I thought I'd take advantage of my early wake up today (New Year's Day) to publish a blog post about the past year. I haven't been very good about blogging, deferring to time spent on my own web site, I hope you've enjoyed following things there, and listening to my Podcasts of sermons I've preached on internship. So, here it goes..
Last January I went to Seattle for a J-term course on the emerging church and what it means to be the church in a new, post-Christian environment. It was interesting, made more so perhaps by the group of people participating. January gave way to February rather quickly, and I got to visit my home and friends in the Tampa Bay area. I was there for the ELCA Youth Ministry Extravaganza and got to spend some quality time with friends. (of note, this February I'm off to Anaheim, CA!) Lorice and a friend from work joined the trek to Florida and a highlight for them was visiting Shamu at Sea World.
February also brought more Hebrew language. Aaaaargh! Need I say more? I have been humbled by a language, but I still passed [cue celebration music here]. Spring semester went by incredibly quickly and before I knew it, it was time for me to tackle CPE [Clinical Pastoral Education] and I spent my summer commuting back and forth between Dubuque and Davenport with a new, good friend named Adam. [he's currently serving as an intern in North Dakota - OUCH DUDE!] CPE was a very formative experience for me, challenging and fulfilling all at once. Next, time for my pastoral internship to begin! I'm serving a two-point parish in rural Iowa. I entered internship wide-eyed and wondering what it would be like. Shortly after I arrived, the Associate in Ministry [Barb, who rocks!] took a medical leave to have surgery, what was to be 6 weeks turned in to an extended absence, she won't return until March. This has been good for me in as much as it has allowed me to preach more than I would have otherwise.
Family wise, Uncle Stevie has started working for Goodwill, he's still going to school each Monday morning, and he's learning what it means to "live" for the first time as an adult. Taylor is a senior in high school, I told him at the beginning of the school year that his senior year would go by very quickly, just the other day he agreed. Lorice has been busy working and has had an interesting year serving as the executor of her great aunt's estate. Clearing out her aunt's house was a whole story in and of itself.
At the end of the year we got back into fostering kittens. We had done this in Florida for several years, but only just got the chance in Dubuque. Cute kitties (what else would you expect of kittens who are a couple of weeks old and need to be fed by a bottle!). That litter went back for adoption, but the bonus kitten we got a week in to the other litter, is still with us. He's a little guy, a midget among kittens if you will.
He's gonna be tough to part with, aaargh!I'll keep my web site updated, and I'll keep posting sermons as I preach them. I look forward to hearing from all my friends in the coming months and I pray you all will experience a blessed new year.
1 comment:
yay, you blogged! welcome to another year, hope it's going well so far, totally cute kitty. just keep it. ;)
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