CHANGE OF PLANS -
It started out as an ordinary morning. I drove onto the interstate to make my hour commute to the church. After I accelerated to the usual 65 mph I felt a vibration in the steering wheel and an odd feel in the tires. I took the very next exit and pulled into a gas station to have a look at the tires. All seemed fine. There was a bit of a hot rubber smell but I could see nothing amiss. I drove back onto the expressway and accelerated up to 70 mph and again, the same odd vibration and feel. Fortunately, two exits later (only a couple miles away) and I slowed to 60 mph, there was a dealership. They are always very busy. And costly. The one gent took it for a test drive with me down the interstate to the next exit. He, too, felt the vibration. It would take quite awhile some expense to have it looked at. He thought it might be a wheel weight out of whack. I called LH and drove it back to our town and the tire store that does all our service. By then, the hot rubber smell was evident. After a bit of wait, the manager, who knows me by name, had it up on the rack and pointed out that the left back tire was frozen and couldn't move. It's now in the process of getting a new drum which had frozen up. An expense we didn't need at the moment, but then, when do we ever need such an expense?
LH came and picked me up and I've had a work day from home - working on a sermon and making phone calls. I feel bad that I wasn't able to go in today, but good, in that I am able to do some of my work from home. Mostly, I am thankful, that this didn't happen yesterday, on the way to worship or on the drive home, far from home in the pouring rain. Truly, I am grateful that the service station could take me right way and work on it, even it means that it blew any chance of my being in the office today.
So, a change of plans but it didn't upset me greatly or blow my gasket. Just one of those things that happen that are an inconvenience. The van wasn't damaged nor I. Just odd being home on Monday and will have to get some extra things done on Wednesday - like print out words for worship, and the next Sunday School lesson.
Although my plans were changed for the day, I am thankful. Sometimes, changes of plans, beyond our control, can be blessings in disguise!

RGBP'S FRIDAY FIVE HEALING SPACE -

So, with the events of the violence and tragedy from the Boston Marathon fresh in our memories, I thought it would be good for us to focus on where as RevGalBlogPals, we find healing, peace and strengthening. As a chaplain, there are days where I never seem to catch my breath, and invariably, those are the days that I need it the most! So with all this in mind, share with us these healing things

1. A piece of music -
Vivaldi is very healing for me.

2. A place -
Home, because it is most accessible. However, by a lake or ocean is the most healing spot for me. There is something so
soothing in the waves lapping against the shore.

3. A favorite food (they call it "comfort food" for a reason)-
That would be chocolate, Swiss Chocolate, the kind that simply melts in your mouth the moment you put it in your mouth,
full of richness and utter goodness.

4. A recreational pastime (that you watch or participate in)-
Reading, journaling or watching TV, preferable the Big Bang Theory for an erudite laugh! Oh, stroking and petting my
wonderful greys - Jazz and Renoir!!! They are the best therapy and always make me feel better.


5. A poem, Scripture passage or other literature that speaks to comfort you.
"And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

BONUS: People, animals, friends, family - share a picture of one or many of these who warm your heart.

OBAMA PHONE OUTRAGE -
I knew it would come to this. Those with Obama phones are now able to send and receive 250 texts a month.
That may not seem like many, but they now have the capability to text on their free phones.
LH and I have worked all our lives, saved, lived simply, pay our bills on time, have had to pay for some of our
health insurance, home, life and car insurance, and have a mortgage. We are responsible, educated citizens trying to make our way in life. With LH between positions and I serving a part-time position we barely make ends meet. I have a flip phone and don't pay for the ability to text or receive texts.
And here, those who are on welfare, who might need a phone, not only receive a free phone but the ability to text! Something isn't right here. My phone and all of you, others, have been subsidizing Obama phones. I am paying for someone to text when even I don't have the money to pay for that luxury. But I am expected to pay for someone else to have that access and ability. It doesn't make sense to me at all. I have a cell phone, mainly for emergencies or when I am not at a landline. I never use all the minutes in my plan. But, I am paying for someone on welfare to text and talk. Yes, I am somewhat miffed and angry about this and everyone who pays for their phones should be as well.
Perhaps, LH and I should give up and go on welfare, at least that way, we can get free phones and not only talk but also text.

