My body hurts and I am stressed but things are actually going quite smoothly.  We are packed up and moved out, my next interview in this first call process is next Wednesday.  I am not sure what I am going to do next week for internet because I will be at the Upstate NY Synod Assembly.  It should be a good time though.

I have a job at the Sports Legends bar and grill as a line cook.  I really don’t like it but it is money in this time of unemployment.  I feel bad being there only a short time.

Well I have to go and figure out what I am going to do about my sore back so I can make it through my 6 hour shift……

1  1

Like most blogs that I have read with seminary graduates the days leading up to graduation is a time of reflection on the last four years of my life.  I have spend the last four years working on papers, reading books and providing ministry to many people.  To think that I have been in contact with thousands of people between my field education site, CPE site, Internship site, and the church that I worked at my senior year.  There have been a lot of great memories and I have created a lot of great relationships.  It will be sad to say good-bye.

This past Sunday I worked my last day at the church I have been working at as a youth director this past year.  The first six months was very fusterating because nothing that I did worked.  We just did not have the kids to do anything.  But then in January kids started coming out and we have had a pretty successful program.  It was very sad for me to say good-bye. The kids are great and I am going to miss them for sure.

So two of the things that have taken up majority of my time is over….done and done.

____________________________

I am still in pain from my fall the other day.  It is my back that hurts.  I can’t sit at all and I finally decided to go and see the doctor this afternoon.  I am not sure what they will do — last fall when I had a constant pain in my back they just gave me pain medicine.  But this is a different type of pain so I don’t know if there is something else that they can do.  I am glad that all I have to do now is rest.

_____________________________

There is not much news on the first call front.  I am waiting until the end of May for my trial sermon and interview.  I am very excited about it and nervous that it goes well.  Not only is this church a  great church but I am very excited to finally be settled and working on ministry.  As things advance I will keep everyone updated.

That’s all for now. I hope to catchup on my blogging the next few days.  There have been lots of things I want to blog on and reflections that I would like to share so come back and visit again soon.

1  1

After a quick lunch The Boy and I were headed off.  I was carrying a big bag of trash in one hand and my work folder in the other hand.  I turned to ask The Boy to close the door and when I started to head down the stairs I tripped and fell.  I really don’t remember how I tripped or actually falling.  The next thing I remember is waking up from the floor with The Boy looking down on me and yelling for me to wake up.  I eventually came to and I asked him to come down where I was at.  The first thing I needed to do was to call my wife and to get her there to help me.  I got my phone and called her.  Our connection was bad so I called again.  The next 10 min or so I don’t remember but apparently I called her again and then she told me to call a friend of ours to come and watch the kids because I needed to go to the hospital. 

The next thing I remember is thinking that I needed to get to the car, so I eventually got up and made my way to the car and sat there and waited.  I called my wife back and talked with her trying to figure out what was going on.  I knew she was going to be back shortly and it was going to be awhile for our friends to arrive to watch the kids so I made some phone calls to people from the church to help us out.  It was hard to find people in town and so the Pastor of the church where I currently work came over to help out.  It was a real blessing to have him do that.

We made our way to the hospital.  I was taking things one step at a time, I was still kinda out of it and I was taking my time.  Not only was my head in pain but my back was as well.  They got us to a room and the doctor came pretty quickly.  I had an abrasion on my head from when my head hit the wall but thank God I did not need any stitches.  I told her that my back was hurting and my right hip was hurting and so I got a CAT Scan for my head and some X-Rays for my back and hip.  She eventually came back and said that the CAT scan and my X-Rays all looked clear but it was obvious that I suffered a concussion.  She said that I should take it easy for a few days and to help with the pain she gave me some Oxycodone. 

This has been the first time that I have suffered from a concussion.  It is just amazing to me how my body feels right now from falling down the stairs.  I am in alot of pain but the medicine sure helps.  I can’t believe that this is happening during my last week of seminary.  I don’t have a HUGE pile of work but I have things that I need to get done.  The biggest is to read a 300 page book and every time I sit down to read it I get through 10 pages and then I wake up 20 min later trying to figure out where I left off. 

