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here we go.

14 Jul
Tonight, following our short and tidy Wednesday evening worship service, I scored a hug and an ‘I love you’ from two different church ladies.
Then I melted into the floor.
More and more lasts are scheduled in my planner.
Last meetings.
Last quilting morning.
Last women’s circle studies.
And people are on top of things.
‘Where do you go next?’
‘When is your last day?’
‘We will miss you.’
Part of me likes to hear that they are interested in what is happening but part of me wishes they would quit bringing it up. I know I’m leaving soon. I know these next six weeks will fly. I know I’m going to start the uncontrollable waterworks at some point in the near future. I know these next weeks will be wonderful and painful at the same time. There’s no stopping the end from arriving, no stopping the lasts from happening … so here we go.

back to work.

14 Jul
Often time, returning to work after a vacation is a tough deal. You feel like you need a vacation that follows your initial vacation to recover first. You hate the thought of going back to the mundane, punching the clock, returning to the cubicle, blah, etc. As I said previously, I was ready to go back. Sure, I could have used a few extra hours of sleep, a chance to do laundry, but all in all, Monday morning was okay by me.
We had a staff planning meeting on Monday. Mapping out the next year’s big events, putting dates on the calendar. Eating coffee cake brought by Tammy. Drinking coffee out of a cute carafe. Laughter. Evaluating and creating programming. Subway for lunch. (Dawson has a Subway now! It’s a popular place.) It was a beautiful day so Kendall declared we would ride bikes there instead of drive. (He doesn’t even give me a chance to respond as he announces, “Lindsay and I are biking there.” We are? *shrug* Okay.) Nothing like the two pastors of Grace Lutheran Church cruising down Hwy. 212 on bikes. I won’t be here next year when these events that they are planning happen so that was a little strange. I listened, input dates onto the google calendar, and was content to watch the process unfold with an occasional comment.
Then yesterday was the organist’s birthday, an event that couldn’t be passed by without cake, a late night of fellowship and a hymn sing. An organist near a piano with fellow church dwellers begged for nothing different. Tales about a Kirby vacuum and a few “for hopeless” moments were bonuses. Lemons too.
Now, in writing the previous two paragraphs, I realize it has little to do with the work that I do but the people with whom I work. Maybe that’s what made me okay with coming back. Work hasn’t been disappointing either – productive days of camp planning, stewardship survey compiling, beginning those little paper and project hoops required by seminary to complete internship. Here’s to more work tomorrow!

Dear Father Time,

1 Jul
SLOW DOWN. I am refusing to acknowledge that today is July 1st. It cannot be possible. Unfeasible. Maddening. Why?
I worked at a campground for many summers of my life. The perfect summer job (except for cleaning the bathrooms – could have done without that). July 4th weekend was our second of three holiday weekends in the summer. It marked the halfway point of the summer for all practical reasons. If today is July 1st (I refuse to admit the truth in the statement.), July 4th is but days away. Summer is nearly half over. Not cool, Father Time, not cool.
July and August. That’s all that remains of my year-long stay in Dawson. Two months. I probably wouldn’t have said so last November, but this year has flown. As I was grinding my coffee beans this morning, so engrossed in the morning routine and familiarity of my life in Dawson, I realized that I hate the thought of uprooting again. The packing. The adjusting. Ick.
The goodbyes. The final evaluations. The leaving.
So, Father Time, if I may, just put in this request? Maybe to feel as if there are a few extra hours in the day. The ability to enjoy my days to the fullest. Extra laughs, learning experiences, and new adventures. A slow, lingering, extended two months. Please?
Sincerely,
Sweet Pea

ordination affairs.

17 Jun
I crashed an ordination last Friday night. The former intern at Grace – the intern before last year’s Lori (whose ordination I attended and participated in earlier this year) – was being ordained in Hector, MN. I’d never met Dale before, our paths hadn’t crossed on campus so I was a crasher. I was up for a road trip and social time so Keith, Gail and Karen picked me up and we were off on our 1.5 hour journey east. We met up with Tammy and Jon at the church and took over a pew; Kendall was there too but participating in the service.
I left the ordination with two main thoughts:
One. That will be me soon! The service was two hours long but you would have never glanced at your watch because it was so wonderful. The music was splendid and the entire service so engaging. It made me begin to wonder who will preach at my ordination. Who will I ask to participate? What kind of high-quality paper/font will I use for the bulletins? It’s hard to believe that after this long journey through seminary, as of next May, the scholastic portion will be complete. Then the first-call process. Whoa.
Two. I love my coworkers. Now, I knew this before but this night it was just super reinforced. A mini road trip with coworkers was a fun Friday night; I’m so glad I went. I loved sitting in a pew with them, enjoying the service together. Coffee and cake afterwards was a riot. I loved hearing them dream of the road trip they will take to my ordination (which I would guess will be at East in Cambridge). It’s an eight hour trip and I will expect none of them to make the journey … but will wholeheartedly love it if they make it. Maybe I can bribe them with cake pops.

