Recent Highlights

Happy Advent! I have a couple highlights from the past week that I want to share with you with a couple pictures to illustrate.

For the second year in a row, my office had a Christmas decorating competition last week. We formed the office into three areas and the employees into three teams. My team decided on a "Christmas land" theme complete with a Christmas photo booth as you see in the photo below. And, we WON! It was exciting. :) My co-worker took a short video of the decorations that you can watch here. I think we won because the judges (from my old workplace, Partners!) loved posing at our photo booth so much.

I have to admit that I was partially dreading the competition (which is terrible because I'm the event planning head!), mostly because the task seemed daunting. Of course, I shouldn't have worried because my co-workers had great ideas and skill. It's been so fun to turn on all the Christmas lights in the mornings when I first get to work.

 

For the second year in a row, my church has had a women's retreat at Camp Spalding/Clearwater Lodge, which is the main Presbyterian camp and retreat center in the Spokane area. It's just about 40 minutes north of my house in the beautiful pine-wooded, lake-filled countryside. The photo below is looking across Davis Lake towards the distant mountains from the room where we had worship sessions. We experienced most of the outdoors through big windows because the temperatures have been in the teens for the last couple days. I took a walk on Saturday afternoon and it look my legs 30 minutes to thaw--no kidding! You can see in the picture below that the shore of the lake has iced over.

 



 

My friend Margy and I drove up to camp on Friday afternoon and joined about 45 other women. The whole weekend was lovely. There's something about being away from home in a retreat setting that gives women the freedom to share more freely and deeply. We had some great moments of laughter and of sharing our stories together. After dinner on Friday night, we split into six groups and had to create a Nativity scene with the materials we had available at our tables. The photo below is the Nativity scene my group created. Someone commented that the sheep looked like ghosts, which I have to agree with. The yellow rays from the star was just the plastic that held in a package of paintbrushes. How cool is that? We had some very creative women in my group. I appointed myself Chief Glue-Gun Operator since it requires very little creative energy. :)

 

I decided to drive up to Trader Joe's today to take advantage of the dry weather, since the only Trader Joe's in the area is about 30 minutes from my house and up a big hill. I went in with a list and left with only two items on that list. Oops! At one point, an employee asked me, "Are you finding everything on your list?" because I was staring at it perplexedly. I gave him a wry grin and said "Yes, thanks." On my mental list, that is. I found that the meal I had planned to make no longer sounded good, so I did some quick meal planning in my head and ended up with what you see below. The veggie broth, barley, pearl onions, and parsnips will become a Pearled Barley Broth from one of my favorite veggie-centered cookbooks. The Merlot will be cooked in a five-hour meat sauce to go on the pasta. The dried apricots (which are incredibly delicious!), cranberry-covered goat cheese, carrots and cucumber will become my lunch for the week. Tomorrow's lunch will be dried apricots and cranberries, a hard-boiled duck egg (from my cousin), crackers and the goat cheese, and the veggies. Yum! 

 

Time in general seems to fly by, but the Advent/Christmas season always zip by particularly quickly. I wonder why. I'm trying my best to savor Advent, the unique season in the Church Year of longing, anticipation, introspection, and joy. I'll leave you with a couple verses from one of my favorite Advent songs, Holy Is Your Name, a traditional Scottish hymn.

 

 

My soul is filled with joy as I sing to God my savior:

You have looked upon your servant, you have visited your people.

 

Refrain: And Holy is your name, through all generations!

Everlasting is your mercy to the people you have chosen, and Holy is your name.

 

In your love you now fulfill what you promised to your people.

I will praise you, Lord, my savior, everlasting is your mercy.

Month-Gone Highlights

Hello! Thought you'd never hear from me again? No luck! Here I am again, eating a freshly-baked molasses cookie. I don't usually do trial runs of recipes before serving them to guests, but I made an exception for molasses cookies.

Here are several highlights from the last month of my life:

1. Somehow I ended up with two full gallons of apple cider back in October. I went up two Sundays in a row to Green Bluff only to find that the Hansens were completely sold out of apple cider. Finally, I made a special trip up there on a Friday afternoon and got my coveted cider. The next Friday, I got two free half gallons from a friend. I spent a lot of time on food blogs, searching for recipes and ended up making apple cider quick bread, apple cider baked beans (which I ate for a full, long week!), several batches of steel-cut oats, freezing several yogurt containers full, and drinking many warm mugs in the evenings. Ah, fall!

