Early Morning Privileges

My alarm went off at 5:30am this morning. While I realize this is a perfectly normal time for a lot people I know, including my husband, it is pretty darn early for me. My excuse is that I used up my lifetime supply of early mornings during the two and a half years I worked for Starbucks (when the store opened at 5:30am and we had to be there at 5am, which meant I got up at 4am to shower and get there on time...). As painful, and cold, as it was this morning, I was glad to get up. An eight year old member of the congregation I serve was scheduled for surgery, and he and his parents were to be at the hospital at 6:15am. I got there about 6:20. The coffee cart on the first floor had yet to open for the day - you know you're early when you beat the coffee lady. There were three or four nurses on the surgery floor, walking with purpose from their station into rooms with curtains pulled for patient privacy. They asked questions, took blood pressures, checked temperatures, and made sure all the information was correct - so much activity happening in those lighted spaces, when the world around was still sleeping and covered in darkness. I witnessed the beginning of the pre-surgery routine: child patient in gown and reclining in the bed even though he was ready to bounce off the walls, nurse in and out of the room, parents smiling for their son and trying not to let their concern and worry show enough to concern and worry him. My young friend introduced his parents to the nurse, and introduced me as "our pastor." I have never been happier to bear that title. I hope he knew that I was there for him, and for his parents. We joked, talked a little about the procedure, and then we prayed one of the most heartfelt kinds of prayer - we knew we weren't in control, we asked for God's presence, we prayed for the blessing of others and their skills, we asked for the gift of trust and hope, we prayed for healing and health. His parents thanked me over and over for getting up so early, for being there. I said "you're welcome" as a reflex. And added, "It's what we do. It's who we are. And it is my privilege to be here." I never cease to be amazed at the access people grant us pastor-types into their lives, to be witnesses, to be signs of God's presence among us, to represent the family of faith, to help find the words to give meaning to the best and worst times. What a privilege. *the surgery went well and my friend is on the mend. Wahoo!

Wait. Watch. Prepare. Part I

We had our first Wednesday evening Advent service tonight, using Holden Evening Prayer, a setting by Marty Haugen. The music was wonderful, but being in charge meant I didn't quite get to experience the service the way I hope everyone else did - especially since this setting of Evening Prayer is so brief... I need MORE time to sit, to be still, to watch the flame glowing on the first candle on the Advent wreath flicker as we breathe. Our theme tonight was "Wait." I suck at waiting, though sometimes I think I've had so much practice I should be a pro. We had a mini-readers-theater of sorts, exploring the different kinds of waiting different people do - waiting for a baby to be born, waiting for the world to change, waiting to die, waiting to be noticed, waiting to be wanted, waiting for... Tonight I am waiting for my headache to go away. I'm waiting for our household to get out of debt. I'm waiting to have a child, and waiting to be in better shape, waiting for people to cooperate, waiting for people to take some healthy initiative, waiting for adequate time to get my house organized, waiting for inspiration, waiting for God to speak to me just a little more clearly. What are you waiting for?

It's Only A Month, Right?

I have been sucked in. While there were multiple days during November that I spent no time at the keyboard working on my NaNoWriMo masterpiece, I did enjoy the discipline of thinking about my story and characters. A friend from a previous lifetime (that would be high school) participated in NaBloPoMo last month (National Blog Posting Month) and wrote a blog post every day at Rhubarb Sky. I have been inspired. I will make no guarantees as to the quality of posts for the next 30 days, but I'll do my best when it comes to quantity: 30 more, at least. It's true what Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo says: all we need is a deadline.

I Wrote a Novel, Now What?

I am very happy to say I did it - and with two hours to spare. After pounding out 9000+ words of mediocre fiction I have successfully completed my first NaNoWriMo and quit for the day today at 50,388 words, according to the official word counter. My book still lacks a title, and I'm guessing it's going to take another 20,000 words or so to finish telling the story. BUT - it feels good. And Grant says, "I'm looking forward to having my wife back." Fair enough.

We are newly back in Bozeman after a week in Western Washington with my family. Advent is upon us and there is MUCH to do, like there always is. The discipline of writing has been good for me, though, and a facebook friend from another life participated in National Blog Writing Month during November - a post a day for a month - and it sounds like it might be fun. But maybe I'll wait til January for that...

Now, some sleep...

Procrastination Station

One of the best parts of signing up for National Novel Writing Month, besides actually writing a novel (I hit the 19,000 word mark last night, and hope to be at 25,000 words before I go to bed on Sunday night), is the NaNoWriMo website. It rocks. Just about all of it is accessible to everyone, though to post in the forums you need to register, which also implies you're writing a book. ANYWAY - one of my favorite sections, of course, is the "Procrastination Station." Every day or two, two new links to wonderful websites and opportunities to avoid writing are posted. Yesterday I discovered wordle, and if you haven't seen it yet, go check it out. You can paste in a bunch of text (like your whole novel so far, or a sermon, or anything) and it generates a word cloud based upon it. The most frequently used words are the biggest, on down to pretty small type for the least frequently used words. You can change the font, the color, the orientation of the words. Super fun! Plus, you can use what you create any way you want - I'm thinking there are some uber-groovy t-shirts in our youth group's future!

Here's an example: this is the wordle of the top 150 words from my Consecration Sunday sermon from last year (Grant's preaching at Commitment Sunday this year. Pray for him - it's this week!)

Vote Yes on Referendum 71, Or whichever legislation to protect GLBT rights is up for vote near your house

My friends Heidi and Jen are in this ad filmed by the ALCU in Seattle. (Heidi's one of my best friends from college - we were roommates our junior and senior years). Heidi and Jen are domestic partners, and have had "Domestic Partnership Rights" in Washington State- meaning that should something happen to one of them, the other would have access to her partner's pension. All that could change if voters refect Referendum 71. So if you're in Washington, vote YES! And if you live somewhere else, please vote yes to maintain or grant domestic partnership rights in your area (or vote no, if the legislation is worded the other way around). Thanks!

Unseen Endings Indeed

We have had all of four trick-or-treaters tonight, and try as I might to get them to show me a trick, they all looked at me like I was a crazy lady when they said, "Trick-or-treat," and I said, "Hmmm, how about a trick!?" Maybe next year...

Of course this means the three bags of candy I bought are likely to be consumed by yours truly. At least I planned ahead and only bought candy I like: 2 bags of Snickers and 1 Almond Joy. Now if I can just hide them from the man of the house.

I know it's been a long time since I've written anything. I'm proud to report that I'm back on my meds (no, I'm not kidding, it's round 3 of antidepressants in the last 10 years) and "doing the work" a la "What About Bob?"

I'm also proud to report (and slightly shocked at my decision to do this) that I've signed up for National Novel Writing Month. 50,000 words of fiction in 30 days. I imagine that I'll be doing a lot more blog-writing in the next month as well, when I run a little short on plot! I'll keep you posted. At this point the ending really is unseen...