March

It's Spring!  It's felt like Spring since mid-February.  The trees began budding a week before the Vernal Equinox, and now the smell of cherry blossoms is flooding the streets of Kutztown.  Glorious!!

Farmin' food

There's a lovely, new gallery in Kutztown called The Independent Gallery and Co-op.  They host all sorts of different events, like Storytime for toddlers, Market Mondays (when local famers & bakers bring in their goods), open mic evenings, yoga classes, chess club for kids and of course, art shows.  It's right next door to where I work, so I see that there's a LOT going on, almost all the time.  After work today, I stopped in (Market Monday!) to pick up some produce, and of course I was enticed into purchasing a loaf of French bread.  Ready to leave, food in hand, the ladies there and I realized I looked like I was walking in from a movie set, since I was holding a baguette and a bunch of carrots with an enormous bunch of greens atop.  How amusing!!

Well, I was rather enthralled that they had beets available today.  I'm totally excited to make some Borscht; it's the best soup ever!  Perhaps I'll stop by the meat market next for some beef (or chicken!)  Who knows what I'll receive from my CSA tomorrow!

Yes, Greg and I decided to buy into a CSA share for the season.  Our farmer is a young man I worked with last summer, and he's been doing wonderfully this year.  So far, we've received from him shell peas, snow peas, spring onions, garlic scapes, chard, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, varieties of lettuce and several herbs (thyme, Italian parsley, etc).  We've been eating PLENTY of delicious stir-fry dishes lately.  It's been amazing seeing the "seasonal" difference, merely week-to-week, in what types of vegetables have been harvested.  Some plants have a very long season, some (like strawberries) are ripe only for a few weeks.  Greg and I have been receiving all this fresh produce with much gratitude and appreciation for the farming life.

How refreshing it is to see so much local agriculture happening!  New this year in Kutztown is the Main Street Growers' Market, which happens on Thursday afternoons from 3:00 to 7:00 pm.  Local farmers simply set up with their goods on folding tables in the little alley by Trinity Lutheran Church.  I purchased some delicious blueberries there last week, from Weavers' Orchard.  Berks County is such an amazing place!  Despite the pork-enriched diet of many of the locals, organic vegetable farms seem to be thriving.  Next week, the Kutztown Folk Festival will occur:  a great carnival dedicated to quilting, Hex signs and sausage sandwiches.  Yes, we're living in a land of bacon & baloney here in Berks, but amidst the lard and tripe arise fresh, organic veggies.  I'm quite excited about it, and very glad to see so many new farms & CSAs popping up across the map.  Rock on, farmers!!

discontent

Dear friend & college apartmentmate Meghan came to town to hang with me last night.  I rather enjoyed our conversation, catching up on life and ambitions and conquests and dreams.  She kept stating how she missed living in Kutztown, how quaint & quiet it is, how pastoral and friendly.

I find I'm becoming disinterested.

Many folk around here are quite happy and do good in marrying and making babies.  But there are others out there living what I dream about; traveling the country, getting a master's degree, homesteading, having decent full-time jobs.

When will I get there?  Living the dream?

springtime

It is spring in Pennsylvania and green and yellow bleed into my sight everywhere I look.  I drove the back roads betwixt farm & field yesterday on my way to Echo Hill country store and the fields of green were wrecked with dandelion debris.   The pollen floats on the breeze invisibly into every runny nose and itchy eye.  That, I have heard, is at the most ridiculously high levels we've seen in years.  Something like that.

At the present moment, I am searching for a[n additonal] job for the summer.  Parts of my heart long to work at a summer camp, reaching out to kids and spending every moment climbing mountains and searching streams, but I do also feel called to Kutztown and to continuing ministry [hopefully] to the great people I work with at the art stuff store.  They're a beautiful group of women whom I want to love on; I really do enjoy growing into deeper friendships with them and the conversations we have when there are few customers in the store.

Because of this, it seems a 'small' job in town would be the best way to go as far as a little increase in income goes.  I applied for an internship at an organic farm [with professional resume & kickass cover letter], and I'll ask for applications to the little cafes & ice cream shops & boutiques up & down Main Street.  Perhaps I'll market myself for an au pair job.  I'm really looking to work Thursday through Saturday to create a complete work week.  It's nice having more time to work on painting, but the skin on my hands craves clay, and acrylic or oil cannnot satisfy.

