essays, state fair, and weddings, oh my!

Cant believe it is my senior year at Seminary. I remember when I was a meek junior (freshman) and clueless to so much! Now I have completed internship, CPE (clinical pastoral Education), passed the Bible Proficiency Exam, and registered for senior classes! Looks like I SHOULD graduate on time; May 30, 2010!

Now That I am all moved home, it has been great to see friends and family! It still has not hit me completely let that I am back for good. It still feels like I am home on a long weekend and I will be heading back down to Rochester any day now...

My days are now consisting of finishing my senior approval essay... what a doosy! All my other classmates are doing the same... and they do encourage us to be in conversation about it with fellow classmates and mentors, so that good! It is due September 1st... so time is ticking! I got a lot done today.. so I feel better.

I start working at the state fair on Friday. A friend who works for KSTP hooked me up with a job selling merchandise for AM1500, and 107.1. These are my shifts so if your at the fair at these times.. come VISIT ME

8/28- 8-1 at AM1500
8/29- 2-9 at 107.1
9/1- 1-6 at AM1500
9/2- 8-1 at AM1500
9/4- 2-9 at 107.1
9/5- 8:30-2 at 107.1
9/7- 2-9 at 107.1

I get to people watch and be at the fair.. making money. I cant wait! Should be a good time!

We are marching right along with wedding planning... my mom and I went and picked out the flowers for my bouquet, and the flowers for the groomsman, moms, dads, grandparents, personal attendents and ushers. Check that off the list!

I have started to organize the mailing lists for the bridal showers. Figuring out who will go to which one... fiuring out dates, etc.

Dave and I finished registering at Macy's and Crate and Barrel. Oh man.. I am in LOVE with Crate and Barrel. So much to look at and it is layed out so organized! Its my kind of store!

We still have to do tuxes, but we have an idea of what we want.. just a matter of where to go that is affordable and reliable.

Thats all for now! More to come soon I am sure!

My last Sunday at Zumbro Lutheran

So yes.. I am back in the twin Cities... but before I reflect on that....

It was an amazing last Sunday at Zumbro Lutheran, but so sad. I thought I would be ok, but when we had our prayer together before the service started... tears began to roll down like waters... I composed my self.... Sandy of of the altar guild told me... "Im not going to pin on your honorary flower if you're gonna cry... now COME ON!"... Gotta love motivational words from Sandy!

I was great through the service... until I had to preach. To start my sermons off I always like to grab the audience with a story or catching beginning... so I started my last sermon by comparing my first sermon at Zumbro to know. 1. I was a lot shorter... (I stepped off the step they made me, whoa... what a difference). 2. my first sermon I held on to the pulpit with my life cause I was so nervous, but now I can do large hand gestures...thank you pastor Nick (supervisor). 3. I looked down a lot at my sermon... not smiling, or letting my personality shine through... but now I can be confident in being myself and look up cause I see all your faces. Thank you Zumbro for being my support, my constructive critique, my friends this past year (on come the tears). My sermon was about the bread of life... so I also thanks Zumbro for being my bread this year...nourishing me on internship!

Once I got through that part... I took a deep breath and continued with the text... No tears for the remainder... of the sermon....

When it came to communion... oh man... it was like I was saying my own personal goodbyes.. to everyone I served wine too... I had to look them in the eye....needless to say.. I was sniffling and slowly getting the words "blood of Christ shed for you" out as best I could. A powerful experience.
And Ironically the closing hymn for that Sunday was "God be with you till be meet again"... I swear I didn't pick it! Whoa!

There was a reception for me in the lounge following each service... I didn't even make it in there after the first one. There was a long line of people to wish me farewell and Godspeed as they left the sanctuary... I tried to make my way to the lounge but kept getting stopped by people... it was a good problem to have. My poor flower got crushed! By the time I made it in the lounge they were already starting announcements for the second service... so off I went to do the final service/sermon at Zumbro. I cried in all the same spots as the first service.. but couldn't quite stop at the end. It was tough!

