Greetings all! I am excited to have finally tried out "Google Reader", which is probably going to be the only way I will remember to check this blog with any regularity. I am also pleased as peaches with your questionairre, Megan, as I was finding, oddly, that I didn't have anything interesting to say... that plus surveys are always fun. The one thing one never gets bored of talking about is one's self...

1. What are a few significant events or milestones that have happened in your life since the last time we talked?

Uh... you want a list?

A. I have a blog. I heart it. http://osbornfiber.com Okay that's not really new. It's just a shameless plug for myself. My blog has been something in between knitterly-self-discovery and expressive therapy, and it keeps my brain working when nothing else will.

B. I started a business, recycling yarn from old sweaters and hand dyeing it and other yarn with natural materials. See link above. Okay, so I make less money than we spend on breakfasts at Chik-fil-a, but it's real enough - I have to fill out tax forms; I can't imagine it being any more real than that.

C. I work at a yarn shop. happiness incarnate! another shameless plug: http://www.cloverhillyarn.com

D. Jared & I have decided, more or less for sure, to go to seminary this fall. Most likely to Trinity. Jared for an MDiv, me for a MAR (an unfortunate acronym that stands for Master of Arts in Religion) in Church History.

E. Because we're leaving the area in August, and our [lameihateyourar] landlords refusal to give us a short lease, we're moving to another apt. in April. Then moving again in August. every time I acknowledge that in writing, my heart skips a beat, my eye twitches, and i lose about fifteen minutes off my life.

2. If you could describe your life right now as an ice cream flavor, what would it be and why?
Pistachio. Because ... why in the heck would you make ice cream that tastes like pistachios?

3. Read any good books lately?
Between working at a yarn shop, then going home to keep house and "work" at my "second job" at my "business," my reading time consists of the five minutes I have in bed every night while Jared is brushing in his teeth. But I've been listening to a lot of books on tape. I'm just finishing up a novel about quilting (I ran out of the library's collection of knitting books on tape). It's rather horrendously written - I've decided that crafting novels are like Christian movies - they are generally horrible, but we are part of the subculture, so we partake. Aside from the writing, the story is heartwarming, and I'm learning a lot about quilting! Just what I need; another equipment-heavy, stash-creating, hand-crafting hobby!

4. What is the most stressful thing in your life right now, and how are you dealing with it?
The idea of moving twice in five months. It took me a few long quiet times and a lot of blog-whining before I came to terms with how I felt about moving, and became fully okay with the decision that we've made. We made a plan, which helped, but the main way I am dealing with it is - procrastinating. If I let myself start packing and prepping now, I'd be fussing about it from now until it happened, but really - it only needs to take a week. So I'm putting it off until at least a couple weeks before. It's not like I don't have enough to do in the meantime - our moving date is just a week before my hand-dyed yarn is "due" for the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival (only the biggest opportunity for me to sell my yarn like ever in my life).

5. Any recent noteworthy culinary adventures?
Hm.... Jared's been the more culinarily adventurous of the two of us, lately. I made some creamed parsnips - joining a CSA has meant we are swimming in winter vegetables and citrus, when I have no time for clever cooking - so I creamed parsnips. Jared, however, made an amazing chili involving chuck roast, cocoa powder, and a cinnamon stick, among other things. Unfortunately we were out of chili powder (he having used up our supply last time he made insanely hot chili) so he used the dried serranos that had been a gift from his brother for Christmas... ground up... in the same quantity. In order to get through a bowl, i have to drink about a glass and a half of milk. But it's aMAzing. As for me, I've been having *food* adventures... but they don't have to do with eating, so they don't really count as culinary. I've discovered so far - dye from black beans (blue) gets under your fingernails - turmeric (bright yellow) by itself smells disgusting, and I don't know how to get that smell out of yarn - and beets (red) don't really dye at all if you let the pot boil (crap.)

6. What was the happiest moment of the past week?

We were busy Wednesday night, so we decided to celebrate St. Patty's day early. That Irish holiday has posed a problem for us - we've gotten into the habit of giving up alcohol during lent, but St. Patrick's day always happens during lent. But what is St. Patrick's without a guiness?! A sad and watery day, I tell you. So we make an exception. Jared found a pub with a week long St. Patrick's celebration, so we went out with a friend, had a couple of pints with our corned beef, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

7. If we were to go on a road trip this spring/summer, where would you want to go?

Some. Place. Warm.I don't care that I won't be able to wear all my knitted sweaters I want to go to the ocean on a day that I am so hot and sweaty that running into the water 'till its past my head does not require a second thought. I am OVER winter.