Or I'll bake and bake bread, fill a cart & go up & down the street trying to sell my delicious loaves.  Were that a well-paying job, I'd employ myself immediately.

Also, I'm currently accepting ideas for part-time jobs.  Anyone hiring??

eight.

1.  i love Echo Hill Country Store.

2. working on developing new bread recipes.

3. received the brochure about CreationFest.  read through & realized how very high-school-oriented it is.

4. acquired my Berks County library card today.

5. enjoyed browsing around in Young Ones today.

6. so glad my Corolla is old. :o)

7. painting is fun again.  loving the dioxazine.

8. i need to go on an adventure soon.

Two Weeks: VIII

Tuesday, May 5

Work again, gave Magan some okra, which seemingly brightened her day. :)

Wednesday, May 6

Grabbed a sushi lunch with Robin & Abby, debriefed the week at Princeton and the three of us got really pumped about making our youth ministry more relational. Work again, then had dinner at ABC with Meg and Dan.

Thursday, May 7

Ill in the morning (I hope not because of the fish & chips?) It may be "swine flu", which apparently began its existence while I was out of town. Strange! So I just napped all day, ate crackers & broth, etc. Also watched Grey's Anatomy - oh my!!

Friday, May 8

House cleaning to prepare for Bridget hosting prom dinner. Stopped by work to bid Meg farewell, with a six-pack of glass-bottled Cokes. Weather improving - hopefully Central PA air quality will improve as well!

Two Weeks: VI

Friday, May 1

Helped Greg clean up & move out of his apartment, killed a bird with my car, drove to Abington to hang out with grandma for her 82nd birthday. Got home to Greg's parents' house, ate, hung out, relaxed, unloaded the truck & such.

Saturday, May 2

Greg & I went to the Fine Furnishings show in Baltimore. I am so good at reading maps, but apparently my PA map cuts off at a certain point on Route 1 South. Well, we got there, saw some sweet woodworking. Greg especially liked one guy Dave's work - lots of slabs, totally natural look & process. He doesn't do too much to the wood - and finishes it with linseed oil, rather than synthetic toxic crap. If we're ever in southern Illinois, I'm sure we'll visit Dave's shop.

Next, we drove up to York County (the "heart" of PA wine country, apparently) & tried to find Sarah's aunt&uncle's place: Moon Dancer Winery. There are more than 2 yards on that road with grapes growing in them. Found the party, hung out with KU people; Greg & I agreed that we aren't "winos" at all... drove back to Harrisburg & relaxed the rest of the evening while planning Sunday school stuff.

Two Weeks: V

Thursday, April 30th

Final day of great lectures & fellowship with everyone. Went to a great session, "Lifecasting: Teens Fishing for Intimacy in a Sea of Technology" about how adolescents grew up completely with technology, how they use it, how they change it, and how we can deepen relationships face-to-face, which is what they're really searching for. Great stuff! Picnic lunch with Donna, Jorge, and Susan from Wisconsin, followed by session 2 with Tom Stephen. Adrienne came this time too. :-)

Final small group meeting was a fun trip together to the Bent Spoon (I ate chocolate habanero ice cream - yowza!) filled with laughter, stories, and sharing contact information (just like the last day at camp). Another great lecture from Andy Root - great content, although his rhetoric is a little scripted. The Banquet that night was great - met Will from Clark's Summit, and enjoyed more good food served on actual dinnerware this time - coffee in fancy teacups, too! They gave out awards & certificates to folks and then we gathered for powerful final worship to send us out back into the world.

Sad goodbyes preceded my drive back to Kutztown, although Wallace called me and filled me in about how the invisible children rescue was still going on and they were petitioning Oprah in Chicago to help them end the civil war in Uganda & save the kids there. Arrived in Kutztown for a relaxing evening with Greg.

Summary: if you're a successful pastor/theologian, write a book!!

Two Weeks: IV

Wednesday, April 29th

Day started with a long lecture, Southern-Baptist style. Rainy & cooler today. Grabbed some coffee at Small World (recommended by Robin) - lovely! Afternoon was free time, so grabbed a cheesesteak downtown with Dan, Jim & Amanda, followed by Canada v. US floor hockey!! Flippin' awesome! Canadians are so hardcore - pastor Blair was wicked fast; saw some seriously intense moves from all of them. Andy Root definitely the most solid U.S. player - saw some quick moves of the stick from him!!

