Tag Archive - YMCA

Oddly Familiar Blog

May 20, 2008 in Community, Miscellany with 4 Comments

David has tagged me for a meme. I will try and finish this before I go to the YMCA for some swimming.

The rules for this meme are fairly standard. Simply post the rules at the beginning of your post, answer the questions,, and tag five others to play along. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know that they need to visit yours for the rules, and of course, link back to the one who tagged you, in this case….me!

Here we go

Ten years ago:
Wow I have not thought about 10 years ago in a long time. 10 years ago I was finishing my second year at Luther College. I was preparing go to to Camp Calumet for the summer. hmmm… Good times

Five jobs I’ve had:

Paperboy (1st job ever)

Line Cook (Red Lobster in high school, Country Kitchen in college)

Camp Counselor and Retreat Specalist (Camp Calumet)

Youth Director at Hope Lutheran Church in Reading, PA

Driver at Dunkin Donuts

Five things on today’s “to do” list:

Work on my Bible Studies for this weekend

Work on my sermon for Sunday and Wednesday

Pack some

Teach swimming lessongs

Cook dinner for the family

Things I’d do if I was a billionaire:
Pay off all my debt

Help my family and friends out

Contribute money to Calumet, LTSP, and Luther College

Contribute to the Leadership Fund of the ELCA

Buy an iPhone

Buy a nice house in New England with a large yard and spend my days playing my guitar and writing songs

Three bad habits:

Drive too fast

I tend to have a hard time saying no

disorganized

Five places I’ve lived:

Philadelphia, PA

Reading, PA

Freedom, NH

Decorah, IA

Rutland, VT

Five people I’m tagging:

Dr. John

Johnna

Ian

Virginia

Christoph

My Accident

May 4, 2008 in Uncategorized with 4 Comments

Saturday started off like a normal day.  I was up early with the kids and we were playing and watching some TV.  Eventually my wife got up and we all were just hanging out.  The plan for the day included my wife taking Baby Girl with her to the store to get some things that she needs for her new business while I was going to take The Boy with me to work to make some phone calls for the youth group.  I also needed to print some stuff out for my wife and for myself. 

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.

 

Half Naked

March 21, 2008 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

“My daughter does not recognize you unless you are half naked.”

This comment may seem inappropriate outside of the context in which it was said.  As many of you know I teach swimming lessons at the local YMCA.  I have been doing it a little over a year.  It has been an opportunity for me to give back to the community, to actually go to the YMCA to work out some during the week, and I get a free membership.    I love the water, I always have so it is a good fit.

Well I saw one of my favorite kids at Wal-Mart yesterday when I was buying my kids Easter basket stuff.  She would not talk to me!! She is four years old and was being shy and I understand that.  I was in a different context, and not in my bathing suit.  Her mom said that she talks about me all the time during the week.  Once she saw me in my car and now every time they see a maroon van she thinks it is me driving.   But she she said the above comment it just seemed weird to think that is actually true to some degree!

We then talked for a moment about my assignment.  I did not really think before about what we were leaving behind.  How much we are going to miss no matter where we moved.  There are a number of things that we have to leave that will be sad in some respect.  I will be leaving my community at the Y – I have really enjoyed teaching the kids and being an important part of that community and it will be sad to say good-bye and that I most likely will never see or hear from these people again.  We will be leaving the community built up at the day care.  All of the wonderful people we have met there, especially the relationships that The Boy has established.  I am thankful that he is young enough that he will be sad at first but he will be able to rebound from it pretty quickly.   And of course we will be leaving the seminary community, but that is one that is obvious and we have been preparing for that.

I have heard about a first call opportunity.  I am really excited about this possibility if it comes through – at least from the website.  I think for my first call it is in a good location- in a nice suburb but close to a city-  actually close to a college town which is even cooler.  Doing the math- if we wanted to go and see my family just for a day that would be possible.  Or if we left on a Friday night we could leave after work and we won’t get there some crazy hour.  So things are very positive right now.

Right now is March Madness.  It is honestly the only time that I get real excited about college sports.  I love the idea of college sports and how the kids (yes I consider college students kids – I am that old) really care about  the sport they are playing and how much heart is put into everything they do.  But I don’t know if it is a time thing or desire or both but I don’t really follow anyone.  I really don’t have a connection with a college so I don’t have any passion.  Being from northern New England, I did not have a big college that I am connected with.  The Boston area college sports were never really that big – the biggest would be UConn and I like to tune into a basketball game every now and again but that’s about it.  Perhaps that will change in the future……

I do fill out a March Madness bracket every year, and by my performance this year (as well as years in the past) you can tell that I don’t really follow college ball.

I am trying to get myself in the frame of mind for the three days….  I must say with everything else going on, and the fact that this is my final year for the rest of my life where I will not be working during the three days, I must say my spiritual connection with this time of the year has taken a backseat.  I hope to go to a Good Friday service in about an hour, and then I am preaching tomorrow night- then Sunday morning I am going to the Sunrise service followed by serving breakfast with my youth group.  Very different from last year.

I want to thank everyone for your warm words and meaningful messages this past week.  It has been a roller coaster for sure, and to hear how much support we have from everyone has been great.  I have to say we are in a really good place right now and we are VERY excited about our future and what God has in store for us. Once I can divulge information  I will.  Keep checking back.