Cake walk: $1
Longaberger basket: $75
Proceeds from dinner: $582
Knowing that you worked on a project that benefitted two people in your church and is paying their medical bills: priceless

There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there is a fundraiser

Wanna know why I’ve been too tired to blog lately? Read this. There are a few nasty words. If you hate such language, ignore it.

Jon went to AAA on Tuesday and got the guidebooks for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and Nebraska. (The last 5 states are included in one guidebook.) He also got a map of Minnesota and we’re going to get some more maps tomorrow so we can start sort of planning the move out. No… we don’t know exactly where we’re going to move yet (we still have to hear from the synod and fly up and interview with them); but it doesn’t hurt to start planning a route to get to the state. We know that it will be somewhere in western Minnesota from St. Cloud southward and it will be one of these congregations, but that’s pretty much the extent of our knowledge — i.e. no exact place. We’re thinking of breaking the move up into two days instead of driving for 12 hours. Any thoughts on whether this is a good idea or not?

The Claytor Dinner/Auction is on Saturday night to raise money to help an older couple in our congregation. I’m the computer geek for the function which means that I have to make the auction sheets and thank you posters and the instruction papers. Thankfully, we’ll have counters who can tally money for these things. I will be a happy Jen when all of this is OVER and I can go back to my strange and bizarre life. I have a ton of data entry to do tonight as well as baking up all the cookie dough in the freezer and replenishing it as well.

We were trying to park in a really tight space at Meijer today and I accidentally nudged someone. We parked about 20 feet away and before I went in the store, I stopped to survey the damage. Other than a few small scratches and a turned in reflector, the damage was nothing more than a few tire marks. (I’m thinking that if I had some paint the color of the car, I could have quickly fixed it — it was that minimal.) I decided to just go on with my shopping and so Jon and I got the lasagna supplies. On the way out, I decided to go back by the car and see if it was still there. The owner was standing in front of it with a Meijer security person and I asked what had happened. She was screaming about hit and run and the police having been called and I’m thinking “Oh crap…” because apparently, they got me checking the damage on video.

I confessed that I had hit the car and had come back to get the license plate number (well… I’d wanted to see if the car was still there and if it was, I was going to leave a note –I’d written down the license plate number for my reference and my conscience) and I explained what had happened and that I hadn’t thought the damage was too severe. The fact that I owned up to it diffused the situation (as did my offer to baby-sit the car until the police came because the woman had to run to the bathroom) and she thanked me for being honest. The police did their thing, we called our insurance agent who politely explained that our rates might jump a little (maybe $30 for the 6 months if that), and we headed home. One nice thing: the lady said, “I really can’t fault you for this too much because I have a 17 year old and a 19 year old” and proceeded to tell about the things they had done to the cars.

Moral of the story: ALWAYS leave a note. It will save you having to talk your way out of a possible hit-and-run charge. I was going to go back to the car (honest) but I should have left a note right off the bat. I still feel awful because it’s the 3rd fender bender on our record in a 3 month period (2 of them mine).

Other than that, all was good today…

Life has been crazy weird in the last few days and there is so much that I need to blog upon…

Lunch
Jon and I had lunch with the pastor of the Other True Church in town and it was utterly enjoyable as usual. We discussed church schtuff as only a pastor and pastoral assistant and khouria can do. D (herr pastor of Other True Church) thinks Jon and I would be good members of said Other True Church. I replied that the reason I do so well in the One True Church is that I avoid church politics like mad. We also talked about the parade yesterday (which I will explain down below) and about the silliness happening in our own churches. D isn’t in favor of the ordination of women but he is totally respectful of the fact that the Spirit has slammed me with a 2×4, and I honestly do appreciate this.