My family and some friends came down for the second service, so after everyone left my goodbye lounge party... the pastors of the church, my parents, sisters, Dave, friends Dena and Tommy all came together to have a brunch. My dad made a whole bunch of Chicken salad, cut up fruit, and sugar cookies! It was a great closure to the morning.

I was exhausted after that.. so I took a well needed nap later that day.
I ended up going back Monday to say goodbye to staff members, clean out my computer hard drive, and pick up a few more cards people had dropped off.

Packing was Monday. Dave's family came down with a trailer.. THANKS Be to God for them!
Cleaning was Tuesday... then internship committee dinner that night. I was home back in the cities Tuesday night!

It all went so fast! I can honestly say it was the fastest year of my life... filled with so many good memories, teaching moments, and dear friends in Christ!

My last week!

Its my last week on internship and there is so much to do!

-Write my sermon.. although now most of it is done. It has been hard to come up with "final" words... i want to go out on a great note!

-Say goodbye to those at church and in Rochester!

-Pack, organize, and pack some more

-staff lunch

-final evaluation

-start my approval essay that is due Sept. 1

I am excited to be going back to the cities but I have become a part of such a welcoming, warm, faithful community. I don't think it is really going to hit me till I am already gone.. but I know this Sunday will be a day full of tears and hugs! This year I can say has probably been one of the fastest in my life... which means it was one filled with great things!

Youthworks- Cincinnati, OH

So I returned home from the National youth Gathering on a Monday and left that Saturday morning for a youthworks trip! Just enough time to do some laundry and catch upon sleep so I can do it all again in a new state, new kids, new adventures.

We loaded the two 15 passenger vans in the parking lot of Zumbro, checked the forms, and waved goodbye. 4 chaperons, 19 7th, 8th, and 9th graders headed to Ohio. I drove the whole way there. I enjoy driving. It keeps me occupied and the time flies! We stopped for the night in De Kalb and slept at a church there. We arose in the morning, were fed a great breakfast by a group of couples from the congregation. We attended their church service and we were off on the road again. Because of some extreme road work and stop and go traffic in Indiana we were late arriving to Cincinnati... but did make it safe and sound... greeted by the Youthworks staff and 2 other churches we lived and worked with all week.

Instead of building this year, our site focused on the people of Cincinnati. Some crews went to nursing homes and interacted and helped where they could there. But most sites went to churches that held feeding programs, to children. Children would come to these sites for the day, and were provided with a hearty breakfast and lunch and then a structured day of learning and playtime. Some were more structured than others. The kids ages were from 4-15.

We had a great time getting to know the kids, and them getting to know us! The girls loved playing with our hair and the boys loved running around and being boys. It was so interesting to see and hear about how some had never interacted with a caucasian person before and vice versa. Its amazing the new cultures that were experienced while we were there! We had a great time playing and simply being a positve presence in these kids lives!

Some of the evening activities the youthworks team had set up for us were: walking across the purple people bridge... crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky. Just a bridge walk away! We also went to the freedom slavery museum. We learned a lot about the history of slavery and how in some cases it is still prevelent today in parts of the world. There was so much to see and learn about... you couls spend the whole day there and still not experience everything! I highly recommend it!
We also went to a "bible study" at Tabernacle baptist church. It is a whole new way of seeing how people worship or hear the good news and the ways in which they respond to it. Lots of stomping, clapping, yelling out phrases of "preach it", "wow", "amen", and "Teach!" The Holy Spirit was truly present in the hearts of those around us...and it was so cool the way they showed it!

Our plan was to head home Friday morning, but since there was an accident with one of the van windows breaking we had to alter our plans a bit. Instead of arriving in Chicago for a fun day at Navy Pier.. Rachel dropped us off at Kings Island amusement park while she went back and waited for the auto glass guy to come and fix it. We were picked up at 3( after a day of so much fun)... and made our way to Chicago. Our main interstate was closed so after many a times recalculating our route... 3 hours later we left Cincinnati. We were in teh car about 10 and a half hours before making it to CHicago. We slept at a church for a few hours... but up at 7AM to make the last stretch home!

It was an awesome trip.. and although drained of energy I feel so fulfilled with so much! It was a great end of my internship year!