A call for prayers

If you run across this post, please pray for our friend Cherish Cantazarro. Her husband died unexpectedly this weekend; they have five children and Cherish is 9 months pregnant with their 6th. As you can imagine her life has been turned upside down. God is providing her with an awesome amount of strength right now, but I know she would appreciate the prayers of others. Thanks.

continuing....

So, my good friend Dan Dalzell reminded me after my last post that sometimes having a paid staff is a necessity. And I must say that I'll admit that's true for many -- if not most -- churches. We visited a church a few weeks ago while out of town for a visit that has quite a large staff; they also have extremely professional drama and media programs, and an extensive children's program. It's true that the more a church wants to do, the more paid staff they'll need in order to do those things well. But I think what frustrates me lately, is that so often in those (often smaller) churches with only one or two paid ministers, the leadership and/or congregation have unrealistic expections of those ministers (like Dan said, they're only people, just like the rest of us). Sadly, this often leads to what I think are very un-Godly attitudes and actions toward those ministers. I appreciate Dan unwittingly encouraging me to clarify this...I guess the answer to my frustrations lies more in encouraging a change in attitude toward and treatment of paid, full-time ministers.

a search

The church we attend out here in NC is searching for an associate/youth minister right now. This weekend we had a candidate out for an interview weekend. What a frustrating process! And -- being that I'm not an elder -- I'm not even that involved in the process. The struggle for me is how high do standards need to be? Do I need to be blown away by the candidate, or is "adequate" enough? The problem is, I'm really hoping to be blown away. Honestly, it just reminds me of how I really think that not having full-time/paid/staff ministers is sometimes better. Of course I also realize the bigger the church, the more impractical that is. Our church is tiny, but I also realize that it's important to think with growth in mind...plan for the future. On the other hand, even in a big church is full-time/paid staff really necessary? It does take a restructuring in our whole thinking and framework of church organization, but I think it warrants some thought at least. My basic thoughts are that developing a strong eldership and a strong network of deacons and volunteers could take the place of a full-time minister (more people doing the job of one person makes a light load for everyone). Elders or other gifted teachers could take turns preaching, or a church could pay someone to just preach -- no other duties. Unfortunately, I don't know if the congregation we attend right now is ready for that kind of radical shift in thought.

this and that

We went to the Outer Banks this past weekend for a wedding; we had time to visit the Wright Brother's Museum, Jockey's Ridge ( huge, huge dunes), and the Bodie Island lighthouse. Plus we ate some amazing seafood at a restaraunt called Tale of the Whale. If you're ever up near Nags Head, NC, eat at Tale of the Whale and order a Pina Colada and something with scallops. (Mmmmm...so good).

This week I started a temporary telemarketing gig (only a few weeks...the event I'm calling for is the beginning of June). Since school's out right now for me, I had a little extra time, and this way I can make a little extra money too.

peace...

is it Saturday yet?

I know, I know....not for a few days, kiddo. :) Just finished up a long, fun, exhausting weekend. Our friends Brent and Hannah got married on Saturday, and we were very involved in the execution of the wedding. Plus, our good friend Sonya came up from Texas for the wedding, so I stayed up later than I should wanting to spend as much time with Sonya as possible. The wedding went really well, and was very special and sweet and pretty. And I remembered what it is like to wear healed shoes all day :). So today...I think I'll put off cleaning my bathroom until tomorrow and take a nap. I've got four more early working days ahead of me, so I'm going to try and start the week off on a good note.

a few good movies

I've watched a couple of good movies recently (not in the theater, mind you, so some of ya'll out there have probably seen them already). One of the movies is Scoop. It has Scarlet Johansen, Hugh Jackman, and Woody Allen. It was a kind of whimsical murder mystery. Hugh Jackman and Scarlet Johansen were funny and witty and really good in there roles, and the movie was very entertaining without being over the top, which I appreciated. Only down side...Woody Allen's character grated on my nerves. Another recent movie that I enjoyed recently was Friends With Money; a contemplative drama with some light, funny moments thrown in. But not too contemplative, so not depressing. Basically it's just about life and relationships and making choices...but again, not too depressing. I feel like I've seen some other movies recently, but can't remember what they were (clearly they didn't stand out all that much).

Ta ta!

book sale

Today I went with Nicole and Jeanette to the public library's bi-annual book sale. As a friend of mine (who is a library volunteer) put it...it was like being in a candy store! Seriously, it was a good thing that I only brought a certain amount of money with me because I could have done some damage...and the books were cheap! $2 hard back, $1 trade paperback (those are the large-size paperbacks for anyone who isn't familiar), and $.50 mass market paperback and children's books. I spent $15.50 and came home with 12 books. Awesome!