Afterwards, Amanda & I wandered Princeton U. campus until we found the art museum, spent 20 minutes there 'til closing time. I looked at some Renaissance & medieval paintings (Albrecht Durer, yea!) as well as a few quick peeks at some Impressionists/Modernists (Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne - all the good guys). Amanda had been exploring far more ancient Chinese art downstairs.

Then we wandered around town, Palmer Square esp. - checked out a ceramic/glass shop, popped into the Bent Spoon for a few tastes, visited Jake's on Nassau (I usually like a lot of the Life is Good stuff, but theirs was clearly meant for the affluent population of Princeton - "Life is Good... when I'm golfing"). Later we met up with Jim & Jorge at Triumph for dinner - and saw a great big crowd of Forum on Youth Ministry leadership (administrative folks, lecturers, pastors) come into their reserved party room right behind us. Jorge said, "Well, it's good for the leadership folks to get away from us and hang out for a bit." I replied, "Yea, it's grown-ups only night out!" It felt great to bond with folks 30-40 years old and not feel like a "kid" amongst them. :-) Well, this was the day Amanda & I had gotten a ride to campus with Donna, so we were waiting in the cold for the hotel shuttle to get us. Oh man. Did a midnight swim before bedtime - very refreshing!

Two Weeks: III

Tuesday, April 28th

Opening worship starts the day, then went to a different Extended Seminar with Amanda (all about conflict resolution - good stuff), went to a lecture on missional hermeneutics (very bookish - made it seem like going to seminary is a bit boring) but has some good small group discussion.

Picnic lunch with Adrienne, Gerald, Amanda & Martin followed by small group & more lectures. Went to the "soul-tending" session with Tom Stephen, who reckoned one's spiritual life to the 12-bar blues.

Later, Keynote speaker: Andy Root - said some great stuff about being real with the youth in your group, not elevating yourself to "youth leader" status, but just fostering person-to-person ministry. Another delicious meal to end the day (I'm thinking on-campus catering gets way improved for guests, haha) followed by good conversation at the Yankee Doodle (old-skool Princeton U. watering hole). I really enjoyed the wall of portraits of Princeton U. graduates - all a bunch of rich, white dudes until the most recent portrait: Michelle Obama. Oh, patriarchal society... Anyway, hung with Becky, Karen, Amanda, Jim, Martin, and met Donna from Long Island and Jorge from Michigan. Great folks!

Two Weeks: II

Monday, April 27th

Said goodbye to Julie, met up with Greg who took me to Uptown Cafe for breakfast. Um, so chocolate pecan pie is flippin' amaaazing! Fueled up with good coffee for the road. Hadn't previously realized I-78 had such deeply rolling hills past Allentown/Bethlehem.

Made it into Jersey, almost broke down when I got stuck going 'round & 'round in a traffic circle. Saw Trenton & some Jersey countryside before I made it back to Princeton (yay detour). Figured out that PTS has some pretty horrible parking on the east side of campus; eventually found the lot behind the library. Wandered around a bit, met up with Amanda, tried to park on east campus but some administrative lady threatened us with a tire boot, found a spot (geez, this shouldn't be so hard...)

Then we went in for registration & opening worship, where I met pastors Mark D. & Tom S. after a sweet pro-real-community sermon. Small group time was refreshing in the shade on the grass. Jason Santos is a fun guy, chill, glad he was our "facilitator" (although we pretty much talked without him having to ask a lot of questions). Bonded with Karen from Eastern Shore Virginia, Dan from Alberta (yes, Canada!), Kareem from Newark, & Jim from the D.C. area. Great group!

Had our first Extended Seminar (mine was just ok), then another lecture (Mark DeVries on student leadership - solid stuff!) then sat down to dinner with Amanda, Adrienne & Martin. After dinner, Amanda and I each drove all over Route 1, being misled by those nasty jughandles until finally we made it to the hotel. Checked in, then met up with some Forum folks at Triumph on Nassau street. Met Becky from Wisconsin & Karen & Jim were there too for some great conversation.

Two Weeks: I

The past short chunk of time has been pretty crazy for me - thus, a de-brief blog will help me to collect my thoughts & decompress...

