Retreat success.
8 SepThere are a few words I could use to describe how I’m currently feeling:
sleepy, exhausted, delirious, dog-tired, worn out, tuckered, and happily fulfilled.
It was a crazy weekend. It was overnight-confirmation-retreat weekend. Seven youth from ROG went along with me to Good Earth Village camp to meet up with six of jD’s youth from his two churches. Together we were 13 which, wouldn’t you know, is the perfect number with which to reenact the famous Last Supper painting:
The topic of the retreat revolved around the two Lutheran sacraments – baptism and communion – along with some intentional conversation about grace. We communed together, baptized a gnome [ … for real. Kind of. His parents named him Norman James.], team-built, played life size Jenga, did skits [the creativity of the skits blew me away – the awesomeness of these kids continually exceeds my expectations], and had boatloads of fun. jD’s kids had fun. My kids had fun. We all had fun. Our churches will have to plan to do more things together throughout the year; it worked out so well.
We shared highs and lows with each other before we left camp. Every single high from every single confirmation kid was along these lines: My high is making new friends and being here. At the same time, every single low from every single confirmation kid was along these lines: My low is that we can’t stay another night and we have to go home.
I’ll call that retreat success. In addition to having fun, we also hope they left with a definition of grace seared in their brains. Something like … the unconditional love of God that is free, forever, and for all. That would be good.
With what I’m about to say next, I want you to listen really super closely because I never say things like this. Ready? I love confirmation. [Okay. That was a joke. I actually say it all the flippin’ time.] I love my confirmation youth. I love middle schoolers. Weekends like this – kids like this – that’s why I love this job.
Pastor Evan officiates a gnome baptism.
“I baptize you …”
Milk and cookies snack.
life size Jenga
marble track teambuilder
Friday Favorites.
6 Sep
Are you ready? For the weekend? For a post of awesome internet things? Both?
Here we go –
What’s this? Only a timeline of the Back to the Future movies which, you may or may not recall, are my favorites!
The minute it gets cool again, this is on my menu – vegan quinoa sweet potato chili.
Maybe some pesto guacamole too. I could get behind that.
I learned about a new app today. Voxer is essential a walkie talkie for your phone but the person you’re talking to doesn’t necessarily need to listen in real time. The message is waiting whenever you’re ready. I’ve been voxing [what a fun new verb] with my banana friend, Krissy, who is back in the hospital with a blood clot in a vein in her brain. It’s hard for her to text or type an email since it hurts to even open her eyes … and so we vox Adam Sandler movie quotes and beauty tips back and forth. [And it’s free.]
Talking about poor Krissy reminds me that these are in the fridge. I will bake them and mail them to her family. [When I’m too far from friends to actually lend a hand or give a hug, I mail cookies. It’s my default.]
Okay. Enough messing around. It’s time to get serious. Have you ever … [long dramatic pause]
drank egg coffee? I first heard about egg coffee when I was on internship in Dawson and remember being appalled at the thought. However, then I read this article about egg coffee on The Kitchn in regards to coffee drank at the Minnesota State Fair. I think it’s about time I tried. Want to come over and drink coffee made with eggs? I’ll save you a twix bar chocolate chip cookie.
That’s all for favorite links. This weekend I’m off doing one of my favorite activities – taking confirmation kids to camp! jD and I planned the retreat together again [second annual!] and it should be a great time for both his students and mine.
Today was not my favorite. But then –
3 SepToday was eh. Office work and some work that I kinda feel shouldn’t be within the realm of pastoral duties. Work like climbing into a parked semi trailer to take photos of auction items. [Did I miss that on my job description?] And this weird work – there’s lots of it. With the school year beginning [wait. summer is over? how did that happen?], church work doubles as it is. Rally Sunday, confirmation kick-off retreat, annual meeting [ours in in September. it’s best not to even ask.], schedules, plans, pull-out-my-hair.
So today in the office was not my favorite. I told Marilyn and Bob-the-treasurer that I was going to cry. But then –
For confirmation this year, instead of one big informational meeting that half the families can’t make anyways, I’m visiting with each family one-on-one. Tonight I headed just down the road a mile and a half to visit with my ninja friend, Elly, and her family. Coming to confirmation this year will also be her younger sister. They’re just a super warm family and even though I promised them that my visit would only be 15 minutes, I was there for an hour. We talked about confirmation and then the kids went away while their parents and I talked about all things vintage. Pyrex, Nancy Drew classics, mason jars. For a living, they go to auctions, snap up stuff, and then sell it on etsy and ebay. They showed me their goods and talked about their business. Super interesting!
