Images And Snippets

In youth group last week, we did a lesson around Images of God. The youth were engaged and responsive in a good (albeit extremely energetic) way, and I was really happy with the evening. Hurrah.

At one point, I said that many of us learn best through images, which got me thinking about htis blog. I have always thought of myself as a picture-learner. One of my seminary profs had this habit of drawing everything on the board… both chalkboards were usually full by the time we hit the end of his classes. That, and his tendency to start every class with a song, made his particular teaching style a great match for me. I like metaphor, and following random trails of connections, and patterns. I like the visual, and as much fun as it was (is) to mock his office, having books organized by color kind of makes sense to me.

Since Miss Bliss came into our lives, my ability to see patterns and connections seems to have… lessened? I don’t know if its because my house is less visually organized, or sleep deprivation makes that kind of thinking more challenging, or if my mind is just in a different place these days. But where I used to be a visual/pattern thinker, I’ve become a snippet-thinker, which makes Facebook  and SportsCenter into great pastimes, and writing into more of a challenge than I’m up for, most days.

Still, remembering these early days and weeks of Miss Bliss’ life is important. So snippet-thinking it is!

* Miss B can roll over now, from her tummy to her back! She first accomplished this the day she turned 16 weeks. LS was playing with her downstairs, doing tummy time before I got out of bed ( our usual routine), and she got almost all the way over. He swooped her up, ran upstairs to wake me, put her down on her tummy…and BAM! She rolled over! It was awesome, and then we both said “oh crap. this is the road to mobility.”

* Miss B went to her first concert that same day… Brandi Carlisle at a local bookstore. She loved it, which is no big surprise since she loves all live singing thus far in her life. Handy skill for a PK, don’t ya think?

*Speaking of music, she loves bedtime songs – especially Rainbow Connection, Be Thou My Vision, What Child Is This, and that one Sanctus from LEVAS that everyone loves. In the car, a cd we made of camp music calms her down.

*She had her first cold at the beginning of this month. She was generally good-natured about it. A sniffly, coughing, smiling baby is simultaneously the saddest and cutest thing ever. She got over in in enough time for us to go to Fancy Clergy Conference.

* At her 4 month check-up, he is average weight and length, with a 95-percentile-sized noggin. She has mastered everything on the developmental milestone page except “sleeping through the night”

* I would totally trade “rolling over” for “sleeping through the night”

Rusty Bike

You know that saying, “Its just like riding a bike”? Well, I’ve never been great at bike riding.

Sunday was my first week back into the youth group arena after 10 months of unemployment, 3 months of mama-hood, and a good couple years since running a regular old youth group session. It was sort of like riding a bike… if that bike is in disrepair, needing a new chain and air in the tires. Not the smoothest ride, but we got somewhere.

I’m getting a jump on my parenting skills, and blaming Miss Bliss for some of the fits and starts (since “fits and starts” would describe her sleeping for the past few days). I was a bit space-y during our meetings, and had to call a friend on the way to jog my memory for name games. My timing was off too – I’ve forgotten how long various things take – playing games, sharing stories- but I got my watch fixed which should help in the future. Still, we had two good sessions, with kids that are fun and energetic and bothered to show up even when their beloved pastor has moved away and some new lady was going to be there.

I may have mentioned that LS rides a very old bike to work every day. The great thing we’ve learned is that even rusty old bikes can be spiffed up pretty easily. I think this is going to be a good year.

Another New Song

Before Miss Bliss arrived, I wasn’t really a stay-at-home mom. I was an unemployed pregnant woman. After she was born, my days felt totally different – not just in the crying-feeding-changing of a baby sense, but in the sense of purpose.  I had chosen not to pursue a new call because of the pregnancy (so, technically speaking for all you econ freaks, I wasn’t unemployed, I was a housewife), but stay-at-home mom really felt better to me than stay-at-home-mom-to-be. Plus, thats a lame acronym, SAHMTB.

Anyway, the point is that I wasn’t planning to get back into regular paid ministry anytime soon. But God is SO funny with the timing. A friend left his position, and the pieces started to fall into place very quickly. They needed someone to start almost immediately to work with the youth group and church school programs, and heard I was available. After some creative thinking, we arrived at a plan that pleased everyone – at least, it seems to be that way so far.

