Catching up

I can't believe I've not blogged since before we moved  in April.  Wow!!!!

I'm not even going to try to make a nicely written summary of everything that's happened since then. I plan to write a few little posts on some of the bigger things that have happened.

But for now, some highlights:

• Sad to leave our old home.
• Excited to meet our new people.
• Former members gave us a great send-off with a parish-wide final service and a nearly all-afternoon going-away party.  We had a huge turn-out of helping hands to load the truck and finish off the packing.  And I am still embarrassed by how we left the parsonage.  But we are grateful to those who said, "Just go, ... we'll finish up.  There's not going to be anyone moving in right away anyway."
• New members helped much here, with unloading truck and unpacking necessities.  And they worked diligently to build a second bathroom in our basement.
• Living on the edge of a small town rather than 13 miles from closest smaller yet town.
• Farm fields across street one direction, much used BNSF railway line closer in another direction than our mailbox was at the old place.
• Kids can play in the creek and catch crawdads in one direction and can walk to library, pool, grocery store, bakery, in other direction.  
• Lesser used city park with playground and extensive green space right next to our house, and separating us from the rest of town.
• Tight fit in smaller house, still trying to figure out how to best make it work.
• Installed storage shelves and working on additional living space in basement.
• Louisa and Else came home from college for summer.
• We get to see more of Jeremy, less of Matt.
• Clara spent most of the summer at Tiffany Bs outside of Plummer, MN, doing farm chores with horses and other animals, helping with toddlers, continuing to train her filly, working for Doc Hagen 
• Swimming lessons and annual pool pass = very brown kids and mom, and some pretty good swimmers
• Louisa and Elsie working at Clara City Care Center as CNAs
• Joe's office in the living room = oft-frustrated dad and many spur-of-the-moment outings for mom and kids
• First one-day VBS experience: Jesus the Good Shepherd: prophecy and fulfillment.  The church here does three one-day VBS's a year, one at Christmas, one at Easter, and one during the summer.
• Helped Louisa move to Moorhead and into her first apartment.  
• Egress window in basement done.

Besides that, I can say that we love our new church and our new members and our new community.  Just as each pastor is wonderful and challenging in his own way, and each pastor's wife and family, can be both a blessing and a challenge, so too each new home and community, and each of a pastor's calls presents it's own challenges and blessings.  We are still getting to know everything and everyone here and they are still getting to know us.  But in all things, God is good.

The summer has flown by, with getting settled, kids coming and going, Bible camp, visiting new members, and all the regular stuff like meals and laundry and cleaning toilets. And eating and preserving all the wonderful garden produce our new members and friends have provided for us.

We look forward to next Sunday attending the installation of Pastor Jeff Merseth as the new pastor of Clearwater Lutheran Parish.  Jeff and Megan and their kids are very dear to us, as are the members Joe formerly served, and among whom we lived and made a home for over 13 years.  We pray for all involved God's richest blessings, and many years of joy through this special temporal manifestation of the Communion of Saints.

Oops, I did it again!

This is the first day I feel normal in about two months.  I think I finally kicked that stupid bug that had been wearing me out.  Last week was crazy with snow days and car troubles, but we made it through, and I even made some progress on the longer term deeper organizing and cleaning. 

Weekend was busy with residual car junk, ... the kids were asking about one obligation or another that's coming up in the next weeks, and all I could say was, "My brain is full of car junk.  Ask me next week after I've recovered."  (Regular readers will recall my difficulties these days maintaining my mental acuity during times of stress.)

Sunday morning I needed to do some prep for the busy Christmas program prep day we had planned for the Sunday School kids, with drawing names, and assigning parts, etc.  It gets a little wild with the kids filing past the teachers,  at each station picking up a note to parents, lyrics sheet, drawn name, and part, or then getting it all stapled together at the last stop.  I wanted to be good and ready, so I got there early (at least for me.)

Imagine my chagrin when I realized the church ladies were also there early, prepping for the meal for which I was supposed to bring a hotdish.  Since I'm assigned the gluten free one, it's pretty noticeable if I forget, right?  Not to mention our GF eaters might be a little dissappointed having to leave a church dinner still hungry.

Shoot!  Oh, and that reminded me of something else later in the day I also forgot.  Ladies' Aid Christmas party for which I didn't yet have a gift!  Way to go, Mary.

