The Green Bean, Spring Break, and Seminary or Law School

Spring break is officially over and here I am, back in LA getting started on my third quarter at Fuller--I can't believe how fast this year has flown! I love fresh starts, so I am actually ok with beginning another 10 weeks of classes already, and I feel like I learned a lot about studying last quarter (i.e. don't save it all for week 10!) and I am ready to try to implement that and try again. Plus, I am definitely looking forward to all my classes this quarter as opposed to last quarter where I really only loved one of them. (Ok, so maybe I am not totally looking forward to Greek, but it's not TOO bad!) Each class will stretch and push me in different ways, which I am realizing I love. I have New Testament 2 (Acts-Revelation) and Pastoral Care and Abuse in addition to Greek and my 3rd quarter of Foundations for Ministry, so it should still be a lot of work, but work that will be really good to do and invest time in. My class on Abuse is going to be intense, and probably really painful at times, I know the book I've already started reading for it is, but like our professor said today, the harsh reality of being a Pastor in a fallen world is that our churches are not full of perfect people, about 1/2 of each congregation has experienced abuse in some way, shape or form at some point in their lives and seminaries are not doing enough to prepare pastors for the reality of encountering those painful stories. So I know it is something I need to delve into even though it is a subject that is unspeakably painful and uncomfortable for most people to even talk about.

Spring break in Seattle was awesome, I got to spend about 6 days up there enjoying seeing friends, spending a lot of time with wonderful women from Bethany (which was a surprise to me, I wasn't planning on getting to have that time with them but it was amazing!), and getting to see my grandma up in Everett. And of course, time in Seattle meant lots of time spent at The Green Bean, the most amazing coffee shop in the world! Seriously, everyone should check out their website www.greenbeancoffee.org and read about them and see why they are so amazing--they are NOT your typical coffee shop! I think I went about 5 times in the 6 days I was there--it was wonderful!

Over the weekend I got to be in San Jose with my wonderful extended family celebrating my Aunt Vernita turning 40-10....you do the math, she refuses to say "50" :) 50th Birthdays on my dad's side of the family are a big deal, so my grandparents, parents, sister, and all my aunts and uncles came together to celebrate her, which was awesome. I got to spend time in Monterey on Saturday with some of them, which has always been one of my very favorite places in California, it is absolutely gorgeous for those who have not been there. Vernita and Steve's pastor and his wife, Rod and Victoria Hall came to join us for dinner Saturday night, and I loved getting the chance to talk to them and hear their story about being called into the ministry and some of Rod's experience as a Pastor. It is so refreshing and healing to meet LCMS pastors who are supportive and encouraging when they hear that I am in seminary. I have been told that not all LCMS pastors are opposed to women being in ministry, but I haven't had a ton of personal experience with them, I've just always been told that I am a woman and therefore I can't be a pastor, but in the past several months I've had the chance to meet several LCMS pastors who are wonderful and so supportive. Rod made the comment on Saturday night that this is where the LCMS needs to get their act together because by not allowing me to use my gifts and follow my calling, the whole denomination looses the gifts and some amazing women that can do wonderful things for the church. It is so encouraging to me to hear things like that and to realize that even though the denomination as a whole does not necessarily stand behind the decision I have made to attend seminary and pursue ordained ministry, there are some in that denomination that do support my decision.

The other thing I mentioned to Rod on Saturday night was how much more difficult seminary has been academically and emotionally than I thought it was going to be. I know grad school is supposed to be tough, but I had no idea how much harder it was going to be than undergrad. Rod made the comment that when he was in seminary he used to study with two good friends who were in law school at a near by campus and one day the two law students told Rod that they both agreed that seminary was a lot more difficult than their law school had been. Rod was of course, surprised by this admission and asked them why they believed that and they said because in law school you memorize a lot and you learn a lot of very specific cases, which is difficult, but in seminary a potential pastor is expected to learn a lot about a huge number of subjects (languages, systematic theology, scripture, homiletics, exegesis, pastoral care, counseling, psychology, leadership, etc) and several of these subjects are not only intellectually taxing but they tap into deep emotions and drain a student. SO, it was kind of fun to be encouraged that way and to realize that it is not just me that is feeling overwhelmed by all the information I am supposed to attain in the next 3 years!