I'm a ramblin' woman.... And so thrilled to read all your posts. I've been missing y'all lately, ever so much. Hugs and keep in touch!

Always Being Stretched

Well, I had intended to take advantage of this nifty blog much sooner but couldn't figure out how to write a new post for a while and then...well, neuro happened. The last nine weeks since Christmas break were certainly academically intense - although not so bad as to exclude weekend trips to Florida and NYC and plenty of playing in the snow. :-)

The main reason I thought to post at this exact moment is because just yesterday I returned from the Dominican Republic. As you all know, my long-term dream is to serve as a doctor overseas someday, and these little short-term trips are weak foretastes, at best. In fact, my dissatisfaction with one-week trips is growing as I go on more and more of them. (This one was, if you count all mission trips I've done of any nature, my tenth.)

For one thing, I've become used to many of the typical culture-shock triggers - different food, architecture, standards of dress/cleanliness, animals running around the road, four people on a motorcycle, etc. Bugs, dirt, outhouses, etc. no longer phase me. In a sense, I don't find such experiences psychologically or even spiritually stretching anymore. But God never never leaves us where we are. As soon as one element of service becomes comfortable he demands that we grow in other areas.

This trip's big "first" for me was the role of team leader. I didn't exactly mean to get myself into that position, but found myself there along the way. Last year, ten of us went on mission trips with different groups and one girl (now a third-year) did most of the coordinating with the organizations we went with. I was essentially supposed to take over that role. All along we talked about forming an all-Penn State team if there was enough interest, but I was really thinking that we'd send half a dozen students along on the Nicaragua team I went with last year, and I'd just be the point-person at Penn State. Once we surveyed for interest, we found that it was overwhelming. There was obviously no way we could all go and just tag along with another group. After checking out a few dead-end options, we found an organization (SCORE Int'l) that would let us form our own team as long as we had had at least one attending physician with us. We soon had one lined up and formed a team that gradually grew until we numbered 20 in all.

I was definitely NOT planning to lead 20 people on a trip. Eeks! But the reality of it didn't set in while I was still doing the behind-the-scenes paperwork and administrative stuff. Last Saturday, though, when the team all gathered to leave and everyone was looking at me, the weight of responsibility set in. I tried to stay calm and collected but I really never understood before how much oversight is required to get a whole crowd from one place to another. By Sunday afternoon after getting everyone there and all of our meds unpacked, sorted and repacked for the week, I was mentally exhausted and, frankly, didn't want to be there. I wanted to be back in Nicaragua, just another team member doing my part, without 19 people looking at me for what to do next.

I'm thankful to say, though, that my attitude improved as the week went on and, by the grace of God, we had a fantastic week. I've never been on a trip that went so smoothly (I guess God knew how much I could handle). The team was great - everyone had a wonderful attitude about whatever needed to be done. There were no quarrels or even testy moments. We saw far more patients that we had guessed we would. And we prayed with almost every one of them.

The second stretching experience of this trip was that on Thursday instead of going to rural village to hold clinic we went to the local prison instead. The prisoners are not provided with much in the way of medical care and so we found quite a mess on ours hands when we got there - lots of skin infections, one very severe asthmatic whose inhaler had run out, several interesting old wounds (from street fights), etc. One of my patients had shattered his tibia from gunshot wounds years ago and had a poorly-done operation to fix it. The screw that anchored the pin in his leg had begun to screw out and was poking through the skin just under the knee, causing a chronic infection in the skin, at least, and probably the bone as well. Ok...I'll hold the rest of my graphic medical stories for my med student friends. ;-) Really the most challenging part of the day for me was that we set up an "evangelism station" - something we hadn't done before. In the villages, clinic was held in the local churches so that our patients were under the spiritual oversight of the local pastor. At the prison, that wasn't the case. When I asked for volunteers to talk to prisoners after they had their medical consult at this station, everyone was rather intimidated (understandably). I swallowed hard and, as the leader, decided to take the first shift. It was humbling to realize that, though I've been a Christian for 20 years, I've rarely if ever had to succinctly give the gospel to complete strangers in just a few minutes - with no leading-up or follow-through conversations. Picture it like evangelism speed-dating. I was sitting at a table and four or five guys would sit down who'd just had their medical exams. I had about five minutes before another bunch of guys would be there to talk to this crew about why we had come. I started of by making sure we all agreed that there was a God. I told we came to help with their physical ailments in whatever way we could, but that we are all dying and even the medications we gave them will not ultimately save them from death. And then tried to explain that because of the things we've done we are all sinners and separated from God (and emphasized that this was true for me as well as them). And then I got to the wonderful news that makes life worth living - that though we are absolutely unable to come to God on our own, he made a way by giving his son to pay the penalty for us and now we are able to draw near to God. (I love the Spanish verb acercarse). Nothing is required of us but faith and surrender. So...telling the compact version of the gospel over a dozen times in Spanish to a bunch of hardened criminals was...stretching. But also...renewing. We're in this season of Lent right now and I think that's exactly what I needed to prepare my heart to worship at the foot of the cross once again. By the way, "hardened criminals" isn't exactly fair. The power of the gospel can change anyone's heart and I met quite a few Christians that day who, with true joy in their eyes, told me at the end of my little talk that they had already surrendered to Christ. They echoed eager "Amen"s when I spoke of redemption in Christ. And, when I got tongue-tied and breathless from so much rapid Spanish, they prayed for me.