A day late but no money short.

17 Jun
My apologies to my devoted nightly readers – shout-out to Mary O. – as I let you down last night. *head hanging* I realize that you were probably on the edge of your seat. Did they raise enough money for a cow? Was the craft an absolute disaster or success? How many hot dogs does it take to serve a crowd of 65 children?
I promise I had a good excuse. My younger brother came into town! Ben, who was home in WI for only a matter of days after his month-long national park-hopping experience out west, decided to take a short Minnesota tour. He rolled into Dawson around 5, ate dinner (“Supper” in western MN – I’ve been corrected many times.) with the pastors and VBSers, and then took, oh, just a forty mile bike ride while I did the VBS thing for the last evening. He was a dear and helped us clean up from the chaos at church and then we hung out at my apartment. This morning we both slept in, ate oatmeal and drank coffee. We were going to play a round of golf (To which every one of my co-workers responded with, “You play golf?” No. I don’t but I was willing to hit a few balls and drive his cart.) but it was quite windy this morning so we 86’d that plan. He was Cities-bound by noon to make it to Minneapolis for an evening canoe derby with a few cousins of ours. Anyways, I had a visitor. Hence, no blog post. Apologies.
I feel a tiny bit empty inside. A little lost. My gears need to be changed to a post-VBS world. VBS is over. Last night was a great final evening. In crafts we donned our tie-dye t-shirts and decorated picture frames. (We’ll mail each camper a group picture next week to put in their frames!) We did our normal rotation and then ended with a program in the sanctuary with parents, grandparents, and friends in attendance.

As part of our closing program, we did our “show us a cow!” ditty. There were 26 cows on the screen as of earlier that evening; we were nine cows short of purchasing our dairy cow. (That’s $90 in non-VBS speak that had to have been put in the pool earlier that night. Our kitchen crew was wonderful to count the change so we’d have the results.) We put our chart up on the screen, explained the process to the new people present, and started yelling. And yelling. “Show us a cow! Show us a cow! Show us a cow!”
You should have heard the cheers when we saw our final cow on the screen! (My brother was in the church parking lot, returning from his bike ride, and he said he heard them outside!) The campers went crazy! Yelling, screaming, clapping! They were so excited that we had brought in enough coins to buy our dairy cow through Lutheran World Relief. It made me positively giddy to see how excited these kids were about giving their quarters away to help a family they don’t even know and will never meet. Easily the highlight of the week for me.

VeeBeeS #3

15 Jun
Tonight was wonderful, less chaotic, and just plain fun. The campers are into the routine now so things go much more smoothly and they continue to have lots of fun as they hear about parables, craft things, play games (I had some major sweaty third grade boys tonight after wild games of kickball in the church parking lot.), sing songs with lots of wild actions, and be herded about by their shepherd leaders.

It was a rainstick-making paradise on second floor for crafts tonight. Many of the kids were extremely dedicated to their work, decorating their packing tubes with ribbon, paint, and sequins, and filling them with rice, cotton balls, and magic beans. There were looks of intense concentration and even a few smiles; I think they’re having fun.
The highlight of the night for me was our opening time all together in the sanctuary. As I mentioned last night, we are collecting coins to buy a dairy cow through Lutheran World Relief – three hundred and fifty dollars worth of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. The kids were so excited to throw their coins into the wishing pond and anticipated the revealing of the amount of money we made last night. We projected a chart on the screen – one “coin” on the chart was equal to $10 so there were a total of 35 “coins” on the chart. Everyone yelled, “Show us a cow!” and a cow would appear on top of each coin for the money that was raised. (Confused? I’m having a hard time explaining it. If you’ve given up understanding, just know that it was AWESOME.) We yelled, “Show us a cow!” FOURTEEN times. That’s right – there was $140 in our wishing pond just last night alone!
I was absolutely blown away by the amount of money the campers brought in last night and I’m certain there was just as much in the wishing pond tonight. (Tammy will take tonight’s money to the bank to be counted early tomorrow morning.) We are well on our way to buying ourselves a dairy cow for a family who will use it for milk and to make a living. The campers are super pumped about making our goal so here’s to hoping tomorrow will bring in the rest that we need!

