Entering the millineum

Today there were 5 moving trucks on my small cul-de-sac of 8 duplexes (there was no way to get all 5 in one picture...but this gives you a sense of the chaos). My friends are beginning to move into lives as pastors. I am waiting...waiting for interviews, waiting for a call to a congregation, waiting for ordination, waiting for my student loan grace period to expire (ok, not really...), waiting for new neighbors to move in. Sounds depressing, but it's not all bad. I'm trying to get accustomed to this low-key, no-deadlines life, and I know I'll be wishing for some free time once I do have a call.

Since graduation in May, I've been bored enough to clean out the basement, my scrapbooking closet (including 6 years of accumulation and pictures) and my office. I've backed up my laptop's hard drive, moved my photo archives to snapfish to free up disk space (over 1 GB of photos were moved!) and wiped the hard drive on my old laptop in order to sell it. The kitchen is actually staying clean (and so are the kids, for the most part) and I'm basically keeping up on laundry.

My boys and I have gone swimming, gone to the movies (Garfield 2 and Shaggy Dog), and gone to the little one's psychiatrist 1 1/2 hours away. We attended a Jimmy Buffett concert as a family (plus our good buddy M came along -- a Buffett virgin!). I've been lucky enough to attend the ordination services for 4 of my classmates/friends. I've also been able to sit by the neighborhood firepit with neighbors who will soon be refered to as "old friends from seminary." It's not that they're old, of course...well, most of them anyway ;) A few nights ago, we took our new firepit to the site where we always gather - in front of J's house. His firepit was packed, ours came out of the box and J diligently and benevolently gave my husband lessons on firestarters, how to stack the pit for best results and all kinds of other stuff that my husband likely already knew but J needed to do in order to pass the torch...it was a closure and a new beginning. I think we all basically denied it was the end of one chapter in life and the beginning of another.

Speaking of new beginnings...and old stuff: today I went to the Dubuque County courthouse, plopped down some quid, and filed a name change petition. See, in 1990 when my husband and I got married, I thought seriously about hyphenating my maiden name and husband's last name. My mother-in-law, who I now adore and love greatly but used to be terribly afraid of, discouraged me because she thought it would be too confusing once my husband and I had kids. Well, now that I'm not afraid of my m-i-l and since I sold my old laptop, I thought, what the hell, I'll do it. The only bummer is that I had to put my weight on the petition. Don't tell the judge that I lied about it, ok? Even with the lie, I'm overweight...just less so. So, anyway, in 30 days, I go meet the man in the black robe and he'll sign a piece of paper that will give me 2 middle names. My new initials should technically be skod, but that's so ugly. I've decided I'll initial as skdo. Afterall, the 'o' came in after the 'd' had been in place awhile. And skdo sounds kinda cute.

I've also rediscovered my crafty side in the last month or so. I designed and beaded by ordination stole. It turned out pretty cool. The design is partly inspired by the sanctuary at the church where I grew up - they have a huge tree painted behind a huge cross that hangs in their sanctuary. For me, the tree in the stole represents everlasting life created by our lives in JC. The roots of the tree sink deeply into the baptismal font, its source of life and identity. The water is overflowing from the font, representing how JC breaks down the walls that divide humanity from the ever-flowing, life-giving waters of our great God. The Holy Spirit is symbolized by the flying dove that carries an olive branch (representing the peace of God) in its beak.

So what does a 38 year-old mom of two do with her free time, besides bead, clean, change her name, and chase two boys? Create a blog, of course. Why not?