How We've Changed

It's been awhile since I last posted and much has taken place in the meantime.  The one constant joy in the last 8 months has been Gareth.  He continues to grow and learn, a light in the midst of our own personal darkness.

I'm loathe to go into too much detail right now as the pain of our family's present circumstances are jaggedly new.  Some moments I feel as if I'm walking around in a shroud, a thick gray blanket that makes it hard to see the world around me. Some moments feel like an unending shriek of distortion, a painful and inescapable intrusion into the song of our life.  And mostly, life is full of a new and quiet loneliness, an abundance of absence.

I've changed the name of the blog to "A Lonely Bird", a reference to the 102 psalm and its powerful and poignant images of desolation, grief and distress.  It is an apt depiction of life for our family right now, a glimpse into the desolation, grief and distress that bind us so tightly.  This blog will focus on that journey - the struggles, the moments of joy, the mystery of forgiveness, grace and covenants that cannot be broken.  Of course, there will also be posts about Gareth and his progress.

You are welcome to join me on the journey.

Good News, Part 1

After a tumultuous fall, the church that I serve accepted the resignation of the Associate Minister of Christian Education and Youth. There's lots of details there, and if you would like to know them, let me know. Some of them are...delicate to say the least, so I'm withholding for the sake of everyone involved.

I, of course, am about to graduate from Seminary and be ordained. Thus, I've been on the lookout for future ministry jobs. Cliff and I have been in deep discussions about our future, about houses and jobs and children and have been praying for discernment. I've also been struggling with the question of whether or not I wanted to be an Associate Minister for several years or if I wanted to jump right into the Senior Pastorate. There were lots of Senior Pastor positions all over Texas, but Associate Minister positions would take us out of the state, which I wasn't very enthusiastic about. I know that God has been and is preparing me to serve Him no matter the geographic location, but everybody has personal preferences!

So, it seemed like Cliff and I would be moving come May. But then something came up...

May Day

Happy May 1st.

Last year around this time, Cliff and I were in the frantic last-minute stages of Wedding Planning. We were finishing up the semester, looking for a place to live, combining our bank accounts, arguing about insignificant details about the wedding (you married people know how that goes ::sigh::) and looking forward to our future together.

So what are we up to now?
- Cliff is finishing up his last ever seminary classes! YAY! He'll be graduating on May 16th and I'm really proud of him. He is going Full time at AT&T so we can have cheap insurance (and new contacts - Yes please!) for the next year. He's exploring other work options right now, so we're praying pretty hard that God will provide some great opportunities for him.

- I'm finishing up the semester as well, though I have two semesters left until I graduate. In the fall, I'll be doing my Mentoring (think Ministerial Internship) at my church and it's going to be a blast. I'm going through the Ordination process right now for the Disciples of Christ. I just had my intermediate meeting and I've been approved for my final meeting next April. Hooray! Hopefully, I'll be able to hold my ordination ceremony soon after graduation in May of 2009. And then? Full time ministry! Very awesome.

A lot has happened in the last year: Weddings, Funerals, New(Used) Cars, Car Accidents, New Family Members, New Jobs, New Babies, Surgeries, New Pets, New Friends, Bittersweet goodbyes. As I told my Dad, we've done the "worst, poorer and sicker" parts of the vows and now I'm ready for the richer! We've been married for almost a year, and I've been truly blessed because of it (hopefully Cliff will say the same).

We've got plans for a graduation party, a trip to the Renaissance Festival, and a New York city adventure. We'll keep you posted.