I’ve been reading ReverendMother’s accounting of her new call (yay for her and tiny church!) and the path that led her there. Someday, I would like to be part of a call process that worked that way: with careful discernment, patience and intuition. I seem to fall into positions more than seek them out. LS likes to remind me that I’m a terrible “looker” – I lose things all the time, and can’t ever find them, even if they are immediately in front of me. So, maybe it makes sense that ministry opportunties seem to pop up out of nowhere for me.

I’m happy to say that as of September 1st, I’m a part-time assistant for youth and children’s ministries at St. Surprise: because no one is more surprised than I am at this grace.

Gentle Hints

I’m back in the preaching saddle, as they say. Actually, I’m not sure anyone says that. Anyway, Miss Bliss is napping after our exciting trip to the Farmers Market in the rain, so I pulled out the computer, thinking I’d look at the texts for this coming week. Instead, I’m reading blogs and thought I should update. Of course, when I tried to come to the WordPress site, my computer pulled up the Working Preacher site instead. I’m usually one to attribute human emotions to machines (like, why is my printer always so mad at me?) but I refuse to be nagged by my laptop. Chalk that one up to human error.

Life as a stay-at-home-mom has some monotony. Yesterday’s big accomplishments included convincing Miss Bliss to take THREE naps (woo hoo!), and fixing my pump. That was important because A. buying a new pump would be hella expensive, and B. I’m going back to work part-time and so I’ll need to be able to pump.

Wait, what? You’re going back to work part-time?

Yep. Youth work for now, with support for children’s ministry when I pick up more hours in a couple months. Crazy! A set of circumstances fell into place with perfect timing, and the path to ministry with young people is open for me again. I’m nervous, excited, and mostly amazed at how God really does answer prayers. Its nice to be reminded of that in a concrete way every now and then.

Nine Weeks Ups & Downs

Up: Miss Bliss is learning to grab things. Mostly its been my hair or my shirt, while she’s eating or being held.But this morning, she grabbed onto a ring toy I handed her, and waved it around while I finished breakfast and made a mad dash for the camera.

Down: That stronger grip still applies to grabbing my hair.

Up: She is much more alert and aware – following objects with her eyes, seeing things frther away, and lookinf for voices.

Down: That means she no longer ignores the TV if its on, which is when we decided we would stop watching TV with her around. My days just changed a bit. Any good podcast rcccomendations?

Creating Ritual

Have I mentioned here that I am a cradle Episcopalian? For better or worse, my very being is shaped by ritual. Familiar words and familiar songs in familiar patterns bring me deeper into the presence of God. I can recite huge portions of the Eucharist from memory. When I was a kid, my friends and I would sit in the back of the church and mumble the prayers along with the priest. Now that I am spending a lot of Sundays in pews, I do the same thing. Especially that one paragraph from Prayer C… the presumption of coming to this table for solace only, and not for strength… I know that some of the language from the 1979 BCP, inlcuding that prayer, is less than ancient. But its what I’ve always known, and the words and actions feel timeless to me.

So how on earth is this cradle-Episcopalian supposed to CREATE a bedtime ritual for Miss Bliss? Traditions and routines and rituals are so important to me, but they’ve always felt pre-formed. Good rituals feel like a living stream flowing through time that we have just stepped into, becoming part of something else. Of course, going to bed isn’t really that big a deal. But thinking about creating a routine has me hungry for working with liturgy.

In the meantime, I’m also getting hungry for working with crafty things – usually a fleeting urge for me. But with a very little bit of time, patience, and energy (and, um, skill), I bet I could decorate some celing fans with the Keeping The Faith how-to post!

hey, whatever gets those creative synapses firing away.

Yay Melissa!

I love the Next Food Network Star – I’ve been recording it and watching it during feeding sessions. So, maybe its the new-mom thing, but I’ve loved Melissa from the very beginning. I’m psyched she won and looking forward to watching her show. But can I just say – “Kitchen Survival Guide” was a better name that “Ten Dollar Dinners.” Alton Brown is a genius, and they should let him be in charge of more things over on that food channel.

10,000 Watts

Miss Bliss learned to smile in her fourth week. It took a while to capture it on film, and now I’m capturing it here for the internets and in case FB doesn’t last long enough.