I have cancelled my regular shifts volunteering at the YMCA for the next two days and I am not going to class tomorrow which means I am clear until Thursday to get things done.  I need to kick it into high gear and work like a mad man. 

I would like to hand in quality work but more importantly I want to hand in finished work.  I want to at least finish all of my projects and papers and if there is time left over then the quality police will come out to play.  Otherwise as long as I pass I will be happy. 

Thank you to those of you who have shared your concerns the last day- I really appreciate the well wishes and the prayers.  The church sent over the flowers from the alter today which was very nice.  This has been the second time that I have received alter flowers, the first was when I had a ruptured appendix.

Most of my writing will be dedicated to papers, projects and presentations this week and not so much for blogging.  But after that I will be hopefully blogging more often with some reflections on the last four years of ministry/education.

1  1

I am interviewing for a potential church in May 28th.  It is not as soon as we would of liked but schedules did not permit a sooner time.  If everything goes well and as I would expect I hope to be in place by July 1st.  In between then I will take some time to rest and relax, move out of our apartment, find a place to store our stuff, move in with my parents (thanks mom and dad) and get some kind of part time work which I hope will include supply preaching, and some other well paying minimal commitment job (which should be easy to find……right?)

I don’t mind waiting as much if I have a plan and we are trying to come up with that now.

_______

Classes are ending well – I am glad I took a class last summer to get things out of the way.  I don’t think I have as much work as some others, but I still have things to do.

—-

Graduation is on May18th – I am excited about that.  I think I am ready to move on.  Living off campus has been a blessing and curse.  We are far enough away (about 45 min) where we are not able to come to campus for a party or a night event (having two small kids doesn’t help).  I miss that community that I experienced my first two years of seminary. But it has been a good transition for us– since we are not as close to the community as we once were we are ready to move on.  The boy will have enough trouble separating from his friends at the day care.  But I hope he will like where we move too.

____

The family is doing well – with the change of weather there are some coughs and stuffy noses in the house but nothing terrible.  I just hope it gets warm soon and we can start packing up all the winter clothes.

____

I need to catch up on some emails before lunch.  I don’t know when I will get on here again in the next week.  Most of the words that will be writing will be about the Book American Jesus (I have not read that yet) or about using the 10 commandments as a basis for pre-marriage work.

To all the other seminarians out there – Good luck the next few weeks!!!!!

1  1

After much prayer and discernment I have decided to try a new “strategy.” I have decided that I am not only going to lose weight for me, but I am going to lose weight for other people! That’s right– I am going to lose weight for thousands of people, young and old who have Autism or Autism related disorders.  I hope that you will consider to sponsor me  (that is you who is reading this) during my weight loss journey.  I would like all the money to go to Autism Speaks.

There are many ways that you can do this.  The first way is that you can sponsor me for every pound that I will lose.  Another way is just to give a flat rate and sponsor me that way.  Either way the money is going to a good cause and I feel supported and challenged.

I have spent most of my life sacrificing myself for others.  I always put the needs of others before myself. This is most likely one of the reasons that I have ended up where I am with my weight.  I realized that’s who I am and that is not going to change, no matter how hard I try.  So why not build upon my strengths and challenge myself to do this –  not only for me but for the thousands of kids that will benefit from your donation.

Why Autism Speaks?

Well I realized that I have never connected myself with a charity.  All the money we have given has gone to the church or to Calumet.  So I researched different charity’s.  I found four or five charities that I really liked including this one.  I chose this one because it is connected to us in more ways than one.  See, the last year or so we have been working with our son “the boy” with different disabilities.  We are not sure if he has any or how deep they go.  There is a chance that he will be diagnosed with something on the Autism Spectrum.  Weather he is or not this money will go and help people like us with research to help uncover the to uncover the cause(s), prevention, treatments and cure for autism.  It is a long road and anything that can help will benefit  thousands of people.