THE GREENING -
The grass is green as green can be! The meadow is carpeted in green. It is simply beautiful. I know that when summer comes, the grass will get brown and the weeds will be growing and green and the sparseness of our front lawn will have no curb appeal. But for now, I am content with how green it all looks at the moment. And I am savoring the greenness.
The first tulip has bloomed and the others are not far behind. The grape hyacinths are blooming as well. The bee balm is growing and spreading and the poppy bush is growing by leaps and bounds. The weeping cherries are blossoming and the Bradford Pear trees that line our street will be blooming in showy white before too long. I have already pulled weeds and there are more cropping up.
It all gladdens the heart and spirit.
The fact that we will have to purchase health insurance in July at more than 1/2 my monthly salary, which also must pay for mortgage, utilities, food and gas will not dampen me today. God is still holding up the hammock dangling over the abyss for us and I am grateful. Somehow, some way, God will guide us through this lean time of not enough.
All around me there will be an abundance of life and I struggle to trust that God will open a way for us.
It didn't help that a dress I was drawn to, was 20 percent off and the size I thought I needed had already sold out and only the larger size was available. I ordered it anyway and lo and behold, it fits perfectly. Turns out it runs a bit small and so, it was mean to be. I was hoping to be able to wear it for a birthday celebration for my godmother at a birthday gathering in Switzerland this August. I'm not sure that we will be going. Only if LH has a position by then. We will need to make flight arrangements next month.
For now, I am content and will not let anxiety or fear overrun my spirit.
My the greening of creation be something you savor today and give thanks to God.

RGBP'S FRIDAY FIVE - RANDOM IS BACK!

Can you believe it is April 12???? Have you finished your taxes? Here in Boston, the city is abuzz with Boston Marathon anticipation. We are finally hearing birds chirp in the morning, and even though it was in the low thirties last night, many of us are bravely sporting open-toed sandals. None of this has anything to do Friday Five, except randomness. So, in that spirit.......

1. How are you doing? What's going on in your life?
LH finished his interim and we are down to one part-time income. Things will be pretty tight for a few weeks. The upside -
he will do the housework!!!! I hope he won't drive me crazy being around all time! Sigh. Just not quite ready for that!

2. Have you ever resigned from a position? What was the good-bye like?
Yes. It was very difficult to leave folks I had grown to love.

3. So, we are still resurrecting...still getting used to New Life!! What is a source of new life for you?
Watching the garden awaken from its winter slumber. Slowly, bit by bit, things are greening, growing, flowering.

4. My friend is running the marathon on Friday, because it is on her bucket list. What is something on your bucket list?
Going to Alaska, seeing the Northern Lights, and revisiting Greece.

5. Tell us about one precious thing (tangible) you keep around your house, your altar, your pocket, and what is its story?
My garden inukshuk that I built from stones ( a couple imported from Lake Michigan in Wisconsin!!). I had a wooden inukshuk
but it disappeared at the last church I served. I have yet to find it and think that someone took it.

As always, tell us you played in the comments so we can come over and visit!
Happy Friday, every one?

FIRST SQUIRREL -
This morning I saw the first squirrel in our neighborhood. Perhaps, that's not earthshattering news to most folks, but here, in this newer subdivision we have been squirrel-free for 10 years. The trees are still fairly young, but getting established. I have often wondered how long it would take for squirrels to arrive. Apparently, ten years to migrate either from the street across the meadow or from the woods adjacent to our subdivision just down the street.
Jazz saw the scoundrel first and because he became alert looking out the sliding glass doors to the backyard, I looked out the kitchen window to see what he noticed. The squirrel was running along the top of the fence and then down the fence into the neighbor's yard and into the meadow.
This squirrel will drive our greys crazy if it decides to make its home nearby. There are also three cats that wander around our street and plenty of dogs reside in our neighborhood.
So, it appears that we are pretty much an established neighborhood that has finally attracted the attention of the squirrel population.

