2010: A Summary

What a year... Whew... I'm happily exhausted just thinking about it. Let's review, shall we?

January 
Daryl flies back to Nashville to resume coursework. This marks our 5th month of living apart since September.  Boo.

I fly back to New Jersey to start my final semester of classes at Princeton Seminary.

I start rehearsals for "A Caucasian Chalk Circle," the spring seminary play where I am cast as (yay!) Grusha, the resourceful peasant mother. One of my best friends is cast as Natella, the evil villainess, and we enjoy verbal sparring on our rides to and from practice.

February
I watch my friend Jinelle skate to Olympic silver with the U.S. Women's Hockey Team. Since the seminary doesn't get the channel, we watch from a nearby Mexican restaurant...

Daryl and I celebrate Valentine's Day apart by cooking the same meal and having a Skype dinner date. Not the real in-person thing, but still pretty good.

After noticing that there are few church jobs in the Nashville area, I apply to the Nashville CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) partnership as a chaplain. I anxiously await word back.

March
We welcomed our new niece, Sophia Joy, into the family! She was, and still remains, the cutest baby EVER. (Besides our other niece, Aleah, of course!)

I have my final review at the Presbytery of Chicago where they officially certify me as ready for ordination in the PC(USA)!

Daryl and I travel (together!) to California for spring break where we visit his family and lots of friends. We also eat at In n' Out Burger about nine times. In one week. Yum.

I hear back that the Nashville CPE partnership would like to interview me. I interview, and a couple of weeks later in...

April
...I hear back that I've been accepted as a chaplain resident at Alive Hospice in Nashville. Daryl and I both breathe a sigh of vocational and financial relief.

I performed in "A Caucasian Chalk Circle" at the seminary. After performance #1 I lost my voice for several anxious hours. Lots of tea with lemon (prescribed by the director), lots of prayer (my addition), and it came back by showtime the following night. Phew.

May
Daryl and I slogged through finals and were rewarded at the end... with one another. The long-distance marriage was over! Hooray!

My parents treated us to a cruise to Mexico. All the gluten free food I could eat, delicious sun, and lots of napping. It was A-MAZ-ING.

We returned to Princeton for my graduation! All done, seminary!

We packed up all of our belongings, and with the help of my parents, loaded them into a storage POD that was sent to await our arrival in Nashville.

June
We headed north to Wisconsin to spend much of the summer with my family resting, reading, and relaxing. A wonderful  reward after nine months living apart from one another, three years of seminary, three part-time jobs, and a whole lot else...

July
We trekked to Nashville to pick out a new home and found the townhouse of our dreams. Less than two miles from Vanderbilt for Daryl, less than two miles from the hospital where I'd be working, and within our price range. We signed the lease the very next day.

August
We travel to Michigan for a week-long family reunion with my dad's side of the family. There are games. There is food. It is awesome.

We move in  to our new home in Nashville, after waving goodbye to our wonderful family in Wisconsin. After hauling in box after box in 105 degree heat, we both agree: this is the LAST move we are ever doing ourselves. Next time (which we think will be years and years down the road), we're hiring movers.

I begin work at Alive Hospice on my birthday, August 30th. Lots of orientation, lots of preparation, lots of great people.

September
Daryl begins his second and final year of coursework at Vanderbilt.

We travel to Asheville, NC with some dear friends to visit Posana's Cafe, an all-gluten free restaurant. It is worth every mile.

We head back to Wisconsin to watch two other dear friends tie the knot in an outdoor ceremony on a beautiful lake. Then we dance all night.

Daryl travels to Oxford to deliver a paper at a conference. He visits all of our old haunts, even eating one of "Ben's Cookies" for me at the covered market.

I receive a semi-cryptic email from a church in Wisconsin asking me if I'd be willing to move to Wisconsin... I respond in the affirmative... They interview me over Skype and we immediately hit it off.

October
The church flies me up for a weekend interview. It goes wonderfully, and at the end of the weekend they extend the call to me! Daryl and I take a week to pray about it and feel nothing but confirmation. I call them back with the news - it's official (though not yet Facebook-public, as I still need to be examined by the Presbytery)!

Daryl's dad and step-mom visit, and we hit up the Frist Museum and the best Predator's game of the year.

