Guess Whose Coming To Dinner

It has been on my bucket list for quite some time now to learn how to roll sushi. I am totally and completely and utterly clueless when it comes to how to make it. I have some friends from seminary (Jakeypoo and Molita) who are sushi rolling pros and I have been saying for the longest time that I want to learn because I LOVE to eat sushi but hate the price not to mention the closest sushi place to me is a solid two and a half hours away. Which when you are craving sushi may as well be half way around the world. Anyways.

The church I serve three times a year has a fellowship event called "Guess who is coming to dinner" and people sign up to host the event at their house and then others sign up to be guests and you don't know who is coming to dinner until you show up. It is such fun and people around here love this even, I seriously think they would do it every other month if we would coordinate it - which maybe we should but that is a whole different topic for a different day. Anyways. Marc and I signed up to attend. We were assigned to a families house and we I brought dessert - I made a four layer cake - it was delightful in my opinion. Anyways.

The family who was hosting and Marc and I have been saying we both want to learn how to roll sushi and conveniently another family who was assigned to the same place we were (I didn't even make these assignments - sometimes I get to help pick who goes where) loves making sushi and so they agreed to teach us all how to roll sushi for dinner! WONDERFUL! Seriously so fun. Who knew how easy it was and how inexpensively you can make sushi. I feel like I just about ate my own weight in sushi it was glorious.

My first sushi roll I made

I am thankful for the family who taught us how to roll sushi - I am thankful I didn't just attempt to learn how to do it from directions online and that he was able to show us the tricks to the rice and exactly how to roll it in there and how to pack the rice as well as how to cut the veggies and the sea food. And surprisingly not that difficult to do. I am thankful that someone was able to show me all the tricks, which side of the seaweed faces up, the rice vinegar trick and all of that. Sooooooo yummy and sooooo excited to know how to do this and to be able to cross it off my bucket list (yeah I know I have some strange stuff on my bucket list - however it is my bucket list and I don't care how ridiculous some of it seems).

Part of our sushi roll stack
sooooooooo yummy

Do you like sushi?
Do you know how to roll sushi?
What is on your bucket list?
Anything crazy on your bucket list?
Have you been to any fun fellowship events lately church related or not (I am always looking for new and fun ideas)?

Overwhelmed with life.

It is ridiculously rough to be my dog.
I include this picture just because I think it is hilarious
how she is sleeping on the chair. I LOVE my sweet puppy.

Seriously. I don't know what it is that has put me over the edge but I am there and Lent is just beginning.

I feel like I have 12,000 things going at once and all of the things are happening simultaneously. All good things, but 12,000 of them at once. This post is a venting post.

Life at church:

• Ash Wednesday is tomorrow
• My colleague has a flight to Hawaii for 3 weeks starting this weekend
• 7th & 8th grade retreat Friday night
• Leadership retreat Sunday afternoon/evening
• it's Lent (enough said)

Life outside of church:

• Miscellaneous projects that occupy my life
• I became a co-director of a camp here in town with a friend and seriously it hasn't been updated in about 15 years and massively needs it to bring it back up to code - seriously who doesn't keep a camp up to code - will be amazing when it is finished
• Swimming lessons - I actually really enjoy teaching swimming lessons about 98% of the time despite the fact that 70% of the parents drive me batty and assume I am there to cause serious fears and damage to their child in the pool - seriously people getting your kids toes wet won't kill them - you signed them up for swimming lessons not standing next to the pool lessons - take a chill pill

Life at home:

• I am getting married in 4 months and there is so much done and yet it seems like so much to do
• I am officially over the snow, I need to be able to be outside - I want to run outside - I hate treadmills
• My house is never clean - or so it feels
• I feel like I have 15 projects going at home for a variety of things and can't manage to get any done
• My dog needs to be able to go for a long run - she is starting to go stir crazy too
• I feel like my house stinks due to a lack of fresh air - I tried opening the window yesterday just to air it out a bit and was freezing cold so had to shut them after about fifteen minutes

Life personally:

• I am annoyed at the 30 minute limits on the cardio machines at the YMCA - how am I suppose to get in a long run in 30 minutes and switching machines is lame [although I am happy that many of the "new years resolution people" are slowly but surely fading out - while I am sad for them they aren't making their goals - I am happy to have some time back on the machines - I am evil and mean apparently]
• I am jazzed about getting married this summer but it feels like there is a lot I need to do before Marc can move in - clean out half my closet, and make space for his stuff somewhere - I must keep purging things and giving them away
• I want a floo network [as in Harry Potter] so all of my friends can quickly and easily get together - I could use a good hangout with some of my favorite people. Not to mention I would love to be able to meet up with my family more frequently. I hate that my call is so far away from friends and family. 
• I am saddened that I don't know when my next vacation is or where I will go
• I wish when the schools in town got a snow day it meant that adults did too [although that wouldn't help with getting my massive to-do list done]
• I have been taking a ton of pictures - hence the instagram explosion on the right - and I have had the chance to take a ton of pictures with my "nice camera" of different mostly church related events and it has been wonderful - I feel like I have already shot about 5,000 photos this year which is close to catching up to last years measly amount. I dare to even say there has been at least 10 decent ones. Whoop Whoop.
• I got a new (technically 2nd) cousin this week! I can't wait to meet her - I need to figure out a way to get home to meet her. From the pictures my cousin has been texting me she is beautiful! [another good reason for the floo network]

Christmas Party

This past weekend I got to go with Marc to his work's Christmas party. It was a wonderful meal and at the end all of the employees got amazing door prizes ($100 gift cards, tvs, hunting equiptment). It was a little bit of a surreal experience for me. I have always worked for a nonprofit organization. I have no clue what it is like to work for anything else, even growing up I worked for a nonprofit. It was interesting to see the difference in the two and the priorities that are set. While my work Christmas party will be wonderful, we will have a potluck get together with us and our spouses/significant others/family, we will gather with about 20 people and celebrate another good year. Marc's work party gathered with over 200 people and the food and alcohol flowed like the mighty Mississippi river. It was wonderful to have the chance to meet Marc's work friends, it was wonderful to eat a delicious meal, not have to cook, clean up, or pay for it, and it has left me thinking about the differences between working for a nonprofit and a for profit business.

There are pieces that I have decided that I can fathom being wonderful, they announced at the Christmas party extended holidays off (a couple full days for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Easter - not to mention the handful of other paid holidays). While we do get a holiday off here or there, it is the obvious job hazard that we don't get most of the major holidays off like everyone else.

As I weighed the cons and pros of our work situations I know I wouldn't trade mine for anything. Are there moments that I dream of the 8:00am-5:00pm job and every weekend off, yes, yes of course there are. Are there moments that I would love to have a budget that is above what we have, yes, yes of course there are. Are there moments that I would love to have a certain percentage of my income as a Christmas bonus on top of a great gift, yes, yes there are. Are there moments when I compare Marc's work travel to my work travel that I wish I had a ritzy hotel room to myself rather than a sleeping bag on my thermarest surrounded by youth, maybe, but most likely not. Would I trade the middle of the night phone calls to pray at the bedside of a dying saint, absolutely not, I have been called to walk on holy ground.

This two weekends ago we looked at the story of Moses and the burning bush and I walk by my own burning bushes, perhaps it is the middle schooler that I meet with who reminds me of the challenges of this world and the gift of community. My burning bush speaks to me as I hold a minutes old baby, I am reminded of how great our God is and how alive and active our God is in the world. My burning bush speaks to me as I am invited into the sacred places of people's lives, I am invited to share in the diving with them and alongside them. My burning bushes come at a variety of moments, I give thanks for my burning bushes and the ways in which I am walking on holy ground.

I am thankful for the nonprofit who calls me to full time ministry along side them. I am thankful for a fiance who is called to work in the supply chain and loves his job as well. I give thanks for the ways in which God calls each and every person to being and gives us each a place to serve.

