

Sorry to all of my faithful blog readers for having nothing new up here in this last 2 weeks! It has been an INSANE transition back into school--pretty much there was no transition....it was more like diving into the new quarter head-first with no chance to get acclimated to life here in LA again after vacation. I returned to Pasadena to three new classes and a ton of special Presbyterian events that we had last week--including Denise's ordination to the office of minister of the word and sacrament! This quarter I'm taking Youth Outreach & Evangelism, Homiletics (preaching), and American Presbyterian History--all 3 of which should be wonderful based on the first week and a 1/2 of class. I'm sure I have more thoughts about class--but I'm kind of tired right now, so those will have to wait :) Below are photos from New Year's Eve, and also from The Getty Museum here in LA--I had never been here before, but this weekend I met my aunt and cousin there for a day and had a wonderful, relaxing time wandering around and taking photos.

Ok this wasn't actually from new year's--it was from the Minneapolis airport...did you know that you can now buy ipods and all the various accessories from a vending machine??! That's right, you stick your credit card in, and out comes an ipod...what will they think of next??Me, Darbee, and Heather hanging out--so they are really good at conserving energy, but that translated to Sarah being freezing for the whole time I visited them! Missy and Darbee practicing for midnight--we had all the sparklers still left over from Jean and Josh's wedding (over a year and a 1/2 ago) so we discovered you can get them to stick in the fire logs and do sparklers in the fire place--it was very festive!Missy & Darbee enjoying a wonderfully relaxing New Year's eve

One of the gardens at The Getty--it was a beautiful day!

The Los Angeles valley--I seirously don't think I have ever seen it this clear!

They had these amazing Birds of Paradise there, so I got several fun pictures of them!

And, my favorite photo of the day:

Happy New Year!!

I think this year was probably the most low-key new year I have had in a long time, and I have to say, it was wonderful. I'm still up in Seattle, and this year none of us really felt like braving the cold or the crowds or the traffic to go anywhere super exciting, so we opted instead to make dinner, play games, enjoy the fireplace, and celebrate without the millions of others that live in the city. So that's what we did--we enjoyed a wonderful meal of soup and wine (well I'm not a huge fan of wine, so I created a new drink that I thought was pretty good--rum and Dr. Pepper...definitely not a bad combination!) and then played Scattergories until midnight. Darbee thought it would be a grand idea to light the sparklers in the fireplace, which actually did work pretty well--I'll post photos eventually. We also decided to use the last 15 minutes before midnight to share our favorite part of 2006, and it was fabulous hearing from the other girls ways that God worked this past year and hopes they had for the new year. I fairly easily came up with Cursillo as my favorite part of 2006, althought I couldn't narrow it down to one single moment, there were so many different ways God worked and used people in my life through those weekends, and the friendships created are ones I'll always treasure. I am astonished really, to look back at this past year and see the crazy things that happened and the places God has led me, things I never dreamed of or imagined I'd be doing. I think that as I look forward to 2007 I am not sure what to expect, and I think that's ok. I think the biggest thing I've learned this past year is to expect God to move in ways we never anticipated and then to not try to shove Him into the boxes we create for Him. When we do those 2 things, expect Him to show up and give Him room to move, then I think we can anticipate some pretty incredible things for this next year. Stay tuned as this crazy journey of mine continues!

Another very random note, but tonight Darbee introduced me to the most amazing band ever, so if any of you are into the itunes thing, go download music by Eastmountainsouth (yes, that really is all 1 word)--especially the songs "Hard Times" and "So Are You to Me." Talk about beautiful harmonies and fabulous lyrics! (Or you can listen to "Hard Times" on my myspace profile here).

Merry Christmas!

The fireplace is going, there is a plate of Christmas cookies sitting next to me, Tim Allen is practicing his "ho-ho-ho" as he is becoming Santa Claus in a TV rendition of The Santa Clause 2, and the snow is gently drifting down past the wind.....oh wait! Yeah the snow part is missing--I think this might be Minnesota's first Christmas ever without snow. We're all just a little bitter. My grandparents in Colorado have graciously offered to ship us some of their 5 feet that is burrying their yard, and if we could figure out just how to do that, we may take them up on that. Nothing very exciting is going on here around the Hanson household, I just thought I'd say Merry Christmas and post a couple pictures from the day. I got a digital camera from Santa today (which is never something I thought I would convert to, I am still quite in love with my nice SLR that uses good old fashioned film, but I thought it might be fun to have a camera I can easily stick in my pocket or purse.) Because nothing unbelievably thrilling has happened today, I don't have that many photos, but there are a few from a walk we took around Starring Lake this afternoon--we almost froze but we survived. So enjoy the first attempts with the new camera, and have a wonderful rest of the holiday season!

Megan and Nathan on the bridge at one corner of the lake.

My favorite photo of the day--someone had lost a glove and it somehow ended up on the branch of a bush.

Dad decided to demonstrate to me the various features of my camera while I was attempting to finish my book this afternoon.

Fun times in New Jersey

I just got back last night from spending a wonderful 4 days with Jean, Josh, and their brand new 2 week old baby girl, Elizabeth. Several of you have asked for pictures, so here's this beautiful little one that I am already madly in love with!

It's tough to be a baby! There are lots of new things to try to figure out--like working on her eyesight (she can only see about 8 inches in front of her right now), learning to hold up her head, and figuring out who all these people are that are now all around her! It's obviously been a very exhausting day for her!

Come on, Aunt Sarah! More flashes? I think I'm getting a little tired of this! I know I'm cute and all, but still....

She is obviously pondering something very serious in this picture...

