did it again

What has seminary done to me? It's made me a book hound, a book worm, a book-aholic, a Barnes and Noble groupie, an Amazon.com frequent shopper. I never, ever used to read before I came to seminary. I was strictly a TV person. Barnes and Noble was a place to people watch, not actually read anything. You should see all the books I've accumulated! Most are from classes I've taken... but then there are the ones I bought out of shear interest, curiosity and desire to learn. What have they done to me here!?

I bought two more books tonight on Amazon. My sister gave me an electronic gift card a while ago, and I finally used it today. Not only do I get two more books that will go in the reading que, but I also get a package in the mail. And packages mean love, as I tell the receptionist at the seminary. He feeds my delight by calling me to tell me when packages arrive.

As an ordination gift I received a whole commentary set. It's wonderful. Each volume has a clean, shiny dust jacket. The spines make that classic creaking sound when opened for the first time. The pages have that distinctive new book smell. K. won't let me take them out of their boxes. We'll be moving soon (God willing), and we'll just have to pack them up again, so why unpack them in the first place - so the logic goes. I suppose she's right. But I can't help but imagine how cool they'd look all lined up on the shelf- all neat and tidy and uniform. It warms my heart just thinking about it.

I know I shouldn't but any more books - at least for the time being. But there are so many interesting titles, and more and more of them every day. Now I'll have two more books arriving soon. I can find a place to fit them on the shelves... somewhere.

I ordered The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What's so Good about the Good News? by Peter J. Gomes. I like Gomes. I've really got to concentrate when I read him, though. He's kind of a smart guy and uses big words. Someday I'd like to hear him preach. I also got Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings From the Northumbria Community. A friend of mine has it and it prays and reads beautifully. I spent a little more than what the gift card amount was, but I got a good deal.

There's a box near the student mail boxes that someone keeps restocking with gently used books of various interests. I've come home with several good titles. I'll get to them too. Really.

You know what would be really cool? One of these. There are lots of different makes and models. Think of all the space I'd save!

Ah well... as the saying goes: so many books, so little time - and space. I can hardly wait for my package to arrive.

playful Easter Spirit

The playful Holy Spirit strikes again. I had intended to show you the rest of the snow sculpture in photo form and you'd think, gosh, she's clever and talented. I made the Easter form first: the empty tomb, and the risen Christ standing behind a figure keeping watch, who is just fractions-of-a-second from recognizing the person speaking to her. That's my favourite moment. Then I filled in the opening of the tomb making it look like a solid piece. A nearby mound of snow had Jesus embedded in it somewhere which I planned to carve out. The head of the figure keeping watch would be turned to almost-facing Christ. It was a good plan. Two sculptures in one. Pretty clever, huh?

It warmed up just enough by Saturday evening, and the sun shone on the sculpture long enough, that the faux stone covering the opening had melted away revealing the empty tomb. The head of the figure keeping watch turned slightly away from the opening. The mound of snow I was going to carve Jesus out of became so brittle that it was uncarvable. I didn't get to finish the resurrection (she writes realizing the irony of this).

Could it be that God awaits Easter with as much anticipation as we do? Was this a case of God not wanting to be held captive in a small container, but anxious to be let free to move and flow among us?

Before Easter, my Lenten meditation was about the journey from the cross to the resurrection. How does Jesus get from the cross to the tomb? People carry him there. So what (if any) part of the resurrection can humanity claim? An interesting thought to play with for a few weeks. Now though, my Easter meditation will be about those questions that came up after seeing the sculpture changed without me. Liberation theology comes to mind.

Wishing you all a blessed and playful Easter season.

catching up

I owe you some pictures.

The trip to California:

















This pretty much sums up this whole year.


















"Move it! Pastoral Emergency!"


















...housing provided.


















This was on every ride we went on. I think we should put a notice like this in every pew. "Please take children firmly by the hand. Do not disembark your pew until the liturgy has come to a complete stop." It's up there with, "Thank you for worshiping with The Episcopal Church. We know there are many other churches you could worship at. We're glad you chose ours. And we hope you worship with us again soon." The airlines might be on to something. "In the event of a water landing, your kneelers may be used as a flotation device." You know, for those exuberant full-immersion baptisms.


















Effigy. Nuff sed.


















Locals. And you thought I was goofy.


















It's pink, and a cowgirl, and a princess... all at once.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

















Roz has a new friend.

















That's Mack from next door.


















And that is what a Roz Dog smile looks like.


Finally:

















It snowed on Good Friday.


















So I made a snow sculpture. It isn't done yet, though. How can it be? It's only Saturday. The final sculpture is embedded in this one. I'll reveal it later tonight.

it's drafty in here

Got my thesis draft turned in. I'd been keeping each chapter in the folder related to the research. When I compiled each chapter into a new document I had to do some repagination and other clean-up stuff. It looked pretty good. Then I typed up the cover page. *shivers* It looked really official. The last chapter on Change Management still needs some work, but there's enough there so my readers know where I'm going with it. One reader says he'll have it back to me in a couple weeks. The other reader hasn't said anything. They have about a month to look it over. Then I get a month to make any adjustments. Then it gets turned in, and that's that. I love the research I'm doing, and I'll be happy to enjoy it soon for what it is without having to write about it.

