BesoMami

We are off to a two-day class to learn how to be parents. I hope it works.

Important reading

And now for something completely silly:

I have it.

I tried to ignore it's arrival on Saturday evening. I slogged through Sunday morning. I went to church for a few hours on Monday. Then it hit me full force on Monday afternoon. I feel *slightly* better today. I have an amazing number of important things to do this week.

Thank God for Tylenol.

Ugh.

Neighbors who still have up outdoor Christmas decorations on the 25th of February.

Parents who pass out birthday party invitations to only some of the children, in front of all of the children.
Individuals who insist that their feelings are always right.

Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels

Not exactly the light and breezy book I've vowed to read more of during 2008...

A friend from church gave this book to me and I really enjoyed it. I've been told that a little, independent film based on this novel was released last year, which I'd like to see. This is a story about a child who is rescued from Nazi persecution during WWII. It included many of my favorites theological themes, such as 'family is who loves you like family'.

I haven't done a RevGal Friday 5 in ages and ages... so here goes!

We are at home for the second day in a row, due to ice. I can safely say that, as a child, I never had a day off from school because of the weather. It didn't matter if it was 115 degrees -- Arizona kids always went to school. I remember an ice storm in Austin the first year we were married -- we walked up Duvall to Quackenbush's coffee shop. I had the day off from work as a hospice chaplain; that was my first ever 'snow' day.

Our kids are getting a little restless in the house. We will attempt the grocery store in a while because some friends are coming for dinner tonight and our current pantry selections would mean serving them saltine crackers with peanut butter. I do feel fortunate that our power is on and we are cozy in our little house.

Say a prayer that a friend who is 36.5 weeks along with twins does not go into labor today. The thaw is expected tomorrow...

Brett takes his comprehensive exams beginning the first week of Easter. He will take written exams first; then he will defend them on the 11th of April. We are on the home stretch of him being 'just' a Ph.D. student. Soon he will be ABD (all but dissertation). Then the real work will begin.

So we bought him a new chair. A fancy, leather office chair. Because his tush will be sitting in this spare bedroom, typing and typing and typing away over the next couple of years. It is the Dissertation Writing Chair.

On a related note, we had a funny conversation will a pastor friend of ours while in Austin last week. He is on a personal crusade to explain to each member of his congregation the difference between a D.Min. and a Ph.D. He does not want his congregation calling him "Doctor" -- he is adamant that he still be called "Reverend" or "Pastor".

I am not worried about getting any sort of doctorate right now (or maybe ever). I just want to get Brett through this massive dissertation project. Only one graduate student in our house at a time, thank you very much.

I finished reading this book on Monday, but am just getting around to posting about it now. We are stranded at home today because of another winter storm.

Pontoon by Garrison Keilor

Light-hearted reading is what I need in my life right now. But it is amazing how Keilor, with all his satire and dry wit, can write about the church better than another other current author. He gets how the church fits into the life of the community, he knows about the petty squabbles that erupt into WWIII, he writes about pastors and church leaders as real people who mess up sometime. This is a sweet little story.

We are back from a long weekend trip to Texas. A beloved friend died on the 3^rd of February and Brett and I were invited to preside over communion at the funeral. It was probably the loveliest Service of Witness to the Resurrection that I’ve ever attended. The man who died was our liturgics professor from seminary. The congregation where his wife pastors displayed amazing hospitality and welcome to the worshiping community. The sermon was funny and true and affirmed my faith in the Gospel.

We spent nearly thirty hours in the car, driving down and back. Our kids had A+ behavior in the car (thank goodness for portable dvd players and Game Boys) and B- behavior in the hotel room (yes, you will hurt yourself if you fall while jumping on the bed). Texas is still humid. Austin is a wonderful town in so many ways, but it is too darn humid. I’ll take the humidity of our Mississippi River area any day, over Central Texas dampness. But we bought a case of our favorite wine, ate fish tacos at Trudy’s, saw Patty Griffin eating at the lunch counter at Las Manitas (the little hands), got some ice cream at Amy’s, braved the Children’s Museum, and hung out with some of our best friends. Only when I stopped to think about why we made this impromptu trip would I feel weepy and mad. Fifty-eight is way too young and the disease that killed our friend was not a kind one.

For those old friends who told me, "I read your blog!"... well, quit lurking! I want to hear from you!

The church at its best revealed itself this week. Thank you, thank you, to all those Saints of Light who encourage and uphold us on our journey.

P.S. Here are the kids riding the cow they got from Ms. Gail.

you are gone for a week and dozens of friends email to say, "Are you okay? You haven't blogged or played on Scrabulous..."

I am okay. THANKS for the messages of concern. We were out of town for five days. I will post a longer message tonight.

Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres.

I finished this one a few days ago, but have been too busy to make this post.

Those Hollanders sure can be religious nuts! :)

Nana Lizzie gave Thomas a Fisher Price digital camera for his birthday.

Here are a couple of photos Tom took this afternoon:



Pretty good, I think!

My husband suggested that I shop for my own Valentine's Day gift. He knew I wanted some new, nice-ish clothes (things that are comfortable and also appropriate for work). Yay!

I hit the end-of-the-season clearance sales at Ann Taylor Loft and J Jill. For less than $150 I bought:

* 4 tops (one red blouse, one black dressy t-shirt, one turquoise blouse, one grey sleeveless top)
* 1 dress (grey henley-style shirt dress)
* 2 skirts (one denim skirt, one long black, all-purpose skirt)
* 2 pairs of pants (navy blue and light blue corduroys)
* 1 misc. photo album (impulse buy at the register for $3)

The only thing that would have made this better -- having my mom or GGF or another friend along for advice and a stop for a latte.

Have a good weekend!

I am getting hopeful!

Okay, RevGals and others,

What do I do in this situation? I found out today that one of the administrative assistants at Big Church does not approve of me because:

1) I am a girl. Girls (and women, for that matter) are not to be pastors.
2) I am a girl with children. I am supposed to stay home with them full-time.

I am kind of baffled by this news. I am not even angry because this seems so far outside my realm of experience. I had wondered why she had to check with the Head of Staff whenever I made any decision regarding the bulletin, newsletter, etc. Evidently she sees me as no sort of authority figure, because she is also "old enough to be my mother".

HofS is being great about this. He is going to talk to her tomorrow. I don't know whether to laugh or ignore her. This is a great time to use that southern phrase, "well, bless her heart..."

Why is the church so darn weird?

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

Sorry that I'm not writing any sort of review. This was a good piece of fiction with nice historical information.

I guess I should bury my nose in biblical commentaries, like Little Mary.

Please pray for this family. We will miss him so very much.

Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath

The six qualities that make ideas stick:

1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotional
6. Stories
   

My mom bought this for me; another RevGal is reading this as part of her staff discipline during Lent.

This book is a very easy read. I would recommend this to anyone who preaches, teaches, works with students of any age, works with non-profits (especially in the area of fundraising) and to anyone else who is charged with convincing others to buy into particular ideas. The section talking about urban legends makes this book worth the read.

It looks like I am on the path to reading 100 books in 2008!