Release time

20 Dec
Each of us have a unique design, created to be especially us by God. The third graders I teach on Wednesday afternoon for release time are no exception. (Here in Dawson, first through fourth graders get out of school for an hour to walk across the street to the church for religious education. Small town.) I have a class of 14 third graders, a rambunctious crew who don’t like to sit still or really listen at all but I love my time with them nonetheless.
As we talk about how each of us is special and loved by God, we decided that we would make paper replicas of ourselves which express who God has created us to be, with our talents, personality traits, and skills. Here are the beginnings of the project; some are quite hilarious and resemble alien-like creatures instead of third graders …

Luke 1:45

19 Dec


Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!



Uh oh. Yo yo.

19 Dec
I have no idea what I could or would do with such a skill but these fabric yo-yo pieces are certainly fun. Apparently a style from the 1930 and 1940s, I saw hundreds of these sewn together for a coverlet on a bed at a coworker’s house, a project by his grandmother. Creative wheels in my head began turning …

I researched, discovered a tutorial, and happened to have a bag of fun fabrics already cut into circles. (Convenient? I call it fate.) I began playing, creating a yo-yo myself. To create a yo-yo, it’s all hand-stitching; a very mobile project – something I would love to do if I were a passenger in a car for hours. (Not that I have any such trip lined up in the near future.)
For now, the idea will remain in the back of my mind, perhaps for a future project or quilt inspiration. As the yo-yo sits on top of my gospel of Luke commentary, I’m reminded that there is no time for sewing tonight or tomorrow or probably this week at all. I have a sermon to prepare for a care center service tomorrow afternoon and then two sermons plus a children’s sermon to prepare for the week ahead … a very busy most-wonderful-time-of-the-year.

small town.

14 Dec
two things –
1. I received a postcard in the mail addressed to 1277 Chestnut. My supervisor lives there; I do not. But mr. postmaster seems to know me, knows my name, and knows where I actually live because I received the postcard in my mailbox at my apartment building with no sort of forwarding stamp or wrong address. It just came here. Small town.
2. When people stop at the gas station or run into the grocery store, no sense in shutting off the car and locking the doors, right? Nope. Just leave the car running and run in to grab coffee or milk. At first it made me feel uneasy but I admit, I did it this morning. I ran into the gas station to grab coffee before work and left Sprocket on and unlocked. After living in St.Paul, it felt unnatural but hey, small town.

ADVENTure.

6 Dec

The season of Advent + internship project = after church party!

Each intern is required to have a project – some kind of ministry or such that he/she dreams, develops, and carries out.  My project for the year is to create opportunities for families to gather together in church, to talk about faith, and to equip them to carry on the conversations at home. (Impossible for only one person to do – especially a 26 year old with no children herself – but I hope to plant seeds; even the smallest conversation and take-home tidbit can grow in the years to come.)  The season of Advent created opportunity number one for families to gather and together prepare for the birth of Jesus on Christmas day.  

Today after our second service – the second service at which Pastor Kendall announced my upcoming birthday to the entire congregation at the beginning of his sermon and asked me, “So what are you?  19?” – a lunch was served.  The lunch was then followed by a number of activities in which families and all members of Grace were invited to participate.  There were sugar cookies to decorate, a scavenger hunt (which caused a herd of elephants, err, children to tear across the sanctuary), a story teller with costumes, and crafts galore to keep families busy and entertained together.  

gnew gnome.

6 Dec

When I returned from my time at home for Thanksgiving, there was a package waiting … a package with a GNEW GNOME!  Laura from Stillwater sent this little guy to live with me with my other gnome friends.  This friendly gnome also came with a book – The Garden Gnome Book: An Illustrated History – which told me I should give him a good German or Scandinavian name.  I will call him Borg.

The really cool thing about Borg is that he likes to travel.  He came with his own patch of grass and interchangeable backgrounds for his adventures far and wide.  Borg enjoys time in France, as well as the country cottage outside of the city.

From the book, an introduction to gnomes: “In European folklore, gnomes are believed to be household guardians or home spirits for both good and ill.  They are friendly toward humans but also possess a sly charm and whimsy and are fond of practical jokes.  Tradition holds that gnomes protect our precious belongings but are also notorious pranksters.  If mistreated, they are reputed to torment humans with minor, but irritating, mischief like their distant cousins, the gremlins.”

So far, Borg has caused no mischief but I also treat him well, changing his background and arranging the flowers on his grass in different arrangements.  I hope he remains docile and a good companion.  Hopefully he doesn’t invade my dresser drawers and invite chaos into the black and navy pairs of socks.