THE RISEN CHRIST AMONG US...
It was just a quick glimpse on Easter Sunday morning while I was preaching at the early service about the idle tale of the women witnesses to the Resurrection. It took my breath away, shook me to the core of my being, stunned and amazed me, made me look again, and all within a second of time - or a brief eternity of a moment that grabs hold of you and shouts, "notice!"
It was the appearance of the risen Christ sitting in a pew! Or so it looked like, and that's what took my breath away, stunned me for an instant, without losing my place in my sermon or preaching. I moved my eyes again to that side of the sanctuary, and this is what I saw that explained it all.
A mother with brown shoulder length hair sitting in the pew with her son on her lap. His thick curly dark brown head bowed and covering the lower portion of her face. What I initially saw was an image of Jesus - ok so it was typical depiction - long hair to the shoulder, and a beard. It looked like the risen Christ in that instant. I looked again to see if it was a visitor who had snuck in and slipped into the pew. But it was this mom and her son who at that precise moment when my eyes made contact with that
side of sanctuary, caught them just as her head was up and her son's was bowed - creating a blending of the two - into a man with a beard.
Of course, I had to look again and then, realized it was the two of them and their head positions by then had moved.
But for an instant, the risen Christ was sitting in the pew with us this Easter morning. The risen Christ and ever-living Lord among us and with us!What a marvelous image! It took my very breath away and yet, stayed with me all day.
Had I not prayed on the night drives home on Thursday and Friday that I missed my Lord, that if he would, remember me.
And there he appeared, Easter Sunday morning, sitting in the pew, with us and among us if just for the briefest of instances and the blending of a mother and her son.
Ahh, the images and symbolism are rife with meaning and glory, hope and joy, love and grace, death and life! And I was there to witness this, the only one in the crowd from my vantage point. I can't share it, people will think I'm weird, a bit off my rocker. But oh, how much it meant, how it grabbed me, scared me, delighted me, and gave me so much to ponder this Easter morning.
I finished preaching my sermon, served communion with a smile for this was the feast of victory, taught Sunday School class and lead another worship service preaching the same sermon without the added bonus of a glimpse of the risen Lord. But I knew he was there, with us and among us, sharing his life with us.

Lent has gotten away from me.
Somehow I wasn't really feeling Palm Sunday, although I did preach with conviction. I felt less of conviction within me.
I have prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your free Spirit." One of the Lutheran responses that has stuck me through the years. Yet, new life seems to elude me and us. Perhaps, I have been stuck in an ongoing Lent so long - that being in the actual calendar season of Lent feels no different.
Perhaps, part of it is due to the prolonged winter and slow coming of spring. Last Saturday it was near 50 degrees, and I pulled two dandelions that had no business being in my flowerbed. I broke down some of the still standing stems of flowers cut down before winter. I pulled grass that has invaded my flower beds. I sprinkled fertilizer in my garden bed knowing the coming snow and its melting would work the fertilizer into the ground. It felt good to clear away some of the winter debris and to see the crocuses finally blooming if just for a day.
Perhaps, this ongoing Lent in my life, is a continual clearing out of debris and a yearning longing for fresh and new life. I keep hoping for new life, and trying hard to keep from being discouraged and disheartened. It is not easy. What little confidence I had has evaporated in the elusive and ever moving mists of hope that is just a wisp of promise with no tangible touchstone of reassurance from above.
I have even flunked at Flunking Sainthood in that I have not yet finished this book and here it is the middle of Holy Week.
How I long for the fresh breath of new life and for Easter to break in and break through and not merely tenuously hanging on by a mere thread of tarnished and fraying hope.
Maybe Easter will come this year, this week, next month. I hope, I hope, I hope...and pray.

FRIDAY FIVE - TECHNOLOGY
Jan notes that she will be sans wifi, tv, and telephone while visiting parents, in-laws who are in a care facility.
For this Friday Five, let us explore our use of and desire for such items.

1. What types of technologies, like cell phones, computers, tvs, etc., do you routinely use? How frequently?
The computer/internet, cell phone, and TV.

2. What social media and/or games do you like to play? How often? On which device do you occupy yourself? Which method of social media do you prefer?
Mostly a version of Solitaire on-line and usually most days. I'm on the computer of that. I do have a Facebook page for
friends and family.

3. Do you separate online activities between home and work? Or is it all the same everywhere?
Normally, although I do check my email, and will play a couple rounds of Solitaire to clear my head after working up
liturgies or when I may need to ruminate on, say, a newsletter article.

4. Do you have a smart (or I-) phone?
Nope, I have a OFP - Old Folks Phone - a clamshell without internet or texting. Guess I'll be upgrading in the fall as
most everyone has a smart phone and there are times when it would be really handy. Just wish it wasn't so expensive.

5. What do you wish you had--or do not have--in relation to these devices?
Well, I guess I answered that in the question above!!! A smart phone!