So I got through School with the help of the teacher, helpers and some of the older kids.  We had opening prayers.  We did the December birthday pennies and gift.  Got all the info handed out to all the kids.  And then quickly.practiced through the Hallelujah Chorus.

I ran up to the parsonage to throw together a hotdish.  Canned sweet potatoes, cooked turkey from the freezer, a bag of corn and some diced green peppers, also from the freezer, a quick white sauce poured over the top.  Shoved it into the oven at 400 and fly out the door.   Not a typical Minesotan hotdish.  But at that point I hadn't much for options.  And I got back to church before the sermon.  I felt a little bit like Martha of Bethany, though, missing the first part of the service.  :-(

After church, I ran up to the house to get the hotdish out of the oven.  Plunged a fork into it to see if it had heated through.  Hmmmm, warm but not hot in the middle.  But the edges are bubbly and even browned.  I quickly stirred the bubbling cauldron-like edges to the middle, noted the steam rising from all parts, put the lid on and raced back down to church.  Arrived looking as though I'd got the world by the tail and was feeling cool as a cucumber, right?

I relaxed to enjoy all the wonderful food and company for which our congregations are kind of reknowned.  Had a nice and quick visit with Kory and Carol and Aaron and Jill.  There was even still a spot open when Joe got done shaking hands and got his food, so I had the rare treat of sitting with my husband at a church dinner.

After finishing the dinner, I took a deep breath for the next rush.  Ran up to the house and crocheted a quick headwrap with flower for the LA gift exchange.  I was running a bit late, (big surprise there?)  so Clara and Sophie helped me with things like tucking in yarn ends and gathering a gift bag.  Flew back down to church, and again, attempted to put on the facade of being all cool and organized and in control!   haha.  Am I good or what?

It was a nice party and a fun afternoon.  Muriel loved her headwrap, and since the church was kind of chilly, she put it on right away and wore it the rest of the afternoon.  It looked very cute on her, if I do say so myself.   I sort of wish I'd had the camera along. 

So today, ... today I'm relaxing and crocheting.  I have several Christmas time orders to fill.  And after such a weekend, I need to rest.  I already took one nap this morning.  Perhaps I'll take another. 

But one thing's for sure.  When this mom says, ""My brain is full of car junk.  Ask me next week after I've recovered,"  she means it.  Don't even bother.  It doesn't matter how important it is, it's pretty likely she'll forget anyway.

Clean Day

My house is clean!!!

I had five wonderful ladies here all day making it so.

Last Wednesday afternoon, as I stopped at church to deliver the vanload of Wednesday School kids at church, one of the teachers who was also arriving just then stopped at the van to talk a minute.  She said that she and some of the other ladies had decided to offer to come a day and help me clean.  And she was wondering if that would be OK, or if it would be insulting, or pushy. 

I of course responded that I have no pride left and that I'd love to have help for a day.

I found out over the weekend that they hoped to come Tuesday or Wednesday. 

As the day approached I found I was a bit anxious about it all.  I realized I did have some pride left. after all. 

But also, I had to think of things, in amongst all this disorder that I could have them do.  I have so many stacks and piles and stuff all over, half finished sorting and organizing, etc, that I had to think a little bit to figure out either what to do with the stacks, or how the ladies could work around them.

But the other thing that made me a little anxious, and this is where the pride comes in, is that my house is really dirty.  Deep down dirty.  The kids clean the bathrooms and sweep and mop the kitchen.  But that's kid standards which does not always coincide with theMom standards.  And theMom standards have been lowered so many times throughout the years that even theMom standards are not up to par with most homemakers. 

But besides that, there are many things that never get done, and also many things that I let go, that I ought not.  My kids write on walls, for instance.  At some point, I got tired of dealing with it.  I'd rather scrub walls than spank.  After 19 years, I'm tired of spanking.  I'm tired of time outs.  I'm tired of the constant, "Who did this?" routine.  And let's face it, I'm just plain tired.  I try not to let the little ones get away with things too much, but I know there are many things I've stopped caring about that I used to address immediately. 

That was my primary anxiety.  Or maybe it's just embarrassment.  It's humiliating to admit to others how inept I am at the whole homemaking thing. 

But there were other stressors, too.  Just little worries.  Anxiety.

And those had to do with my mental health.  I often can't keep going all day long.  I often have to nap or sit or tune out for awhile.  I also have trouble thinking clearly much of the time.  I was unsure whether I'd be able to keep my brain sharp all day when others need to ask what to do next, or what to do with such-n-such an item or stack or heap.  And also knew I wouldn't feel right taking my "coffee breaks"  or "crochet breaks" or "facebook breaks" or even "nap breaks" when others are busy working in my mess. 

