things I would rather

have found in my office last night:

a raccoon

a small child with a dirty diaper

a sizable snake

a frog

an IRS agent

a mouse

a feral cat

a shark

or even the corpse of this thing:

What I did find was the actual living version of it. And I just walked away.

Because I don't handle any spiders well.

Because this one was the size of my hand.

Because I wanted to appear to be a cool collected youth minister in front of the other person in my office who left as soon as she saw the sucker.

Because I'm a chicken.

Walking away did solve the problem for yesterday but definitely didn't help today!

The only way this could be worse is if it was a Zombie Spider, that's a spider who has been killed & then comes back to a live a sad, scurrying, shadow of its past life scaring the bejebus out of me.

AHHHH! Is it on me? I feel it on me!

I also compounded the problem greatly by looking spider images & therefore seeing horrible images of spider bites.

HELP!

I should have whacked the sucker when I had the chance. Now I have no idea where it is!

furthermore

I was driving to a meeting on Sunday morning & Vienna Teng's song "City Hall" came on the radio about the day she & her girlfriend drove up from LA to get married in SF. It is beautiful & it made me cry. Listen to it. Pray about it.

I love being married & everything about it! I can't imagine a world in which Andy & I wouldn't be allowed to get married. I want all of my friends to have that choice!

lyrics:

me and my baby on a february holiday 

'cause we got the news 

yeah, we got the news 

500 miles and we're gonna make it all the way 

we've got nothing to lose 

we've got nothing to lose 

it's been 10 years waiting 

but it's better late than the never 

we've been told before 

we can't wait one minute more 

oh, me and my baby driving down 

to a hilly seaside town in the rainfall 

oh, me and my baby stand in line 

you've never seen a sight so fine 

as the love that's gonna shine 

at city hall 

me and my baby've been through 

a lot of good and bad 

learned to kiss the sky 

made our momma's cry 

I've seen a lot of friends 

after giving it all they had 

lay down and die 

lay down and die 

10 years into it 

here's our window 

at the vegas drive-thru chapel 

it ain't too much 

for 'em all to handle 

oh, me and my baby driving down 

to a hilly seaside town in the rainfall 

oh, me and my baby stand in line 

you've never seen a sight so fine 

as the love that's gonna shine 

at city hall 

outside, they're handing out 

donuts and pizza pies 

for the folks in pairs in the folding chairs 

my baby's lookin' so damned pretty 

with those anxious eyes 

rain-speckled hair 

and my ring to wear 

10 years waiting for this moment of fate 

when we say the words and sign our names 

if they take it away again someday 

this beautiful thing won't change 

oh, me and my baby driving down 

to a hilly seaside town in the rainfall 

oh, me and my baby stand in line 

you've never seen a sight so fine 

as the love that's gonna shine 

oh, me and my baby driving down 

to a hilly seaside town in the rainfall 

oh, me and my baby stand in line 

you've never seen a sight so fine 

as the love that's gonna shine 

at city hall 

marriage

Yesterday CA courts upheld the ban on same-sex marriage. Sucky.  

Yes, I am an active, practicing Catholic. Yes, I'm even a minister in the Catholic church. I also wholeheartedly support gay marriage. I fail to see how allowing other people to experience the beauty & challenge that is marriage some how takes away from it.  I think anytime people want to make a public commitment to loving each other we should support it.

I heard someone suggest that if the whole debate is about the use of the word marriage we could just take the word out of legal usage. That way under the law all couples, gay or straight, can be enter into unions but marriage would just be used for everyday language, religious ceremonies, etc.  I don't know if this would satisfy everyone but I would gladly give up the legal word marriage if that meant we could all be equal. If gay couples can't be "married" under the law perhaps we straights shouldn't get to use the word anymore either.

Of course then there's the trouble that the Catholic Church isn't going to marry gay couples any time soon. I think we're going to find ourself on the wrong side of this issue.

last bite

I just heard someone say that while they were growing up in Catholic school the nuns always said the first thing that happens to you when you get to heaven is you have to sit down at a huge table & eat every bite of food that you ever wasted in life.

:) 

This strikes me as so funny. You're not allowed into heaven until you've completely sickened yourself on old food? How does that fit into the big picture?

If it is true I'll be eating a mountain of old, crusty, last bites of sandwich. I never eat the last bite. I have no good reason. Maybe if I knew they'd all be waiting for me in heaven I start eating them.

What would be waiting for you?

i just don't get

the following:

• Donald Trump's being respected.
  