Snowpacalypse

I love living in northern Minnesota for a couple reasons (yes there are reasons I hate it too - primarily because it is way too far away from my family) - but one of the reasons I love living up north is the snow. Seriously I LOVE snow. While some people freak out and get annoyed that the temperature is at a solid -4, there is a piece of me that rejoice as the ice is getting thicker and has to be nearing snow shoeing on the ice weather. GLORIOUS!

Yesterday was an ideal day to say the least: church went well, we celebrated new members and a baptism, and then I spent the rest of the day with Marc and Dakota. We wore sweatpants, watched a good movie, consumed some crockpot chili, and watched another Packer victory. Seriously, wonderful and what I needed. The day was broken up by a few trips outside to shovel the snow that kept falling (I do love shoveling snow even though most people hate the job) and conversations about this that and the other. I am thankful for days like yesterday.

While we were talking yesterday we also realized that we are now under the six month mark until we get married. It will be wonderful to begin that transition. It is a little strange to have two houses going at this point, it seems like we are always running back and forth to grab a movie or something out of the kitchen. It will be great to be in the same place, despite the fact that I know it will come with its own set of challenges too. On the one hand it seems like six months is a ridiculously long ways away, and it won't ever get here. On the other hand it seems like it is just around the corner and my list of stuff that needs (or at least I would like) to get done is relatively lengthy. I know it will all play out like it needs to and at the end of the day we will be married and this is all that will matter. I suppose one of these days I should start to move some of my stuff that is spread out all over the house and begin to make room for Marc. We'll put that on the winter project list.


What is on your to-do list on a snowy winter day?
Any good book suggestions? I am just finishing mine and need a new one.
Any winter weather training tips?

Thursday Fridays

I work strange hours, my call is does not have any typical hours, my days are anything but ordinary. For the most part I wouldn't trade it for the world. One quirk to being pastor is my Thursdays are like everyone else's Friday's sort of, I get Friday as my usual day off (of course pending youth events and other type church related stuff) and so I begin to get my Friday twitch every Thursday afternoon, it is almost time for a day off. A day where I can go to the gym at an odd hour, I can wear my sweat pants all day and not shower till the evening, I can wake up and read while snuggling my cute puppy on the couch, I can crochet till my hand/wrist hurts. I love the potential of a day off with nothing or minimal planned. I love knowing a clean house is around the corner.

I look forward to tomorrow. I rejoice that God hasn't called us to be work-a-holics and values me for who God created me to be rather than by how much I do or don't get done in any given day. I am thankful for a day dedicated to whatever I want, a day dedicated to rest, a day to be still. I am thankful for grace that claims me each and every day so I know I don't have to earn my own worth, rather I have been marked with the sign of the cross and sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Tomorrow night's highlight: a pintrest party at my place. I have invited over several people from church and requested that they all bring a "pintrest dish" to share with the group and I have come up with the "pintrest project" for everyone to create, now really I need to limit it to a couple projects because I feel like I have about 10,000 options of great projects. Super excited, I am sure I'll post pictures of it or at least take a billion, be sure to watch my instagram feed, that seems to be where lots of photos are going these days.

What do you enjoy doing on your days off?
Do you loathe or love cleaning?
Any day off rituals?
What's the best thing you have created/made off of pintrest?

Play dough Recipe

I had the world's hardest time finding a great play dough recipe for an upcoming Family Faith Journey project and searched all over the internet to find one, and eventually ended up calling my mom for her recipe for play dough (I seriously remember helping her make this when I was a kid) so thought I would post it just in case any one else is looking for an easy easy easy play dough recipe. (& so next time I need it I can find it)

2.5 cups flour
0.5 cup salt
3 tablespoons corn oil
1 tablespoon powdered alum

• Mix ingredients and pour 1 2/3 to 2 cups of boiling water of it.
• Stir till ingredients stick together.
• Kneed till soft and consistent.
• Divide into as many sections as you want and color as you please (you can use food coloring or paste coloring)
• Store in a plastic bag

It was ridiculously easy to make and I tripled the recipe and it still worked out great!!!