My mom and dad visit and we visit an outdoor Chihuly exhibit and explore Nashville and Dad teaches me to make the best gluten free cookies ever.

November
I meet with the PC(USA)'s Company of New Pastors at their conference in Nashville. We spend hours talking and learning about prayer and how to incorporate Scripture into worship in different ways.

We eat the world's best Thanksgiving dinner with some dear (and gluten free!) friends in Nashville. I can still taste that cornbread stuffing.

Friends from Michigan come to visit us and we play board games for hours and hours.

I finish my final day of CPE and say goodbye to some wonderful patients, staff, and fellow chaplains.

Daryl surprises me with tickets to a Ben Folds concert after my last day of work. I sit, enraptured, listening to one of my favorites perform.

I fly up to the Wisconsin for the congregational vote and Presbytery examination. Both go well and now it is officially official - in January I will start my tenure as pastor of 1st Presbyterian!

December
Daryl finishes his coursework after a grueling two weeks of final exams. Cough drops, coffee, and meals I cook and set in front of him get him through.

Back to Eagle River, Wisconsin for a white Christmas at home with my family. Restful, fun, and full of delicious food.

Down to Nashville to pack up a few suitcases and await the arrival of movers who will take all of our worldly goods north to Wisconsin where we will move into the church's historic and very beautiful manse (parsonage).

Which brings us to New Year's Eve, where we'll say goodbye to Nashville and ring in the new year with some dear friends and a pile of gluten free goodies.

Whew... What a 2010! What will 2011 bring? I can hardly wait to find out... New Year's plans coming soon!

My Sister, the Photographer

My little sister is ridiculously talented. She makes wedding cakes that look like they're straight out of TLC's Cake Boss (see an example here). She gave us a framed abstract block print for Christmas that is so gorgeous I cannot wait to hang it in my office ("Is that Mondrian?" "No, it's an authentic Caroline!"). And the girl takes amazing photos.

As part of our Christmas present she gave Daryl and I a photo shoot and then touched up the pictures, adding color, changing the effects, and just generally making us look way better than we do in real life. Knowing that we'll be apart (again! baahhh....) for the next several months, she wanted each of us to have a picture to put on our desks.

The really crazy thing? This photo shoot took maybe twenty minutes. We bundled up, drove half a mile from my parents' house to a frozen lake, and she shot away. The result? Awesomeness. I wish I had one iota of her artistic skill, but I'm happy to just have her in the family. What a Christmas present!

 

She's one January-term course away from being a college grad, so if you need some photos, you know who to call... I'm sure I can get you a discount. ;)

Update

It has been too long.

I'm sorry, friends. This past month has been an absolute whirlwind, and there were things I couldn't post about on here until they were sure things, which now they are.

I'll write more in depth later, and post some great photos, but for now, the summary is this:

I've accepted a call as a Presbyterian minister at a church in southern Wisconsin! I start January 9th, and my ordination service will be January 30th.

Daryl and I will be moving our belongings from Nashville next week, and he will return here to finish his coursework for the final semester of his PhD. He'll join me up north in May.

Wonderful blessings. I'm moving back to Wisconsin, my home state, to a beautiful, vibrant church. I'll be close to family once again. I'll live in a landscape that feeds my soul, full of trees and prairies and snow and summer grasses. I'll have the chance to pursue the vocation I've been training for over the past several years, and the one I've felt called to since college. I'll be close to dozens of friends and family in Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

All changes come with a tinge of sadness too, of course. This means more time away from Daryl. It meant I had to end my CPE program early. It means leaving Nashville--a city I love--and my Nashville friends who have become like family.

More to come about the job, Christmas, the death-flu that my whole family came down with over the holidays (eeesh...), our favorite new holiday board game, the best book I've read in quite awhile, and just general Christmas joy.

I'm back. Updates to come.

The Impressionists

My mom loves the impressionists. We grew up with prints of Degas and Monet on our walls. She is partial to ballerinas and haystacks.

I've never really liked the impressionists. I have a pretty eclectic taste in art, but the impressionists have never been high on my list. They're too sunny. Too full of flowers and haystacks (sorry, Mom). Too blurry and pastel. I like photographs, bright colors, abstract art, modern art, and sculpture. I love paintings with a Christian story, provided they're not Thomas Kinkade. I will drive miles out of my way to see a Rembrandt, Chagall, El Greco, or Mondrian.

