one year ago…

one year ago today, brandon and I arrived at our new (and extremely empty) house in Iowa and slept on an air mattress in our new bedroom. It is so hard to believe that an entire year has passed since that night.

In one year, we have grown closer to some friends that we love to disc golf and play world of warcraft with.

In one year, two soft and cuddly cats have become a part of our family.

In one year, I have become a part of the family at the church and feel like I’m finding my rhythm – the things that are my gifts… as well as being able to see better where I need to grow (or delegate).

In one year, I have preached 47 sermons (with three to go!).

In one year, we have had about 45 Wednesday night dinners with the s-i-l and b-i-l and neice and nephew.

In one year, I’ve met colleagues across the state and within my own backyard and have built lasting friendships with fellow pastors.

In one year, Brandon and I have both managed to be sick more times than we can count on one hand =)

In one year, I baptized 7 babies and youth, married one beautiful couple, and helped 11 families say good bye to their loved ones.

Hopefully our next year will be as good as the next!

out of the loop

Alright, I’ve been avoiding the blog… well, not avoiding it, but i’ve been distracted by other things. namely – grey’s anatomy. Sometimes I’m embarassed about how much I’m into the show… and how excited I am for it to start back up.

But I’ve also been legitimately busy at church. The week before last I had two funerals, and we are in full out meeting season right now – getting ready for charge conference.

I am desperately trying to get myself back in shape and keep falling off of that wagon – but I did get out and run yesterday for the first time in… oh wow, like 3 weeks.

Our kitties are getting along much better now that Tiki’s ears are cleared up (he had an infection) and so we are (sort of) enjoying their frolicing around the house… (it gets a little annoying at 3am, when the little one is trying to eat my glasses and the big one is biting him around the middle and they are both yelping and making all sorts of crazy noise).

Friday Five

For this Friday’s Five, share with us five transformations that the coming fall will bring your way.

Bonus: Give us your favorite activity that is made possible by the arrival of fall.

I’m really gearing up for fall at the church – our big kick off is a week from Sunday! It doesn’t seem possible that students are heading back to school already and that fall is almost here – especially when August is usually so hot. We are actually in store for a very early fall according to some accounts – a frost is expected by mid-september, which will wreak havoc on the already late crops here in the midwest. lots of prayers needed here!

As for the five biggest transformations of this fall:

#1 – We are getting another kitty! We love Turbo so much that we think he needs a friend. There are kittens at the local vet and we are going on tuesday to pick one of the gold ones up. He will be about 6 weeks old then and is getting his vaccinations on Monday. I can’t wait to have another addition to our family!

#2 – I will be teaching confirmation this fall and spring at my church. They normally do confirmation for 5th/6th graders, but there are a number who were missed a couple years ago, so we have about 9 kids spread out from 5th – 9th grade. I’m looking forward to working with them!!! and i’m going to be trying out the claim the name resource… but i can’t decide if i want to do it just for the fall or for the whole year. we are doing confirmation during sunday school time – which means that they will be there for church for sure, but if we do the whole year long program, i won’t be involved in any other sunday school stuff all year long. This is my FIRST time doing confirmation… eek!

#3 – My biggest personal goal for this fall is to transform my body. I really need to exercise more and need to build some kind of routine. And I think transformation really is the right word for it, because I need to change inside and out. I’ve done it before, so I know that it is possible… but it will definately take more willpower than I’m currently exhibiting.

#4 – My biggest transformation around the church will be in my personal visitation ministry. While I may seem to others like an extremely outgoing person, I am so anxious about visiting people. I talk myself out of it most of the time. I have been fairly consistent about visiting people in the hospital (when i know they are there) and in the nursing home (I do a service there monthly and spend time after visiting) and somewhat with people who are homebound – but I really need to get out and start making the rounds with the whole church. Especially those people who are members but I have never seen or met in the almost eight months I’ve been there. I know it will make a huge difference, but I can’t work up the guts to do it. I’m pretty sure once I do it, I’ll wonder what the big deal is, but its a step that terrifies me about ministry.

#5 – One thing I have tried fairly hard to do since I have been in this church is to change up the order of worship with every new season. We had one liturgy for the season after epiphany, another for lent, another for after easter, and now we are in another for the season after pentecost. I’m starting a new sermon series with our fall kick-off, and think it’s a good time to change up the liturgy again. that way we don’t get too tied to any one way to worship and it helps the church to be a bit more flexible. I’m excited to think about new possibilities and ways to incorporate prayers, hymns, etc., into the service. For example: in this season after ephiphany, we have sung our prayer for illumination as “Spirit of the Living God” – but during Epiphany we sang “Thy Word.” Other times, it is a spoken prayer. One of my big changes this fall is to add a mission/stewardship moment before the offering each week and to invite people from the congregation to share about an way our offerings and our pledges this fall help to support the ministry of the worldwide/local church.

Bonus: I’m actually pretty excited for high school and college football to start back up! I’m a big fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes and so I can’t wait to catch a few games (we often had the SEC games when we lived in Nashville) – either on tv or in real life… and my family has tailgated in Iowa City at the games, so we might go join them a few times. It will also be neat to see what the spirit is around this small town with their local high school for football games. I’m looking forward to getting more involved with the students in their school activities and showing up a bit more.

still


in college I took at least one class where I learned about Buddhism. and then in seminary, one of my favorite and most fulfilling classes was on Buddhist-Christian dialogue.

Even after my short entre into Buddhism, I’m not prepared to say if it is a religion or a philosophy like some will debate. I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable teaching about it without a good resource to guide me.

But what I do know is that there are many parallels between what I learned and practiced in those experiences about the present moment and letting go of oneself that have kept coming back to me in the past weeks and months.

There is a Christian author Caussade (I believe) that I really want to read. He talks about living in the present moment and sees it as the only way to live fully into God’s providence. We cannot control the past and the future, we must trust that they are in God’s hands… but we can look to the ways in the ordinary and mundane that God is revealed to us.

As I sat down to type this, my cat hopped up onto my lap and curled into a ball and instantly began purring. Purring for cats is a way of expressing the need for or love of companionship. They will purr when scared or giving birth because those are moments that they need comfort, as much as they will purr when content. I think one of the points was that a cat who is alone will never purr out of happiness. It is an expression of the need for another.

How true is that of our lives as well. We need one another and we need God and even in the little ordinary things like a cat curled up in a lap, God’s will is revealed.

Holy cow… we are back in Iowa

So, for some of you – this blog just may be a good way to keep up with the Dawson’s and all that is happening in our lives. For others of you – you might be checking out what is happening at the church. Others, just want to see if a young woman right out of Divinity School can make things happen in a small Iowa town. Whatever reason you might be checking in – i’ll try to keep at least some of you happy, some of the time.

This blog started out as a place where I could share my frustrations and hopes about the church. I’m REALLY hopeful right now. I’m about to start working (in 3 days!) in a small town United Methodist Church and I couldn’t be more anxious. I’m both really excited and really nervous about if I’m ready, if they are ready, and what this journey is going to be like for all of us together. But I know that no matter what happens there, my husband is right by my side, loving and supporting me and keeping me from being neurotic =) And having a new kitten purring on my lap as I type this helps too.

We just got internet yesterday, so i’m backdating a few posts. I’ll start up talking about all that theology stuff and what i’m going to talk about in my sermons and all of that nonsense in a day or two – for now, I’m still on vacation! Love you all and hope to keep in touch with all of your lives too!!! Oh – and Merry Christmas!