I seriously enjoyed making playdoh, I don't know that last time I got to play with it, I find it a bit theraputic.

Anything from your childhood that you still enjoy playing with from time to time?

Challenges

Recently I have been trying to be more aware of what I eat and what I don't eat, I have been trying to consume more water and less sugary beverages, I have been trying to eat more veggies and fruit and eat less overly processed things and carbs. I am working on it. It is a slow slow slow process for me. I am overcoming years of eating whatever I want and not having it effect me. There were the years that I played women's basketball at the college level and it was almost like I couldn't consume enough during those years, we would practice a couple times a day and I never had to watch what I ate. I am learning that as I am no longer the athelete I once was, I need to adjust certain things and learn how to continue to train my body so that I am happy with it again. I have to watch my portion size as well, I no longer need to be consuming way more than my body needs.

Working at a church this can be quite the challenge. For example many Wednesdays we serve a meal before church (generally it is a hot dish of some sort or a pasta dish or something along that line) the food is marvelous, however there is no limit on portion size or a balance of fruit and veggies and I should not even begin to talk about the amazing desserts. At youth group last night they had huge rootbeer floats or purple cows (substitute the rootbeer in a rootbeer float for grape soda and you have a purple cow) and they looked delightful. Last night on my way home I held my head high as I left knowing I had brought my own dinner and successfully didn't consume a rootbeer float (despite the fact that I love ice cream, and do eat it in moderation, I knew that I wouldn't be able to limit myself to a small portion). I was happy and content.

As I arrived home I called my fiance (he lives down the block) and he was just coming home from the grocery store and so I walked down to his place to help him unload and put away his groceries. As I was unloading there was a certain piece of me that was jealosu as I know his metabolism is way faster than mine and can get away with eating differently than I can.

what I pulled out of one bag of his groceries

As I pulled these out of one bag of his groceries there was a certain piece of me that was jealous that I knew that I wouldn't be sitting down with a large pile of oreos and consuming them all with an oversized glass of milk. There was a piece of me that was a little jealous that I would get to eat these things. And then I thought about it for a while and realized that for me these cookies, donuts, muffins, are not what my body needs or requires any more. I make no promises that I won't ean an oreo at some point but I know I won't eat a pile of them. Slowly but surely these types of food no longer have the temptation that they use to. They don't have the same appeal they once did.

As I walked home last night. I once again held my head high knowing that slowly but surely I am winning the battle (or at least won yesterday) over what I eat. I make choices and stick to them. I do still eat ice cream and oreos and chocolate on occasion just in moderation and with a serving size at a time rather than four or five. Slowly but surely I am reclaiming my body and feeling healthier as I do it.

Ministry Frustrations

While I love being called to a church it comes with its frustrations like any other call/job, my current frustration is finding volunteers. I hate having to call and call and call and beg and beg and beg people to volunteer for this that or the other. I know there are downsides to being a volunteer and people don't always like to do it and it isn't that I am just calling people randomly or just began calling people. I started months ago attempting to fill the catechism mentor positions. I know they will fill but it is frustrating when something is going so well and then I have to spend what feels like forever finding volunteers to step up and help lead. I can't sustain the catechism ministry on my own. I know there are gifted people in the congregation who can do these types of things, I know that there are wonderful people who work amazingly well with middle schoolers. I know people lead busy lives, but I wish I could help them to understand what their investment of time into these middle schoolers will mean to the youth. I try, but words fail. Yes, I pray about it frequently. I know it will be worked out. In the mean time I felt the need to voice my currently frustration.

Sanctuaries

Every sanctuary I have ever been in has a certain sense of the holy, despite how the space is being used. It doesn't take me long to become attached to a particular sanctuary, worship there a few times and bam the space holds even a higher level of the holy for me. Yes I know it isn't any more holy, yes I know nothing has changed other than I feel like I have a connection to the place. I like a wide variety of sanctuaries, I like the old, the modern, the new, the remodeled, and the country church. Each church has its own quirks and reasons why I love it.