vbs day dos

14 Jun

Because I love it so much [proof seen above], you get the daily play-by-play. Day two is done and behind us. We sang more rainforest songs, introduced the parable of the lost sheep with a super-engaging skit, played games, tie-dyed tshirts, and survived the rain (which was only to be expected in the rainforest). The VBS goers are also bringing in all their coins to throw into our wishing pond for our coin quest; we’re trying to raise $350 to buy a dairy cow through Lutheran World Relief! We’re going to try our hardest … but may end up with only enough pennies, dimes and quarters for a few hens and chicks. (Which is still great!)
Tomorrow: Another night together for dinner, songs, and chaos. And the craft? Rainsticks! We will be giving the children hammers and nails … watch out!
The first and second graders had the privilege of eating in the rainforest tent tonight.

The pre-k and kindergarten group was the best at squirting their shirts with dye! (They also get points for being the cutest!) Karen, the tie-dye expert, explains how the process works.

get ready, get set … VBS!

13 Jun
I love VBS. I could eat it up. Tonight was the first night of VBS which runs from 5:30 to 8pm. The night begins in Grace Hall with dinner, a gathering in our jungle of a sanctuary, and then breaks off into crafts, music, games, and story. Love it. Three more nights to go … we’re tie-dying in crafts tomorrow. Should be wonderfully chaotic.

control issues.

10 Jun
June is a busy month at Grace. Someone once told me that things would slow down after Easter. That person lied.
As I tend to do with my overly confident and zealous ambition, I think I bit off more than I can chew. Crafts at VBS? Great, I would love to lead those! Opening of VBS? Sure, I’d love to be in charge of the skits. Co-captain a summer of stewardship preaching series and other activities? Sounds like fun!
But then there is also the unexpected. A funeral/prayer service to lead in my supervisor’s out-of-town absence. A needed trip to Willmar for more VBS supplies. Projects taking longer than planned. Making brown paper vines to hang in the rainforest with a cordless drill and masking paper that spans the length of the hallway. (Okay, that was not unexpected but totally necessary.)
Today, as my preparation and role in the funeral/prayer service was made known, I started to stress. I was ready to curl up on the floor, rock back and forth, and cry. I don’t think I hid my hyperventilating very well; Kendall offered to switch Sundays so I would not have to preach this Sunday. I denied that I needed to do that. Tammy offered to have our Christian Education board help me set up for crafts. I said, eh, well, I would do it myself.
“Lindsay’s having a hard time giving up control,” Kendall surmised.
Oh my. So true. It was like a CPE revelation.
I have a hard time giving up control.
Something to work on. Sharing control. Not maintaining control of things that I don’t need to control.
I ended up accepting Kendall’s help. Giving up control of Sunday’s sermon in exchange for control of next week’s. A trade but a step in the right direction. One that helps muchisimo for the current stress level. I will, however, continue to use the cordless drill to make vines for the rainforest. Very necessary.

Karaoke anyone?

6 Jun

Instructions : Visit this link. Hit play. Sing along with the lyrics below.


Just sit right back and you’ll hear a sermon, 


A sermon on stewardship 


That started from the Word of God

Within this place so hip. 



Christ was the mighty man in charge, 


The Spirit brave and sure. 


All passengers set sail that day 


For a three week tour, a three week tour. 



Members started getting tired,

The faithful church was tossed, 


If not for the guidance of a fearless God 


Good stewardship would be lost,

good stewardship would be lost. 



We’ll learn together all the ways

Of faithful stewardship 


To care for earth’s 


environment, 


Their resources

and their time, 


God guides them forth 


Together by His love sustained. 


Here for stewardship days. 




So this is the tale of God’s people, 


They’re here for a long, long time, 


They’ll have to take good care of things, 


It’s a law divine. 



The pastors and the lay leaders, 


Will do their very best, 


To teach and guide the others, 


On this great godly quest,

On this great godly quest.



Living and loving others here 


Not an anxious time, you’ll see. 


Like Noah and his family, 


We’re excited as can be.

We’re excited as can be. 



So join us here each week my friends, 


You’re sure to get a smile, 


For God’s beloved castways, 


Here for stewardship days!

Today began three weeks of a stewardship series at Grace which we have named S.O.S. – a summer of stewardship. We’ll be addressing financial stewardship (on which I preached today), time and talents (next week), and care of the environment (the following). I needed to preach a stewardship sermon while on internship and this quickly grew into an elaborate worship planning series including an intense re-writing of the Gilligan’s Island theme song. We sang it this morning at the beginning of worship … and I think the congregation liked it! It was a little rough but it will get better as we sing it again next Sunday and the Sunday following!

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