Happy Birthday Jenn!

Last Saturday we got the chance to have two birthday celebrations for Jenn! Saturday morning our small group gathered for a breakfast feast on Becca's front lawn, where we enjoyed the sunshine and fellowship. Then Saturday night we headed down to Dockweiler Beach to have a celebratory bonfire with Jenn! It was a beautiful evening, and we had a great time celebrating, with only a little drama involved!

Becca didn't have a cake for her but she did put a candle in the strawberry!As a small group we gave her a tea pot with a tea infuser, a tea cup, and a package of loose leaf tea--yup she loves tea!Becca looks way taller than Jenn hereSaturday night we had to straighten coat hangers in order to make marshmallow roasting sticks--Stephanie took this job very seriously!One of the things we did Saturday night was help Jenn burn her Hebrew flash cards as a symbol of being done with a very difficult part of seminary...Megan is helping here...There they go!Megan, Rachel and JoshJenn, Becca and ISmall group love! Megan, Becca, Jenn, me, Christina and Tera--Alethia was out of town for the weekendBecca and TeraOur manly men--Alan, Chuck, Steve, Dave, Josh and PeterAwww, he's mine everyone!me, Jenn and Christina

She

This morning for our Saturday morning small group we had a breakfast feast on Becca's front lawn, enjoying the sunshine and one another's fellowship. After we spent time chatting, and planning for our upcoming times together this month we watched one of the latest nooma videos that is playing for free on line this weekend in honor of Mother's Day. For those who don't know, Nooma videos are about 15 minute videos on some topic that are phenomenally done--short reflections done in a unique and "post-modern" way. Rob Bell is the pastor from Michigan who produces them, and he's a Fuller grad, it's kind of one of our claims to fame here! This video is called She, and is all about women, and the feminine imagery of God used throughout scripture to depict who God is more fully. The point is made that if we only use masculine imagery to describe God we miss out on half of who God is, because is both male and female--God transcends gender, BOTH men and women are made in God's image. You'll just have to spend 15 minutes watching the video and see what Rob has to say for yourself. I think you should be able to click here and watch for yourself. They have it posted in full for free this weekend in honor of Mother's Day, which I think is pretty appropriate. Leave me a comment & let me know what you think if you do watch...

And, I also wanted to take a moment to say happy mother's day to all the amazing moms out there! Here are a few of my favorite pictures of my mom and I throughout the last several years...And in case you hadn't heard, it's finally officially public! My little sister is going to have a baby in late October!! I get to be Aunt Sarah to a brand new little one!! So happy mother's day mom-to-be! We're praying for that little one!!

Updates, because it's been awhile...

I wish I had more energy these days to do some 'real' writing, some deeper reflecting, but I spend so much time during the day thinking, reflecting, and processing that by the time I arrive home, I have no further ability to do that. So here are a few glimpses into some highlights of the last couple weeks (both hospital-related and not).
**This week is nurses appreciation week, and as chaplains, our part in loving the nurses is getting to participate in the Blessing of the Hands. This happens once a year, and we have the chance to go from floor to floor anointing the palms of the nurses hands and praying a blessing over them, that their hands would be used to bring healing to all those whom they touch. It was a beautiful experience, I loved getting to participate in ministering to those who do so much touching, healing, holding, and caring for patients.
**I'm working my way through random TV shows on DVD in the evenings when I am too tired to do anything else--my choice right now is re-watching season 2 of the West Wing, SUCH a great season!
**Chuck and I are pretty much fully settled into life at Glendale Presbyterian Church--he's doing an excellent job working with the high schoolers there, he got to preach to them last Sunday morning, and I am slowly trying to figure out my place there and am thinking about where I'd like to get involved.
**Last Friday we got to celebrate George's 30th birthday with an 80's themed party, it was a fabulous evening :)
**We're starting our count down to our honeymoon! We leave the day after I graduate to head to northern California for the week, we'll be hanging out in a cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains which sounds heavenly right now!

I gotta be honest, I'm sure there are more things I could write about, but I am exhausted--it's 9 which means it is almost my bedtime now...stay tuned, maybe there will be more updates later!

Playing Together--Celebrating One Month!

My Aunt Vernita & Uncle Steve sent us our wedding gift this week, and its one we're pretty excited about! They said that throughout their first year of marriage they celebrated each month on their "monthiversary" by going out on a date, or doing something little for one another. We definitely have decided to adopt this tradition. So they sent us a journal to put pictures from whatever we do on each month, and some cash to help us celebrate our first month. We decided buying groceries with the cash wasn't going to be very fun so we went to play last night, which is something we realized we don't do very often. Usually our weekends are filled with social events with other people or homework or grocery shopping, and we don't just play. Well we did last night and we had a blast! First, I made a home made BBQ Chicken pizza which was awesome. Then we headed down to the Santa Monica pier to play some games and ride the feris wheel and then to get mud pie at the Chart House in Malibu, which is one of my very favorite desserts which Chuck had never had. We had a blast celebrating each other, spending time together, laughing, and sharing our favorite moments from our first month together. Thanks for such a great idea and evening Vernita & Steve!