Since I work at a church I am in and out of sanctuaries all the time, I am in and out of the one I serve in as well as many others. This morning while I was running in and out of the sanctuary getting some things ready for worship tomorrow night I was struck by the light. We don't have many windows in the sanctuary here but we have a few. I was struck by the way in which the light was coming in from the back and through the three windows up top (representing the Holy Trinity). I was struck by how the light was bouncing off the Jesus statue and the cross and reflecting down onto the baptismal font with the texture of the brick. I had been invited into a holy moment for sure. It was beautiful. I paused, I sat, I prayed.

My sad attempt at capturing the beauty of the sanctuary with the light breaking the darkness

Potential

     I am excited about Saturday. I think I am going to have a seriously wonderful day. I have absolutely nothing on my plan. I have already finished my sermon for tomorrow and have my run in. I have a list of pintrest projects I want to try today as well as massive amounts of cleaning to be done. I love that I have absolutely nothing on the to-do list other than stuff by myself and with the puppies (I am currently dog sitting for a couple friends). I love that I finally have a day to just get stuff done.
    I am hoping to just be able to chill and work on all those projects that I frequently say that I would love to have the chance to do. I couldn't be more excited.

Project ideas today:

• clean
• make headbands
• finish labeling quilts for church
• make bread
• work on shutterfly books
• walk the puppies
• take pictures
• read a book in the hammock
• make muffins
• make a bag

Beginnings & Messes

There is something absolutely beautiful about the chaos of the beginnings of things. Last night was the first night since I have been in my current call that we have had our Wednesday evening ministries in full swing. Yes, there was more than once that I wished I had the ability to make two or three of myself so I could be at several places at once. Sure was it crazy and loud and is the building a mess this morning, indeed on all accounts. But that is what a church should be, I was thinking about it last night that I love when the building is full of people and the next morning we have some picking up to do. Sure I would love it if the high schoolers didn't wad up their gum wrappers and fling them all over the room or if the choir remembered to put away their binders or if the catechism youth put their phones away for the time we are together and that they didn't find it amusing to throw the crayons at one another leaving them all over the floor. But in a sense to me I see signs of life, signs of a healthy congregation with stuff happening, with people being sent out into the world. I see signs of people gathering and celebrating, mourning, grieving, rejoicing, and attempting to hear where God is calling them.

It is like a sign that hangs (or use to back in the day) in the kitchen at camp use to say: Thank God for dirty dishes, it means we had something to eat. While it is easy to look at the mess afterwards and complain about this, that, or the other today I am choosing to look at it and see life. (I may need a reminder of this at some point down the road when I am frustrated with one group of youth or another for not picking up completely.)

Crazy few weeks......

Life seems to be moving at mach speed and hardly at all. Life is on one hand settling down and at the same time spinning out of control. The picture above is of my sweet puppy a couple weeks ago as we were swimming at one of the boat launches around Brainerd, I think she looks so funny when she is wet, it is all that funny fur she has going on. Thank God for this little puppy to keep my sanity.

I went to Chicago with a group of youth from the congregation, it was a fabulous trip and an amazing way to get to know all the youth and other adults. The group of youth were outstanding. It was funny to see how some of them reacted to the big city as many of them had never been in a large city such as Chicago.

In projects at the moment I am currently ripping down wallpaper in my bedroom (this project has gotten old fast but  I can't wait to paint the walls). The problem with this particular wallpaper is it is old-ish and it was put up right on top of the dry wall, nothing in between, so I am currently having to look into what I can put on the walls to add a little texture to the walls and I will need to prime the walls really well before I am able to paint the walls whatever color I end up painting it. But I am excited to report that my kitchen and bathroom have both been repainted (pictures to come soon).

In random projects I have also been crocheting a blanket that I am pretty excited about, it is looking fabulous, just taking longer than I anticipated. I have a few books that I would love to finish but I just haven't yet found the time to finish them. Hopefully this winter when yardwork isn't occupying my time I will have a little time to read.

I also have begun to train for the 10k in October that I am excited to run. I need need need to massively get back in shape, it has gotten bad, so that is my other major project.