Snug as a cute little bug.... Elizabeth and I had a conversation one afternoon while her mommy was taking a nap. Beth agreed to be my flower girl someday when I get married--I figure it'll still be a couple years, and she'll be walking around by then, and her mommy will be in the wedding, so baby may as well too! She agreed with a little burp, which I took as a yes :o)

The Little Drummer Boy

Greetings from the Garden State! I arrived in New Jersey this evening to begin my 4 days with Jean, Josh, and their precious new little girl. Elizabeth is absolutely beautiful, and it has been a long time since I've held a new born (she'll be 2 weeks old on Monday!) and I forgot how unbelievably tiny they are! She has her doctor's appointment tomorrow to get weighed again, but she can't be more than 9 pounds. I'll post pictures when I get home on Thursday :)

Last night I went with my parents and a family from church to the Go Fish concert downtown, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I know some of their music, but was definitely NOT expecting an amazing show. It's three men who do primarily acapella songs, and within the past few years their music has taken on a new focus. Their new mission in life is to create quality music for kids that will teach positive messages without driving adults absolutely crazy. Trust me, as a former nanny of 3 year olds, this is an incredibly wonderful mission! And, I have to say, they have done a wonderful job. Their show was mostly a Christmas show, with classics like Joy to the World, Silent Night, and what is probably the most beautiful version of Mary Did you Know that I have ever heard in my life. But at the end of the first half, they did three of their non-Christmas songs for kids--I never knew a song called "The Ten Commandment Boogie" could be as entertaining as it was! (Ok, I'll be honest, there were three attractive men jumping around stage and singing their hearts out to get kids excited about learning the 10 Commandments...I am sure that added to me deciding the song was wonderful!)

The real reason that I'm babbling about this though is that they ended the show with their encore--and their encore happened to be my very favorite Christmas song ever written....The Little Drummer Boy. I think I fell in love with the song when I was about 3, I can remember my dad singing it to me to try to get me to sleep, and since then I have always cherished this piece of music, it just makes me excited when I hear the opening lines. So as they were singing it last night, I started really listening to the lyrics. I think I discovered another reason I love the song. They are so applicable to each one of us. When it comes to coming before our King, each one of us is a poor child, no matter how much money one may have in their bank account. We come with no gifts that are fit for a King, and as I listened to the song last night I could almost feel the anguish of this little boy. What do you bring as an offering to the Messiah?? Especially when others have brought such expensive gifts? So, this little boy does the only thing he knows how to do, he asks if he should play his drum for the baby. And the baby smiles at him. Ok, you are probably all thinking that I am now spending way too much time analyzing a kid's Christmas song, but stay with me here....how often do we think about Jesus smiling at us? If you're like me, you spend an awful lot of time thinking about the ways we've messed up. We beat ourselves up for not spending time in prayer today, or not helping that person who needed help, or gossiping about someone...or a million other things we shamefully hide from the world. But how often do we really think about coming before the Savior of this world and having him smile at us? I think that is one of the most incredible images I can come up with. Anyone who has ever worked with kids or had kids understands this. As a child comes up to you with a piece of paper covered with unintelligible scribbles or that picture frame made out of popcicle sticks and proudly yet shyly presents them as an offering of how much they love you, they wait in expectation for your response. When that smile, hug, and exclamations of how beautiful the gift is are expressed, the shyness disappears and the smile of self-confidence spreads over that little face. Jesus doesn't need our offerings of songs, prayers, our time, etc, yet when we, His children, come shyly before him with whatever we have to offer: a song crafted on the guitar He gave us the ability to play, a poem written with the gift of words He instilled in us, or even a beat on a drum, He smiles upon us.

May we all begin to catch a glimpse of just how much this Savior of ours absolutely adores us, and may each of us begin to create room in our mental images of the nativity scene for a little drummer boy or girl, a child who comes to the King with the most precious gift of all--himself.

Dude, Where's the Snow??

So I've been in Minneapolis at Mom and Dad's house for about 48 hours, and it hit 50 degrees today! I was wandering around town without a jacket for the afternoon...it's December! If they were going to move to Minnesota, we at least thought we were going to get some white Christmases out of the deal! Oh well...maybe one of these days--Christmas is still 12 days away, there's hope!

But, the other cool thing I have discovered in this place, which I somehow managed to miss last year, is this fabulous invention in their house--heated bathroom floors! That's right, all you have to do is set a timer and there are heating coils underneath the tile on the bathroom floor that will automtically heat up so when you get up in the morning it's not freezing cold on your barefeet---seriously, it is an amazing invention. (Or maybe I am just really easily entertained.)

Aside from the very cool heated floors, it's been great being here doing almost nothing. Well, not nothing, I've been working on getting my Christmas letter out, and this morning mom and I took the bus to downtown Minneapolis so I could get my hair cut. Tomorrow we're helping out with something her church is helping to put on for kids who can't buy Christmas presents for their family members, and we have 2 concerts this weekend (Lorie Line and Go Fish--a band that does a lot of acapella music, and focuses a lot of their music to kids, we're going with family friends here who have 2 little kids. I love seeing kids at concerts get so excited to see the people that they listen to on CD all the time...so it should be entertaining at least!) --so I guess I'm not doing nothing, but it is a fabulous change of pace from being at school! Sunday I leave for New Jersey to go meet miss Elizabeth, which I am VERY excited about, it's been awhile since I've held a new born!

I also finalized with my pastor my first preaching date, January 14th is the big day! I know my parents are coming out, and I was just told that my grandparents and my aunt & uncle are coming from Colorado, which is very cool--so I'm super excited & nervous about that. I'm glad I have Christmas break to sit with the text and not have to rush the writing process...

Anyways, this is probably one of the most broing things I have ever posted, but I'm watching TV and it's a commercial, so I thought I'd write something....sorry y'll had to read this! Don't worry, if there's snow, I'll be sure to let y'll know--I'm still holding out for a white Christmas!