Bonus: What is the difference between your attitude towards these means of technology and a generation older or younger than you?
Let's see, I can do a bit more than the generation older than I on the computer and internet. I am technologically
challenged by those younger than I. I don't text, I still haven't got the knack of posting pictures, and I still have
to learn Excell. I grew up when there weren't computers in the homes and had to learn as an adult as I went along. Much
harder that way than using it in school and growing up with them.

A LONG LENT -
Lent seems long this year, for whatever reason. Perhaps, it's the stiff-necked folks at the church, the wounded ones who found it easier to leave or stay away, rather than come together, heal and work through the issues. Most want to move on and move forward. The one thoroughly wounded and perhaps, in some ways, a bit dysfunctional, wants healing, only it will never be the way it was before what happened. Unfortunately, this one has not found the way to leave, which would have solved much of the issue.
This one wanted to meet with me Sunday, after two worship services, adult Sunday School and Confirmation class. At that point, I really wouldn't have much to give her, namely my presence, and any wisdom only God can provide. So, I suggested Monday, late afternoon, where I can be more present and centered. Of course, that means I won't be home for dinner. I won't be home for dinner Tuesday either due to a committee meeting for which I drive in extra. I won't be home for dinner on Wednesday due to midweek Lenten potluck and service. I had planned to leave earlier on Monday, to make up for extra time on Tues. I'm hoping I can leave earlier the following Monday, especially since the following Tues. I have to drive in extra for the church council meeting. Part-time is never part-time, and the hour commute one way and all the extra miles and gas are adding up very quickly.
I do enjoy some challenge. I do enjoy serving. But, I have given so much more than for which I am compensated. So, this Lent is feeling long. Perhaps, that may change as the calendar flips to March and all of the Holy Week services need to be completed.
Maybe its because the cold is still lingering and I am ready for some warmer temps - I'd be happy with 48 degrees!!!
I journey through this long Lent one day, one small step at a time. May the journey lead to new life.

ANOTHER YEAR -
older. Sigh. But better to celebrate another birthday than not to have one. I am grateful for another birthday.
Some days, I feel old. I look at a local church's candidate for minister - young, positive, full of energy and life and kind of an overachiever. It makes me feel old. I'm not techie. I still have some energy, but not like a 30 year old. I have been around the block a few times, I have carried the suffering of others, I have suffered two very dark nights of the soul myself, I have celebrated great joys, and have known great disappointment. I simpy cannot compete with this candidate.
Through it all, I trust that God will lead me to serve somewhere. This position has been a handful and they are more wounded than they want to admit. I can only look to God to lead me to bring healing and hope, to bind up the broken hearted, and help the afflicted. I ache for them. I ache for our churches who struggle to be faithful in such a time as this, beset with so many challenges.
But for today, I will lay that aside. I will simply be grateful for another year to take in the beauty of creation, the beauty of love, and the grace in which i live, move and have my being. There will be a dinner out! No cooking for me today! And some chocolate to celebrate! And cards and calls from my family. I am truly blessed to be here, to be serving even if only part-time in a trying situation, and that my van with over 100,000 miles on it carries me faithfully and well every week. We may be showing
some signs of wear and tear, but we still have what it takes. A little rusted, a bit dinged and cracked, but for the most part, we still run and run smoothly. Not bad for an old van and a middle-aged clergy!!!!

RGBP'S SNEAKY FRIDAY FIVE:

1) What is sneaking up on you, and what have you been thinking about?
Lent. It starts this Wednesday with Ash Wednesday. Still have some photocopying to do for the
the first Sunday in Lent and for the mid-week Wednesday potlucks and services. Every year, Lent and Advent
sneak up on me. I plan ahead, but then all of a sudden, the season is right smack in front of you.


2) What will you have for lunch today?
What did I have? Spinach salad with ham, muenster cheese, pico de gallo, avocado and lite ranch dressing.
Had a few multi-grain saltines with it. Beverage of choice: ice water. Bowl of blueberries for dessert.
The Boston Butt Pork Shoulder is cooking away in the crock pot for pulled pork sandwiches for dinner tonight,
along with brocoslaw.


3) If you were to get snowed in for two days, and you need to hunker down, what essentials and treats would you store up?
Chocolate. Oops, we're already stored up on that!!! Probably milk for LH, spinach and Rooiboss tea for me. And ingredients
for baking chocolate chip cookies. I always get the urge to bake when snowed in.