So I am incapable of rolling pizza dough into a perfect circle, so our pizzas always have various shapes. Chuck thought this one was cool...I am LOVING playing with my new pizza stone and various recipes--yum!!In front of the pierGorgeous views from the feris wheel--we picked a great time of day, just as the sun setThe end of the pier--that's a Mexican restaurant out thereThe midwayPlaying midway gamesThis is Swish, Chuck won him for me by shooting the basketball perfectlyThe famous mud pieAll gone!

Walking Well

I had the opportunity to spend about two hours this week with a Catholic nun who is sick in the hospital, and she was an absolute delight! We had some great conversations, but I thought I'd share a snipet with you all that still has me thinking and musing. She had a hospital room that over looks the front entrance of the hospital, so at one point she was looking out the window and said,

"What has been so fun has been sitting here watching all these people walk in and out of the hospital. And what is remarkable to me is that some of them walk SO well!"
I was a bit perplexed, so I asked, "“They walk so well? Can you tell me a bit more about what you mean by that?”
"I just mean that they walk, so upright, so fast, so strong, so confidently, it’s like they just march right along."

I thought this was an interesting thing to notice, or to comment on and wasn't sure where to go with the conversation next. As chaplains we are taught to let the patient guide the conversation, to try and listen really closely for what might be underneath some of the comments made, and to ask gently probing questions to get at the feelings someone might be experiencing even if they don't initially state that outright. Her next comment gave me the direction to pursue.

"I used to love to walk, every day I would go out for a walk, at least a half an hour. Then it took awhile to get use to not being able to do that any more when all this happened to my heart."

Ah ha. Grieving the loss of a physical ability, a very common experience for many in hospitals, and an issue many people don't spend the time helping them process. We think in life that we can't grieve something unless it's a drastic change--a divorce or a death, but in reality there are little changes, losses and transitions that happen all the time to us that cause feelings of grief and sadness in our lives, feelings many of us are taught to ignore along the way.

"You know Sister, sometimes I think it's okay to feel sad about not being able to walk quite like you used to, I think it's okay to acknowledge that loss and grieve for that."

"You know what Sarah? I think you are right, I am sad about that. I am so grateful about so many other things in my life, but I think it is okay to not be happy about this right now."

Walking well. How many of us really stop and think about this ability? Probably not too many of us. But I'm spending a lot of time these days around people who have lost this ability, and have spent quite a bit of time helping them put words to the feelings of sadness and loss that comes with this. And I am slowly becoming more and more grateful for those little things in life I have taken for granted for so long. I am also learning what a gift it is to give people an outlet to let them express the pain and grief and feelings that many family members won't. We want to encourage people in the hospitals to "cheer up, get well soon, be strong, you'll be fine..." when in reality giving them space to hurt, grieve, cry, be angry or vocalize questions and doubts is by far more healing to their hearts and spirits. I'm spending a lot of time with strong emotions of total strangers, and while I am still coming home exhausted, I am realizing what an incredible gift it is to be invited to enter into sacred territory with so many patients and their family members.

Venturing back into the social world....

I finally have hit a pretty good stride at the hospital--I have figured out a little more how to be a chaplain, and while I certainly have some great days and some that could be better, my energy is slowly coming back and I am not nearly as overwhelmed with all the transitions in life. Which means, I have had the energy to be at three different social events this week, which was awesome! I have missed my friends!! Thursday night was a birthday party for a friend where a bunch of women gathered and made the most incredible quesadillas I have ever had. We filled them with chicken, grilled veggies, beans, homemade guacamole, salsa, sour cream etc and then put them on the bbq to grill them. AMAZING!! Friday evening a group went to a spontaneous dinner in Old Town, and Chuck and I went and met them after I'd had about a half hour to decompress and wind down after a long day at the hospital. Last night our small group through Mosaic, which is disbanding for now, had one last BBQ to celebrate our time together. It was great to see friends we hadn't seen in over a month! Here are some photos from last night that Theo took with his awesome camera.

Randy meets Scarlet, the McCawChuck, Debbie and Wendy check out all the food

Christine and IDessert--baby bundt cakes in all kinds of flavors--yum!Theo and WendyPeter and Susan, our grill mastersSusan and WendyTime for some croquet! I was amazed, no one else had ever played--Chuck had played a long time ago, but no one else had. Megs and I used to play a lot as kids, and I actually apparently remembered some skill, I won!Poor Chuck...that red ball is his, it didn't quite go through the wicket.Group photo!