Saturday, April 25th

A full day at work, 10:00 am to 6:30 pm (as a part-timer, the first looong day for me). A hot day: ate lunch outside, which overheated me slightly until the end of the day. Felt good taking off my shoes after work. Drove to Kutztown, hung out with Julie, Greg, Josh, Jake, & Abrams at Basin Street, then stayed at Julie's apartment, talking until 3:00 am.

Sunday, April 26th

An early rise to walk across town to meet at the middle school for Cornerstone Church. A quick service - senior recognition, baby dedication, quick explanation of baptism, followed by baptism of my "freshman" friends (those who arrived at my senior year) Ben, Britt, and Adam, as well as Alex "SP" Smith. Gotta love watching the dunkings. Church picnic location change from Kutztown Park to Raudenbush Farm - spring allergies arrive on this hot & windy day, so Greg takes me back to his house to sleep while he goes into the studio to work all afternoon.

Went to the Library, hung out with Sylvia for a while, whilst figuring out the best way to get from Kutztown PA to Princeton NJ. Popped into the wood shop to see Greg, still working hard, then went to Ebling to help Julie procrastinate from studying for finals and to hang out with Jake, who showed me the mouse he beat to death. We explored various recipe websites to help him expand his cooking repertoire from microwaved egg & hot dog dishes (ew), and I taught him the basics of playing harmonics on guitar (we watched Susan's video, since she is actually good at it) Greg took me to Camillo's to eat an e-nor-mous calzone. Tried a Blue Moon for the first time - lovely! Stayed with Julie again, further assisting her procrastination on studying.

Let's Make a Weekend of It

This weekend I went to Kutztown to visit some friends. It involved piercings, spending time with my man, new & old friends, "lunch meat casserole", Man on Fire, a Matt Reffie original sermon, and sushi. Getting away from the midstate for a few days was hugely rejuvenating. My life has been lacking challenges as of late, and it was a breath of fresh air to get away from home.

On Sunday morning Reffie preached on engagement - in particular, Jesus' parable on "the kingdom of heaven is like a bunch of bridesmaids waiting for their friend's groom to show up." Half of them didn't have enough fuel for their torches, so they went to the store to get some and ended up missing the party. Engagement isn't about waiting around for your wedding day, it's about preparing: calling the caterer, making hair appointments, getting facials, working out to look good in your gown [and out of it, afterward]; renting a tux, working hard, saving money, preparing a home for your bride. Jesus told His disciples that He was going to His Father's house to prepare a room for us. He's getting ready for us, His bride. Are we getting ready for Him?

That sermon was refreshingly challenging & convicting. Thanks, Cornerstone.

I spent today resting after a crazy weekend, and in studying the Word, especially in preparation for girls' small group on Wednesday. Our discussion topic is prayer. What would be your input about it?

For your listening pleasure, a beautiful snippet of a John Piper talk:

So begins another sub-chapter...

Crushed fragments of a stoneware mug lie on my desk and remind me of what an incredible summer I had. Today was the first full day of classes in the second-to-last semester for the class of 2008 at Kutztown University. 9 months from now looms the dark cloud of what many call the "real world." And that's something I intend to avoid for as long as possible. So, for now, from August to December of this year, THIS will be known as the "fun semester." What adventures these 4 months hold are yet unknown, and that excites me.

Today I rode a bicycle for the first time in two years. I also joined a friend in eating ridiculously old coffee beans. They tasted like old. They'd been in the same spot since at least my freshman year. Yesterday the 102 girls created the beginnings of our personal menagerie: 2 fish, F. Pauly Shore and Javi Hoff [yes, both partially named after our university's president]
and a golden mystery snail, Toshare. Let me tell you, that snail is wicked awesome!!

Question: does God still use dreams to speak to people, like He did Joseph? Should I be wondering what He's trying to say through the dreams I have been having over the past 6 months?

I've been praying and waiting and waiting and praying for something big. Praying big in expectation of big results. However, the anticipation has been killing me!!! I really hope the Lord allows this change in my life soon, so I can relax about this!

On my plate for the semester: Cornerstone college group leadership stuff, SENIOR ceramics major duties [run. the. shop.], get a job??, spending the most time possible with my very best of friends, culinary adventures - making sandwiches and beyond!