Oh yes… D was in his clericals because he had a hospital visit and when I saw him, I commented, “You got religion!” I am soooo bad. 🙂

Fundraisers
After spending 2 hours “building” the float for the United Way parade (“building” meaning that I did random things and paced around while the menfolk engaged in carpentry and wiring), I headed over to the car wash that the small group ministry at my church was sponsoring to raise money for the heating fund. It was lovely and though my skin is redder than red as a result, I enjoyed myself. We raised almost $400 on our own, $250 of which will be matched by Thrivent. That’s not too bad for a free will offering and it more than made up for the schmuck that brought his massive 15 passenger van and only donated a dollar toward the cause. The bake sale also went well and some of my cookies sold.

Parades
This was the weekend of the United Way parade and all the Lutheran churches in Licking County marched together. We didn’t have as much of a turn-out as we did for the bicentennial parade last year but we had quite a riotous time. (We were the biggest contingent in the Newark Bicentennial Parade last year.) The people from the congregations of the One True Church bonded with those of the Other True Church in town. Considering that the hierarchy of the Other True Church hates the hierarchy of the One True Church, this was a very lovely occasion. (The Other True Church congregation in town would love to do worship stuff with the the One True Church but there’s the matter that when the DP of New York did that at the Prayer for America, *baaaaaad things* happened to him.)

Anyway… the parade was lovely though my legs were really sore afterwards and I woke up from my nap with a massive charley horse in my right leg (pain level: screaming in agony); and the rain thankfully held off until the Lutherans were done marching. We had music playing on the float and some of us were singing along. We handed out brochures and lollipops and buttons and unfortunately ran out before the parade was 3/4 over.

Too Much Patriotism = Intolerant People
(Yes, this is in response to this. No… I am not attacking him. I am disagreeing with ideas. If people decide to take this across the line to personal attacks on me, I will ban you with no regrets. Hatemail can be sent here, and yes, it is a viable address and I do check it. Having made these caveats, I will continue to the substance of all of this.)

I am an American citizen. I exercise my citizenly privileges (voting, kvetching at my idiotic Congresspeople who don’t give a rat’s butt about their constituents,…) and I’m planning to stick around here for at least a little while longer. (I have student loans to pay off.) There are things I love about my country but… I don’t think this country and its government are beyond reproach and it utterly irks me when people act like our president’s word is the Gospel.

I’m known to get teary-eyed during the singing of the national anthem from time to time and I was a colorguard during all my years in Girl Scouts but… the number of flags that suddenly popped up after 9/11 was just scary, especially when they’re flown by people who know nothing about flag etiquette. I can understand the flag being everywhere on June 14th, July 4th, and September 11th; but having a flag every 8 feet at any other time is overkill.

The post which inspired this was in response to Howard Dean’s comment that Hamas members are soldiers. The author of the post claimed that as a member of the Air Force, he is a soldier but the Hamas people aren’t and proceeded to lash out at those who agree with Dean saying that they hate America. OK… it’s great that he served in the Air Force but… it doesn’t make him special. My father was in the Air Force for three years, my uncle was in the Air Force for 25 years and even served in the Vietnam War, my cousin was in the Coast Guard for 8 years (which meant kickbutt seats for Fleet Week when he was stationed in SFO), my grandfather was a Navy pilot in WWII, and that’s just scratching the surface of the number of military people in my family. However, I am apparently anti-American because I don’t agree with the author of said post. [sarcasm] Oh yeah… great logic there. [/sarcasm]

The question that the author of that post failed to consider (surprise surprise) is whether or not the Intifada counts as a war. I would say that considering the s*** Israel has pulled on the Palestinians, it’s a pretty viable war. Do I support the suicide bombers? HECK NO! DO I support Israel bombing cars and houses, invading the Palestinian territories (which is like invading another country because it doesn’t govern those territories), and restricting travel? HECK NO! I think that both sides have done some deplorable things in the name of supposedly “keeping peace”

Did I support the rationalization for the war in Iraq? HECK NO! (We still have no proof of WMD existence past 1998.) Did I support the troops over there? HECK YES! My church prays for the troops over there at *EVERY* worship service and I know at least 5 families who have sons in Iraq in the line of fire. Am I proud of my troops? They are literally putting their lives on the line in a place where their presence is unpopular so that peace can be kept and a dictator can’t come back into power.

