I have a MAJOR prayer request for y’all: could you please keep my in-laws and some of my friends in southern California in major prayer? My in-laws are OK as far as I know but Jon’s best friend had a palm tree in his yard go up in flames and was evacuated a few days ago. (They’re back at home now.) The fires are within about a block of 20 people I know in the area (and we’re talking people in different parts of the area here) and this is a really serious situation.

Jon and I got together with Whitney and Nik on Saturday and had a great time. We had lunch at Country Kitchen and then went to the Calf Fiend and played Sequence and Uno while watching the snow fall. They also showed us around the area and I’m feeling pretty grateful to have friends like them around here.

We have interviews today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. Our interview last night went pretty well and we’re just hoping that all go well. I don’t think all 4 will offer us a call; but we might get two or three out of this. 🙂

1. Name five things in your refrigerator.

-apples
-orange juice
-cheese
-tomato soup
-yeast

2. Name five things in your freezer.

-bean burgers
-ice
–TJ’s chicken-brie pockets
-frozen casserole
-cake

3. Name five things under your kitchen sink.

-trash
-garbage bags
-plastic bags
-trash can
-cleaning supplies

4. Name five things around your computer.

-clutter!
-stuffed tiger
-books
-CD’s
-printer

5. Name five things in your medicine cabinet.

(It’s more like a closet for us.)
-shampoo
-conditioner
-Advil
-Band-aids
-cotton balls

I just got back from the endodontist and I’m really wondering why people complain so much about root canals. Braces were *MUCH* worse — I remember not being able to eat for a week when my braces were tightened. Granted, the novacaine shots weren’t fun, but it was *NOTHING* compared to getting my palatal expander off — and they didn’t give me ANYTHING for that!

I get to see my dentist about a crown tomorrow. I’m wishing that this all had waited until I had insurance, but they’re working with me on financing everything. If you want to contribute to the “Crown Jen’s Teeth With (Hopefully Not Too Many) Crowns” fund, let me know. 🙂

Some have been wondering what is happening right now, why I’m nearly invisible on b4G, why I’m not blogging as much… Well… here are all the things concurrently running through my mind.

Such is my life. Welcome to it.

Reading about this on several pages brought back memories of college. (The story was about the Vatican spreading lies that condoms don’t prevent the spread of AIDS. I understand that they are against birth control but… their idiotic words are going to cost people their lives because they’ll have unprotected sex. But anyway…) At UC Santa Cruz, they assumed that we were all having free sex 24/7 (because that’s all college kids do, right?) and as a result, women going to the health center would frequently be asked if they should be tested for pregnancy. If I had been sexually active in college, this would have been OK. However, I wasn’t and it was annoying that whatever bloodwork they did on me included a pregnancy test.

During my first year of college, I was always sick with something having to do with my upper or lower respiratory system. I got bronchitis at least quarterly and it frequently developed into walking pneumonia. That spring, I went to the health center with a sore throat. They did a throat culture and told me to come back in a few days for my lab results. I came back a few days later and checked in. The nurse called “Jennifer” and nobody else in the waiting room looked up. I went in and the following dialogue ensued.

Nurse: “OK.. your pregnancy test came back negative. Now why do you think you’re pregnant?”
Ummm yeah… they gave me a THROAT CULTURE. A swab of cotton against the back of my throat is a pregnancy test. OhhhhhK….
Me: “You gave me a throat culture.”
Nurse: “You mean you’re not Jennifer _______???”
Me: “No… I’m Jennifer M________.”
Nurse: “Oh no! You’re the wrong Jennifer!”

They got the correct Jennifer in and I guess they counselled her on birth control or something. (My throat culture came out negative.)

On Monday, we got some papers from Southwestern Minnesota Synod saying that they want Jon to come up for new pastor orientation. Jon called and politely asked how he would be getting up there. It turns out that they’re willing to give us some churches to interview at while we’re up there.

I asked my boss for the time off. She OK’ed it but told me that she’d have to talk to the board about it. Well… she called today and told me that since I’m leaving in the next 6-8 weeks, the board wants my last day to be Friday because in addition to travelling for a week, I also can’t guarantee that I’ll be here for the holidays and they need to find and train someone who can be. To her credit, she told me that she wanted to meet with me in person first but since I had an emergency dental appointment today, I couldn’t do this. I’m not exactly happy since we could use the income. (We’re starving seminary students — we can *ALWAYS* use the income.) However, I’m leaving on a somewhat positive note (I hope). Things would not be this good if I had informed them in November that I was leaving and they had to hurriedly recruit and train someone. I also have my paychecks earmarked for certain things like vet visits for the cats and for Jon’s insurance premium, so those things are taken care of.

Another lovely thing that happened today: I got the news that I need a root canal on one of my teeth. I broke it last month and decided to wait until I got to Minnesota. It started throbbing while I was eating lunch yesterday, so I called a local dentist and asked for an appointment. They took x-rays and evaluated it and gave me the news. The only reason that I’m not jumping on this is… I don’t have dental insurance and I’m not in a great place to finance a procedure like this. My tooth isn’t giving me problems and I’m being super careful to not aggravate it. God willing, it can wait until I get up to Minnesota…

The good news today is that the synod is going to cover *all* of our Minnesota travel costs. I made plane and car reservations this afternoon and had a great time. (It’s always fun when I’m spending someone else’s money. :)) We’ll go up from October 23-30 and hopefully Jon will receive a call from one of those interviews.

OK… hopefully the bad stuff will cease and the good stuff will continue..

Besides the trouble I’ve been having at work (which is a friends-only entry on my Livejournal), my week has royally stunk. On Tuesday, our toilet backed up all over the bathroom floor and we had to call a plumber (and Jon had to clean up the mess). I haven’t slept really well because of the situation with work and I’m also getting impatient while waiting for Southwestern Minnesota Synod to let us know when Jon has to go up and interview. (I’d be cashing in some miles and going too.)

For those (i.e. Richard) who have put up with the whiny messages, thank you. You are keeping me sane and helping me to deal with all of this.

Some positive things: I took over Jon’s Confirmation classes on Wednesday and worked one-on-one with the 6th grader in the class (it’s normally 8th graders, but we opened it up to all middle schoolers) to help her through the lesson. She is such a sweetheart and she was having a terrible time concentrating while her classmate was watching a video (as the program is self-paced and an independent study kind of thing), so she and I worked on the Bible reading and questions together. I’m going to work with her next week too and hopefully I can get her caught up to everyone else before we leave.

I also had a chance to talk to my friend Jill about the work stuff. Jill was one of my classmates at the sem and she has been our cheerleader for the last year. She gave me some really helpful advice on dealing with the work situation and also reminded me that I need to go easier on myself. Believe me, the latter is easier said than done…