California Dreamin'

I've been doing a lot of that lately considering we just hit sub zero temperatures in MARCH. March is supposed to be the time when the birds start to come back and you can begin to feel the hint of spring in the air. It is not the time to have to dig the ice scraper back out from the pile of stuff its become buried under in the back of the car to chip away at the 1 inch layer of ice on your windshield at 8AM in the morning because there's no way your defroster is going to melt through that in the 25 minutes its going to take you to get to work.

But I digress. I really meant to tell you about our recent trip to CA. My boss was nice enough to send myself and the middle school youth minister to the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress at the end of February. When I moved to Minnesota, I always dreamed about being able to take a business trip back home, but never thought it would actually happen. The Congress was a four day seminar on Catholic Religious Education. It was awesome. Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics, was the keynote speaker on Saturday, and Thursday I was able to get to hear Mark Hart of Lifeteen speak twice. Plus on Friday Matt Maher played at lunch...just awesome. It was the first time since I've started this new job that I actually was someplace where I could get fed spiritually--that doesn't even happen at church much anymore, because I now attend church at the place I work and rather than being able to worship I'm constantly worried about worshipping right because I know people are watching...

But I digress again. Anyway, Congress was awesome, and we were able to be in CA for a week, so we were able to spend some quality time with friends and family. Did I mention this trip also happened to coincide with that unfortunate milestone birthday so many of us are celebrating this year? It was perfect timing. The first day we got there, we were able to hang out with my parents most of the day. My uncle joined us later that afternoon, and then we went out to dinner that night. Then Hubby and I went to the OC to check into the hotel my parents and uncle generously got for us (something about a concern that it wouldn't be appropriate for a high school youth minister to arrive at a religious convention with a severe case of road rage after having dealt with the southern CA traffic for the past two hours). The hotel was awesome--it had a huge koi pond in the center, and we got to see this little guy each morning at breakfast:



The next day was the first day of the conference, and I was able to meet Zack, a friend from high school, for lunch and get caught up. That night Hubby took me to a tea room in Orange for my birthday, and we joined my parents, brother and uncle at local Cheesecake Factory that night for dessert. My uncle got me a sympathy card for my birthday. A sympathy card. Those of you who know how old I am will understand the humor in this.

The next day Hubby and I had some time to ourselves after I was done at Congress, and we went out to dinner and then to see He's Just Not That Into You. It was cute. The following day it was more Congress and then a b-day celebration with extended family and friends at a local El Torito. Hubby and my mom did a great job of planning it, and it was really nice to see everyone. The next morning was the last day of Congress, and then Hubby and I had dinner with my family and longtime family friends. The next day was my b-day gift from Hubby: a day at Glen Ivy with a good friend. I love Glen Ivy. For those of you who have never been, it's an outdoor spa with different mineral baths and pools that are supposed to help you relax and with your skin. They have services there too, so of course we got massages. It was awesome, and over way too soon. We hung out again with my parents that night, and I met up with a girl that I haven't seen since we got married for coffee later. She was in high school when I was a youth ministry volunteer, and it was really awesome to see her as a grown 20-something-year-old woman. The next day, our final full day in CA, Hubby wanted to drive up to the mountains to get some pictures. I'm not really sure why we chose to go someplace with snow when we were in CA to escape snow, but it was fun. Here are some pictures:






That night we met some friends for dinner, and then caught the red eye back. It was a great trip, and over way too soon, but we were glad to be able to see everyone.

It's Been Awhile...

Wow. More than a month and no blog post. It feels like I was just updating this blog yesterday. Where has the time gone?

Here's an update on what's been going on for those of you who still stop by. February, like the previous four months at work, was crazy. We had our weekend retreat and another day retreat in addition to all the other regular youth ministry activities. So preparing for those while trying not to lose control of everything else was hectic.

Work has been frustrating. We have a large faith formation program, and the students preparing for Confirmation are required to do a reflective paper on their service projects, have an interview and write a letter to the pastor. This is all supposed to be done by the end of this month. Hardly any of them have bothered to do this yet despite multiple mailings with reminders and repeated announcements during class sessions and parent meetings. Sometimes I spend more time babysitting teens and their parents than I do ministering to youth and today it has just been getting to me. It's not even so much the fact that they haven't bothered to take care of this yet as it is the reason behind it--they don't care. And not just the teens--the parents as well. Why would you sign your teen up for faith formation if you don't even go to church on a regular basis (or, for many of them, at all)? What kind of message is that sending? We have this amazing God and they're too wrapped up in hockey and all their other commitments to even notice. It makes me sad sometimes, and I don't know what to do about it.