4) Tell me a story about one awesome thing you have experienced in the last couple of weeks.
Seeing the five deer frolicking through the meadow one morning. We don't see them very often and it is special to
see them. Such graceful creatures and cute. (as long as they don't eat up my garden!!!- which they haven't as we have
a fenced in yard and they've never gotten that close.)
And reading the interview with Joyce Rupp in SDI Presence Journal - she is just such a gifted, insightful, faithfilled
person and she inspires me be better.


5) What is your favorite office supply to splurge on? (now THAT is random, right?)
Mostly paper - copy paper of various colors, post its (or similiar product) that come in different designs and colors,
card stock for projects (Lenten bookmarks for each parishioner, and Lectio Divina bookmarks for Wed. Lenten suppers).
A close second would be pens, especially ir it is a brand I like. I also have about 5 pens on me - Pentel WOW retractable
ball points and Bottle2Pen gel pens that write even when stored in a cold vehicle (for recording mileage & gas expense).

FEBRUARY -
A short, cold, often snowy month!
This month will find me busy with a Congregational meeting, Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, midweek Lenten potlucks and services,and a birthday. There will be much going on for such a short month.
It is cold and snowy. We are expecting up to 4 inches today and I'm hoping the hour commute home will not be overly challenging.
This morning I was given a surprise while making coffee. I looked out the kitchen window (over the sink) and lo, and behold, 5 deer were scampering through the meadow. The greys had just come in and barked at them as the movement of the deer caught their eyes and attention!! Haven't seen any up to this point and it was a delight to watch them.
Have to clean up my annual report, make some copies for mid week Lenten services and re-send the Ash Wednesday service.
So, on to the fun tasks at hand while praying I make it home safe and sound later today.
May your day begin blessed and graced with the beauty that only God can create.

NEVER AGAIN FRIDAY FIVE -

Perhaps you have tried something that everyone assured you was SO MUCH FUN!!! and you swore on a stack of Bibles that you would never ever be dragged to said activity ever again. Was it horseback riding? Rappelling? Ballet class when you were 7?

So share with us 5 Supposedly Fun Things You'll Never EVER Do Again. You may find some commiserating souls among us. A bonus if you share pictures.

1. White water rafting - I rafted the New River once. It was a 2 day trip with
class 4 rapids. Paddling toward impending doom is not my
idea of great fun.

2. Kayaking - tried it on Lake Michigan. Needs a lot of balance. I was promptly
overturned and dumped into the Lake. I'd rather swim than kayak
any day.

3. Sailing in a wee Sunfish - once in Seminary with a colleague off Cape Cod. We
went out further from shore than I was comfortable
with. A huge ocean in a tiny boat. Once was enough.

4. Driving to Key West - it wasn't so much the driving, but the driving OVER the
bridges OVER the water that unnerved me. I had the driving
shift that lead us over bridges and bridges. On the way
back, LH drove and I kept my head in a book. Driving over
high bridges over water is a bit of a phobia for me.

5. Making my own Hummus - followed the recipe exactly, from soaking chickpeas
overnight, and adding Tahini. LH and I sat down to dinner
on a very hot summer evening with no air conditioning and
tried to eat the mortar I made. Impossible. You could've
used that hummus to lay bricks! First and last time I
tried to make it. Now you can buy it ready made at the
grocery store and soft enough to actually eat!!!!

Observation - 4 out of the 5 involve water. I love water. I love to swim. Apparently,
it's being in a boat that I can't control that's the issue. Also,
high bridges over water or watery gorges aren't my thing at all.
Funny, cruising on a big boat doesn't bother me at all.

FRIDAY FIVE - SMILE!

For this Friday Five, what makes you smile? Remembering that Meister Eckhart said that if you pray "thank you" that that is enough of a prayer, share with us five things, memories, or activities that bring you smiles and gratitude.

1. When the greys want attention or a rub! They can be so cute and sweet, it just
makes me smile.

2. A watercolor rainbow after a rainfall. Never ceases to cheer me.

3. Being with LH, the comfort of his presence in bed next to me warms me with a smile.

4. A good joke: One gentleman recalls that when his back seized up, he called his
doctor's office explaining that he was a minister and was in too
much pain to deliver his sermon. Could they help? The woman on
the other end asked him to hold. The next thing he heard was a loud
voice announcing, :I have a minister on the phone who can't stand
to preach!"
A clever comeback or witty insight will always bring a fun smile to my lips.