My point (after quite a bit of beating around the bush): it’s OK to be patriotic but you have to be aware of the line between patriotism and intolerance. We all remember the foolishness about “freedom” fries, “freedom” toast, “freedom-braiding”, “freedom kissing”, and [insert object where “French” is replaced by “freedom”] this year when France decided to tell us that we were wrong. That was intolerance — refusing to listen to the criticism of another country because some people couldn’t bear the thought that we were wrong. We can love our country but we also need to keep in mind that we are a country of humans and as such, we are broken human beings and we are not always right.

Here are the questions for the people who replied to my post from the 9th. To conserve space, there’s no space in between the questions, so please read the numbers carefully. Yes, 3 4 of you have the same question #2 — it’s something I’m curious about.

For Chris:
1.) What do you love most about living in Seattle? What do you dislike most?
2.) What is your impression of what I would be like in real life if you were to meet me?
3.) OK… testimony time. What brought you to Jesus and then to the Episcopal Church (and yes, you have to answer this one fully)?
4.) Name your three favorite hymns, 2 favorite Scripture passages, and one favorite spiritual practice and explain why you chose them. (It can be a one sentence answer for each.)
5.) What do you think is the most serious problem that the Church is facing?

For Jake:
1.) You’ve lived all or most of your life in Colorado and now you’re doing grad stuff in Arkansas? How do the cultures in each place differ?
2.) What is your impression of what I would be like in real life if you were to meet me?
3.) Flash forward to the future when you are married and have kids. What would be the two things you’d want for them?
4.) Describe your ideal church.
5.) What is the most powerful spiritual experience that you’ve had?

For Rick:
1.) I know that you’re a computer geek because you work for the same company as my mommy. In college, why did you choose computer science over any other discipline?
2.) What is your impression of what I would be like in real life if you were to meet me?
3.) Have you been to a liturgical church? If you have, what were your impressions? If you haven’t, what do you think the experience would do for your spiritual life?
4.) What are your favorite hymns and why?
5.) Describe your perfect cup of coffee.

For Jon:
1.) Describe your ideal church service combining elements of Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and your other eccentric interests.
2.) Having met me on the ancient date of March 14, 2000, how was I different from what you expected? How have I changed in the three years since then?
3.) After we adopt Freyja and Edda, what do you expect our next cats will be like?
4.) What was your best memory from our wedding?
5.) What is your best memory of our boys from when they were kittens?

For Richard:
1.) What is the story behind the cats you own?
2.) What is your impression of what I would be like in real life if you were to meet me?
3.) What is the most profound spiritual moment that you have had?
4.) What are your stereotypes of Americans as we tend to think of y’all as igloo-dwelling, beaver-and-moose-spotting, Mountie-loving, eco-friendly, America-lite, and way too polite for your own good?
5.) What is your hope for the direction in which your blog is going?

For Sarah:
1.) What led you to study the classics as opposed to any other discipline?
2.) What is your favorite piece that you’ve played on viola? Why did you choose the viola instead of something like the flute?
3.) What has been your most profound spiritual experience?
4.) How is Monroe culturally different from Maryland? What are some things that you like and dislike about each place?
5.) Describe your perfect worship service.

Enjoy!

These are questions for Jenny. Any other takers to be interviewed? 🙂

1.) Why did you choose to study Chemistry and Physics as opposed to any other discipline (biology, literature, English, mathematics)?

2.) What is the best piece of advice that you have ever received?

3.) What is the hardest thing for you about reconciling your faith with your profession (if there is anything hard about it for you)?

4.) What has been the most *interesting* experience you’ve had in the course of your graduate studies?

5.) Recommend one book that you’ve read that you think everyone should read.