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sabbati-blog.

18 Feb
sab-bat-i-cal: (noun) a period of paid leave granted to a college teacher [edit: or pastor] for study or travel, traditionally every seventh year
sab-bat-i-blog: (noun) a period of leave from posting blog entries to dedicated readers, traditionally whenever I want
My sabbati-blog proposal:
1.  I will focus on building relationships.
2.  I will experience life in a (slightly) different culture.

3.  I will hold a baby.

4.  I will enjoy the sunshine and warmth.

5.  I’m off for Arizona!

Folks, whether you accept my proposal or not, I have a plane ticket and as of tomorrow morning, I’m Phoenix bound!  I’m flying out at 6 tomorrow morning [we thought it was a good idea months ago when our tickets were purchased.  ugh.] with Kara [far left] and we’ll be sharing our time in the southwest with both Julia [standing, left] and Deb [far right] who moved to AZ after graduation to teach.  Added bonus: Kara and I have a dinner date with Amanda [third from right] and her husband tonight.  It will be great to get away and wonderful to see college friends.  Deb is married and baby Isabelle joined their family last October, so I’m way excited to meet the first Luther baby of the group!  [the photo was taken senior week before my 2006 graduation.  I remember it was misting/raining that day so I’ll blame the horrid hair on that.]
Upon my return late Tuesday night, it’s assignment time.  It’s grown so much more exciting/nerve-wrecking in the last weeks and when I get back to St.Paul, the day will be here.  My fate is soon decided by the bishops.  My next blog post may very well be one that shares my region assignment!  Until then – think of me in sunshine and 70 degrees.  [*smirk*]

I’m still here.

4 Feb
I haven’t blogged much this week.  Did you miss me?
I’m still here but feel I lack much blog-worthy.  (You think to yourself, ‘Well.  That has never stopped her before.’  True story.)
I could explain to you what I wonderful time I had staying with Aunt M., Uncle D., cousins Abbey and Riley last weekend.  We ordered in Chinese, they introduced me to Toddlers and Tiaras on TLC (my mouth was open in disbelief for the entire show), and we played board/card games all night.  
I could tell you about the two meals I’ve had at Muffuletta’s this week.  Muffuletta’s is just down the road from campus and so very delicious.  Once for a senior dinner (Dawson translation: supper) given by the alumni council and once for lunch (dinner) with my dear friend, Kate, who was visiting campus for convocation.  
I could share with you that I bought an iphone and it’s being shipped as I post.  I’m so very excited.  (And so very worried about the possible addiction that may follow.  I’ve already downloaded apps.)
I could tell you about the date night I had with my friend, Sara, last night.  We went back to the fabric warehouse and both cut bolts upon bolts of fabric for quilt tops.  Her first (yay!) and mine for Kari and Chris’ baby (a luther sem friend in WA).  I also bought my fabric to finish covering my wall … and gnome fabric.  No idea what I will do with it but it begged to come home with me.
I could update you on that long to-do list I made for myself for this week off of class.  The easy things are finished and only the difficult tasks remain.  I work on my final history exam as we speak (rather I’ll continue to work following this post) and need to think about thesis topics seriously.  And that whole project etsy … still scared.  But the wheels are still turning.

Hey, the Packers are in the Superbowl.  There’s going to be a party at my apartment, thrown by my roomie and I.  You should come.  

hello jbreak.

31 Jan
The week will be short and the to-do list is long but it’s off to a good start.

I slightly followed/slightly altered this scone recipe this morning, adding blueberries, lemon zest and toasted almonds with almond milk instead of cream.  Next to coffee in my mustache mug (Thanks, Cassie!) and this Monday is okay by me.

I resolve –

10 Jan
To turn off my computer and do something.
This January term I’m taking two classes which make for a full day of listening, history, and occasional singing.  I return to my apartment at the supper hour with homework, aspirations of sewing, and an exercise schedule to follow.  All with dreams of an eleven o’clock bedtime.  Most nights, many of those things don’t happen.
Because my macbook hinders my evenings.  I sit and write emails.  Talk to friends on iChat.  Stalk people on facebook.  Even when I’m away from my computer, it seems I constantly come back to check for anything new.  I love my macbook but I fear we need some space and time apart.
Therefore, I will turn off my computer these weeknight evenings and do something already.

snowpocalypse.

