Neglected

No, I haven't been neglected... but my blog has been.

Sorry for the hiatus, it just hasn't been at the top of my priority list these days. With Easter coming up, and all of the extra hours surrounding the campaign at church, and our new meal group, not to mention other random things, it's been a little crazy. I can't remember how many people I've told, "I'll get back to you after Easter...". Ah, the joys of being a pastor's wife!

There are so many things to update you on that I hardly know where to start.

• I had my first of 6 dental appointments two weeks ago. I must say, I'm very impressed with this dentist. Good thing, since I'll be getting to know him pretty well over the next couple months!
• Jordan and I had a wonderful getaway at his parents' cabin - a much needed time of rest, relaxation, and awesome conversations. So glad I married this guy.
• My most favorite hair stylist, Tyler, moved back to MN from Texas. I went to see him last Saturday and he worked his magic. Check out Denny Kemp Salon if you live in the cities - oh, and ask for Tyler!
• Our meal group is up and running. I've been loving forming this new community of 20-30 somethings. We've had some incredible times of prayer and discussion. Love it.
• Jordan and I were blessed by a "donor" to cover my enormous dental bill. This person's reasoning? "This is what church should be." Wow. I've been going to church for 23 years and have never personally experienced such generosity and humility. Someone truly holding their finances with an open hand. This really IS what church should be. Amazing. We are blessed.
• Jordan and I are also signed up for a week at CASTAWAY!!! We were invited to be adult guests at one of my favorite Young Life camps this summer (Castaway) and we immediately checked with our bosses and said YES! Jordan doesn't know much (if anything) about Young Life, and I'm so excited for him to experience it first hand. If you didn't know, YL was an incredibly formative part of my walk with Jesus, so it's so special that I get to share that with Jordan now. Yay!

That's about it for now. I can't get over all the ways God has been blessing us lately. He is so good.

It's the little things

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain and thunder. This made me think about the little things in life that bring me such great joy. Here's my list:

• thunderstorms
• waking up next to my love
• breakfast in bed
• freshly painted nails
• a really good massage
• handwritten cards and letters
• days with no agenda
• finding a really great deal
• my parents' puppy licking my toes
• dark chocolate
• sitting by the fireplace
• staying up late with great conversations
• Debussy

I could go on and on... that's a good start, though. What are the little things that bring you great joy?

Dealing with it

I'm speaking tonight at one.eighty - our high school youth ministry. I'll be talking about dealing with emotions surrounding suffering. This has not been an easy talk to prepare, but I'm confident God will speak through me. Pray that the students' hearts and minds would be open to what I have to say. I always pray for just one person to be impacted.

We had a busy, but good weekend. I helped Jordan lead worship at church all weekend, which is one of my favorite things to do, so that was great. We went to my in-laws for an Oscar party on Sunday and walked away with a great bottle of wine for winning one of the categories! Gotta love unexpected gifts!

That's all for now.

Much Better!

Finally... the stomach bug is gone! I went back to work on Wednesday and I've been doing well ever since!

We had meal group on Wednesday night and I'm totally pumped about how well it's going. We are the only meal group that is especially for 20-30 somethings and I couldn't be happier that I have people emailing me each week to see if they can join! Our church tends to have more people in the 30-60 age range, which is great, but we are so excited to have younger people coming more consistently! My heart is with people my age (and getting them back to church!), so to see a group finally get started is a real blessing. I have the honor of leading this flock of seagulls (wait... what?), so I'm loving the chance for using some of spiritual gifts of hospitality and teaching again! Any great ideas to get people in their 20s back to church? I'd love to hear them!

A few things to pray for:

• the Thorpe family - Maggie (the mom) died unexpectedly last Sunday. We had her funeral this morning and it was truly one of the hardest funerals I've ever been at. Jordan went to high school with her daughter, Breann who's getting married this summer. Lots of prayers needed for this family.
• I went to the dentist yesterday and found out I need LOTS (and by lots I mean more than 10 things) of stuff done in my mouth. Dentists are one thing that bring me lots of anxiety, so my 6 additional visits aren't going to be much fun. The main thing we're trying to figure out is how to afford thousands of dollars of unexpected dental work. Yuck. We're trying to be obedient with our money and trying to figure out how to make this all work.
• I'm speaking at our youth group on Tuesday. Praying for the students' hearts to be open and for God to speak through me.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Can't Get Enough of These Two

I have a new life goal... to be just like them! They're from Iowa and were performing at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Just too cute.

Ugh (n.)

I laughed when I found that "ugh" is truly in the dictionary. It's definition? "Used to indicate the sound of a cough or grunt or to express disgust or horror." I laughed because that has defined the past three days... the days of the stomach flu. Not long ago, I was bragging to someone that I hadn't thrown up since elementary school... and where did I find myself on Saturday night? Hugging the porcelain throne. Ugh. I've been spending lots of time on our fabulous Craigslist couch watching all the options our non-cable TV has to offer, taking my temperature, and eating a little bit of applesauce here and there. I tend to get really frustrated after about 12 hours of illness... because I'm just not used to being cooped up in the house watching the weathermen talk about what a beautiful day it was and not experiencing it for myself. To top it off, the John Mayer concert that I've been looking forward to since December is tonight and I can't drag myself to it, so Jordan's taking a friend instead of me. Ugh.

Okay, enough whining. While I was sitting on our bathroom floor, I couldn't help but think about the last time I was in the kneeling posture. I've become rather obsessed with a blog (i.e. read it from the beginning in its archives... I know, a little crazy, but it reads like a book!) and at one point she talked about coming to our knees in prayer. So between waves of nausea, I spent some time praying on my knees. It was a really great time with God (and a great distraction). Made me wonder why I don't spend more time that way. There are so many things to be praying for and realistically, I have lots of time to do it. We all do, we're just all really good at making excuses; but don't get me started on that soap box. Anyway, enough said. Pray, okay?

I'll post another more interesting, less disgusting update in the near future. For now, ugh. :-)