Anyways, that is my random collection of ramblings for this week--I'm going to try to be better about posting stuff throughout the quarter, but I make no promises :)

Random Thoughts

So, winter quarter is officially over, and I'm back in Seattle for the next week enjoying Spring break--and after the last 2 weeks of finals chaos, craziness, and stress I am very much enjoying being here with no agenda, and nothing to do but spending time with some amazing people! :)

The past two months feel a little like a blur, it was an insane quarter academically but it was also full of some incredible lessons learned and memories made with new friends. I headed back to LA in January and started a crazy set of classes--the second quarter of Greek, Systematic Theology 2 (Christology & Soteriology), Foundations for Ministry 2, and Intro to Family Ministry. The first 3 classes were fine, nothing too exciting, a ton of work, but just kind of normal classes...but intro to family ministry was AMAZING. It was taught by Chap Clark, a professor who has done a ton of research & work with youth and families, and his class, the reading, and our final project were probably the most fun I have had in grad school so far. He forced us and really pushed us to think through what our concept of family ministry is--what our theological definition of "family" is (did you know that there is no word in either the Greek or Hebrew scripture for "family" as we define it today? Instead the words used describe entire households or clans and would often include 50-100 people--our concept of the nuclear family comes from the Victorian era). Thus, Chap pushed us to really think through what it means to do ministry with families--if our theological definition of family needs to be broader than our American understanding of the nuclear family, then it should radically alter the way that we do ministry to families. Family ministry cannot be simply a set of programs, instead it needs to be an entire shift in our mindset of families and the churches' role as being a Family of Families. Our final project was to create an entire family ministry program for a church--we basically had 20 pages to design my dream job as a family minister--the context, the programs, the way we care for and educate our nuclear families, and the way that we incorporate those who don't fit into traditional families into the church family. It was amazing and I spent all quarter thinking "this is exactly what i want to do with my life, this is what I really care about." So it was wonderful in the midst of Systematics and Greek to have a class that made me SO excited (often overwhelmed and terrified too!) about going into ministry.

This quarter was also our Presbyterian Retreat which was a wonderful time of resting, relaxing, having extended jam sessions of old random camp songs, and great times of worship and teaching up in beautiful Big Bear. So here are several random pictures from that weekend...

Sunset over the lake--the Pirate Ship is rumored to be the one they used in Goonies according to everyone we talked to--you'll have to decide for yourself, but it was pretty cool!

Look out! Denise is driving!

A wonderful group of girls (starting in the back) Becca, Julie, me, Steffi, Jenn (Pocket), Sophie, Denise and Jenn H.Friday night's Jam session with Luke, Rebecca, Ben and Dave

Reese, Paul, Pocket, Sarah & Ryan

Ryan and ISophie & I--aren't we cute?! :)

Jaden Arnod (Jen and Jeff's daughter) joined us for the weekend and it was so much fun to have a little one with us--we all enjoyed spending time with her! Here she is helping Ryan with his Greek homework--she was a huge help I am sure!

The Family We Choose

My first weekend in Seattle the 7 of us girls got to go to the Nutcracker as our Christmas gift from Darbee. It was so fun to have a reason to get really dressed up, have a champagne toast, and head downtown--plus the sleepover afterwards gave us a chance to enjoy a little Bridge Jones...
Before heading out we met for photos and a champagne toast, and Darbee toasted "to the family we choose." Those words have stayed with me and have continued to echo in my mind for the past month as I have thought a lot about the ideas of home, family, friends, community, and belonging. I know I am called to be here in Pasadena for the next several years, and I am enjoying it, and loving being at Fuller, but this isn't home. Maybe it will become home and I will absolutely love it here, and maybe this will be a place that I enjoy for several years and then am able to move on from. I love the relationships I am forming here, but they aren't the family I've chosen for myself--those relationships will hopefully continue to grow into close friendships, but for now, I am realizing that I am ok with letting them grow in their own time. I have an amazing "family" of friends in the Northwest, and I praise God for those relationships more than I could ever possibly put into words. I realized that I don't have to choose between new friends here and friends from high school or college, but that God continually expands our circles of people that come in and out of our lives. I have amazing circles of people in my life, from Sacramento, Seattle, and now from Pasadena, people that have loved me, challenged me, encouraged me, shaped me and molded me into who I am today and who I am meant to be. So to each of my friends, from each "home" I have been incredibly grateful to have lived in, I love you dearly!
Here are the photos from our night out in Seattle :)
Heather and Darbee looking lovely (with roses from Jeannette!)

And here is Darbee and Lynn...

"To The Family We Choose!"

Lynn, Heather, Jen and Darbee after the show

So I kind of think this looks like the epitome of a family Christmas card with the fireplace, the Christmas tree....

Snack Time! After walking several blocks downtown in the FREEZING cold in heels and dresses we were all very excited to get home and into warm, comfortable clothes and enjoy a little midnight snack

Happy Birthday Sophie!

In honor of Sophie's 25th birthday we did a "come dressed as your favorite 80s movie star" party (since she was born in 1980)--it was quite the entertaining event (actually thrift store shopping was almost more entertaining as we tried on various outfits that were less than attractive). Here are a couple photos from that night

So I found this hideous pink prom dress & went as Molly Ringwald from Pretty in Pink and Sophie was Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride (hey it came out in the 80s even if it didn't take place then!)