14 Dec
That’s what it’s been coined.  One of the worst snowstorms since the Halloween blizzard of ’91.  My friend Cassie’s facebook status on the day?  “It’s been so long since I’ve been in a blizzard … I’m not sure what to do but put my halloween costume on OVER my snowsuit.  (That’s normal blizzard practice, right?)”  I don’t actually remember said blizzard of my first grade year but I remember this one.  (It was two days ago and we have all this snow to prove it!)
I came back to St.Paul right after my approval interview on Friday to beat the Wisconsin snow that was supposed to come the next day, completely unaware of the impending doom approaching Minnesota.  Good thing I came back when I did.
I didn’t leave my apartment at all on Saturday or Sunday.  I was okay being snowed in.  (Unlike being snowed in last year at Christmas in Dawson.  I was not okay with that but survived.  Builds character and quilts or something I suppose.)  This blizzard forced me to work on finals (somewhat), gave me opportunity to sew a bit, make hamball soup (so not kidding) and sleep.  (I have a bed now – sleeping is all that much more exciting.  So long futon!)  My roomie and I baked and decorated cookies for a study break while watching a movie.  I didn’t need to go outside and so did not.  Thankfully.
A huge hand to those who are still clearing roads and sidewalks.  Absolutely unheard of, the St.Paul Public School system has a second day off today, as people are still digging out sidewalks and roads in these now nasty cold temperatures.

The seminary did not cancel classes.  *shaking angry fist*  Oh well.  I write this while in my LAST class of the semester. (And while hanging on every word of the professor teaching Psalms.  of course.) I turned in my last final paper early this morning – errr, 1:30 AM – and now will pick up the pieces of life that have been pushed to the back because of class/homework/approval.  Here I come, Christmas break!

a birthday celebration.

11 Dec
As C. and his sister, Nell, wished me happy birthday in the post prior to this one, it was my birthday last week.  We celebrated the night prior with a hamball supper (not dinner), coffee with cakepops, and a few hours of volunteering at Feed My Starving Children.  In the hour we packed meals (chicken, veggies, soy, rice) with a larger group of volunteers, we assembled 62 boxes of food – enough to feed 37 kids for one year!  It’s an incredible non-profit.  We had a great time putting between 380 and 400 grams of food into plastic bags with a fun group of Mormon women.
It took me a bit of effort to find ground ham.  At one meat counter I inquired, the cute meat man behind the glass kinda smirked and said, “Ground ham?  That’s kind of a thing of the past …”  Or western Minnesota, I told him.  I finally succeeded in my quest and hamballs had we.  I’m still working my way through leftovers; tomorrow I might attempt/create hamball soup …
3 Dec
Good morning and happy Friday, friends!
Snow is to begin to fall here in St.Paul shortly and ‘The Cooking Pastor‘ begins filming this weekend!  A cleric collar plus an apron and my macbook … it’s going to be grand.  I’ll be cooking up something so delicious it’s eschatological.  I can’t wait to share the final product with you, hopefully early next week.
Have a safe snowy weekend!

musical wkend.