They also told me a neighborhood secret. About three-quarters of a mile from the church is a road. A secret road. Okay. It’s not secret at all but I always just assumed it was private property and only used by farm equipment. Turns out this access road is fair game. It’s gravel and dirt but so much more relaxing than walking Mabel on the road. We found our new walking route and explored it tonight.
On our way back from the [not] secret road, all of a sudden, one of the neighbor kids is sprinting towards me. He was running just to, you know, chat. And show me his new wallet. The neighbor family had been gone for two weeks on a road trip and things were really kinda lonely without them around. It was weird to walk past their house and not see them outside playing, or see lights on in their house. So Alex ran to say hi and tell me that the favorite part of his trip was seeing the beach where The Goonies was filmed. Then his older sister, Rachel, rode her bike down to join us. Soon the younger brother was there, along with the mom and the dog, and we stood in their driveway for a good 45 minutes catching up on summer.
Now I’m home. I ate farm-fresh eggs for dinner [thanks to administrative assistant and chicken farmer extraordinaire, Marilyn] and the day will end on a high note by watching Netflix and basting hexagons. Today was not my favorite … but then it turned out to be quite okay.
I’ll be adding to this pile – the weekend’s productivity.
gnomepreacher is 4!
31 Aug
Four years ago, on this very day, I wrote my first post. [Click on the archives tab at the top right if you want that blast from the past.] It was about moving to Dawson for internship. Can it really be four years ago already?
Obviously, as I’m nearly 1,000 posts in, gnomepreacher still gives me joy and an outlet, both creative and sometimes [okay, quite often] emotional. It brings me joy that you read it too. So many of you are so kind to send emails, post comments, and let me know that you enjoy reading. Thank you for that.
How will I celebrate, you wonder. Well, I’m about to eat some cantaloupe. I’ll probably read … quilt a little. But mostly I’m celebrating by writing this post. Happy 4th birthday, gnomepreacher! You’re my sanity blog and my fun place to tell stories. I think I’ll keep you around for another four.
Happy Friday!
30 AugHere are some favorites:
One of my weekend projects is to organize my home office. It’s currently a dumping ground for anything and everything. As I organize, I’m thinking this is pretty cool – clipboards hung on the wall. It’s a clipboard inspiration wall!
I do love pancakes an awful lot. These sound delicious – overnight oatmeal cinnamon pancakes. And apparently they’re famous.
I have a new impulse buy item that amazon helps none with – quilting books. This is a candidate for my next impulsive buy – Quilting Happiness.
Speaking of quilting, I’m leaping into a major hexagon project. *deep breath* Over 500 hand basted and then hand-sewn hexagons. I’m currently cutting paper templates and fabric squares so it can be my little on-the-go or while-watching-television quilting kit. I’m excited about it but it will be a lo-o-ng project … The finished quilt is the British flag – the union jack – but in funky, scrappy colors and patterns [which seems to be my favorite style of late] and ALL hexagons except the border. Click this link and scroll down for a photo of what I’m attempting! It’s major.
I made an awesome risotto this past week. Not wanting to turn on my oven in the heat, I decided to stand over the stove and stir for 30 minutes. In the end, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. But it was delicious. Iowa Girl Eats blogged this great farmer’s market risotto and it was delicious. I then tweeted the link to a friend, and Iowa Girl Eats [a fairly well known Midwest food blogger] tweeted me back! I was a little starstruck for a moment. But seriously – need another go-to blog for recipes? Hers is it.
One last thing –
I don’t blame Disney for my high expectations of men … I blame Tolkien.
//
Grandma’s quilt.
27 Aug
Way back in May, a couple of my siblings, cousins, and I returned to my Grandpa’s house. To clean it out. I blogged about it way back when but I haven’t shared with you one of the greatest treasures I received on that day.
I brought a quilt home with me that day. It’s a quilt of scrappy squares, tied with yarn. And I love it. As I packed it up that day, I asked my Aunt Peggy what the story of the quilt was. [Every quilt has a story.] She said my Grandma Vera – her mother – made it. I never knew my Grandma Vera to sew or quilt! [What I remember most about my Grandma Vera, who died when I was 16, was her encouragement to me as a young girl not to chew my fingernails. She bribed me with the possibility of her painting them when they got long enough. Sadly, Grandma, I’ve started chewing my nails again. I blame the stress of adulthood and boredom on long drives.]