Anyway, this weekend Daryl's dad and step-mom were in town, and they treated us to a variety of wonderful activities. On our Saturdays alone in town (all three of them since August...) we tend to do exactly nothing. We're exhausted. Daryl watches a little college football. I bake some bread for the week ahead. We putter around the house, do some laundry, harass the cats.

When people are in town we do things. This is a good thing for us. We get out and about, we explore Nashville, we find new things and are inspired by old ones. This Saturday Tad and Deborah took us to see the impressionist exhibit at the Frist Museum.

I was excited to go. I like museums, even if I don't love impressionist art. At least, I didn't love it. This exhibit taught me to fall in love, and I wanted to share some of the awesomeness with you.

Edgar Degas:

It was that ballerina in the bottom-right corner that I really fell in love with. She is exhausted. But she isn't giving up. The shoes are still on.

Gustave Dore:

The riddle of war - the woman of France questioning the Sphinx about the French Revolution with an epic landscape in the background. Independence Day has nothing on this disaster. Daryl loved this one, too, though we both agreed it's a little bit dark and death-y to put on the wall...

Edouard Manet:

 

Paul Cezanne:

Photos borrowed from: www2.bc.edu, http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/26/8926-004-CA37FB0D.jpg, http://christophervolpe.blogspot.com/, http://www.rebeccanemser.com/wp-content/uploads/1991/07/BERTHE-MORISTON-1872-BY-Manet.jpg, http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/manet/fifre/manet.fifre-2.jpg, http://madamepickwickartblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Cezanne1.jpg. Also, if you're in Nashville, you should really go see these in person. The Internet hardly does them any justice. Fo' real.

Surprises

I love surprises.

No, that's not right.

I love, love, love, love, LOVE surprises. Yup. That about covers it.

I had a hard day at hospice last week. I came home exhausted and discouraged. Then I checked the mailbox. Not one, but TWO unexpected surprises!

A note from my dear, dear, dear friend Inga, along with a CD. On that CD were three songs from one of my favorite artists--Jake Armerding--who has a new album out that I hadn't even heard about. It was like musical manna from heaven.

A small package from my grandmother who lives in Michigan, containing two really good make-up brushes! The kind I would never, ever splurge on for myself! She had read my previous blog post and put them in the mail as a gesture of love.

After such a crummy, difficult day, I found myself sitting at the dining room table with these two beautiful gifts from two people I love so much, tearing up a little. "You knew I needed this today, didn't you, God?" I asked.

While I love surprises, I hate them, too. I love gifts, letters, concert tickets (thank you, Daryl!!!), unexpected trips. But I hate the unexpected turns life sometimes takes. As a child I once threw a screaming fit outside my preschool when Miss Cindy, my teacher, was absent. There was a substitute teacher in there and I was bound and determined not to have any part of that. Dad used to say that I'm not "good at hitting the curve ball." He's a sports metaphor kind of guy.

My life has been full of surprises lately, both the kind I love and the kind I hate.

I am leaving Nashville. I have moved nine times in ten years, and this will be my tenth move.

I am moving somewhere closer to home, and to do something new and exciting and joyful and challenging.

That's all I can say for now, but more news will be forthcoming.

I love the new possibilities of what is to come, but I hate that I'm leaving Nashville. I hate that this new turn of events means I'll be living apart from Daryl for a few months (again... I know...). I hate that I have to move again.

But I love the excitement of a life spent following Jesus. I love that I'll soon be doing what I feel called and gifted to do. I love that my life will soon be marked by some real stability and that Daryl and I will have the chance to put down some roots.

I'm headed north.

More soon...

Beauty Tips for... Me

Beauty Tips for Ministers became one of my favorite blogs after my friend and fellow chaplain Marie pointed it out to me over a year ago. It helps me answer many of questions I have because, prior to seminary, I've had very few female role models in ministry, and really none that were in their 20s or 30s.

It's amazing the amount of questions about physical appearance that come up as I think about myself in ministry.

What type of jewelry is appropriate? When do fun accessories cross over into the realm of distraction?

What can I do with my hair on a bad hair day? Ponytail? Updo? Cute hat? Scarf?

What says, "Young professional pastor" and not "Frumpy weird pastor," "Creepy spiritual person," or "Waaayyy too trendy to be a pastor"?