M.I.A.

I know, I know...Patti will be harrassing me for not posting in months. :) The last couple of months can be summed up like this: baby shower, wedding shower, school, baby shower, lingerie shower, wedding planning, school, wedding shower. Oh, and little book reading, t.v. and movie watching (especially catching up on 6 seasons of Gilmore girls), and work thrown in. So, I've been having fun, but staying busy that's for sure.
Next week will be the last week of school for the semester; this week and next week I have A LOT of work to do. But the first semester has flown by with only one or two minor meltdowns. Like riding a bike; a tad cliche, but true. I can't take any classes this summer because of scheduling, but I'm looking forward to the fall semester, and I'm going to try and volunteer at our local library this summer for some experience; figure it can't hurt.
What else....
Here's a fun tidbit -- I think that I wrote a WHILE back about an exercise challenge that my friends and I entered in; basically we have to exercise 30 min. a day/5 days a week. For each day we don't exercise we put a dollar in a jar. (so if we only exercise 3 days we put $2 in, etc.). And of course, you get sick days. We started the first part of January, and so far there is only $8 in the jar. yay!

hope this weekend is one with plenty of joyful moments.

spring's around the corner

Fall is my favorite season; always has been. But every time spring rolls around I remember how great it is. Some of the things I like about spring:

1. more daylight
2. the chance to wear flip-flops again (with jackts and long sleeves sometimes, which is my favorite way to wear them).
3. flowers
4. gardens and the beginning of fresh produce
5. pretty dresses

Not that it's spring quite yet, but down here in the South, it's getting close. We're in that in-between time. Anyway, happy Wednesday!

exciting Saturday

Welcome to my Saturday...I'm sitting at the computer, "participating" in a chat for one of my online graduate classes. I put the quotation marks because I'm mostly "listening" to the chat. Anyway, not a very exciting Saturday evening, but (aside from being tied to the computer for an hour against my will) I love having a chill, no-fuss, veg-out evening every now and then. We seem to have been busy lately, so it's nice.

We're hosting our becoming-an-annual-event Oscar party tomorrow night. The first one was in Houston with Steve and Jason and a few other friends. But mainly occurred because of Steve and Jason...wish you guys could come! Cali isn't that far away. ;) Basically it's candy, popcorn, and filling out our own Oscar ballots. Whoever guesses the most right gets a prize (movie tickets). The prize is really why people come. :) Party-planning tip: if you want people to come to your party, offer a prize.

purple

I'm terrible at coming up with titles sometimes for just random, "this is today" posts. So purple has nothing to do with anything. Just a color.

We played ultimate frisbee yesterday afternoon for an hour or two. I'm a little sore today, sadly. But I haven't done that much sprinting in a long time. Not to mention the sprint-stop abruptly-change directions thing in while. That's what really kills I think.

Finished reading a mystery paperback called Monday Mourning. It's the series that the t.v. show Bones is based on, if anyone is ever heard of that show (we watch it...it's pretty good). Of course, "based on" is very loose in this case. The character has the same name and profession, but the setting/other characters/etc. is completely different. Of course, that was a little hard to get around at first when I was reading the book, because I still had a picture in my head that didn't fit. But I got over it. And it was a good book.

So. rambling post. It's a monday, what can I say. :)

odds and ends

well, i've been m.i.a., that's for sure. school's going pretty well so far. only 4 weeks in, it's hard to make any hard and fast observations. the delayed feedback on assignments, etc. is the only downside so far to online classes. i love not having to work my schedule around actually attending classes.

what else is new....nicole's dad is in town for an extended stay -- he's looking to rent a house for a month or two (she's hoping two, or longer). so that's new and different. i've started taking some yoga classes about once a week. i bought a six-class card, so i've been trying to space it out. i'm enjoying it so far; i'm week enough that it's a good muscle workout, and it's really good for my inflexibe body. i have a tendency to tighten up if i don't stretch regularly, so this helps. today i'm going to try "hot yoga." it's basically regular yoga, but they turn the heat way up so you sweat a lot. doesn't that sound like fun! :)

no profound things to say today. i've seen both The Prestige and The Illusionist in the past few weeks. Very different movies, that's for sure; but i enjoyed them both. The Prestige is very dark; obsession is a big theme there. The Illusionist is more of a classic mystery and with an underlying love story. i really like Edward Norton, so that's a plus. of course, i really like the actors in The Prestige too (Michael Cain, Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman). Anyway, i recommend both movies.

happy Tuesday!

making preparations

So, I've decided that now's the time to start keeping tabs on the potential presidential candidates: what they're up to, what they think, what they've done or not done. I know a lot of you out there tend to keep up with this kind of thing ("news" and "politics" ;) on a regular basis, so if anyone has any good sources let me know. I'm looking for lots of good information without having to spend hours looking at millions of sources. Anyway, just thought I'd mention it....I'm into voting responsibly these days.