Ok, this got a lot longer than I had intended. call or email me if you want more stories, but those are the highlights.

Glory to God for what He had done and is doing even now. I'm also thankful that many of the team members said it was an experience that will shape their medical futures.

Love and miss you all!

snow shovels and cacti

1. What are a few significant events or milestones that have happened in your life since the last time we talked?
Hm. Well, I have become a certified massage therapist, joined a program in spiritual formation, and taken up tap dancing. (Kind of.) My, isn’t life full of surprises? :-) Another significant event, which hasn’t actually happened, but might (does this count??), is that of attending graduate school. I’ve applied to a program in special education for severe disabilities. I haven’t heard back yet, and am not certain that I will be going even if I get in… but it is a potential significant event, anyway!

2. If you could describe your life right now as an ice cream flavor, what would it be and why?
Peach, because just now I am eating a whole can of sliced peaches. (Not clever, but true.)

3. Read any good books lately?
I just finished “Sleeping with Bread,” a book about the examen, which was short and good, and am working on “The Discerning Heart,” which is quite good so far, as well. I’ve also been reading a lot by Henri Nouwen, who becomes more my favorite author all the time. On a very different note, I recently read Andrew Peterson’s “On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness,” and liked it very much, indeed. So much so that I now have the sequel (“North! Or Be Eaten”) sitting by my chair, all ready to go.

4. What is the most stressful thing in your life right now, and how are you dealing with it?
Broadly speaking, my job. Which, as it happens, and also broadly speaking, is also one of the most beautiful things in my life right now. Which is, broadly speaking, how I deal with it. You probably know (or maybe you don’t) that I had an accident a few months back in which one of the boys got burned, and I did, as well. He is well recovered, and I am healing nicely, but it was a pretty seriously traumatic experience, on a number of levels. Not long before that there was a fire in another house in which I was working alone with two guys. Recently there was a medication error (not by me, but by someone close to me) that resulted in a serious medical complication for one of the boys. There is just a lot of responsibility, and very little support, and it can be overwhelming at times. But, I have been there for just over two years now, and love those boys like they’re my family. They are my family. Except that they’re not. Hence the laws, regulations, stress, and complications.

5. Any recent noteworthy culinary adventures?
I cook dinner almost every night at work, and, considering the circumstances, it is mostly always an adventure -- but likely not in the way that you mean. :-) As for myself… well, I am currently cooking a sweet potato. Not incredibly inspiring, I admit. But probably my only personal culinary anything of the last two or three weeks!

6. What was the happiest moment of the past week?
Probably watching the snow fall. And tripping, falling, plunging, and rolling along in it after. Then shoveling out a bazillion cars with a few very dear people. And finally watching a glorious sunset out my window as I warmed my toes.

7. If we were to go on a road trip this spring/summer, where would you want to go?
I think the southwest sounds good to me, too. Snow is nice (see note above), but it is also cold. Plus I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for a cactus.

Grace and peace to you, friends. I look forward to hearing from you!
amy

First Post of the Decade :)

Hello friends,

So last night I had a dream that all of you staged a surprise road trip to Nebraska and we all went to see all the sights and had a wonderful time, and I cried because I was so happy to see you! When I woke up this morning I realized I really miss you guys a lot, and I do a truly terrible job of staying in touch! So for the sake of saying "hi," staying in touch, and keeping this blog going, I was wondering if we could all answer a few questions - just something simple to spur interaction and keep us connected. I'll start.