2. On the last Saturday in October, my friend Gerry invited me to a harvest party and hay ride out in the country. The man who hosts the party each year farms a ton of land (like 1,000 acres!) and has a beautiful spot in the country north of Spokane. Right after we arrived, a bunch of us (there were probably a good 50 people there with tons of little kids) hopped into two trailers packed with hay bales for the first hay ride of the evening. I sat next to a lovely older couple, and we bounced along for about half an hour. Tim, the farmer, pulled us with his big, ol' tractor. At one point in the ride, the back trailer that I was on came unhitched from the front trailer when we jounced over a rocky spot. It was tremendously exciting. :)

It was so lovely to crest the hill of wheat-stubbled fields on our hay ride as the sun was setting and the mist was drifting in. We saw a herd of deer and one of my companions pointed out the fiery yellow larches--conifers that lose their needles in the fall--that were striking against the dark green of the Ponderosa pines. We had a delicious potluck dinner with hamburgers and hot dogs and a full table of desserts. Gerry's daughter, daughter's son, and his family were also at the party, and we all went out on a second hay ride in the dark. At first, I thought it would be scary and cold, but then we got distracted by the night sky. The heavens opened and stars burned through, bright and clear. The six-year-old who was with us stared up and said, "Wow! That looks like outer space!" We four adults got a good chuckle out of that. We spent the next half hour looking for constellations and watching for the ghostly lights of the barn that shone through the mist. As you can tell, the party was fodder for an active imagination.

3. Since September, the aforementioned Gerry and I have been cooking meals for a monthly family night at church. The day before Halloween, the youth group hosted a carnival and chili cook-off for the kids and their families. I purchased all the sides for the chili and was there early to arrange them and help the youth director with all the preparations. It was a madhouse when all the kids were there! I sat by myself with my chili when I finally sat down because I was a little stupefied. I rallied, though, and ran the craft table for the quieter kids. Being removed from childhood, it was fun to see the boundless enthusiasm of the kids in their costumes as they decorating cookies, cake walked, and had their faces painted.

4. For the third year in a row, my friend Heidi and I spent the first Saturday evening in November listening to the Whitworth jazz band play with a famous jazz musician, this year the saxophonist Chris Potter. The Whitworth jazz band is fabulous! Heidi and I listened with rapt attention and great big grins. There was one song I loved particularly because it featured a saxophone trio with Potter and two students. They seamlessly slipped the solo between the three of them and it was marvelous. It filled me with delight, and I had to stand up and clap when it was done while also regretting that it didn't go on for many minutes more.

5. Work has been an adventure the last two months. My department--customer support--has a steady work load. In an average week, we get about 400 e-mails from customers about every topic imaginable relating to the Olive Tree Bible Study app, our website, sales, etc. Due to financial tightness, we had to let a person from my department go at the beginning on October. Several weeks later, another co-worker resigned, leaving my department with two people. The first full week in November, my one remaining co-worker was on vacation for a whole week, leaving just me in my department. It was a busy, crazy week, and I learned a lot. About 10 of my co-workers from other departments helped out in the e-mail queue that week, so I got to lead them, answer questions, refine my own techniques and understanding, and work my tail off. It was a good week, but boy was the next week even better with my co-worker back to share the load of people waiting for help! There are still just two of us in support (though still with plenty of help from other departments), so it continues to be draining. I can't wait for a change of pace at Thanksgiving.

Well, those are the highlights! I do have a closing thought for you though. I'm part of a book club during Sunday School at church, and the leader asked me to co-lead this year. We've been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together, and I'm finding it to be full of challenging and rich passages. I have my dad's version from 1979, and it has so many underlinings and notes and scribbles. It's delightful! I spent a lot of time alone this weekend. Really alone because I hardly saw any of my housemates after Saturday afternoon. It was thus ironic that the chapter we discussed in Sunday School yesterday was "The Day Alone." Being alone always makes me take stock of my life. So much of life is so very ordinary. As I looked back in my planner, so much of what I do day to day is the same: eat lunch and make lunch, walk, journal, look at recipes online, read, talk with my parents, e-mail, ignore chores, fill up the laundry basket, do laundry, fold laundry, and on it goes. And yet, the ordinariness is infused with changing, shifting life. New lessons to learn, challenges to overcome, gratitude to be expressed, and daily life to be shared. Life isn't always easy, but there is always plenty to be thankful for, and today I'm thankful for life, the ordinary and extraordinary both.

When it Rains it Pours

The past two days--Wednesday and Thursday--have been crazy. I want to have a record of what happened, so I'm writing it down here. No doubt the title of the blog will become clear to you as you continue reading.

**

At the start of this week, I had several meetings planned regarding jobs. On Wednesday, I started one of the childcare jobs, which is watching two kids, ages seven and 10, from 7:15 a.m. until their bus picks them up at 8:40 a.m. An easy job and the kids are great. On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, I had childcare jobs at Colbert Presbyterian Church. On Thursday afternoon, I was meeting with a woman, Catharine, at 4:30 to discuss helping her do household chores (grocery shopping, gardening, etc.) and transporting her 13-year-old son to his various activities. With all these job possibilities, the week looked promising.

**

When Monday rolled around, I still hadn't applied for the World Relief job that two friends had recommended to me. One of those friends called on Monday and said, "The search committee for has been reviewing applications and my brother-in-law said he hasn't seen yours yet. They'd really like to see your application." I'm not sure why I was procrastinating, but that phone message kicked me into gear. I updated my resume, cover letter, and submitted my application within an hour's time. On Tuesday afternoon, I got an e-mail from the director of World Relief, Spokane, with an essay prompt attached. To be considered for an interview, I had to write a short essay. I wrote the essay from 9 to 10 p.m. on Tuesday night without any review from my dad (who always looks over my written work) and sent it back to the director. I expected an e-mail back from the director on Wednesday with an interview time, but still hadn't heard by the time I went to bed on Wednesday. I had told him I was available for an interview on Thursday afternoon or any time Friday.