One of the best things about Borg – he’s purse size.  I expect we will have many adventures together, beginning with a trip to the Cities next weekend, where we will wine and dine at The Happy Gnome, a fancy-smansy restaurant only my friend James would find.  I think Borg will like it there.  He might have a beer.

Smiling’s my favorite.

5 Dec
My tree has been up for a week and finally tonight the ornaments were hung.  I turned on the movie Elf – my favorite Christmas movie – and hung ornaments as he traveled through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, past the sea of swirly, twirly gumdrops, and then walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.  
I brought with me from home many of my favorite ornaments including my cinnamon bear collection and this one.  This ornament is one of my favorites because it was given to me from my parents in 1985.  The description on the box, in my mother’s handwriting, says “Because Ben wasn’t a Katie.”  Apparently he would have been.  If he were a girl.  He wasn’t and thus, as it is a baby girl, the ornament became my gift for the year.  
Putting up a tree of my own is fun – it’s the first year I have done it – but it’s also not so fun.  This is the first year I have put up a tree by myself and the first time there is a tree with only my ornaments on it; there is no competing for branch space with my brothers’ tractors and lunch boxes.  I also realized tonight as I was putting on the ornaments that I won’t be able to share my tree; I am expecting no visitors this month while the tree will be in place.  I will be the only one who technically sees it.  
Though that’s where you come in … here’s a picture of the final tree.  Crappy as the photo may be,  I am sharing it with you.  I hope you enjoy my tree. 
  

garland. (not judy.)

29 Nov
This afternoon I combined two of my most favorite things in my crafting world – paper and my sewing machine – to create garland for my Christmas tree and I was grinning from ear to ear the whole time.  Sewing paper may be a new love of mine.  
Here’s a preview … the final fake tree product is yet to be completed.

home: a brief summary

28 Nov
… I had a wonderful sleepover in St.Paul with my bestest, Sara, on my way home for thanksgiving. We did everything that we love to do together – watch Friends, IKEA walk about, play Carcassone, a bottle of wine, Pride and Prejudice and an extended conversation about office supplies – notably the multi-color packs of Sharpies.
… New Moon! Emma, Aunt Kari, Molly, Kay and I watched vampires and werewolves with their shirts off on Tuesday night. Kay and I cuddled (made easier after breaking the arm rest between us) and rooted strong for Team Jacob!
… an impromptu lunch with friends including the movie Up!, grilled cheese, coffee, and cookies. A perfect chance to catch-up. Timmy’s day-after-Thanksgiving party with trivia was a great time as always. Twenty people a year do this when they see the Goodyear blimp – ________.
… family at Thanksgiving. Well, family and the homeless guy. Two great games of 31 (which I lost), chats, a bake-off, a mini-hike alongside the creek, and yummy food.
… a thanksgiving day bake-off! This year the dessert had to include a vegetable and thus we had a carrot cake, pumpkin cupcakes, and a store-bought chocolate cake with a green pepper turkey on top. After the very technical voting process, the results were a tie between the three – the carrot and pumpkin desserts tied for taste and the cheater cake won for presentation.

… a trip to the playground. After the turkey and stuffing, a bunch of us walked to the elementary school where we had a crazy time running off some food and energy. The sway fun? It was way fun.
… the tiniest little black Friday shopping trip with Emma and Molly. It wasn’t a zoo according to Molly; there were no giraffes.

… family. friends. hugs.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it was difficult to get in the car this morning at 10 am to make the drive back to Dawson. Part of the difficulty is knowing that the next holiday is one I won’t be home with my family and also not necessarily knowing when I will next be home. Alas, eight hours later, I arrived in Dawson, unpacked, resettled, and I think it will be okay though I miss home a bit already.

one week.

17 Nov

In exactly one week, I will be home in Wisconsin.  Here is what separates me from my four days in Edgerton:

  • A sermon to write and preach this Sunday – twice
  • two Bible studies – leading (1) and participating (1)
  • Thanksgiving meal for 100 seniors to serve with the youth at Grace
  • Friday to Saturday youth gathering chaperone
  • staff meeting/local ELCA pastors meeting
  • family Advent event to plan
  • internship committee meeting
  • confirmation sessions to teach (2) including one on the sixth commandment.  eek.
  • sleepover with Sara, my bestest, in the Cities
  • an eight hour drive.  gross.
I’ll sleep when I get home.
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