My grandma made this quilt that I now have in my possession and that makes it even better. Not to mention it is the HEAVIEST quilt ever. I feel wrapped up tight when I use it. I can’t wait to curl up under it when cooler weather comes. It’s so fun to look at too, because every time I use it or fold it or wash it, I spot a fabric I hadn’t see before. There are some great [read: odd] scrappy fabrics. It makes me wonder where they came from … worn out clothes? Other quilts? Tablecloths?
It’s a treasure.
Goodnight moon; dashboard cowboy; stuffed animals for sale; a very magical unicorn; and the izzy scoop.
26 AugI’m not even going to apologize anymore. Blogging just hasn’t been happening in the past week. Here’s what has been happening –
The moon was bright. This was on one of Mabel’s walks late at night, post-meetings at church.
The trusty old dusty odometer turned to 111111. I made five million wishes.
I went to an “antique” store. It’s near where I live and I just had never been in there. I’m in the market for something specific so I figured it was worth a shot. That’s what I found. Needless to say, they had not what I wanted.
I met friends at Chatterbox in St.Paul for dinner and games. Paige met my college friends, Adam and Kara. Then we went to Patina, one of the best stores ever. Kara became a unicorn for a brief moment.
And then we ate Izzy’s ice cream because a few of us had never been. It’s been voted the best ice cream in the Cities many times over. [Izzy’s is known for its Izzy scoop – a second flavor baby scoop on top of your cone or dish.] It was while eating ice cream outside that a fly attacked my eye and Paige won’t let me forget it. [Or my reaction.]
That’s what’s been happening. Well, that and an ever-so-quick trip home yesterday for a family party. [Birthday shout outs! Happy birthday, Grandma! Happy birthday, cousin Marissa! Happy birthday – soon – to sister Emma!] I was home for less than 24 hours but it was good. It was a good reminder that I need to go home more often … I also got to make a hospital visit while I was home. Krissy, a Banana, has been in the hospital for many days with likely many days still to come. Ever heard of a spinal headache? I hadn’t until now but uffda. Nasty stuff. I hope the coloring books and crayons I took her make the pain just a little bit more bearable for even a minute or two .
Beautiful day.
17 AugToday, the midwest was nothing short of gorgeous. This weather is my favorite. I woke with no plans for this particular Saturday and by mid-afternoon felt guilty [and a little bored] hanging out inside cleaning and doing laundry. This day called for outdoor activities.
Mabel and I jumped in the car and we drove to Albert Lea to Myre Big Island State Park. I haven’t gotten nearly enough use out of my car park pass this summer and while this is a park we’ve explored before, it was worth another hike. We hiked around the island, through the woods and along the water. Mabel splashed around in the lake and seemingly enjoyed the change of scenery from our normal walking route. I did too.
Beautiful day indeed. Let’s hope it’s this great tomorrow for Red Oak Grove’s outdoor cowboy service. Yeehaw.
[I also snuck in a quick trip to the quilt shop which is a short five minutes from the park. I couldn’t be so close and not stop. No. Of course not.]
Friday Favorites.
16 Aug
It’s a churchy and video Friday Favorites today! Who’s excited?
First, you should know that right now, in Pittsburgh, is the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Nearly 1000 voting members from synods across the country meet every couple years to discuss the ministry and business of the ELCA. My friends, Paige and jD, are there right now. [I *almost* was able to go as the ‘young adult voting member’ for our synod but someone else beat me to the punch. I feel like I’m missing out on trio fun.] Paige and jD, in their typical strokes of geniuses, are filming a nightly recap of events to share with their churches [and anyone else] back home. Their youtube channel is here if you want to check out more of their videos [with appearances from surprise guests and the awesome Pastor Charlie of Blooming] but I’ll for now embed last night’s –
The joke was that as they film a vlog each night, I would also film what I’m doing while home on the range. I had lunch with my synod friend, Karen, on Tuesday and we accepted the challenge with a copycat/mock vlog about a very, very important parking lot –
Super exciting, right? I fear if you’re not super engrossed in the Lutheran world, neither of those may have been fun. But you know what is fun?
At the Churchwide Assembly, an election for the presiding bishop happened. The presiding bishop is the bishop of the whole ELCA. For the last twelve years, Mark Hanson has served in this capacity with amazing grace. He was up for re-election and a possible third term but as the election continued, the result was unexpected. There was no campaigning and we trust that the Holy Spirit leads the process. At the end, the ELCA had elected our first female presiding bishop this week. It’s quite an exciting event!
In other non-churchy Friday favorites, I get my hair cut today. Always a favorite. I made these coconut oil chocolate chip cookies this week. They got Bob-the-treasurer and Marilyn-the-administrative-assistant approval. And, hey, anyone want to come over and make watermelon helmets?
there's no place like gnome. 