I knew I would be bushed by this evening.  And I was.  As soon as these friends were out the door, Joe offered to help with supper.  I put rice in the rice cooker, and went in the bedroom and took a 20 minute nap. 

Good old Joe.  He knew that I was worried about being done-in at the end of such a busy day.  He pulled out a jar of canned bear meat and simmered up a barbeque sauce in which to reheat it.   When it was time to eat, I remembered that Joe does not do vegetables, so I opened a jar of green beans and served them room temperature with everything else.  It was wonderful!

Several of the ladies know about my struggle with depression.  I've not made any secret about it.  But I also haven't made a big announcement about it.  I got a chance today to talk to one of the ladies about it, which was good for me to do.  It's hard to admit that something is wrong.  That I'm weak in this way.  We all want to be polished and able and good.  I don't like to admit that I am not strong enough to handle whatever life throws at me.  I'm supposed to be tough.  Just get yourself going, Mary.  Just pull yourself up by the bootstraps.  Right?  But this time it didn't work.  And I have to admit to others that I am struggling.  I have to admit that things are not easy.   It's embarrassing to admit that I can't think straight much of the time.  And that I lose patience with myself and my situation. 

So it is good to talk to others, to share, and to be consoled by Christian friends. 

And it's also wonderful to have a clean house.

It feels good to have the deep cleaning done.  The Chervestad and nee Chervestad ladies scrubbed walls and washed windows, wiped down woodwork and mopped floors.  They cleaned my little girls' room.  They picked up John's room.  They vacuumed the rugs and draperies, steps and basement floor.  Muriel cleaned the mudroom bathroom, including (which I didn't even know had to be done) cleaned the rust and mineral out of the tank on the back of the toilet.  She straightened and washed walls, doors, and storm door in the mudroom.  And Shirley, well, Shirley is perhaps the only one would could get away with this, Shirley marched straight down to Jeremy's cave and prodded him into helping her clean it.  I had assured him that his room was not on the list for the day.  But Shirley decided to brave it anyway.  Jeremy came upstairs at one point and asked if I could make her to stop. 

I just said, "Nope, sorry.  Just help her out respectfully and deal with it.  Even if you didn't want your room clean, it will be good to have it done." 

"NO IT WON'T!"  Jeremy insisted. 

I bet he's happy it's done now.  But I also know that he'd never, ever in a million years admit it if I asked. 

While the ladies  were doing all that, I caught mostly up with dishes, and then putzed with some of the organizing and re-ordering I've let pile up.  I sorted socks.  I answered questions and ran errands. 

And I stayed on top of things.  I kept my wits about me.  I didn't break down crying. 

Now, my house is clean.  Thank you ladies, so very much.  Thank you for not judging my incompetence, or at least not doing so in an obvious manner.  Thank you for your labors when I feel too weak to accomplish them by myself.  It's a humbling thing.  But I thank you for your support and kindness. 

Of Moms and Men: the Bear Facts

We had Winkel here today.  Here, as in at Oak Park.  Winkel, as in the monthly meeting of the circuit pastors and guests, for further education, and mutual support and encouragement.  Many times the wives and kids come, too.  But today was just me and my girls.  There was a time when most of the pastors' kids were homeschooled, so we used to have a pretty big gathering each month.  These days the circuit has evolved as some pastors have moved on, and others have moved in.  The kids who are still here are older.  Some, like mine, are in public school full time, others are in a handful of activities through the public school system in their community.  It's a bit unpredictable each month, which wives will make it, and whether or not they will have kids along. 

The Winkel day opens with a worship service, and then a quick Minnesota Lunch.  I have to call it that, because people in most of the US mean something quite different with the word, lunch.  In Minnesota, lunch is a snack.  A between meals snack.  But it's never just a quick snack.  It always involves coffee and if kids are present, milk.  Usually bars or sweet rolls, banana bread or pumpkin muffins; sandwiches or pickles, or a little of this and a little of that.  Salad, pie, bread and butter, pickled fish, nuts and candy.  Could be anything.  It's most always called a little lunch, as in "Let me get you a little lunch," as your hostess opens the fridge and starts to pull things out. 

