The week that was:
Packing boxes and wasting time. That's my life right now. We did have a going away reception at church on Sunday morning that was nice. I talked to quite a few people that I don't think I've said too many words to in my 4 years at the church. Needless to say that some of the conversations were a bit awkward. I spoke for the last time at Solomon's Porch on Sunday night.
The week that is:
Busy. We have to finish packing, which is currently kind of hard because we ran out of boxes. I'll get more tomorrow from my buddy Sam at Chick-fil-a but as of now I'm at a stand still. But here's how the end of the week is shaping out. Thursday is our going away luncheon with the staff at church. Thursday night we are going to a Dinner Dance for Holly's graduation. Friday is Holly's graduation party at some of our dear friend's house. Friday night by buddy Ryan is flying into town as he is driving my car back to my in-laws on Sunday, which saves us like $400 in shipping costs. Saturday Holly's family is flying into town for her graduation on Sunday. Sunday is Holly's graduation and our going away party with the youth on Sunday night. Monday I take Holly and her family to the airport as they are all leaving me. Monday afternoon I pick up the truck and have a few guys coming over to help me load it up. I then leave Tuesday morning to drive to my in-laws place where we have our washer/dryer a few other things in storage. Wednesday I'll leave from there and pull into our new place and unload the truck.
What I'm reading:
I'm reading a book called "the Hole in our Gospel" right now in between packing.
What I'm listening to:
Nothing in particular.
What I'm looking forward to:
Being finished with all of this. I probably won't post next week due to the crazy schedule that I just talked about.
Talk to you in a few.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
the life of Jared (5/18)
The week that was:
Packing, packing and more packing mixed in with a little bit of lazy unmotivated time. My office at the church is about 95% finished and we are making progress at home.
We also attended 2 cookouts last weekend. The first was with our former pastor and another family that used to be on our staff. It was a great time eating and hanging out together and catching up. I think we all lament that fact that we are spread out now, but we (or at least I) treasure the time that we spent together on staff.
The other cookout was with our small group. 3 of the 4 couples in the small group are moving away this summer and so this was our last time to be together. One of the couples moving away is trying to use up the meat in their freezer so we had pork and beef ribs that night. Now let me tell you about these ribs. They were not the wimpy ribs that you might get at your local chain restaurant. No, these were ribs on steroids and they were amazing. Thanks Gregg and Lisa.
The week that is:
Packing, packing and more packing. I hope that we are pretty much finished with packing by the end of this week. Our following week is going to be nuts, but I'll let you know about that in my next update post. I am taking my 9th grade small group to shady maple on Saturday morning. That will definitely be good.
What I'm listening to:
Nothing specific right now, mostly genius playlists.
What I'm reading:
I'm slowly working through the book, "The Hole in our Gospel." I hope to have a review of it after we get settled in Chatty. I definitely recommend this book, especially for those who are older and might be turned off by a Shane Claiborne or someone like that.
What I'm looking forward to:
Settling down. I'm sad to leave this place, but I hate seeing boxes everywhere. Also there is a new DMB album releasing on the day that I leave PA. Hopefully I'll be able to download it and listen to it as I make the trek to TN.
Packing, packing and more packing mixed in with a little bit of lazy unmotivated time. My office at the church is about 95% finished and we are making progress at home.
We also attended 2 cookouts last weekend. The first was with our former pastor and another family that used to be on our staff. It was a great time eating and hanging out together and catching up. I think we all lament that fact that we are spread out now, but we (or at least I) treasure the time that we spent together on staff.
The other cookout was with our small group. 3 of the 4 couples in the small group are moving away this summer and so this was our last time to be together. One of the couples moving away is trying to use up the meat in their freezer so we had pork and beef ribs that night. Now let me tell you about these ribs. They were not the wimpy ribs that you might get at your local chain restaurant. No, these were ribs on steroids and they were amazing. Thanks Gregg and Lisa.
The week that is:
Packing, packing and more packing. I hope that we are pretty much finished with packing by the end of this week. Our following week is going to be nuts, but I'll let you know about that in my next update post. I am taking my 9th grade small group to shady maple on Saturday morning. That will definitely be good.
What I'm listening to:
Nothing specific right now, mostly genius playlists.
What I'm reading:
I'm slowly working through the book, "The Hole in our Gospel." I hope to have a review of it after we get settled in Chatty. I definitely recommend this book, especially for those who are older and might be turned off by a Shane Claiborne or someone like that.
What I'm looking forward to:
Settling down. I'm sad to leave this place, but I hate seeing boxes everywhere. Also there is a new DMB album releasing on the day that I leave PA. Hopefully I'll be able to download it and listen to it as I make the trek to TN.
Monday, May 11, 2009
the life of jared (5/11)
The weeks that were:
2 weeks ago I was at our middle school retreat. I'll have to honest, most of the time I dread those weekends, but I really enjoyed this trip. The theme that Doug and I had come up with had great potential to be very meaningful for our students and we had some really cool activities planned at a different retreat center.
