i spent the past week on vacation, taken by the pa leaves …

And enjoying these beauties: Aisha (eye-ee-sha) and her mom (my dear friend) Erin.  It was a great trip, filled with lots of sleep, long walks, great friendship & conversation.  (I confess: I’m just a little depressed about the return.  It was that kind of good.)  Maybe our little KC-trees will find a reason to cheer me soon enough.

contributing to the common good

(Samuel David Majernik.)

work without hope

My boss, Jon, launched his sermon last week with this poem (Work without Hope), by Samuel Coleridge.  Both (the sermon & poem) made me grateful for the meaning I find each day in my work.  Quite unlike nectar disappearing through a sieve … I am often overcome by moments of significance in my day.  To believe that my work can contribute to the Gospel “going public” and that one day it will be positioned (however transformed) inside of Christ’s consummated Kingdom is an incredible gift (given to me by both Leslie Newbigin & N.T. Wright).  It’s a gift that ought to be realized by every Christ-follower (whatever her vocational arena).  I’m only beginning to tease out the implications …

All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair –
The bees are stirring -birds are on the wing –
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
And I the while, the sole unbusy thing,
Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.

Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
Bloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,
For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!
With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll:
And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?
Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And Hope without an object cannot live.

–Samuel Coleridge, Work Without Hope

short-story long-er …

Did I mention my August travel took me to Chicago?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where I visited some of my dearest friends?

And also (oh, btw) rocked my brains out at Lollapalooza …

In Grant Park …

There was a lot to smile about.

m-i-a no mo’

Yes, it’s been awhile.

No, I wasn’t kidnapped.  No, I didn’t elope.  No, I haven’t fled the country to escape political rhetoric.  (Even if — I confess — I’ve been indulging in a bit of levity while wrestling with “the issues” and assessing this political campaign.)

Short-story long?

I moved (sort of) the last weekend of July, only to pack up again and travel for 10 days during the first part of August upon which, returning to KC (buried alive under a pile of work & correspondence) I proceeded to host out-of-town family for a long weekend of fun up until we joined together for travel to Des Moines (where I reunited with long-lost cousins), then returned back to KC (buried alive under a pile of work & correspondence) in order to launch (kind of) the start of (yet another) ministry year which meant working long hours and returning late in the evening to my (quasi) new home until a week ago when I hired two (very mediocre) men and a truck to (try to) help me move-in and damage personal belongings & valuables such that I was free to spend the next few days holed up in my (newly established) home organizing all my stuff in order to justify an entire “girls day out” with my (very pregnant) sis so we could have some fun together before (lo and behold) my beautiful (perfectly healthy, seemingly perfect) new nephew — Samuel David — arrived (nearly three weeks early!) onto the scene of this wide world such that all I could do was to dote and feel my heart swell until I remembered and (then) was forced to begin (again) the more menial (and, yes, necessary) task of arranging things in my home and life so as to create some semblance of order (in no particular order).  Order like knives in the kitchen.  Toilet paper in the bathroom.  Wireless on the router.  At which point, having all such matters utterly & totally resolved (yesterday evening), I decided it might be okay to start blogging again.

For those who may have found my long short-story less than compelling (or for those who just couldn’t stomach the whole thing): I conclude (in terrible literary-style) with (once again) the most important point …

Samuel David Majernik.  6 lbs.  1 oz.  Just after noon on September 2, 2008.

I’m back to “heart swelling” …

congrats to mr. & mrs. foster

Two classier individuals there could not be.  (And to think they went and married one another?!  Uh-oh!)  No, seriously, my heart has been celebrating all nite long … gladdened that God has called these two to image His love and life to our watching world.

Honored to be a witness (and so thankful Kurt took that phone call … even during 24).

honored to introduce …

My partner in crime (who works so very hard to make it look like I know what I’m doing) has finally started blogging in her brilliant way.  Stacie started working with me this past October, after I begged and promised “office hours whenever” … she’s worth every prayer & plea I made.  (And many I didn’t.)  So grateful for our friendship and collaboration.  (Get to know her for yourself: http://boyzrus.wordpress.com/.) 

tom petty’s two blocks away …

Playing at the Sprint Center tonite and – I confess (as I put on my pj’s and prep for a serenade while I sleep) – I’m just a little sad that such downtown neighbors will no longer be mine.  (Moving day is just around the corner for me: a week from tomorrow!) 

I know it would drive some folks crazy to sleep where I sleep (with trains pulling in & out of Union Station, sirens screaming in the nite [KC’s quite tame, but a siren is, after all, a siren], and live music in the distance singing me to sleep.  I love it.  Positively.

Good thing I’m only moving a few miles away.  Though I won’t get to live inside the city, at least I’ll get to visit quite a lot.

Here are a few photos (and a short post) from a friend of mine who recently came to visit.  It’ll be fun to see where God moves me next for a (more indefinite) geographical commitment.  (My new lease is only a five-month-er; enough time to scope out the options).  It’s bound to be a pretty fun exploration … 

in celebration of my favorite fruit

(Best part of today.)

it’s hard to plan a day this good

But … we did.  (And … it was.)

Birthday 3-2: 1 of the best, I must say.

We started with a brand new “pre-birthday” observance … made possible by my rock-star/brother-in-law, who took-on the role of single-parent for over 24 hours to give us what just may be the best gift conceivable: uninterrupted, exclusive sis-time.  Add to the extravagance: pajamas (by 6 p.m.) + homemade BLT’s (by 9 p.m.) + hours of conversation (converging by 10 p.m.) + sleep, sleep, and more sleep (wake-up at 8 a.m.?!).  It seemed the birthday had been duly-acknowledged before it even began!

Turns out, things were just warming up.  Think brunch-out (what says indulgence like ciabatta-pecan french toast, mugs of coffee, & college roommates lingering over conversation until mid-day?!).  Add to the mix make-up tips from a pro, birthday money exchanging hands, and dinner out with close friends.  (What more could a girl want?!)

 At one point during dinner — when the conversation was getting really good — I thought to myself: we couldn’t have planned for a birthday this good.  Then I remembered: we did.

But only one Grace-Giver made good on such plans.  I must say: it’s such fun to be celebrating — yet another year — of this, His company and care.  Such mind-blowing-beautiful-spaces amidst this messy life; how much more must be around the corner?

Celebrating (and planning) every chance we get …