1. What are a few significant events or milestones that have happened in your life since the last time we talked?
Job-wise, I am currently working at a portrait studio in Lincoln, it's a pretty fun job. I take pictures of kids and families and design portrait packages for them. The only thing I don't like about this job is that there are constant reminders from the district manager to raise our sales average, raise, raise, raise. It takes away from the creative appeal of the job and makes me feel like a corporate slave. But as we're not paid on commission... I get by :) I also recently interviewed for a community health educator position with the Nebraska DHHS Office of Minority Health. It'd be awesome! Part time and temporary, but a foot in the door and good experience. I'm hoping to hear back about that one soon.
There have been a few deaths in my family recently, my great-uncle and my grandpa both passed away over the holidays, that was a lot to deal with. I was with my grandpa when he died, and it was the first time that I've been with someone as they died. My whole family was there, and I think he knew he was surrounded by people who loved him. It was a difficult experience, but not scary or traumatizing like I thought it might be.


2. If you could describe your life right now as an ice cream flavor, what would it be and why?
Java Chip, which probably isn't too surprising :) I wouldn't say I'm dependent on coffee, but it does enhance my day - it takes a lot of energy and enthusiasm to get small children to look at a camera and smile at the same time, especially when there are several of them, and especially when it's usually their nap time/they're hungry/ they're not getting along today/ they want grandma/ they don't like their shoes/ mom's been bribing them with candy all day/ ... you get the picture :)

3. Read any good books lately?
Right now I'm working on a historical novel called Pieternella, Daughter of Eva. It's about the daughter of the first Khoikhoi/Dutch woman in Cape Town, South Africa. I'm about 100 pages into the book, but very few things have actually happened so far because Pieternella's flashbacks are a major part of the story. Also, I don't have as much time to read as I used to, so the going seems really slow. I do have some reading goals, however, and I'm hoping to stick to them! Next on the list is Les Miserables :)

4. What is the most stressful thing in your life right now, and how are you dealing with it?
I'd have to say that still living with my parents is the most stressful thing about my life! Like I said, I love my job, but it doesn't pay that much and it's part time, definitely not enough money to pay bills, loans, and support myself. So until I get another job, I'm still at 1012 High Plains Road. It's especially tough after living away from home for 6 years and being used to doing my own thing without having to 'check in' with anyone or have to explain my schedule/actions/choices, etc. I am really grateful to be able to live there, it's just a little too much drama for me sometimes. I suppose I'm dealing with it by working as much as I can and spending as much time as I can out of the house with friends. It feels claustrophobic when it's just me and my parents in the house. I'd like to be able to say we all get along just fine, but really they're ready for me to be out of the house and I'm ready to be on my own again and to have my own space. Ok, enough complaining! Next question :)

5. Any recent noteworthy culinary adventures?
Yesterday I made breakfast crepes with scrambled eggs and spinach seasoned with sage. Yum :) A few lucky crepes were blessed with Nutella as well - always a good idea. Creating recipes that combine my and Brandon's tastes has been an ongoing adventure. He's a meat-eater and I'm a veggie-lover, so much of the time we just end up doing our own thing, which is just fine. Sometimes though, I try to put together 'culinary compromises,' such as making pizza with his & hers sides or using turkey for meat-based foods rather than beef. I haven't worked tofu into anything for him yet, but we'll see :)

6. What was the happiest moment of the past week?
Brandon and I went country dancing on Sunday night and that was a lot of fun :) He's not a big fan of country music, so when he does something like that I know it's only out of love ;) The beauty of compromise is something I've really been able to appreciate more and more with Brandon. We don't feel like we have to like all the same things or have the same interests or be the same person in male and female forms, thank goodness. We're able to be ourselves and do our own things and also be open-minded. So he goes country dancing with me and I play World of Warcraft with him :)

7. If we were to go on a road trip this spring/summer, where would you want to go?
I never did make it up to Maine/Vermont/Mass., I think that would be a fun trip if I can make it out there. Or something completely different would be fun too - A trip to the Southwest - Arizona/New Mexico/Nevada - would definitely be different. Thoughts? :)

I guess seven is a good place to stop. If you have any more questions you want us to answer, add them! I realize this is no replacement for a personal visit or conversation, but it's at least something we could each do on our own time to keep up communication :) I hope you're all doing well!

Love and hugs to each of you,

Megan

Three Semesters Down, Three to Go!