How do I tread the line between approachable and professional? I sat across from a friend over coffee awhile back and saw that she had a gorgeous French manicure and perfectly applied eye makeup. My first thought was, "Wow, I feel disheveled and unpolished. I should definitely get a manicure." My second thought was, "No, I should not, because I don't want the people to whom I'm ministering to feel like I'm feeling right now."

It's a tough call, and audience plays a big part. When I sit in people's living rooms and pray beside the bedside of their dying family members, I want to communicate that I'm a professional, but also that I'm a safe person. A person who doesn't take notice of dust on the mantle, dirty dishes in the sink, or people in their pajamas because it's just been an awful day for them.

This is all on my mind because I bought *gasp* some new makeup today. I spent almost $30. It almost killed me. $30?!? On MAKEUP?!?!? Couldn't I have used that money to do something much better, like feed the poor/care for the homeless/buy Daryl some new slippers so his feet aren't so darned cold in the morning when he gets up to make me a breakfast smoothie?

Sigh. This is how my mind works.

Yet, as dear PeaceBang (as she calls herself) reminds those of us in ministry: Appearance isn't everything. Your heart and soul are what matter. But you should still look appropriate for your age and your job. Clothing and makeup and skin care and hairstyle matter. Not as much as the inside, but they are necessary to help you present a professional appearance.

When you're officiating a funeral, standing by a dying patient's bedside, celebrating a wedding, or preaching a sermon, you want to project an image that says, in essence, "I love Jesus, and I'm here to be the minister." Loving, professional, polished, human. What a balance! I'm certainly still learning.

These are the products that graced my Target shopping basket today:

Rimmel's Kohl eyeliner pencil in "Jungle Green."

Maybelline's Volum' Express mascara. I'm super excited to try this, as I usually go for the boring standard mascara. Also, this version is waterproof, which I desperately need. I tear up probably once a day with my hospice patients and families, and I don't want to continue fearing the dreaded "Tammy Faye Baker" moment...

L'Oreal's eyeshadow in Desert Sunrise. It has numbers, for folks like me who are a bit makeup challenged... I think my youngest sister got all the artistic makeup genes. I fall into a rut all too easily. I usually don't gravitate towards browns, but I like how subdued and polished the colors are, without being too juvenile. Also, I bought jungle green eyeliner... so clearly I know how to have some fun.

Finding lipstick that is gluten-free is tricky. I've worn Clinique for years, but they can't give a definitive statement on whether their products are gluten-free. This has forced me to do the dreaded trial-and-error with some Clinique products I'd already purchased. I love their lipsticks, but last time I put one on the tummy gurglings began. Boo. Enter Burt's Bees, a company that does disclose gluten. Since nude lips are in, I purchased their lip shimmer in Peony. More glossy than lipstick-y. Totally my style.

I suffer from the dreaded shiny-face. My skin hasn't yet heard that I'm no longer a teenager, so I get shiiiiiiny with lovely afternoon oil by around 1pm. Yuck. Enter: blotting sheets. Cheap, simple, and they soak up oil without smudging makeup. Hooray, hooray.

And my impulse purchase... Gunmetal gray nail polish, which went straight onto both my fingers and toes. It looks rad. Does it look appropriate for chaplaincy? I'm not sure. I may take it off my fingernails before tomorrow morning. Or I may dress super-professionally (hellloooo, blazer and heels!) and just let my nails be a spark of excitement. I wouldn't wear this in the pulpit, but chaplaincy is a bit more informal. We shall see...

What are your favorite products for looking polished, in life or in ministry? Does anyone know of a good matte powder that helps eliminate shine? I usually use Bare Minerals, but I haven't been too happy with it lately. Perhaps I just need a new applicator brush... But that would mean $15 more dollars. And that's certainly not in the cards for me in the near future. A girl can only go so far.

Wedding Bells and Belles

My good friend Tonia got married this weekend.

You can check out her awesome blog on greenin' up your life here.

She was pretty much my third sister growing up, so both of my sisters and I got to be in her wedding! It was so fun to be bridesmaids together, though we couldn't help continually cracking this joke:

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe we showed up in the same dress! How embarrassing!"

And then laughing like ninnies.