• Any task involving a check book, taxes, or the DMV.
  
• How to plan travel.
  
• How to feed myself well, affordably, sustainably, & without having things go bad in the fridge before we eat them.
  
• Why the Guantanamo prisoners are considered so much more dangerous than other criminals & why having them on our soil increases our danger.
• The popularity of American Idol.
• How the geese outside of our apartment can be so dang loud & honky.
• How to prevent the chocolate chips in my homemade muffins from sinking to the bottom.
• Poverty & why we are OK with it.

I'm sure the list will continue but now, to bed.

new location for 2009 G8 summit

Bet you weren't expecting that...*

So basically, Berlusconi is moving the G8 Summit from this crazy luxurious location on cruise ships in the Mediterranean to barrack formerly used to house married couples during training for a police force near L'Aquila which was damaged by an earthquake this spring.

Not all of these details are in the article below but I heard it on All Things Considered on NPR. Anyway, the point is we're talking much simpler accommodations than these guys (& gals) are used to. Like, bunkers & cafeterias. I think it awesome.

A friend of mine, who is a little bit genius & a little dreamer, used to fantasize about running a Third World simulation camp where anyone who wanted to run for public office would have to live for 2 weeks in  abject poverty.  For perspective, you know.  I love it.

So, this might be as close as we get but it's still pretty great.  Now the only question is, will Berlusconi himself, actually stay in the same place?

Politics: G8 summit to move to L'Aquila. Thursday, April 23rd 2009

The Italian government has voted to change the location of the upcoming G8 summit in July from La Maddalena island in Sardinia to L'Aquila, which was heavily damaged by the 6 April earthquake. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has said that holding the G8 in L'Aquila would keep the world from forgetting about the earthquake-ravaged area and provide world leaders with an opportunity to see examples of the architectural and artistic heritage their contributions will help to restore.

Berlusconi also said that hosting the G8 summit in luxurious La Maddalena would send the wrong message given the present economic climate, and that the government would be saving around €220 million by moving the conference to L'Aquila.

*especially after all the girlyness that preceded. But it's my blog & I'll blog how I want to.

back when i was single

i used to do crazy things to attract boys that i liked. It was ridiculous. Not really the things I did, mostly the things I thought about doing & the sheer amount of time I spent thinking about doing said crazy things.

For example, I'm pretty sure that if Facebook had been around back when I was single I would have obsessively checked my guy's profile ALL THE TIME. Admittedly, that might be a little crazy but I'm sure a lot of girls do that. But I'm pretty sure I would have taken the crazy up a notch by posting a status update immediately after him every time so he would see our names together & think, "We should BE together!"

Now that I am married I...
a. realize that no boy in the history of the world would ever think that due to close proximity of postings, or for that matter, notice said proximity.
b. I really appreciate the lower level of crazy that came from Rebs taking me in.

Does that make me sound like a stray? I'm cool with that, in reality, I probably need about as much care as a baby bird with a broken wing sometimes.

WARNING: I know I've been away a while, working on the Farmyland blog which I feel has to be more mature. spiritual, serious since teens from the ministry, their parents, & potential donors will be looking at it. So here is where you'll get the random minutiae. Enjoy.

where have I been?

I have been here:

www.farmingandes.com

Join me!

long overdue

I know, I know I've been neglectful. So let's begin.

Why are we so happy?

Besides the usual living-an-incredibly-blessed-newly-wedded-life-in beautiful-Northern-California way? 

Because we are moving on to something incredibly exciting & adventurous & inspiring.  We got the job. We're moving to Bethlehem Farm in West Virginia to live a crazy, prayer-filled, intentional life of service & simplicity.

So, yes, the pictures from my last post are from our trip out there. We spent 9 days in there getting to know the community members, seeing what life may be like there, & exploring what our areas our responsibility may be. And we loved it. The slogan of Bethlehem Farm is, "Welcome Home" and we felt very welcomed home. This was the end of an almost 2 year process of applying & it truly seems like a great fit, dare I say, "calling" for us.

I've been creating a website to explain this whole deal to the world at large, or perhaps just family & friends so that's part of the blogging neglect. When it's up you'll be some of the first to know.

Some logistics in the meantime, we're moving sometime in September. Right now I'm still at my job (& will be until they tell me to leave), the teens in the ministry were quite shocked & that's been difficult but it'll be OK. And... I think that's all for now. 

More later.

Much more!

high jinx???

i hope not!

credit: lifted from their facebook page. I always forget to take pictures.