5. Hearing a favorite song on the radio or CD player will fill me with smiles.

BONUS 6. A beautiful sunset, puppies, blooming flowers, plump tomatoes on the vine,
seeing my sister, talking on the phone with my niece, etc. the list
can go on. Gratitude always follows on the heels of a smile!

PREPARING FOR lENT -
I've been busy preparing for the upcoming season of Lentand preoccupied with the seething unrest and unresolved backlash of grief from an incident at the church into which I walked in as an interim. There is much healing to be done there. It is my prayer for them.
To that end, I am preparing a mid-week Lenten series on different types of prayer, to open them up to new forms of praying for one another and their community of faith.
I will need to prepare for the upcoming congregational meeting in February to which they, thankfully, agreed to hold a potluck so as to break bread together.
They also need some mission project and vision to work towards together, as well as to communicate with one another.
So, although, I have not been posting as much, I am indeed at work.
I marvel that the past two interims, at churches of another denomination, have been so challenging and more screwed up than perhaps the governing body truly realizes. Or perhaps, they do, and sent in the sacrificial Presbyterian into the lions' and wolves' den!!!!
With my star gift word of "tenderness" this year, I am trying to live that as I hold tenderly their need to heal and the woundedness they are feeling and going through. I pray that they can come through this transformed and more vital. But am not sure how possible that is.
In the meanwhile, I do what I can to promote healing, to model healthy communication and behavior and trust that God's Spirit is at work inspite and despite of us all.

PLAY ALONG - A REQUEST

So, just before Christmas I received in the mail an envelope from a church in a Western State. I didn't even need to open it. I already knew what it contained - a rejection letter about not being further considered as a pastor candidate to fill their empty pulpit. I have gotten somewhat familiar with these out-of-the-blue rejection letters as my denomination will match up candidates with churches seeking pastors and often, unbeknownst to the candidate the computer sends the church one's profile. So every once in a while, I recieve a rejection letter from some church I never even knew existed.
Now, I know I am not the only clergy who has been rejected from further consideration for a position to serve the church. I am banking on many of you having suffered through one or more letters of rejection.
If you would share with me what some of those rejection letters said, or how they were worded, I would appreciate it. I find some of them quite fascinating. Especially, the one that told me that the church was "moving in a different direction" whatever that means!!! So, now the church is considering calling a circus performer, or a Wall Street Investment Broker, or an Engineer as pastor? Or has the church decided not be a church anymore and are planning to become a dinner theatre or a banquet hall for weddings and other such gatherings?!!?
As you can see, I look for the humor in these things! So, If you would share a phrase or two or three about letters of rejection you have received I would just love to hear them!!!
Not ready to throw in the towel of ministry quite yet and seeking to lift up the crushed and near crushed.

STARTING A NEW YEAR -
sick. LH ended the year with a bug and sick and I'm beginning the year with it. Thanks, dear husband of mine!!!
It was a whirlwind end of the year. My sister and BIL decided to drive in from IL on Monday. So, Thursday, Friday and Saturday we were busy cleaning, getting the guest bedroom ready, dusting, mopping, grocery shopping and picking up some fun items to ring in the New Year.
I went in to the church on Monday and LH was home. Our dryer also died just before Christmas and we had ordered a new one. Apparently they don't stock gas dryers only electric because folks are more fearful of gas. So, on order it went. They are more expensive than I remembered and we got a simple, basic dryer. Not to say, that I didn't look longingly at the Whirlpool Duet. But there's no way our tiny laundry room would accomodate the larger, fancier, models with all the bells and whistle. Technically, we just need to be able to dry our clothes!
That dryer was also due to be delivered and installed on Monday!
I hurried home after a hospital visit and it started to snow. Mainly, it just blew around, the interstate remained clean. Until I came up on my exit, where the snow was starting to coat the streets. By the time, I drove into our development, it was getting slippery and it took three attempts to make it up the driveway. And, to my surprise, the company had not yet arrived - nearly an hour later than they had planned.
So, I changed, did a couple last minute things, filled the stock pot with water ready to await the gift of dinner.
Finally, after another half hour, they did indeed arrive - bearing gifts of frozen crab legs, Eli's cheesecake, and a beautiful orchid plant. The most precious and welcome gift was themselves. We hadn't seen each other in over a year. It felt so wonderful to be in their company.
Dinner was scrumptious and the company even better.
We talked, we played Jenga and got the block tower to 34 levels. And every time it was our turn, we knew it would topple and it didn't. That went on for nearly a half hour. LH finally toppled it and I won!
There were Island Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Panettone (warmed in the oven) and a
most wonderful Prosecco to ring in the New Year. We donned our hats, tiaras, beads, paper 2013 eyeglasses, horns and clackers and with a bubbly toast greeted the new year.
On New Year's day, LH's sisters joined the merry gang for dinner. And there was ham for all to enjoy. That was after our traditional breakfast of eggs benedict (which the SILs missed since they didn't come until the afternoon.).
With little sleep, much activity and excitement, and LH still very buggy, it's no wonder that I am not well at the present. I hope to have a voice to lead worship and preach with on Sunday, plus I teach Adult Sunday School and will have a Confirmation Class following the second service. I am resting my voice. I am gargling with warm salt water. I may need to invest in some Mucinex.
The year can only get better as I will too!!!!
And, I got to see my sister last year and this year already, too!!!!
We live way too far apart. I miss my family and being able to see them from time to time. It is as it is, at least for now and in the near future, unless God has other plans for us in the coming year.

