Boy, am I LAZY…
Well, maybe not lazy, but I’ve not been posting. Guh… It’s been just over a year since my last post… crazy.
I was seriously thinking about scrapping this blog, but I guess I’m not ready yet. And, apparently it’s still getting hits. Whoever you are who has been continuing to check this thing, I admire your dedication.
I have every intention of posting more regularly again, especially as Steph and I prepare to enter assignment, but I have a poor track record for that sort of thing, so here’s hoping. In the mean time, here’s a summary of what’s happened since my last post:
- Got married. Lots of partying. Woot. After 2.5 years long distance, it was great to finally live with Steph. Even the semester at Wartburg was just warming up for the main event. Took our honeymoon driving to Great Falls for a reception, then up to Glacier NP for a few days, down to Moscow for a few days, then to Nebraska for some friends’ wedding. Great times, and after the two-week road trip, we were still married. Proof that we’re made for each other
- Moved to Watertown. Steph started internship and I tagged along. I got to be unemployed for a month or so, which was more fun than it should have been. I got to tend the garden and take care of our AWESOME house. It was nice, but then…
- Got jobs. Many of them. I started scraping paint off of a fixer-upper house for a guy from Steph’s parish. I got to set my own hours, which was nice, but the money was not quite enough, so I started at a beer distributor loading beer, liquor and Monster energy drinks onto pallets. I hated it, mostly because it was Weds-Thurs-Fri evenings, I think. Took a second job at a soils lab extracting minerals from soil samples. I had flashbacks to my time at the Rocky Mountain Research Lab in Moscow–way fun That was great, but smelled terrible (they also did livestock feed and manure samples) and was seasonal. That and the beer job dried up about the same time in December.
- Got more jobs. In Jan I started as a part-time, temporary Pastoral Associate (Associate Pastor, but not ordained) at a church in Mt. Horeb, WI, about 60 miles from Watertown. Bit of a hike, but a wonderful place with great folks. About the same time, I also started putting in shifts once a month as a Night Chaplain at Meriter Hospital in Madison. It’s good to be doing chaplaincy again, I missed it. While in sem, I pulled shifts at University of Maryland Medical Center. I like Meriter, and it’s been great for getting to know clergy and other folks from the area. Plus, now that I’m also working at Mt. Horeb, I can visit folks from church while I’m doing my shift, which is nice. Then, in March, I started at the Trek Bicycle warehouse in Oconomowoc, WI, about 10 miles from home. On nice days I can bike in, and I get credit for it. I’ve already got Steph scared about how much bike stuff I’m wanting to buy…
- Celebrated a one-year anniversary. Holy crap.
- Filling out assignment paperwork. Getting ready for “the Draft” where the ELCA sends us to wherever. We’re both super excited, but there’s a lot of thought to put into the paperwork, first. Stuff about where we see ourselves, what our gifts are, what we’re best at, our sense of call, etc. Necessary, but a little intense.
- Started a new blog. Wait, I barely keep this one up, right? Well, the new one is all sermons. Everything I’ve preached since internship. I wanted to get them up for call committees to look at and also for friends/family/parishioners. If you are interested, check out Eutychus’ Window. If you do, feel free to leave comments, rate posts, etc as it would be a big help.
I really can’t wait to settle somewhere permanently (relatively) and serve a church as a real pastor. I’ve been waiting a long time, and it’s finally around the corner. If all goes well (fingers crossed), I am hoping that we’ll have a call for at least one of us between January and February of next year. More to follow…
