It's the first day of 2015 - must be time for a review of 2014!
January: I started this blog! I really enjoyed the J-term course on Religion & Media and my experiments with Compline on Google Hangouts, as well as continuing (however sporadically) to post thoughts and reflections. Here's to more blogging in 2015!
February: My Grandma Audrey passed away. A sad time, and I am grateful that my aunt and I were able to visit her in Virginia Beach a few weeks before she died.
March: It didn't begin in March, but I had lots of fun with the Godly Play course at Virginia Theological Seminary. The drive from Gettysburg to Alexandria and back each Monday afternoon/evening was not the best, but the class was worth it. I even used Godly Play earlier in December at the Advent Workshop at Trinity Lutheran, the congregation I serve as pastor.
April: I'm sure lots of exciting things happened in April...and, there was also a lot of schoolwork, sermon-writing, and driving between Jonestown and Gettysburg. It must have been a busy month, because I only read one book (that wasn't a homework assignment). Scroll down past December to see what I mean!
May: On May 16 I graduated from Gettysburg Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree and honors in preaching, Old Testament, and theology. What a formative four years - I met my husband, was married in the chapel, learned much, and met lots of wonderful people.
June: June brought the "Audrey Farewell Tour" - a series of memorial services for my Grandma in congregations that were central to her life. The first was on June 7 (her wedding anniversary) at St. Michael Lutheran Church in Virginia Beach. Five of five children, 13 of 16 grandchildren, and three of three great-grandchildren were present! From there a few of us traveled up to New Jersey, where my grandma spent most of her life. She lived in Sparta for 40 years, and there was a nice service there at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. We also traveled to Weehawken, NJ, to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, the congregation my grandma grew up attending. We looked at the parish record books and found the notations from many family baptisms, as well as my grandparents' wedding.
July: Daniel and I headed out to Arizona for a week to see my grandparents in Phoenix and visit the Grand Canyon! It was an awesome trip - it rained (!) the afternoon we were at the Grand Canyon, we celebrated my birthday in Flagstaff and also at my grandparents' house, and we saw pro-wrestlers Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella at a rest stop north of Phoenix (my Daniel was too star-struck to ask for a picture...).
August: We left Jonestown (central PA), where we lived for a little over a year, and moved out to Latrobe (western PA) to wait for calls to congregations. We did some supply preaching around the area, watched the Pirates play at PNC Park, and did lots of walking to the library and farmers' market in Latrobe.
September: We spent a week at a timeshare in Morgantown, WV, and had interviews with congregations in southwestern PA!
October: Daniel and I were ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament on October 31 - Reformation Day! - at Trinity Lutheran Church in Latrobe, Daniel's home congregation. It was a wonderful service with lots of family, friends, and parishioners present!
November: A busy month of ministry! Diving in to intergenerational Sunday School, meetings, visits, and leading worship. And, moving! Hopefully the last time for a while, into a wonderful house in Connellsville, PA.
December: Getting settled, traveling to Bloomington, Indiana for my friend & pen pal Colleen's ordination, and hosting our first visitors (my parents).
And now, for a different sort of review of 2014! This was the second year that I kept a record of every book I read - 76! I won't give you the whole list, but here are some favorites.
Essays/Memoirs: Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber; The Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans; Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton; Breathing Space: A Spiritual Journey in the South Bronx by Heidi Neumark; Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert; The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.
Fiction: Still Life With Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen; The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls; Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls; Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs; The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd; The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert; Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willett; How to Tell Toledo From the Night Sky by Lydia Netzer; Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.
January: I started this blog! I really enjoyed the J-term course on Religion & Media and my experiments with Compline on Google Hangouts, as well as continuing (however sporadically) to post thoughts and reflections. Here's to more blogging in 2015!
February: My Grandma Audrey passed away. A sad time, and I am grateful that my aunt and I were able to visit her in Virginia Beach a few weeks before she died.
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| Grandma Audrey, Mom, Kerri - June 2012 |
March: It didn't begin in March, but I had lots of fun with the Godly Play course at Virginia Theological Seminary. The drive from Gettysburg to Alexandria and back each Monday afternoon/evening was not the best, but the class was worth it. I even used Godly Play earlier in December at the Advent Workshop at Trinity Lutheran, the congregation I serve as pastor.
April: I'm sure lots of exciting things happened in April...and, there was also a lot of schoolwork, sermon-writing, and driving between Jonestown and Gettysburg. It must have been a busy month, because I only read one book (that wasn't a homework assignment). Scroll down past December to see what I mean!
May: On May 16 I graduated from Gettysburg Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree and honors in preaching, Old Testament, and theology. What a formative four years - I met my husband, was married in the chapel, learned much, and met lots of wonderful people.
June: June brought the "Audrey Farewell Tour" - a series of memorial services for my Grandma in congregations that were central to her life. The first was on June 7 (her wedding anniversary) at St. Michael Lutheran Church in Virginia Beach. Five of five children, 13 of 16 grandchildren, and three of three great-grandchildren were present! From there a few of us traveled up to New Jersey, where my grandma spent most of her life. She lived in Sparta for 40 years, and there was a nice service there at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. We also traveled to Weehawken, NJ, to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, the congregation my grandma grew up attending. We looked at the parish record books and found the notations from many family baptisms, as well as my grandparents' wedding.
July: Daniel and I headed out to Arizona for a week to see my grandparents in Phoenix and visit the Grand Canyon! It was an awesome trip - it rained (!) the afternoon we were at the Grand Canyon, we celebrated my birthday in Flagstaff and also at my grandparents' house, and we saw pro-wrestlers Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella at a rest stop north of Phoenix (my Daniel was too star-struck to ask for a picture...).
 |
| Grand Canyon adventuring! |
August: We left Jonestown (central PA), where we lived for a little over a year, and moved out to Latrobe (western PA) to wait for calls to congregations. We did some supply preaching around the area, watched the Pirates play at PNC Park, and did lots of walking to the library and farmers' market in Latrobe.
September: We spent a week at a timeshare in Morgantown, WV, and had interviews with congregations in southwestern PA!
October: Daniel and I were ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament on October 31 - Reformation Day! - at Trinity Lutheran Church in Latrobe, Daniel's home congregation. It was a wonderful service with lots of family, friends, and parishioners present!
 |
| The fantastic group of rostered leaders who were present! |
November: A busy month of ministry! Diving in to intergenerational Sunday School, meetings, visits, and leading worship. And, moving! Hopefully the last time for a while, into a wonderful house in Connellsville, PA.
December: Getting settled, traveling to Bloomington, Indiana for my friend & pen pal Colleen's ordination, and hosting our first visitors (my parents).
...
And now, for a different sort of review of 2014! This was the second year that I kept a record of every book I read - 76! I won't give you the whole list, but here are some favorites.
Essays/Memoirs: Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber; The Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans; Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton; Breathing Space: A Spiritual Journey in the South Bronx by Heidi Neumark; Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert; The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.
Fiction: Still Life With Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen; The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls; Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls; Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs; The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd; The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert; Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willett; How to Tell Toledo From the Night Sky by Lydia Netzer; Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.
...
All in all, an exciting and busy year! Here's to a fantastic 2015.
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