SNOW DAY -
I had planned to drive to church today, as it is my day in the office, but Mother Nature had other plans. It has been snowing constantly - sometimes heavier and sometimes lighter - all day so far. Although I could have gotten to the church ok, I'm not sure I would have made it home. Making visits would've proved treacherous as well.
So, I'm having a work day at home. Writing my sermon and doing preparations for Epiphany Sunday - making star words and cutting out all the many stars. Star gifts for the folks at church. I had to take a break as my hand was getting sore after cutting out 12 pages of stars.
Christmas Eve was very good. The roads were a bit wet but not snowy. I had plenty time to prepare the bread and do some things. By 6 pm it was starting to snow and I went out and spread some salt around. I escorted a visitor up the lift to the sanctuary. Gave out Christmas activity sheets to the children as they entered.
The first service went fairly well. Just a couple of glitches - instead of the Glory to God, the song leader sang the refrain from Angels We Have Heard on High which was to come later in the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving. The hymns moved along without dragging. I gave the Sursum Corda before the invitation to communion. And the choir, those who showed up early, had a bit of trouble with their anthem before the candlelighting. But for the most part, the service was good.
Between services, the choir had rehearsal, and after some wine, cheese and crackers, and Christmas cookies, they sang considerably better at the late service!!!
We did it all correctly at the late service. Communion was meaningful with the bread wrapped in linen in the manger on the altar.
I gave away my gas money to a youth member who's dad is in the hospital with a fatal illness and who has hardly any money to buy meals and pay for lodging at the prominent hospital on the North Coast. So, I gave him my gas money to help buy his meals. I still had just enough to fill my tank.
I left the church, after locking up and turning off the lights, at 11:45 pm and headed home with the gifts of 2 $50.00 bills from parishioners, a gas card, 2 boxes of chocolate and a box of Christmas cookies.
The gift was, that as I gave what I had, I was given even more in return. The gift was, two good worship services - glitches aside. The gift was the celebrating the birth of our Savior and Lord and receiving the love, hope, peace, grace, and joy, that he came to bring. The gift was, it stopped snowing by 8 pm and warmed up some, so that when I left it was 42 degrees and the roads were merely wet and not icy. The gift was, that at that time of night traffic was light. The gift was, both LH and I, got home safely. I was blessed with gifts and riches on a night full of the Gift of God.
The wonder of Christmas never disappoints me and the miracle of that night so long ago, continues to be a miracle each and every year - no matter the hardships or grief or difficulties. Christmas comes each year with unexpected surprises and with a wonder so great, one can only be silent before it.

ADVENT MONDAY -
Still dealing with the unsettling tragedy of Newtown and all the lives lost.
Prayers like incense arise to God on their behalf.
Heard several foolish comments from various people, no thanks to the media, who simply cannot take a break and say, "When we have more information, we will broadcast it to you." They conjecture and yak just to fill up the time and in the end, sometimes say some stupid things or they pressure onsite responders, eyewitnesses, etc. to share when they haven't had a chance to think about what they are going to say.
How about "They were taken too early from us." Yes, perhaps, they should have high schoolers or college-age - would that make it better because they were "taken later"?
Honestly. I can't even remember them all.
But my spirit aches and grieves for the beauty of these precious lives lost so senselessly and mt prayers enfold the families who are dealing with unspeakable grief.