It was an amazing, beautiful wedding, and one we'll never forget. Here are some of the photos from the big shindig:

My awesome cake-making sister Caroline made them a Packers vs. Vikings cake. Tonia (the Packers fan) fed Mike a Packers piece and Mike (the Vikings fan) fed Tonia a Vikings piece. That's true love, that is.

Almost all of the decorations were handmade, green, and gorgeous.

Aleah was adorable and hilarious, as usual...

We danced and danced, but stopped long enough for a few photos. We don't look this good that often!

I hear that this is called "photo diving." I call it super fun!

Thanks for the party, Tonia and Mike! Many, many, many blessings on your marriage as you begin this wonderful journey together.

I Loved this Summer: Part 2

Part two of a wonderful summer begins in July. We celebrated Daryl's birthday in Wisconsin with gf German chocolate cake... Yum, yum, yum... I'm thankful to have a husband who was more than willing to let me bake him a gf cake so that I could share in the gluttony. He proclaimed it, "Just as good as a glutenous cake, and maybe even better. The frosting was definitely better!"

I discovered that making German chocolate cake frosting from scratch is pretty easy, but it's a bit horrifying what is in it. It is not good for you. But, birthdays are birthdays, and it was well worth all the butter and egg yolks for the amazing taste.

Aleah helped me do P90X. She was pretty awesome at it. She actually figured out the yoga positions and would do downward dog and upward dog before the fitness guy told her to do them. She's going to be quite the athlete!

Caitlyn was convinced that the water reserve tray for Daryl's coffee-maker birthday present was actually a giant remote control...

Daryl decided that we are probably not ready to have kids for awhile... (This is my favorite photo of the whole summer. You just can't beat these two facial expressions and matching outfits!)

We went to St. Joseph, Michigan, to visit our wonderful friends, and rode a bicycle surrey with a fringe on top. During our visit, Daniel (backseat) proposed to Megan (pink shirt) and she said YES! It's the first proposal I've ever been a part of (besides saying yes when Daryl asked, of course), and it was a wonderful and joyful day.

We had a great family reunion in Michigan (notice how many girls are in our family!). People came from as far as Pennsylvania for the annual event.

Sophie discovered her feet.

Aleah curled her... eyelashes?

We played about eight hundred games of mafia with the cousin crew (and I actually won one!)...

We saw the Cubs lose to the Cardinals on one of the windiest, hottest, rainiest days of the year. My knee-length skirt kept blowing up around my waist, so I actually had to change into some shorts I had in my backpack from staying at a friends' house the night before... I was never so grateful to have a backpack full of trip stuff. Came in verrrry handy.

We moved in to Nashville! This is a perfect picture of how randomly we packed some of the boxes. On top of those two boxes are the following: a three-hole punch, lavender soap from Trader Joe's, a makeup bag, one white heeled sandal, a small box of checkers, a handmade table runner (thanks, Caitlyn!), and six Christmas candle holders. What do these things have in common? Absolutely nothing.

And dear Eliot helped us unpack.

It was a good, good summer indeed. I'm sad to see it go!

I Loved this Summer: Part 1

Well, the new academic year is upon us. Daryl heads back to school on Monday. I start work the following Monday. I'm grieving the end of an incredible summer. Does it really have to end? Below are some of the promised pictures from a really wonderful and blessed time with family and friends in states across the country. I wish it never had to end...

We hung out at my parents' lake in Wisconsin and swam, swam, swam.

We visited Bayfield, Wisconsin, on wild Lake Superior with all its natural beauty.

We celebrated our friends Daniel and Emily's wedding with a post-wedding reception in northern Wisconsin. This is a photo of our old homeschooled group of friends. Sigh... Everyone's so grown up now!

I read books to my four-month old (and ridiculously adorable) niece, Sophie.

The girls had days out on the town.

My niece Aleah helped me put on some makeup for date night.

Sophie bonded with her great-grandpa.

Aleah wanted more brownies...

We visited the soon-to-be-married Mike and Tonia up in Duluth.

We saw Split Rock lighthouse on Lake Superior.

I wore my Chacos pretty much every day (and now have a rockin' sandal tan).

Daryl and Dad grilled in a downpour. That's dedication!

Mom and I did some great flea market shopping.

The rest? To be continued (including my very favorite photo of the whole summer!)...