For more Minnesota-isms you could read, How to Talk Minnesotan, by Howard Mohr.  But probably you wouldn't get it, unless you live here or have listened to years of Garrison Keillor.  Many years ago, at a Mother/Daughter luncheon at Joe's parent's church, Howard Mohr was the guest speaker.  Most people enjoyed it immensely.  I was a bit lost, since I had not lived in Minnesota long enough, nor even been affiliated for enough years with Minnesotans to appreciate the cultural humor.  I'd probably enjoy it now.  It's hard to believeI've lived in Minnesota for almost 20 years.  And sometimes I still feel like a foreigner! 

But on to Winkel.  The day starts with a worship service and the forenoon lunch.  Then the men meet and the ladies meander up to the parsonage to have their own little visit.  Then we have dinner (the noon meal) sometimes at the hosting church or parsonage, other times at a nearby restaurant.  The men then continue their meetings into the afternoon, and the women return to the parsonage.

Here at Oak Park, since we are quite a distance from any eateries, and the men don't want to spend most of their lunch hour driving, we generally eat at church.  Sometimes the Ladies Aid provides the food, other times I do it myself.  Really, for me, it's not too big a job, simply because of the volume at which I generally cook for my family.  Today, Muriel M. provided the treats for lunch and a dessert for dinner.  I made a Tex-Mex hotdish for dinner, and served it with lettuce, Mexican flavored rice, and taco toppings.  I thought that made an adequate lunch.  Oops.  I mean dinner.

But nope.  I found out that it was, in fact, not enough.  It was missing the most important menu item. Joe had to show off his manly prowess and serve some bear chops along with the Tex-Mex meal.  "Fine, Joe," theMom replied with the barest hint of an eyeroll.  "It's a novelty thing.  I'm sure the guys will get a kick out of it.  As long as your prepare them, though, please.  I'm going to be plenty busy with the other items."

Everything went fine.  Really.  The dinner was wonderful.  The bear was well received and made for good conversation.  I think even Pastor Longshore may have had a nibble.  (I told him afterwards that the meat in the Tex-Mex hot dish was venison, too, so he really had some culinary adventures today.)  Pastor Longshore is the newest pastor in our circuit.  He's from the South, and bigger towns.  Cities, really.  So he's still experiencing a bit of that culture shock that can awe someone new to the area.)

After we finished eating, I closed the window curtain divider thing for the kitchen, and pulled shut the doors, to enable the men to have their privacy while they continued their meeting.  And I washed the dishes.  Am I a good pastor's wife, or what? 

As I was cleaning up, I noticed that there was a big black smear on the white and shiny, usually pristine, surface of one of the flat topped stoves.  "Shoot, did I do that?  I didn't even use the stove.  What might I have set there?  I'm very sure The Ladies would not have left it like that, so it must have been us somehow."  These and other panic stricken thoughts ran through my head as I washed the rest of the dishes.  I was a bit fearful, wondering what it might have been and how easily (or not) it would come off.  I know the standards The Ladies expect to be followed in the hallowed domain of the Church Kitchen.

As I got to the last few items of dirty dishes, it dawned on me.  The bear.  Joe used one of our cast iron pans on the stove.  Yes.  One of the well-seasoned cast iron pans that sometimes leave black greasy smear marks on surfaces.  And there is was.  The blaring black grease smear.  Baked onto the Ladies' Aid's stove.  Yes, it is the church's stove.  But only in name.  We all know it really belongs to The Ladies. 

(When you read this, you have to think in a somewhat somber and frightening kind of voice every time you read the words The Ladies.  It's not meant in any unkind way.  And it's not any one or couple of individual ladies.  It's simply the collective power of The Ladies to strike fear into the hearts of those unsuspecting individuals who tread wrongly.)

Terror was striking my heart during those minutes.  I know how hard those smears can be to remove from a solid surface stove.  Much to the chagrin of The Church Ladies, I don't really scrub off the parsonage one all the time anymore.  Dare I say it?  Stains don't bother me.  As long as the crumbs and chunks are scrubbed off.  as long as the surface grease is wiped up.  But I know it bothers The Ladies.

I knew that smear on the church stove simply had to come off.

I must admit that about this time, I did lose my battle against a few more eyerolls, directed at the whole bear thing.  Such a Man thing, right?  I mean, it's OK for us women to show off our quilts or crochet, or to even to leave our filled canning jars sitting on the counter for others to notice.  But it is pretty ridiculous for a man to want to show off his accomplishments, right? 