An early smile from Miss Bliss

This is the digital version of “grapsing at moments” for 21st-century mommas: holding on to every bit of light and sunshine and grace and joy, because at only six weeks, I’m teary over how fast my baby is growing.

The Games We Play

Miss Bliss may only be five (and a half) weeks old, but we already have games that are worth remembering. Mostly we “play” by laying her on this mat that you can hang toys over her head, and she looks at them. But her dad made up a game with her on the changing table, where he puts a diaper rag over her legs and she kicks it off, and then he claps. She played this morning in her bouncy seat while we ate breakfast, and seemed to think it was hilarious.

Of course, some games have a downside… at naptime, Miss Bliss thought it would be fun to play the “kick the cloth diaper” game with her swaddle blanket instead of going to sleep. Mommy was not overly impressed.

I’m not the only one thinking about games today! The RevGals Friday Five is also about games this week. Since my official membership in RevGals has lapsed (due to not blogging and moving my page), I haven’t played the Friday 5 in ages, but I’ll play this week. You know, for the fun of it.

Jan writes… In less than three weeks, my family, including children and their partners, will be gathering in Seattle, WA for 12 days. After various days in Seattle sightseeing and in Bellingham seeing family, we will travel to the coast of Washington State to spend three nights in a large rented house. With nine adults (from almost 20 years old and up), I am thinking that we need to have some activities pre-planned–like GAMES! (Any ideas will be appreciated.)

So this Friday Five is about games, so play on ahead. . . .

1. Childhood games? My sister and I made up a fantasy game called “Lands,” where she was magicially transported to a fantasy world where I played all of the characters she met in various lands: Jungle Land, My Little Pony Land, Country Land, Queen of Sheba Land. I’ve forgotten most of them now, but there were many.

2. Favorite and/or most hated board games? I’ve always loved Trivial Pursuit – when I was little we had a box of kids questions for me and grown-up questions for my mom so we could play together. I don’t remember hating very many when I was a kid, but I played LIFE recently, and thought it was horrible.

3. Card games? Apples to Apples is technically a card game, and we love it. Also, LS’s grandmother taught us cribbage when we visited her in Florida years ago, and we’ve recently started playing it again. Being from where we’re from, we also love euchre.

4. Travel/car games? I like to sing in the car. Always have. My poor mother… my sister & I would sing all the way through Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on car trips. Now its mostly Indigo Girls, U2, and John Denver.

5. Adult pastimes that are not video games? Cooking is fun, and walking to the ice cream store.

Bonus: Any ideas for family vacations or gatherings? Our family does the rent-a-house reunion thing too… Apples to Apples was a big hit a couple years ago. This summer’s gathering will include a canoe trip that ends at a park with grills and stuff. Me & Miss Bliss will be skipping the canoes I think, but the 15-yr-old nephew is pretty excited about it. As much as 15 year old nephews get excited, that is.

These Are The Days…

I’ve never been a huge Natalie Merchant fan, but the song on the radio had me thinking about my days.

Six years ago this summer, my days were taken up by CPE – my rewarding, educational, stressful and completely absurd experience as a hosptial chaplain on the west side of Chicago. We bonded with our group, the supervisor was fired, neighborhood gangs had a shootout in the ambulance bay, weekly worship was some of the best praise I’ve ever known, and we ate hot fudge, fried chicken, and peach cobbler like we lived in Georgia.

Three years ago, my days were the regular summer days of an assistant priest working with children and youth formation.  There was the mission trip to Tennessee, Narnia VBS, a week at camp with leaders-in-training, and sermon-writing. After a year in a place, things were almost familiar. I miss the good folks of St. Curate on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

This year, my days are timed by feeding Miss Bliss, by naps (hers and mine), diaper changes, and slotting in some errands. After a month of baby life – and a week of so with LS back at work – these days have started to feel like the new normal, the same way seminary days and working clergy days did.

And I realized, that all the different “normals” I’ve lived are often someone else’s “normal.” At two pm, there are always stay-at-home-moms wondering why the baby is having such a rough day, there are clergywomen cleaning up from the morning’s VBS program, there are chaplains and nurses and security guards figuring out the best and safest way to care for their charges. It may be obvious to most people, but its comforting to me on this very normal day.