**

Back to Wednesday morning. After I finished with the two kiddos, I drove to Partners to volunteer for two hours, attend Chapel, and eat lunch with my former co-workers. The next day, Partners was hosting a BBQ for its tenants in either wing of the building, and I was invited. Great! I'll take any opportunity to visit Partners. And because I hadn't started on a project during my volunteer hours that I knew needed to be done, I decided I would stay after the lunch on Thursday to help.

**

On Wednesday evening, I was at Colbert to do childcare for one hour for the younger kids of parents who were at a youth group parent meeting. It would have been fine except that we had two younger, high strung, tired boys who got into frequent clashes and seemed to have a breakdown in every game we played. Because these two boys demanded attention, I felt I was unfairly ignoring the more mild-mannered kids. I was delighted to see the parents come. As I waited for my ride home, I felt exhausted. Then, as the youth director and Janet Neder were cleaning up the leftovers from dinner, I somehow ended up with a gallon bag of sloppy joe meat, a gallon bag of salad, and a jumbo-size Italian dressing. In any other state, I could have dealt with the excess of leftovers more easily. But because I was tired, the bag of sloppy joes seemed to weigh 100 pounds, and I had visions of the sloppy joes in my freezer for years to come. I fell into bed that night, exhausted.

**

I woke up at 6:15 on Thursday morning and spent time with the seven and 10 year old. From there, I went straight to Colbert to watch any kids whose moms came to the Women's Bible study. Fortunately, there were only two young boys. Easy.

**

As I drove to the BBQ at Partners, I felt worried that I was spending too much time at Partners. Is there a gauge for such things? I expressed that concern to several former coworkers and they all said, "You're always welcome" or "We love to see your smiling face." The lunch was fun. One wing of Partners' building is an accounting firm and the other is a Bible software company called Olive Tree. We prayed together, got big plates of BBQ, salads, and dessert, and ate together at tables. I was helping clean up when Bob Savage introduced me to the president of Olive Tree. Olive Tree will soon hire a temporary administrator with the possibility of the job becoming permanent. At the president's insistence, I went over to Olive Tree, talked to the administrator, and agreed to send in my resume and some contact information for references. Wow! What providence!

**

Back at Partners, I found out I was volunteering that afternoon with Forrest Baird, a beloved philosophy professor at Whitworth. Our task was to fold invitations, stuff, and seal nearly 700 envelopes. I folded, and Forrest stuffed and sealed. At first, I wasn't sure what I would talk about with Forrest for two hours, but I shouldn't have worried. We had a marvelous time working our mail room assembly line. We talked about everything from the history of the recent popes to the expense of weddings, my prospects of finding a husband to the differences between a nerd, dork, geek and dweeb for which Forrest kindly supplied me with a chart. We were talking so animatedly that a number of people in the office came through to join the conversation or comment on our enthusiasm. With the fluidity of our conversation, it was 3:30 when we sealed our final envelopes. I didn't leave Partners until 4 p.m. and realized that I was supposed to meet Catharine at 4:30 and didn't have directions to her house.

**

I raced home and found clear directions from Catharine on my e-mail. Her house was a mere five minutes from mine. Thank you, God! But as I scanned my e-mail, I saw an e-mail from the World Relief director that started out like this: "Obviously you did not get my earlier e-mail about your interview time today at 3:30. We would like to reschedule..." Oh my gosh! I had missed an interview at World Relief because I hadn't checked my e-mail at all that day. Instead, I was talking with Forrest about what constituted a nerd. I was mortified.

**

I drove to Catharine's and had a good meeting with her and her son, Andrew. I had promised to cook dinner for my housemate, Rachel, who had a big test the following day, but I hadn't been shopping and could hardly tell you what I had in the fridge. Fortunately, my experience with preparing meals kicked in and I was able to make zucchini fritters and a fruit salad, which I served along with cherry tomatoes from a Water Aerobics classmate, salad from Wednesday night, and corn from home. Yum! After dinner, I spent an hour relating all that I just told you to my parents.

**

So, I do have an interview at World Relief today at noon. At least, I hope I do. I'll show up and see if they still want to interview me, even with all the trouble I've caused. Even with the relative chaos of the week, I have seen God's hand moving in mysterious ways to provide for me. It's almost laughable because I have done so little to deserve any of God's goodness. While a little chaos is fine every so often, I want to have more quiet time. I don't want life to be so crazy busy that I hardly have time to stop and take a breath. I think this lifestyle is more detrimental than we imagine. With that in mind, you can see why I titled this blog the way I did. Hits the nail on the head, I'd say. :o)

**

May the Lord Jesus grant each one of you rest and peace this weekend!