"Such a guy thing!" Eyeroll.  Right?  Isn't that how we are?  Well, maybe not you, but I am. 

Oh, and the stain...it did come off with a little elbow grease and a dab of CeramaBryte.

Prayers for this Young Lady

"So, a lion and a cheetah were running a race."  Joe started this joke at lunch Tuesday.  I burst out laughing, and then reached out and slugged him.  It was just so silly, and I could already hear the obvious ending. 

John was home from school that day, so Joe finished the joke for him.  "The cheetah crossed the finish line first, but the lion hollered, 'You're a cheata!' to which the lion replied, 'You're a-lyin'!' "

I was still giggling when Joe told me where he heard the joke.  But my giggles were quickly replaced by a teary feeling and a little catch in my throat, when he said that this was one of the jokes our young friend, Hannah, was telling the emergency room staff when she was being evaluated the other night.  And that sums up Hannah.  When her world is crashing down around her, she is thinking about others, and inserting a little joy in their lives.  Apparently, when another young girl came in after having been injured in a car accident, Hannah entertained her in like manner.

Hannah is a twelve year old friend who is not exactly a member of any of our churches, but it feels like she is.  Her mom, Allie, grew up in the Nazareth congregation, and because of all the close family ties in our area, even though Allie and her immediate family are members of a church in Thief River Falls, we see them often, and we have become as close to this family as to other families in our churches.

In many ways, Hannah is a typical middle-class American kid.  She likes Hollister clothes, plays cello in the local school orchestra (I think that's the correct big stringed thing), and has played hockey every winter since she was little.  But Hannah had been blessed with one of the biggest hearts I've seen in a person her age.

One example of her selflessness is her work at The Valley Home in Thief River Falls.  She volunteers at this nursing home almost daily during the summer; and spends some evenings and Saturdays there during the school year.  Her sparkling personality and kind demeanor are a joy and comfort to the residents there.  A few years ago, when she was probably only nine or ten, she orchestrated a fund drive to get a Wii system for the residents at Valley Home.

But Hannah is going through a traumatic time right now.  She has been experiencing seizures of unexplained origins for the last three weeks or so. These seizures have been increasing in frequency and intensity.  Monday afternoon the seizures became severe enough that Hannah was once again taken to the hospital in TRF, and then later rushed again to Fargo for care.

By the time Joe got the second call Monday, near midnight, the medical practitioners were not sure they'd be able to stabilize Hannah to get her through the night.  Her seizures at that point, according to the scans they were running, were coming almost constantly, with several layers of seizure on top of each other.

We praise God that He allowed the doctors to get Hannah through that night. She was flown to the Mayo Clinic's St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester on Tuesday.  It sounds as though she is gradually improving with the care she is getting.  But it is a scary time for her and her family, as they wait for God's timing in allowing the doctors to figure out the mystery of the source of and solution to her seizures.

Hannah's immediate situation is not the first bump in the road along which God has asked Hannah and her family to walk in recent years.  Only a few years ago, Hannah lost her Uncle Ryan, still a young man, in a tragic car accident.

And just a little over a year ago, Hannah's mom, Allie, had a stroke at the young age of 34.  Allie has been so valiant at all levels of her recovery.  It's been a time of physical, emotional, and spiritual challenge and healing.  God surely has worked in Allie's life through that hardship; she has documented her journey on her blog, A Stroke of Hope.  Allie still struggles some days with confusion, fatigue, and a residual lack of motor control.

Yet somehow, God in His wisdom is asking this family to go through still more.  They must once again wait on His timing, and trust His will.

To all of you, Hannah, Allie, Aaron, Nolan; Cheryl and Rodney, Aric and Lucas; Joni and Ricky, Kelly and Emily and Matthew; and all of yours; we love you all and pray God's comfort and peace as you walk this path.

There are so many good and applicable Bible passages I could insert, but I'm going to include here my favorite, from way back when I was in high school and we sang a choral rendition of these verses in choir. During my high school and young adult years, the following words seemed to speak to the emotional earthquakes and roarings with which adolescence is fraught. 

Psalm 46:1-3

God is our refuge and strength,
         A very present help in trouble.
 Therefore we will not fear,
         Even though the earth be removed,
         And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
 Though its waters roar and be troubled,
         Though the mountains shake with its swelling.  

