Its been a while!!!

Xanga world,

If you are still there, I still am as well. Nebraska was good, we had a baby. He is named Nathanael. Jessica was in labor for a week and did not know it. We went to the doctor and 6 hours later had this little human show up. Hannah is still amazing. I was just reading one of my old posts from when Hannah was her brother's age. Wow, kids are amazing.

In other news, well we will finish seminary in about 5 months, Jessica and I will go on a cruise to Mexico next month. The cruise was a Christmas Gift, so we are excited about that, something we would have never done at this point in our life. We have started the call/placement process. Of course our first hope is camp ministry, but that looks like about as likely as well me getting a PhD or something else. So we will probably be going to a parish somewhere in the midwest. We had an interview with a church I know a little about, but it was an interesting time.

Xanga, you are so much simpler than facebook. Someone encouraged me to start a facebook I tried, and then I told them just read my xanga. I am 28 and I'm not going to change my ways now.

Thats all for now!

THis is my vicarage congregation! St. John Lutheran Church in Oxford Nebraska. Yep I'm going to Nebraska, Jessica is going to Nebraska and so is that little girl named Hannah. She is 1. She is walking. She is cute. She is amazing. Our new church in Oxford is a vacant congregation where we will serve full time for 1 year. I will get a lot of experience. I am super excited. Jessica is excited because its not Illinois. Hannah is excited because we will be living in a very large 4 bedroom house. We are so thankful to God for the opportunity. Praise God!

Currently Listening Pronto By Lost and Found see related

It is thanksgiving break...more to come next week. For now...

HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!!!

I will be preaching at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Riverton Illinois, this Sunday, November 20 @ 8:30. FYI

Currently Reading The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission By Lesslie Newbigin see related

Happy September 23.

In the many lunar cycles since my last post...

Camp ended. My Assistant Director quit with a week and a half to go. One of my senior counselors quit with 2 weeks to go, one of them decided to keep coming in and get paid but do nothing the last week, one of them did minimal work most of the summer, and one of them told me she was pregnant. (In an interesting side note, the father could be one of 2 of the male staff members). That never happened at CILCA.

Jessica, Hannah and I moved on campus. We have a nice new place with neighbors we talk to. We can walk to class, but since Jessica and I are both students and we dont have the convience of a dishwasher any longer the house is a mess from Monday to Friday. If only Hannah could do dishes. We have a babysitter for the 8 hours a week that both Jessica and I are in classes. For the other times when Jess is in class and I home I play stay-at-home dad but Hannah does not know how to handle that. I get lots of (as Jessica calls them) "Alligator Tears"

Hannah is amazing. She nearly sits up on her own. She eats green beans, she drinks cherry coke...=) A few weeks ago she was sitting on mom's lap at the lunch table, I was drinking some cherry coke. I had an unopened can sitting on the edge of the table. Hannah reached out with both hands picked it up and put it straight to her mouth as if to take a drink. Thankfully it was unopened. It was quite humorous.

School is school. I have 5 classes this quarter, trying to make up for my summer of academic vacation. I have Theology of Mission, Systematics I, Homiletics II, Synoptic Gospels, and History of the LCMS. All exciting stuff. (BLECH!)

In other news. My grandfather past away last week. He was 82. His influence on my life will be long lasting. The funeral was dificult for me and for my mom. My dad was in the hospital at the time. I had to stay strong for mom while we were there, but I did get my grieving in when we got back to St. Louis.

I led a couple of challenge course groups up at CILCA last weekend. I was doing the trust fall/flip with a group from Normal and they wanted to flip their leader (who doesn't) so I consented. Well has the head spotter I got the worst of the damage when it did not go well. My right knee and shoulder are both in large amounts of pain. Still. I probably will not to those challenges with groups many more times.

Well not much else to tell now. I will share more Hannah stories in the near future. Maybe I'll even give her her own xanga. Ha Ha Ha, that would be weired. She could be the youngest person ever on xanga. 5 months...hmmm.

Currently Watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Special Widescreen Edition) By Gene Wilder see related

June hath ended...

Camp is 40% complete...

Here are some fun highlights for you...

One monday morning a counselor comes over the walkie-talkie and says, "I just got bit by a snake." THey are on a hike at the time. When we say hike, we mean hike. Like hiking down the side of a mini-mountain, crossing revenes on logs, circumferring a lake on a 6-mile trail. We are talking hikes. Kendra, my assistant gets on the the radio and says, "WHAT, who got bit by a snake? Why are we playing with snakes? What is going on?" Remember the 3rd camp rule...NO ONE GETS BITTEN BY A SNAKE... So, I call out to the counselor who says, "No, I'm fine, well I thought I was fine, but its getting red now and swelling. I think I can make it back, I'll be fine." So we ask her if she got a good look at the snake, and she said no. So I had to tell her, that since we have several species of venemous snakes here in Missouri she should stay right where she is because physical activity would force the venom through her body faster. Then I begin my rescue mission. I pack my emergency response backpack. Icepacks, Gauze, Alcohol, Tape, Bandages, Water, I'm ready! I drive to the lakefront and then hit the trail, because I can't drive on the trail. I start running down the trail. When i was younger, like the last two years I always told my counselors that I could be anywhere on camp in 5 minutes. While I was only tested twice I did make it once from the 3rd Pine Forest to the Dining Hall in 5 minutes, and once from the Sycamore Tree to the Look Out Tower in 6. I'm not as young anymore, and its a different story when it is the middle of the day and 95 degrees. So 1.5 miles (YES 1.5 Miles of RUNNING) later, (and after my nice new Camp CILCA nalgene bottle broke), I catch up to one group and they tell me its just a little farther. So I run another .5 miles. All the while the bitten counselor is saying I'm okay in that kind of way that one says, "Don't worry about me, I'll be okay." The way you tell people not to worry about you when your arm has fallen off. So finally I get to her and she is smiling and having a grand old time. I ask her where she got bit at, and she shows me her leg where there is NO BITE. I ask her what happened.

HERE IS THE BEST PART: She saw a snake slither across her shoe and then got hit by a thorn bush and reported that she got bitten. She did not. I ran 2 miles and broke my water bottle for no reason.

In other news, Tuesday a counselor left camp in an ambulence. Remember my second camp rule: NO ONE GOES TO THE ER. Oh well. Then Wednesday, I spent 3 hours in the ER with  one of my brilliant employees who needed 5 stitches in his knee. While there, a guy walked in who got hit by a car that was interesting.

Thursday night after our camp open house we all went out to eat together. I picked up the checks for 3 staff members who had to leave early. Funny thing was I got stuck with 4 extra checks. Yep, the 18 of us had 19 checks...So I guess I bought our waiter a Turkey Burger with fries. Its really okay, because work is actually going to pay us back for it. Nice treat.

Tonight Jessica and her dad and I went to the Cardinal Game. We actually where in the VERY TOP ROW of the Old Bush Stadium. That was kind of interesting. We looked for our friend Bethany who is an usher and we found her with our binoculars. I tried to sneak over to visit her, but since I had a lower class ticket I could not get to the higher class section where she was. So after the game we yelled at her from a section away and she came over and we chatted for a few minutes. That was kind of fun.

Now I am home typing you. Hannah and Jessica are doing well. Thanks for asking. God Bless you...More to Come...