This is my story and I’m sticking with it.
Sister N. asked me to send along a brief update. This is as brief as I could make it!!!
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I can’t believe it’s already July 15! The summer seems like it has flown by. DS1 and DS2 are finishing up baseball seasons. Tom’s team had a lot of fun but lost the first game in the playoff, so they’re done. DS1, has been playing on TWO teams and has told me this week that he’s ready for baseball to be done. The park team has playoffs beginning on Monday, and the VFW/Legion team’s playoff begins on Thursday. But he has played a LOT of baseball this summer. He also has his driver’s permit, so I’m teaching him how to drive a stick shift since the behind-the-wheel is in an automatic but we only have manual transmission cars! They are both healthy and doing looking forward (?) to their first orthodontia appointments later this month!
Sister N has probably told you that I have been offered and have accepted an interim position as Director of Worship and Music at St. Anthony Park Lutheran church. This position begins September 1 and is part time, leaving time in my schedule for CPE. The Fairview CPE process is a little slow, so I don’t have a final answer yet about where I’ll be, but I have been assured by Dr. Halvorson that the process hasn’t really begun so I’m not “disqualified” or passed-over…they’ve just had a surprising spring with the sudden death of one supervisor and the sudden serious health issues of another and the sabbatical of a third!!! So they’re scrambling. I have moved my vacation to August 20-27 so that I can give GC 4 weeks notice, end on a summer choir Sunday and then take a week for rest and re-creation before starting all the new adventures of the fall! (It seemed like a healthy way to schedule things 
)
My friend YM, a classmate from Luther Seminary is going to move in and rent my 4th bedroom beginning August 1 until she finds a permanent job and knows where to look for an apartment. This is a blessing for her, as an international student, not to have to find interim housing at the end of July when she has to be out of campus housing, and it’s a blessing for us because we love having her with us! And it will help with the monthly budget too.
I also am exploring the possibility of a PT job helping another little church in Lauderdale (near seminary and SAPLC) with their worship bulletins. Another friend from seminary has been doing this but she starts her internship this year. It’s basically freelance secretarial that I can do on my own computer, on pretty much my own schedule and get to the copy center on campus for the Pastor to pick-up by Friday afternoons. He does all the planning and I do the typing and layout. My friend says she spends between 25-30 hours a month, so that will be another little help to the budget.
XH and I met with county mediators and our attorneys yesterday and are very very close to an agreement about custody and visitation. We still have to meet about the finances but since there’s really not much to discuss I expect we should have an agreement worked out in that area in a couple of weeks. After that it’s just a waiting time, I think and we should not have to go through a trial phase. It continues to be a sad time with lots of hopes and dreams really coming to an end.
I’ve had one meeting with MM, a spiritual director, and I’m looking forward to her return from Ireland so we can continue to work together. I thank you for your grant to allow me to do that.
I have started a ‘house church’ on Sunday nights. Mostly it began as an invitation to musician friends who have expressed some frustration at not begin able to worship while their leading. It has expanded to include some pastors and students from Luther as well. We meet at my house on Sunday evenings at 7:30. So far we have only used LBW Vespers, but this week we are experimenting with unaccompanied Holden Evening prayer. We also find that the “ministry of fellowship” is an important piece of this, and people are staying afterward for tea or coffee until 9 or 10! Given the mostly Lutheran make-up of the group, there’s no shortage of people willing to ‘pot-luck’ the treats. For me, it is serving as an important way to touch base with people in my circle of support.
I’ve really appreciated knowing that I’m held in prayer by so many people. I’m ever grateful for God’s grace and ministry of presence that I experience through the people in my life and I depend on it as I walk through everything that’s happening.
In Christ’s love,
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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Public Health Concerns 2007
A year ago 2007
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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Public Health Concerns 2007
A year ago 2007
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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Public Health Concerns 2007
A year ago 2007