16 Nov
#1.  My friend, Cassie, and I have held tickets to the needtobreathe concert at First Ave. in Minneapolis for many months now.  On Saturday, the day was finally here and it did not disappoint.  Needtobreathe was amazing with a nearly perfect set list and a completely unplugged encore.  They came back on stage with a banjo, guitar, mandolin, & minimal percussion, quieted the crowd, and sang with no microphones, no amplification.  Cassie’s reaction?  “I just peed a little.”  (She says that when she gets really excited.  Another example that elicits such a response would be today when the salad bar in the caf had spinach in addition to lettuce.)
#2.  One of the advantages of being back on campus as a senior and not working in a congregation is the opportunity to check out all sorts of worship experiences.  Country gospel?  Great.  My friend, Sara, and I drove south to Farmington to the classic Norwegian Lutheran church on the prairie.  The country gospel band had already began when we arrived (We stopped at the wrong church first.  Opps.) so we scooted up to the balcony.  There we had the perfect view of the six member band up front in their matching white shirts and red ties.  (Not kidding.)  There were moments that I enjoyed the old-style country of it all but it was during the Lord’s Prayer that Sara and I nearly lost it.  As the man with the deep voice spoke the prayer over the country twang, it was a bit too Lawrence Welk for my taste.  (To speak of Lawrence Welk and not link here would be completely unacceptable.)  Neither Sara nor I could look at each other for fear of being disrespectful in a fit of giggles; I looked away and said, “Dead cats, dead cats, dead cats,” over and over in my head.  It helped.
#3.  Sunday afternoon I met and hugged many of my favorite Dawson-dwellers at the Sounds Like Love concert.  SLL is an annual weekend choir festival for high schoolers.  Churches across the midwest send groups of musical teenagers to spend the weekend just outside the Cities preparing for a mass concert.  The Agape Singers, based in Dawson, are annual participants.  The concert was wonderful and the absolute additional perk was seeing and hugging Grace co-workers Kendall, Emily, Karen, Tammy (who all have kids in Agapes), Chris (who directs the Agapes), and many other Dawson people.  It was those encounters that prompted my facebook status of Sunday — Lindsay is thankful for many hugs today.  If smiling is Elf’s favorite, hugging is mine.

taking guesses.

4 Nov
I’m waiting for a package.  A gift.  My sister, with two friends, went to CO to visit our older brother last week.  Apparently, she found something so great, so wonderful, so Lindsay that she just HAD to buy it.  (Her words.)  She’s texted me or told me about this mystery thing at least five times.  Oh, you’re going to love it, she says.  When are you coming home next?  Because if it’s not until thanksgiving, I’ll mail it to you.  
Apparently, it can’t wait two weeks until I’m home for break.  She texted me tonight – 
[[ okay, then I’m mailing your awesome gift tomorrow.  hope you’re prepared for it. ]]
Prepared?  What could it be?  I guessed a gnome scarf – the combination of two of my most favorite things – but she said no.  It was better.
What’s better than a gnome scarf?  
Guesses?

Hey. It’s November.

2 Nov
When did that happen?
I don’t mind too much.  The weather is still great.  Cardigans and puffy vests and even, on chilly mornings, my black knit mittens make me comfortable and happy.  
Halloween is over and that’s fine by me.  What did I do on Halloween?  I went to church.  (Reformation Sunday.  Martin Luther.   You know.)  Sewed a little  bit.  Watched a movie or two while fiddling with things.  Read.  Went to the gym.  The end.  If there was a Scrooge of Halloween, I’d be it.  I didn’t even hand out candy.  *gasp*  The Scrooge of Halloween.  Despised by children, loved by dentists.  That would be my slogan.
November also means plans are in order for the fifth annual Thanksgiving Day Bake-Off with my birthday buddy and cousin, Connor ‘The Robert.’  The sister and another random cousin or two usually join us in seeking the treasured bake-off apron prize.  This year’s theme?  Ready?  Can you handle it?  Dessert that looks like a turkey.  Take that and run with it.  (The wheels are turning.)
I’ll be writing about people in my life for whom I’m thankful this month and writing snail mail notes to those people to tell them why.  A special trip to my favorite paper store was very necessary for this venture.  (Paper Source has an entire back wall of every size blank card to go in every size envelope in every color imaginable.  It is my happy place.)  My first thank-you hits the mailbox tomorrow.  The problem? (… that really is a blessing.)  I have far too many people for whom to be thankful in my life.  How on earth do I choose?
November, I think I welcome you.  I look forward to the bustling busy of the days to come with a new class on the book of Psalms, a Gap outlet shopping trip, a concert or two, a week break at Thanksgiving, and the possibility (more like promise) of the first snow.  You’re going to come and go faster than I please and probably before I can say (or complete), “rostered leader profile.” *  

*Papers upon papers of carefully thought out words and decisions and regions that will go to the powers that be to decide my fate for assignment as a pastor.  Due December 1.
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