Jenn went dressed as Bette Middler from Big Business mostly because she found the hat first thing in the thrift store and refused to get rid of it so we found her an 80s character that would have potentially wore it :)

The full length dress shot--I think I am glad we don't live in the 80s anymoreThis is a random shot from last weekend--Emily and Jenn hosted a fondue party, it was quite a wonderful idea--lots of chocolate!

This is another random photo--Kurtley "proposing" to my roommate Alicia--I actually think he is begging her to do something and it doesn't really look like she is about to say yes to whatever it was he wanted her to do....I think her response had something to do with the fact that he came without a ring in hand, so my guess is he didn't get too far!

Happy New Year!!

So New Year's proved to be a bit of an event around here with the Rose Bowl Parade and the big game and all, and this year we added to that inches of rain in a torrential downpour throughout the whole parade. BUT, I am now an official Pasadena resident and only live about a mile from the parade route so I wasn't about to let a little rain stop me from seeing it live--after all, I lived in Seattle for 6 years, I can handle a little water--right?! Well, we had more than a little water...during the 4 hours we stood out on Colorado Blvd we had inches of water fill the gutter in front of us, and we absoultely froze--but we definitely can say we were there :) Here are some photos from that weekend...
For New Year's Eve we hung out at Sophies and played Scene It--here's one of the teams: Reese, Emily, Sophie, Jenn, Denise, and Daisy (Denise's puppy).
And here is the other team--Jenn, Jeni, Steffi and myself--I realized I officially know nothing about movies--the only question I got right was asking for which city some scene took place in and none of us had a clue, but there was a Starbucks coffee cup on the table in the scene so I guessed Seattle and happened to be right!

Here's our group at 7 am pre-parade--we're already looking a little wet! (Seth, Emily, Sophie, Jenn, Sarah & Steffi)

This Elephant Float was really cool--except that it squirted water at us! As if we needed any more water being added to the air!

The poor Disney float broke down so the parade had to stop while the tow truck was hooked up and could tow it the rest of the way.
Parade watchers hiding from the weather--the rain itself was one thing but the gusting wind that blew the rain horizantal was another!

Reese & I attempting to stay dry--it was less than successful, we were both soaked within the first 30 minutes.

The famous magician Lance Burton was on this float and here he is attempting (unsuccessfully) to stop the rain, so apparently our wish wasn't his command...
Here is the water getting deeper and deeper on our feet--and I was even wearing boots with a decent sized sole!
The Texas Cheerleaders dancing in the rain

More Christmas in Minnesota

And here are the rest of the photos from Christmas break in Minneapolis:

Here is Brian with Taylor
And Christopher with Taylor--he liked Chris' air mattress so poor Chris had to share his bed all week!



Mom, Megan and I took Taylor on a walk on the trails one day (well actually several days, I just happened to have my camera with me on one of those days). Taylor thought it was awesome to get to go off leash and play in the snow--and Megan thought it was oh so fun to have to give him a bath every time he came back home...oh wait, maybe she didn't love that part.
Isn't Minnesota beautiful?! This is right across from my parent's house--Lake Riley--and I happen to think it is gorgeous!

Christmas in Minneapolis

After spending time in Seattle I headed out to Minneapolis to spend our family's first Christmas in our new home. I was prepared for sub-zero temperatures and feet of snow, but they had a warming trend and we actually enjoyed temperatures close to 40! I decided I LOVE Minnesota and am really excited my parents moved there--it is beautiful, the city has a ton of cool stuff to do, and the pace of life is so different from LA or Seattle that it felt really relaxing. Here's me standing out on Lake Riley (across the street from my parent's house)--and yes that IS an ice fishing shack in the distance--we definitely don't live in Sacramento anymore!

Megan is puppy training Taylor for Guide Dogs for America and so he gets to go everywhere she goes--so he came to Minnesota. He LOVED the snow and being around so many new people--I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of dogs, but he is the COOLEST puppy! He is incredibly smart, and LOVES people. Here he is "helping" my dad build a snowman. And in a battle with his "mom" over the wrapping paper--Megan won, but it took awhile!

Jenn gave me the coolest ornament--it's a Starbucks cup--definitely the perfect gift for me! :)

So Chris is a little bit of a philosophy nut (ok he's a philosophy major at Princeton) and I made the mistake of asking him one little question about something (I can't even remember what it was about) at dinner and here he is still talking about philosophy with my dad. Something about free will or killing lobsters or things being preordained....I really have no idea what they were talking about :)

Here is Christopher, my dad and I at my dad's cousin's house--it was great to see some extended family in Minnesota that I hadn't seen in years!