On a different note...
A few friends and I are encouraging each other to exercise with a little challenge we stole and adapted from one of their friends. Basically, we have a set number of days in which we are supposed to exercise, and if we miss a day, we have to contribute a dollar to our "jar" (it's actually a manilla envelope, but whatever). At the end of six months, whoever contributed the least to the jar gets the money. Then we start over. So far it's working pretty well...none of us want to give up our dollars! We'll see how it goes.

Happy Tuesday!

this and that

So registration worked out and this week i begun my first two graduate classes. Yay! I am nervous about some things, and a little stressed about some things, but not worried, if that's even possible or makes sense.

We got some cool weather again. yay!

Lots of weddings this year. Well, two that I'll attend, and one that I'll attend a post-ceremony celebration. Either way, it's quite a bit of festivity. It's fun to watch plans unfold.

Happy Thursday!

various things

Our trip to Texas and Missouri (briefly) was nice. We were gone a whole week, and I enjoyed the break. The families are good; my niece is as cute as they get (I know...I'm partial). once I get around to downloading pictures off my new digital camera, I'll try and post some on here. My dad's getting ready to retire next year, and he's pretty excited about it.

I'm frustrated these days because I put some things off and now have only 13 days to try and register for graduate classes for the upcoming spring semester. Only problem is, my username and password (given to me by the school) won't work on their web site (where you register) and of course the offices are closed right now for the holidays. !! we'll see what happens. I may be starting in the spring or fall instead. Oh well. Guess it'll be a learning experience either way, right? :)

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Lone Star State!

Today

Today, I'm working at Mattox Family Practice. Our good friend Dr. Mattox and his staff (his wife Kathy and our other good friends Ryan and Nicole) are out of town for the week, so Jeremy, Jeanette and I are taking turns answering the phones and manning the office while they're gone. It's nice -- I'm spending most of the day just chillin.' I've checked e-mail, done some web surfing...I brought my book and a movie, and I'm hoping to write a little as well. (of course, we all know how undisciplined I am in that arena). Anyway, just a little ramble.

'Tis the Season

Sometimes during the Christmas season I feel Scroogy: what's the point? I ask myself. Hopefully I'm celebrating Jesus every day. But still, it's important to really meditate on it now and then. And what about gift giving? Sometimes it feels like checking names off my list is more important than the giving itself. So I examine the reasons why I'm giving. Obligation? Or love. Honoring the gift given to me by the Father by giving something to someone else. So in that spirit, maybe I should be doing more charitable giving. Of course, that happens all year as well. And what about traditions? I had a long think about that last year, and realized that any time we establish traditions with our family or friends, it's not always (or usually) about the traditions themselves, but about bringing us closer together, celebrating our love for each other. So the key to keeping the holidays meaningful for me: being deliberate. At least, that's what I've come up with for now. :) Deliberately being thankful, loving, generous, thoughtful...at least, trying to be these things. I am far from perfect after all.

Peace

keith mccord

Mine and Jeremy's friend Keith McCord passed away Friday evening from cancer. He wasn't quite 30, married with a tiny baby boy named Lincoln.

It's odd. I'm probably a minority in this, but Keith is the first friend I've known to die; my other experiences have been with grandparents, etc.

Keith was an interesting guy. Pretty cynical, but we just gave him a hard time about it. He was super creative -- a writer, a musician, an artist. He loved computer games -- he and Jeremy could play for hours. Okay, days even when they'd get together for gaming weekends. He was a good friend. I got to know him best one semester at college when there were some difficult things going on; he had a lot of good advice. He and Jeremy were much closer than Keith and I ever were; they were housemates for a while. I know Jeremy will miss Keith.

Peace.

purple and black and blue

Those are the colors of my toe. Well, the colors are beginning to fade, but last week at this time they were nice and bright. Because I broke my toe. The middle one, to be exact, which is a big pain because you can't avoid the middle toe when you're walking and I'd been doing really well with exercising, but everything I like to do puts pressure on the broken toe. (sigh). Sorry. Whine fest is over. Maybe I'll learn to be less of a klutz. ;)