Our theme was centered around the fact that we are clay in the hands of the potter. We talked about how we were made by God and that God declares that we are good. In this session Doug took the kids outside and forced us to notice our surroundings and all that God had created. This is especially meaningful to many of our students because we were in the middle of the woods which is radically different than where most of them live. In our next session, we talked about how God readies us to be put on the wheel and then begins the process of shaping and molding us. We found an actually potter's wheel and Doug did a quick demonstration on how a potter had to center the clay in order to lay the ground work for the piece that they have in mind to make. We talked about how God wants us to be centered on the wheel and ready for how God wants to shape us. The next session was geared around how God can take the mess that we sometimes make in our life and is able to still make it into something beautiful. For this session we asked an art teacher from our local high school to come a do a real demonstration. Thankfully she goes to our church and was happy to come out and help us. She was awesome and it was amazing to see the students captured by her movements and how the clay was being shaped in her hands. Our last session briefly talked about how God shapes and molds us for a purpose to be used for the kingdom. Just how a plate, cup, bowl or vase has a certain purpose, so we have a purpose as we are being transformed by God.
All in all the retreat was awesome and our students were so well behaved. This was my last retreat with this group and it kind of made me sad. I have been so blessed to serve a great group of students. I will miss them and our awesome youth leaders greatly.
On Monday we boarded a plane to TN for the sole purpose of finding a place to live in Chattanooga. Karis slept the whole time at the airport and on the plane. Holly and woke up early on Tuesday morning in order to get to an appointment at 10:30 with a real estate agent. We saw several townhomes and actually wound up leasing the first one we saw. Here are a few pictures.
[caption id="attachment_258" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Kitchen"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_259" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Backyard"]
[/caption]
The rest of week we just spent hanging out in the 'boro with Holly's family and we flew home on Friday.
Lastly, this was Holly's first Mother's Day and we had a great time. We went on a family picnic to Valley Forge National Park, at Holly's request, and overall just had a lazy day.
The week that is:
Packing. I'm hoping to have most of my office packed up by the end of the week but the house is not packing itself like we want it to. We also have 2 cookouts with friends and our small group this weekend. Looking forward to that.
What I'm listening to:
Nothing in particular. I have listened to the latest Lincoln Brewster album quite a bit lately. It's a good one!
What I'm looking forward to:
All of the packing to be done and the move to be over. I'm not ready to say goodbye, but I dread this waiting process.
What I'm reading:
Nothing really. Pretty much all of my books are in boxes.
2 weeks ago I was at our middle school retreat. I'll have to honest, most of the time I dread those weekends, but I really enjoyed this trip. The theme that Doug and I had come up with had great potential to be very meaningful for our students and we had some really cool activities planned at a different retreat center.
Our theme was centered around the fact that we are clay in the hands of the potter. We talked about how we were made by God and that God declares that we are good. In this session Doug took the kids outside and forced us to notice our surroundings and all that God had created. This is especially meaningful to many of our students because we were in the middle of the woods which is radically different than where most of them live. In our next session, we talked about how God readies us to be put on the wheel and then begins the process of shaping and molding us. We found an actually potter's wheel and Doug did a quick demonstration on how a potter had to center the clay in order to lay the ground work for the piece that they have in mind to make. We talked about how God wants us to be centered on the wheel and ready for how God wants to shape us. The next session was geared around how God can take the mess that we sometimes make in our life and is able to still make it into something beautiful. For this session we asked an art teacher from our local high school to come a do a real demonstration. Thankfully she goes to our church and was happy to come out and help us. She was awesome and it was amazing to see the students captured by her movements and how the clay was being shaped in her hands. Our last session briefly talked about how God shapes and molds us for a purpose to be used for the kingdom. Just how a plate, cup, bowl or vase has a certain purpose, so we have a purpose as we are being transformed by God.
All in all the retreat was awesome and our students were so well behaved. This was my last retreat with this group and it kind of made me sad. I have been so blessed to serve a great group of students. I will miss them and our awesome youth leaders greatly.
On Monday we boarded a plane to TN for the sole purpose of finding a place to live in Chattanooga. Karis slept the whole time at the airport and on the plane. Holly and woke up early on Tuesday morning in order to get to an appointment at 10:30 with a real estate agent. We saw several townhomes and actually wound up leasing the first one we saw. Here are a few pictures.
[caption id="attachment_258" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Kitchen"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_259" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Backyard"]
[/caption]The rest of week we just spent hanging out in the 'boro with Holly's family and we flew home on Friday.
Lastly, this was Holly's first Mother's Day and we had a great time. We went on a family picnic to Valley Forge National Park, at Holly's request, and overall just had a lazy day.
The week that is:
Packing. I'm hoping to have most of my office packed up by the end of the week but the house is not packing itself like we want it to. We also have 2 cookouts with friends and our small group this weekend. Looking forward to that.
What I'm listening to:
Nothing in particular. I have listened to the latest Lincoln Brewster album quite a bit lately. It's a good one!
What I'm looking forward to:
All of the packing to be done and the move to be over. I'm not ready to say goodbye, but I dread this waiting process.
What I'm reading:
Nothing really. Pretty much all of my books are in boxes.
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