Wednesday, December 23rd marked the end of semester number three at Trinity School for Ministry. Which is awesome, by the way: you should all go. Well, just kidding. Maybe you shouldn't all go, at least not at the moment. But I was thinking that if I were not already going to be a priest and do theology for hopefully the rest of my life, I would look on retirement as a ripe time to go to seminary just for kicks. As it is, I shall probably have to go back and study physics when I retire . . . although that begs the question of whether I will still be capable of higher mathematics at that point in time. Hmm . . . I do hope so.
Semester number three was somewhere between good and okay. Had a couple of fun classes--one called Bible and Mission which was really a great big Bible-study session looking at things from a missiological perseptive. For all you missionary types--and my, my, my there are a number of them on this blog--we read Christopher Wright's The Mission Of God which was quite good if you haven't read it. Its only flaw, I believe, was that it was 540 pages long and altogether too thorough. Other than that, it was wonderful, the point of the book was to construct a hermeneutic of mission and I thought he did quite a nice job. The other class I found very helpful was Anglican Way of Theology--basically a lot of different readings in systematic theology in major Anglican thinkers from Thomas Cranmer to Michael Ramsey. In the process, I discovered a few new theologians to feast on. Ramsey's good--makes me wish he was still alive and kicking in the See of Canterbury. Although he may be best on what it actually means to be Anglican. Richard Hooker is good--an Anglican doing apologetics against the Puritans (if I remember correctly), Thomas Aquinas style. You can imagine how happy that made me and how unhappy it made most other people in the class. (I do admit, he had a disturbing inclination to form grammatical constructs in much the same way Yoda does . . . .)
Finally, there's an English chap by the name of Austin Farrer who is my new favorite. I just discovered him last week by accident. I wanted to do a paper contrasting the way another English author by the name of Joseph Butler (author of the Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, etc) does apologetics/theology in the Enlightenment period verses another Enlightenment figure, Leibniz who is rather famous for a best possible world theodicy that Voltaire mocks in Candide. (By the way, if you haven't read Candide, you really should. It's online at Project Gutenberg if you don't feel like going to the library. Although some of us have read Candide in the original French if I recall correctly.) So anyway, I found Leibniz's Theodicy online, also at Project Gutenberg, and found that, lo and behold, he wasn't just another religious capitulator to the spirit of the age like Immanuel Kant, he actually sounds like a Christian most of the time. (Which just goes to show that reason doesn't have to be the devil's whore, now does it?) A little too moralistic, but beyond that, his theodicy is actually based on his metaphysics, which sounds nuts, but actually works fairly well. (Leibniz, you may or may not recall, is the monad man.) He does as good as job as any as account for the then "new" physics with a corresponding non-Aristotelian metaphysics. Farrer is the editor of the version of the Theodicy found on Project Gutenberg, and was actually good enough in his introduction of the work, to explain a few things, like why Aristotelian metaphysics had become a pain in the bum to the biological sciences, especially, and why "pre-established harmony" is not actually a God of the gaps hypothesis and is much better than the Cartesian solution to the body/soul dilemma. (Leibniz also wrote the Theodicy in French, obnoxiously brilliant linguist that he was--and hence Dr. Pangloss in Candide if you have read or do decide to read it.) Farrer is otherwise a priest and philosopher of religion who lived and taught at Oxford the same time Lewis did. I think he wrote a sermon on Lewis' death as well. But all around, a good fellow to read. Not too technical, either.
Other than that, I am in St. Louis for the next three weeks because people decide to get married all over the USA and I do like weddings quite a lot . . . . Rebecca and Jared are supposed to be here tonight for the Urbana conference, and perchance I shall get to see Megan while I am here . . . ? I miss her laughter. We shall see. It snowed on Christmas yesterday when I got here . . . and my family did Christmas as we normally do, with Christmas carols and a potluck feast and wonderful punch made by my aunt. We also played Balderdash, which was a new thing, but very humorous. Got to record some of it on my camera, which was nice. Now I have proof how goofy the Curry Clan is. Anyway, I hope you all had a good Christmas celebration and hope to see you within the next couple of months.

Peace and Goodwill!

a quickie =)

Wow! Amy, thank you! This is so fun, having our own blog =)

I hope you all are doing well! I spent last weekend with Kara up in NYC and it was awesome/crazy/exhausting/exhilarating. I got to see the dance that she choreographed not once but twice, saw the Rockefeller (sp?) tree, the gift shop of the Met, and the year's first snowfall!!!

Please pray for me - this is finals week! I am finishing up a research paper on embryology and ethics, and have two 5-page essays to write on the Meaning of Everything (our professor is quite ambitious) and an exam on Trinity & the Church.

Love and miss you all!

Bethany

p.s. Amy or anyone - is there a way to establish a 'quick link' to this blog so I don't forget that it exists =)

better late than never :-)

Hello friends! I'm not quite sure what took me so long, to be honest; but anyway, despite the delay, here we are! I wish I could write a really inspiring first post for you to read... but I've never 'blogged' before, actually, and am feeling rather intimidated! Not to mention the fact that I am at work, and have probably used up 9.5 minutes of my 10 minute break by now. So, without further ado, let me simply say that I can't wait to read all about you. :-)