Hannah, you, and all of your family, are going through a very tangible and horrific kind of earthquake and roaring.  But I think the words very picturesquely capture what you must be going through.  Remember that God is your refuge and strength, even amidst such mind- and heart-shattering times.  Even when the metaphorical waters roar and mountains shake, He is with you, carrying you through it all.

Readers can check on Hannah at her Caring Bridge sight.

2011 VBS Week

It was a busy week in our parish last week.  We had our annual VBS program.  For any readers who are not from a tradition that uses such an acronym, VBS stands for Vacation Bible School.  It's a Bible and catechetical opportunity for parish kids and guests sponsored by churches during the kids' summer vacation.

I've been told that in this area and some other rural midwest areas, VBS has had a variety of names throughout the years and also a variety of methods and timelines.  The one I found most interesting was that some churches that did not have a Christian Day School would hire a Christian Day school teacher from a different area to spend a chunk of his or her summer vacation teaching religion to the parish youth.  This lasted often even for a month or more each summer.  It was called parish school, church school, summer school, or parochial school.

When I was young, in Washington State, I think our VBS was all day for a five day week.  Most programs today seem to be geared toward 1/2 days for five days.

What Joe has worked out here that seems to work the best is that we use a program geared for a five day week, but have school for three full days.  The second half of the third day is a program or special activity of some sort.

The tradition here for crafts for many years has been that the older two classes do a nativity set during their last years of VBS.  In the end, they are able to take home a nicely painted porcelain nativity to use in their home and to remember their VBS years.  There were ladies here previously who had quite a system down for teaching the kids about the use of paints and layers and different looks.  Some kids had very colorful nativities, others had more antiqued or even a bisque white look.  They all ended up very nicely done.

Another tradition that these churches follow is that since its the parents' job to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), the teachers of both Sunday school and VBS are expected to be the parents of the children attending.  There are usually a few non-parents who step up to help out.  This tradition is much different from the one with which I grew up.  I grew up in a tradition that asked particular people to teach the youth.  The people who were most knowledgeable Scripturally and who had a certain affinity for teaching or working with groups of children were the ones asked to teach.  I see the validity of both systems.  But because this tradition is so unlike that to which I was accustomed, it was a bit hard for me to get used to this system when we first moved up here.

One of the drawbacks to this system is that if a certain parent is skilled in a particular area of teaching, when that parent's youngest child has been confirmed, such a parent generally is ready to be done teaching.  The VBS program can really feel the absence of such a person.  For the first 7 years we were here, two ladies did the nativity sets with the kids.  They ordered the sets as each child attained the age to do the nativity.  They took care of the paints and the brushes.  They taught the kids how to end up with a great finished product.  But four and then two years ago, these ladies had their youngest children confirmed, so they are no longer with our VBS program.

Hence, the painting of nativities seems to be coming to a standstill.  There are some belonging to the older kids, which are in various stages of paintedness; and the younger kids reaching the age when they ought to start theirs have not started them.  When we talked about it this year, prior to the start of VBS, there seemed to be nobody who felt ready to pick up the ball and keep the tradition going.

Another change to our VBS recently is the huge increase in the number of children attending.  For the first several years we were here, the attendees were mostly from two of the congregations, with an occasional child or couple of children from the other two.  But those other two churches have been so blessed with young families coming in that we now have a steady attendance from all four churches.  This year we had I believe, 35 children attend VBS.  We had eight non-member children attend.  We were missing several of our bigger family groups, because of conflicting obligations.  Had these groups been able to attend, we might have had up to 50 little ones attend VBS.  What a blessing to live among thriving and growing rural churches where the young people return to live near home when they are ready to raise their families!

This year we had one of our newer members offer to do the crafts.  Thank you so much to Lissette R.  What a feat, to handle all that, when you haven't been around in previous years to have a feel for how things work.  You did a great job!

Kelly M. taught our 7 three year olds.  Wow, Kellie!  What patience and organization!

Laura V. taught 6 PK and Kindergarteners.  She did such a nice job managing all those little ones and keeping them still and orderly!

I taught 6 first and second graders.  I did not feel quite as organized as I would have liked, but we made it through the week and I think they learned something.  They were fun kids to work with.

Tami S. taught 9 kids in grades three through six.  Tami also teaches that age group in our Wednesday school, so she has a good handle on what they are capable of.  Besides teaching the Bible stories, she works with them to get the catechism memorized and makes sure they are prepared for the higher level doctrinal discussions that confirmation class will eventually require.