I'm thinking about changing my degree from MTS to M.A. It's been on my mind since I started this and just seems better to me.

breath of fresh air

The breathing treatments I got at the ER last week are still having effect. I just got back from a follow-up with my primary and my lung capacity is impressively high - even with a continued wheeze in pretty much all areas of my lungs. My doc made me do a peak flow measurement twice to be sure I really was that good. So even with asthma and a wheeze, I've still got a good capacity. Nice to know. She put me on a continued steroid course for another 10 days, but we hope to wean me off as soon as possible. This has been a bad winter, and the accumulation of a bad cold in January, the longer and colder winter we're experiencing, and the thing I brought back from California created the perfect storm for my asthma. I have to say I have a new found respect for this disease. It's most impressive in its debilitating nature. I hate it. The worst of it is over I think. My doc and I make a good team. I have every confidence that I'll be back to my baseline in time for the warmer weather. I have to. I want to play softball come spring.

All else is fine here. The call search is going well. I have been advised to scale back blogging the details. That's why I've been quiet about it lately. Suffice it to say, things are going well.

The last chapter of my thesis is underway. The due date for the draft is this Saturday. I'd like for the draft to be as close to the finished product as possible. All the other chapters will be to a point like that, but this last one will be more like an actual draft copy. I was hoping have very little to do with it when it comes back from my readers, but I'm sure I'll have to put some real time into this last chapter. Ah well. Overall, I'm very happy with it. I think it's accomplishing that for which I wrote it.

trip to the ER

The meds my MD gave me on Tuesday would have worked fine, had I gotten them earlier - like Sunday, but that wasn't possible. Tuesday was the earliest appointment I could get. Tuesday night went alright, not much sleep. Wednesday had little change in my condition until later in the day, when it got worse. I was sucking on the albuterol every few hours with little relief. Thursday morning I had no energy. Hungry, but not enough energy to eat. Couldn't stand or walk very long or far without working to breathe. Finally, another hit on the albuterol with absolutely no effect. "Time to go," I said to myself, as I used to say to my respiratory distress patients back in the ambulance days. Another student was standing near and overheard my call to K asking when she'd be home to drive me to the hospital. He rushed to my rescue, and in no time we were sitting in the ER waiting room.

I got two breathing treatments, a set of chest X-rays, and a big-girl dose of Prednasone in four hours. The breathng treatments involved inhaling a mist of some serious bronchiodilators. It's good stuff, but the major side effect is jitteriness. I was shaking like a leaf well into the evening. My lungs are tired and sore from all the coughing and the forced dilation. But I can breath again.

I've never had an asthma attack that bad - not even close. It was so bad I didn't even feel it coming on. My energy was so low because I wasn't getting enough oxygen to my muscles. I was so tight I wasn't even wheezing all that much. Apparently I looked kinda grey, too. But no one used that word to me, so there was no jog of my medical training to self-diagnose myself as possibly hypoxic.

So now I'm on two different steroid meds, a nasal spray, and an antibiotic, along with the albuterol I always have. My energy is nearly 100%, and my colour is right. I still have a cough which is a-little-uncomfortable to slightly-painful, but that will pass. Breathing in too deep and too fast gets me coughing. That will pass too. I follow up with my Doc on Tuesday morning.

Looking back, it was kinda scary. This has been a bad winter for me all around. I was just getting over a cold, when I got this. Everybody on the plane ride home was coughing, so I don't think there was any way I was going to avoid it. Being compromised from the first cold must have lowered my resistance for this. I'll be happy when warmer weather returns and the air isn't so dry and stale.

I thanked the guy who drove me to the hospital profusely. He said he'd let me take him out for a pint. Absolutely. It's the least I can do.

100+ degrees

That wasn't the temperature in California on my trip, sadly. That's the temperature I came home with. 100.6 to be exact, though it might have been higher last night. I just got over a cold, now I get hit with this yuck. Doc has me on antibiotics, a nasal spray, and a steroid inhaler. My asthma has taken a beating with this protracted Chicago winter. Doc says she's seen a lot of exacerbated asthma this winter. Misery loves company. I begged out of class and work today - which is not typical for me. Fever means take the day off, though. I had a really important meeting today also. Fortunately I was able to reschedule to next week. My current condition is not exactly putting my best face forward in a meeting. I figure if I lay low today, I might be able to pull off a scheduled presentation tomorrow morning on the retreat I led in California. I have pictures and stories to tell you about that trip, but I haven't unpacked yet. The luggage is still parked by the front door where I dumped it on my way to bed Sunday night. I'll get back to you.