Another reason that I chose this organization is that there is a walk in September that I would like to participate in.  I think September a good point to regather and see how this is working for me.

The walk is in Rochester, NY on Saturday September 27, 2008.  If you would like more information about it you can visit the Walk Page.

My hope is to lose at least 50 pounds by then which figures to be about 2 pounds a week from now until then.  I think that is a reachable goal.

If you would like to sponsor me please click on this link and sponsor me.  If you would like to sponsor me in another way either leave a comment here or send me an email.

I started a new blog called Pounds for People where I will update on my progress, how I am doing this and all the other ins and outs of my thoughts, feelings and progress about this.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to hear from you.

1  1

The really sad thing about being a parent is to watch your child suffer with some sort of sickness (or in anyway) and there is very little that you can do in order to help them.  You wish they they can understand what is going on but she is so little and so sick that she has no idea.  I am thankful that everything was gone by her birthday (February 14th) and she was healthy and happy for her birthday party on Saturday.

I have been struggling lately as well….I lost my voice around Christmas and I had to have tests done and I have been diagnosed with Reflux Laryngitis – it is manageable but I still get hoarse after talking a lot or singing, but in about 4-5 weeks I should be 100%.

That’s all the major stuff on the home front.  “The boy” (my son) is doing well and he is going to be four years old later this month.  I can’t believe he is already four years old.  I know it sounds sappy but I still remember when he was born, and holding him for the first time.  Now he is his own little man and he is doing his own thing.  Tonight we prayed our bed time prayer with his Godmother.  Even though he was being shy (he only prayed the “now I lay me…” prayer and not the Lord’s Prayer with her) I thought it was great. He was really excited to do it and to watch him interact with her over the phone was great.  He was excited but shy– I could tell he was being shy because he had his hands in his mouth, dead give away.  I hope it can be a regular thing and we can do it with his Godfather as well.

I am taking a Chataism class this semester and we are talking about the Ten Commandments, the Creeds and Lord’s Prayer.  I have been thinking  about them and how to connect them with my children.  I think at this age he is just being familiar with what they are is good enough, but it is something I hope to explore in this class and in the years to come with my children.

I just finished watching “My Dad is Better Than Your Dad.”  The premise of the show is for dad’s and their children compete in challenges both physical and mental to see which combo can outlast the rest.  Like any reality show there is an element of “you stink” at the end.  I don’t know if I like that aspect when it comes to children.  It is one thing for adults to get in the mix and try and win money and make a fool of themselves, but when you drag children into it you can really harm them, by them thinking that it was their fault that they lost or that their dad is not good enough.  What do you think?

_________________________________________________________

On Wednesday we will have the regional assignments for our first call.  A Bishop representative from each of the nine regions, and a seminary are currently in Chicago talking about 200 and something candidates going into the first call process.  They read about each candidate and pray for them and then decide which area they are going to send the candidates.

This Wednesday a phone call will come into the seminary from Chicago from our Seminary Representative.  The community will have a worship service and then all the seniors will gather at the presidents house to find our regional assignment.

As someone awaiting their decision it is really nerve-racking.  My wife and I hope that we are assigned to Region seven.  On the one hand it would be flattering that another region would really want me to come to their synod, however I know what would be best for us and our family.

For Region Seven the bishops from each synod (Upstate New York, Metro-New York, New Jersey, Northeast Penn, Southeast Penn, and New England) personally interview each individual assigned to the region and then assign the go behind closed doors and fight for us to come to their synod.  (Well I hope they would at least want me)  I have let most people know that we would like to come to the New England Synod.  That’s where our family is and most of our friends, so we would like to be close.  We would like that support which we dearly miss.   We especially miss it now because we are separated from our second home (the seminary)  this year living in Souderton.  But we have and continue to manage.

So that is what is going on with us recently, that’s only part of what our lives have been recently.  It never ends….but we are in a very exciting time in our life, there are many possibilities that lay ahead of us and we are going to need lots of prayers and support the next few months as our future is played out in the hands of people who only know me by a piece of paper.

1  1