Pastor taught the confirmation aged kids.  I believe he had 7 kids, but I don't have the list on this computer to check for sure.  He teaches them the stories, and works with them on the memorization, but also gets deeper into the bigger picture lessons the program is designed to teach.

I ought to explain here that my husband is a pastoral perfectionist.  One look at our house or his garage and nobody would peg him as a perfectionist.  But when it comes to his church work, he is. 

This perfectionism makes it very hard for him to use any pre-packaged materials.  Generally he either writes his own, or purchases from a group that offers a few pre-done programs that follow his preference for bare bones Bible and catechism studies.  The way Joe sees it, in a parish without a Christian Day School, if you only have the kids for three days a summer, you better make sure the stuff they are learning is of eternal value. 

So yes, this means no clowns, no space aliens, no wild west or tours of famous cities, in the name of teaching the gospel to the little ones.  Who wants the kids to remember the clowns or the other characters or places, but forget the Biblical content of what they've learned.

The program Joe hoped to purchase this year was a program on the Bible as a whole, done by the Answers in Genesis group.  This particular program used the acronym BASIC Training, where 'B' stood for the Bible, and focused on the unique nature of the Bible.  'A' stood for Authority, and taught that the Bible speaks truth and is the Authority about God's will. 'S' stood for Salvation and focused on the message of Salvation in Jesus.  'I' stood for Instruction and taught the purpose of the Bible being Instruction in righteousness.  'C' stood for the Confidence we can have in our Salvation.

OK, yes, the program did have space aliens, but from what we had heard, it sounded as though that part could be toned down at the discretion of the pastor and teachers. But when the materials came in the mail, they were apparently based more strongly on the life of some famous British Christian guy (John Wesley, maybe?  Or William Tyndale?  I've forgotten who Joe said) than on the Bible. Perhaps this man lead a good and noble life, but the knowledge of his life and work will not get kids into heaven.   Hmmm.   (I'm curious as to how they combined a historical British man of faith with space aliens, but then, what do I know.  I didn't read the original material.)

After receiving the sample packet, with very little time to spare, Joe took the original and added or changed the Biblical content, and got rid of the biography of the famous Christian and the space aliens.  Since Answers in Genesis is not from a Sacramental tradition, he also had to change the focus of the "C is for confidence" lesson.  Instead of exhorting the children to look to their decision to follow Christ and the intensity of their prayer life, he tweaked it to teach the Means of Grace, the Gospel in Word and Sacrament, as the source of our confidence in Salvation.

In the middle of the rush to get the program rewritten, a storm ripped through southern Minnesota and blew more than twenty-five trees down on Joe's parents farm, one of which was landed on their house.  It is at times like this that the life of a pastor can pose a unique tight spot in a person's life.  Joe's parents had an emergency.  They have no other living children.  Joe is called to serve our churches here, way up in northern Minnesota, with God's Word.  But he is also called to be a son, and to honor and support his parents.

I'm not sure whether Joe had even considered going to help his folks.  Of course he wanted to.  He simply did not see it as a possibility.  But thank you to Kelly L., who called and encouraged him to consider going.  Just as God can provide help for Joe's parents, so too, the churches would get by without their pastor for a weekend.  The VBS prep would all work out.

So Joe finished the VBS re-write, got his sermon to the deacons at all four churches for them to read for him, using the family devotional Service of Prime.  Then he and our oldest boys left to help Grandma and Grandpa.  It turned out to be a very good thing for Joe, since some aunts and uncles and cousins who he doesn't get to see as often as he'd like came to help also.  Thanks to all those who brought man power and machine power to get such a big job done quickly.

The Kelly M and I, and Lissette with her crafts, finished up most of the prep work without him.  We ended up starting a little bit late on Wednesday, but the kids had fun playing and getting reacquainted.  And without further ado, we started in and had a successful week.

All the kids left with a tie-dyed T-shirt.  Instead of the nativities, Joe helped the older kids each make a flute. The younger kids made bookmarks, cross wall hangings, a tracing of themselves, and a picture frame.  Lissette took pictures during the days of VBS, so she took the frames home and will insert a picture for the kids and then deliver them to each church for pick-up.

On Friday afternoon, we invited parents, relations, and friends for the program the kids gave.   Several of the moms and grandmas provided bars for the standard, "Minnesota lunch,"  after which the kids gathered all their projects and headed home.

And it was three days of a wonderful whirlwind!