We did just get back from a great week in California though. I did have to work for part of it, but we were able to spend some quality time with friends and family. The next post will have the details and hopefully some pictures, so stay tuned.

#6

I have been tagged by my friend, Laura, to do a photo meme.

Here are the rules:

1. Open your photos, choose the 6th folder and then the 6th photo in that folder.

2. Post the photo with a description about it and tag 6 friends to do the same.

So here's our #6:


This was taken in our backyard. In the midwest, squirrels are considered pests/rodents, but being from CA where the only wildlife you see in your backyard are cockroaches, I love them. We have a feeder out back and it is so much fun to watch them run around.

Thanks, Laura, for the meme. I'll get to the other one hopefully this week. :) I'm supposed to tag 6 people, but I'm not going to. If you're interested in the topic, consider yourself tagged!

BRRRRRR

It is cold here.

So cold that your skin starts burning from the cold after a minute or two of being outside (I think the medical term for this is frostbite).

So cold that you have to call your mother-in-law and her husband to come over and jump start your car in the middle of the day because it won't start.

So cold that the salt they use to melt the snow can't work...resulting in an unfortunate supply of black ice. Everywhere.

So cold that it is actually too cold to snow.

So cold that you have to use your break time at work to let your car run for a few minutes to help minimize the chances that it won't start again when you go to leave at night.

So cold that half the schools in the state are either delayed or closed completely.

So cold that if you don't let your car run for at least 10 minutes before trying to drive it, you will spend your morning commute either sitting in a stalled car or trying to keep from getting frostbite in your car, because the heat will not kick in for at least 15 minutes and even though it's at least 20 degrees warmer in your car than it is outside, when it's -20 degrees outside it's sort of a moot point.

So cold that it's -20 degrees outside.

So cold that as I type this, it is -8 degrees here... and 24 degrees in Antarctica. Antarctica people.

So cold that when you get to your office all excited to be someplace warm after the trek through the frigid parking lot, you find that there is no heat because the outside heating unit that controls the temperature in your office space has frozen over.

So cold that your nose hairs freeze upon immediate contact with the air.

So cold that if you leave the house with your hair wet, that freezes too (you'd think I'd learn after years of living here, but alas...).

So cold that your husband, the stalwart Minnesotan, says it feels cold in the house and allows the heat to stay at 65 degrees instead of the normal 59. And then still thinks it's cold.

And it's only January...

In The 'Hood

You know you live in the Ghetto when:

1. People in the low-income housing directly abutting your backyard use said backyard as their personal land fill.

2. Items thrown over your backyard fence include not only other people's trash and toys, but on occasion an old Dr. Pepper bottle filled with a substance that looks suspiciously like human pee.

3. Your neighbors think it's okay to throw their trash over your fence.

4. Low-income housing directly abuts your backyard.

5. The neighborhood kids routinely hop the fence into your yard despite repeated requests for them not to do so because they think that just because you have a swing set in your backyard that your backyard is a public park and not private property.

6. When you threaten to talk to their parents after having to chase them out of your yard too many times, they look at you with surprise and say "But my parents said it was okay."

7. Some of the neighbors bring in their trash cans 6 days after trash pickup...if you're lucky.

8. Your backyard fence has been knocked down on more than one occasion by a person who learned to drive in a country other than the U.S. and who can't seem to figure out that you don't have to wait until you hit things to figure out that you've gone too far, you can use those mirrors they put in the cars for you to judge how close you are to something.

9. Visitors to your low-income neighbors arrive in RV's which they park in front of your house and then proceed to set up camp on your curb for the duration of their visit. Calls to the police only result in them backing up their trailer 30 feet or so.

10. And finally, you have to pause the movie you're watching on a Friday night with your husband because you have just noticed that the SWAT team is running through your yard with their rifles drawn looking for God knows who and you need to stay away from the windows to avoid any stray bullets.

I. Can't. Wait. To. Move.

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

How Did You Spend Your Thanksgiving Holiday?

It finally happened.

I still can't quite believe it.

I tried to avoid it.

I came up with every stall tactic I could think of:

"You already bought an old one that you are supposed to be fixing up and it's been sitting on our driveway for three years."

"But I want to go back to grad school, and higher education trumps horsepower."

"Let's go to Europe this year and we can revisit this topic next year, okay?"

When those ran out, I started with the excuses:

"We don't need it."

"We can't afford it."

"You will kill yourself."

The stall tactics and excuses lasted for five years. And then Friday, something happened.

I ran out. Completely drew a blank. Had nothing else left to say.

And that is how this happened:

Yes, my friends, that is now sitting in our garage. It is Hubby's Christmas gift. For the next 50 years. And that is how we spent the day after Thanksgiving. Economy, you are welcome.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone.