Busy, and a roasted pig...

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted! Since then Alumni week came and went, and with that brought a visit from my good friend Ms. K.P. That was followed by a conference on Emerging Adulthood which brought a visit from my good friend Ms. J.M. It was great to get to spend time with some friends from the Pacific Northwest to give me a taste of all that I miss.

The picture I posted is from alumni week. They really stepped up the dining experience for the week the Alumni were here and that included whole roasted pigs at lunch one day. I couldn't resist having my picture taken next to one of them.

Halloween has come and gone as well. The Youth Group wanted to go trick-or-treating so I took six of them. We had quite the variety of costumes from a teletubby to superman. The kids had a good time and of course went home with a good share of candy.

I am excited for Thanksgiving break, despite not getting to go home I do get a few days off work and will be enjoying the opportunity to relax.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! May it be filled with lots of good food and friends.

Peace,

Amanda

Fall

Fall is definitely here. All the tree's are changing to all sorts of shades of gorgeous red's, yellow's and orange's. The leaves are sprinkling the ground getting nice and crunchy. I love to go walk across the Princeton Campus stomping on the leaves as I go. The two kids that I watch are enjoying the Fall weather as well. The other day we were playing in the back yard and they were enjoying catapulting the bounty of colorful leaves off their slide. It looked like a colorful waterfall!

Living in a dorm, I miss getting to carve pumpkins. I think carving pumpkins is probably one of my favorite Fall activities. I also miss getting to bake the pumpkin seeds and eat them as a snack. I also miss buying apples from the apple man. When I was growing up down the street from my house just before my birthday there was a house that would sell apples. I would always get to go down there and buy all sorts of apples. I particularly liked going to buy apples from the "apple man" as he was so named because he had these tiny miniature apples. I loved to take them in my lunch!

Well, despite not getting to visit the apple man and not being able to carve pumpkins I am still enjoying Fall. My new tradition has been afternoon walks with warm apple cider.

Hope Fall is treating you well,

Amanda

Small World

My picture for today is of the local coffee shop where I spend a great deal of my time studying. It is called Small World Coffee, it is a small family owned business. I like going there because it has a little flavor of Portland to it.

The first few weeks of school have flown by which I am grateful for. You see I am not very good with middle times. Seminary is three years long and the first year is exciting simply because it is new, and the last year is exciting and terrifying because it is the end and you have to start looking towards what you are called to do next. But the middle year that I am currently endeavoring is not exciting or particularly interesting for any of those reasons. It is somewhat exciting being that you get thrown into interning at a church, but other then that it is the same old thing as the year before. I am not saying I am bored. I have plenty to keep me busy things are just a little more mundane. I understand though that you have to learn to walk before you can run, and this year particularly thanks to field ed. I am learning to walk before I hopefully run.

Peace,

Amanda

Youth Group

I have done field ed. for two whole Sundays thus far. This last Sunday I took the high school youth group canoeing. It was an adventure to say the least. I had difficulty getting adults to help me drive and then I couldn't get a straight answer about how many youth were planning on going. It all worked out ok in the end I had 9 youth go and found an adult to help.

By the time we got to the canoeing place it started to sprinkle, and the first question i got when we got out of the car after driving 45 minutes to the canoeing place was, "Amanda, its raining! Are we still going to go?" My response was a tame version of a maniacal laugh and the reassurance that "Indeed, we were still going".

All the kids ended up enjoying it and no one drowned so I figure I am not going to be kicked to the curb yet.

No picture for today, hopefully one tomorrow.

peace,

Amanda

New room!

I am starting off my second year of seminary on the same floor in the same dorm, but I have a different room. It is a suite which means there are two rooms that share a common room. Lucky me there is no one in the other room so I get a small room and the common room all to myself. There are brief moments that I almost forget I am in grad school and still living in a dorm. The other thing which excites me about having this room is that it comes with extra windows which allows for ample viewing of the changing seasons.

Here is a glimpse of the new space, I am still settling in.

One Year

I am back! After a summer break I am back to sharing my thoughts, joys and frustrations.

It is hard to believe that it has been one year this week since I moved to NJ. It has been a fast year and a year full of new things. I have learned a lot about myself, the East Coast, theology, the Church and people. It will be interesting to see what this year holds.

I have started work at First Presbyterian Church of Freehold, New Jersey. My primary role will be as a high school youth leader, but I also will be preaching and participating in worship on a regular basis. After only a single Sunday of work I can already tell that this placement is going to stretch and challenge me in ways I could never have imagined.

I can't say that I am necessarily excited about this upcoming year, I think the best way to describe my feelings are that of indifference. Its another school year, another set of classes and papers. I am sure it will be filled with wonderful,exciting memory making moments, but right now in the rush of all the newness it just seems like a lot of daunting work ahead.

I have decided that this year I want to be more intentional in my blogging. I have decided that I am going to try to post something almost everyday. Along with this I have decided to take on the practice of taking one picture everyday. I think taking a single picture everyday will be a fun way to document my year, I also think it will be a good practice for me in regards to thankfulness. I figure if I can find one thing every day that represents my experience I will be better mindful of all the things I have to be thankful for. So my hope for this upcoming year is to post a comment and a picture almost everyday.

I hope you will join me on this journey,

Amanda

Eastward, ho!

My great trek across the U.S has begun. I left Saturday morning driving through the gorge, then across the upper portion of Idaho and on into Montana. The first day was pretty uneventful, probably the most exciting part was realizing that I wasn't in Oregon anymore and was going to have to pump my own gas. Well lets just say the first try ended with more gas on the ground then in the car, oopps! All I could think was that upon starting the car my puddle o' petrol was going to turn into a flaming puddle. Luckily this did not happen and it is safe for me to return to Idaho for future endeavors. Upon reaching the campsite in Missoula I was surprised with the realization that the campsite was as far from the woods as you could get. Lets put it this way our "campsite" was wedged right next to a set of wonderfully modern condos. Who doesn't love camping in the city!

The second day the drive took me through beautiful Montana to the tip of yellowstone. This time the campsite was a little more out in the woods. Spent the afternoon in the town of West Yellowstone. I got to see grizzly bears and wolves at the local wildlife preserve. In the evening there was some fretting that it might rain and the tent might prove pointless but fortunately the rain held off. Getting to sleep that night was a challenge though as Montana's idea of fireworks is a kin to letting of canons at a Civil War reenactment, I briefly wondered if we weren't actually under siege.

The third day was met with the opportunity to drive through Yellowstone national forest. It was gorgeous. Stopped at Old Faithful and had the fun the watching her go off. Who doesn't love the smell of sulfur in the morning! Walked around the geysers a bit and then continued on driving. by the time I arrived at the next camping spot the rain had finally caught up, so last night was spent sleeping in the car. The campsite that I was parked at frankly made me think of a cross between the movie Psycho and the movie Rocky Horror Picture show, needless to say other then sleeping in the (locked) car I survived the night.

Today was filled with driving through the enthralling state known as Wyoming. I can say two things about Wyoming, they have wonderful rolling hills and lots of road work. Aside from those two things they also have some interesting sightseeing options. I stopped at Crazy hoarse and of course Mt. Rushmore. The two monuments offer very different perspectives on American history as well as America in general. (More on those two monuments in a future post.) Currently I am at a cabin beside the highway, across the street from the reptile gardens just outside of Rapid City, Wyoming. At least no worries about the rain tonight. Tomorrow I will be driving on through to Minnesota where I will get to see the friend I traveled Spain with. It seems an apt time to visit seeing as how this time two years ago we were walking the roads of Spain.

I am enjoying getting to see America in a way I never have before.

As is said in Spain ,

Buen Camino

(Good Journey)

Amanda

The end of beginnings

Well, year one of seminary has come to a close. My room is all packed up and is as empty and institutional as when I arrived. It is strange to feel as though I have too much time on my hands as I get ready to go back to Portland, seeing as how from the moment I arrived it has felt as though there is never enough time. It is as though there is a stop watch going and everyone here is racing to beat it.

There is a part of me that can't quite believe that I have already finished a year of seminary, while another part of me can't believe it has ONLY been a year. I have been thinking back to what I thought seminary and living on the East Coast in Princeton would be like, I can't say that it is what I expected and I can't say it isn't. I think we like to idealize things in the beginning. We come up with grandiose ideas of what living in a new place, learning new things and meeting new people will be like. Even when we try to claim we are being realistic in our expectations we often add a little extra shine more so than is really present.

If I have learned anything this year that would be it. We like to grab onto new things and think that magic will happen and when nothing miraculous happens we are disappointed. (Not saying that I am disappointed). Seminary is not magical and neither are the people you meet here. We are all human beings, we are all people searching for what it is that we are called to do, we are all succeeding and failing, standing tall and falling on our faces. I think that is what I have found most hilarious about this place, here we all are supposedly with strong faith convictions, determined to enact good in the world in the name of God and we can't even figure out how to be humble and serve one another. We sit around loving any chance possible to announce what professors we are friends with, what awards we have received, where we get to go over-seas, how many hungry people we have fed today, and how we plan to single handedly save the world, the whole time caring about only one person - ourselves. We compete to be on top not thinking at all about the five people we trampled to get there. Now I am not saying that all competition is a bad thing, I am a very competitive person. I do think there are mature ways to be competitive with out it becoming a completely self-serving activity. I don't think Jesus sat around at the local bar bragging about the number of people he healed or brought back from the dead, oh, thats right I think he maybe even told people to not talk about it.

So as my first year of seminary comes to a close what have I learned? I have learned that I am no more or less equipped to be in ministry than those around me. That Princeton is a two syllable word that people try to make sound much bigger. Specifically though I have learned that humility is essential, saying please, thank you and I'm sorry will get you farther than demanding you are right, and that all you can do is keep trying.

Blessings and peace,

Amanda

Book Addiction

Recently the seminary held their annual book sale. The proceeds from the sale go towards building the libraries of seminaries in less advantaged locations.

The entire sale is put on by student volunteers. I volunteered by sorting the donations that came in. Boxes and boxes of books from pastors, students, staff, and community members poured in. Now, sorting books while a volunteer position did come with an amazing incentive. To compensate volunteers for their time volunteers got to take books for free. It started out with 1 book per hour and then went up to 2 per hour as the date of the sale neared.

Sounds like a wonderful deal, right? It is a wonderful deal except when you have a book addiction like me. For those of you who may not know, I love books! I mean I really LOVE books. I love to hold them, turning the crisp pages, smelling the glorious fragrance that is simply 'book'. I love looking at their spines all lined up on the bookshelf beckoning to be opened and read.

Frankly if I could spend my days in bookstores I probably would, so being tempted by the mounds of books that came in for the book sale was a difficult thing. Needless to say due to my many hours of sorting I ended up collecting quite a few books (or boxes of books :). Now as I am packing up my room for the summer I am finding it difficult to store them all. I mean, poor things, having to be stuffed into cramped boxes where they won't see the light of day. I suppose they will forgive me right?

Happy Reading,

Amanda

Touching Base

It has been sooooo long since my last post. I really hate to use the excuse that life got really busy, because as we all know life is always busy and the only way we actually get anything done is by prioritizing. Well, life did get really busy and unfortunately a whole bunch of things ended up at the top of my list. The last few months have really been all about school, a few weeks ago we had finals and finished up spring long term classes, which I might add was a glorious thing to finish.

I took a class on forgiveness and reconciliation which was purposeful in putting a face on the nebulous concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation that often get thrown around in the media and social contexts. On the other hand, it managed to make the concepts themselves more complicated. I was given the wonderful opportunity though to go into New York City and here Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak about global reconciliation. He touched on some very significant issues that our world stands to face in the next years and decades. (I hope to post a separate blog entry about the comments from his lecture.)

I also took a class on War and the Christian Conscience. While the class covered a lot of very important theories it didn't do such a good job at connecting the real world with the theoretical. All in all it was a good class, but one hard to do in only ten weeks.

I am also proud and excited to announce that I am done with speech class! I could say that it was one of my most inspiring and informative classes but, there is no use in lying it consumed hours of my life that I will never get back, hours that could have been spent doing more productive things probably, but at least I can say I did it and it is done.

Also, since I last posted I met with my CPM (Committee on Preparation for Ministry). All went smoothly.

Now that I have confirmed that I am still alive, not lost under stacks and stacks of John Calvin books, I hope to post more often again.

Hope this finds everyone well,

Amanda

Can or May

I remember the distinction between 'Can I' and 'May I' being taught to me early on in my childhood. From the razing of a parent when I asked "Can I have some juice", "I don't know can you?" to the reminder by teachers, 'Can I' and 'May I' have come to hold delicate places in my speech. As a result, I think twice about which term I place before the personal pronoun 'I', or in some cases after ('I can', 'I may').

Why all this discussion of 'Can and May'? According to the Christian liturgical calendar the season that is upon us is that of Lent. It is a season that lasts 40, arguably long days, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending with Easter. Lent is a time when we enter into self-reflection, many people give something up, all this is done with the intention to grow deeper in relationship to God and remember the 40 day journey that Jesus underwent in the dessert. Lent is one of the most solemn times of the year. For those that are not Christian this time of year tends to take on a solemnity all its own as it feels that the gray dull days of Winter have dragged on long enough and we find ourselves urning for the refreshing colors of Spring. What I have encountered in this season has been the stark contrast between 'Can' and 'May'.

This time of year can become a somewhat self-centered time. I don't mean that in a particularly negative way but it is a time when we focus on our own needs, failings, achievements, hopes, desires. Many that give something up, or for that matter take something up find themselves adhering to the mantra, "I can, I can, I can do this". The underpinning proposition here is one of capability. We find ourselves having to dig deep and remind ourselves that we are capable of doing this. If 'can' has to do with capability what does 'may' have to do with?

'May' at its foundation is a matter of choice, sometimes our own sometimes another's. When we ask 'May I' it becomes the choice of another, when we are asked it is our choice. My issue lately has been in the conflating of the two. Where people have hidden choice behind capability.

I have discovered that there is no greater appeal that one can make to a fellow human being then that of shared humanity. When someone is in need of help I believe we are called to ask ourselves if we 'can ' help them, are we capable of helping them. Then we must ask ourselves the somewhat difficult question of whether we 'may' help them, whether we want to. 'I can' and 'I may' are two very different things. My experiences lately have show me that too often we disguise our choice to not help with the claim that we are not capable of helping. That frankly saddens and aggravates me. I am not saying that there are not moments when I do this myself but I think it is time we stop hiding behind 'I can't' and at least acknowledge that its really we just 'won't'.

Someday, tomorrow, next week, we could be that person that needed help, or the family, or friends of that person and we are going to wish, hope, pray, that the answer to our need is one of 'I can' rather than 'I won't'. Keep that in mind the next time you are needed.

Peace,

Amanda

Fun in New Jersey part 2 and 3

#2) The second activity accomplished on our list of things to do while in NJ was going to the Meadowlands Flea Market at Giants stadium. We went looking for that glorious item that you never knew you needed but can't help but take home with you.

Unfortunately, we found very few things that really grabbed us. The majority of the stuff was discounted goods from stores, soap, cereal, cloths, toys ect.

After touring the first few rows though we did find the section with more obscure items. Construction tools, old postcards, dolls, paintings, furniture, and an adorable little creamer pitcher designed to look like a monk ( My friend almost bought this but it was cracked).

All in all it was a good first flea market experience. It has led to our creating a sub category on our list of things to do, we now have the sub category of finding the best flea market.

#3) The third activity we did was go to Philadelphia. Three of us went and it was while a cold day, a day filled with lots of laughter and lots of learning. We started our adventure off by going to Independence Hall where the declaration of Independence was signed. Then we hopped across the street to learn about the Liberty Bell.

Then of course being seminary students we decided we had to stop by the Quaker meeting house. The was really interesting, I didn't realize how many organizations were started by Quakers. We had this guy about our age giving us the run down on Quakers and us telling him we were seminarians made him so nervous he had trouble reciting the tenants of Quakerism. After spending some time with the Quakers we stopped at The Betsy Ross House. Our final attraction of the day was the Jewish synagogue ( again laugh all you want but we are seminarians). Unfortunately, it was a Friday and so the synagogue and the museum had closed early for shabbat.

On our way back from Philly we stopped at possibly the best restaurant in NJ! It is called the Pop Shop and is an old fashioned diner complete with soda fountain. We had been waiting to go to this place all week! Why were we so excited to go? Because there menu consists of over 30 varieties of Grilled Cheese sandwiches! Not to mention, I got to have my first Philly cheese steak sandwich because they have vegetarian options! The three of us gorged and proceeded to be in a food coma for the remainder of the drive home.

When we got back to school all we had energy left to do was head to bed, it was a great adventure!

Stay tuned,

Amanda

101 things to do while in New Jersey

A couple weeks back a few of us were sitting around trying to decide what to do. Post War of the Worlds monument we were trying to come up with something equally as entertaining to do. Now there is something that you must understand about seminarians - what we tend to conceive as being entertaining is on average very different than what the normal person would find to be entertaining ( I mean we did dedicate an entire day to War of the Worlds). So our search for something to do lead to the creation of a list of "101 things to do while in New Jersey". It began as "101 things to do in New Jersey" but frankly New Jersey just isn't cool enough to actually have 101 interesting things to do only here. So our list has expanded to 101 things reachable while in New Jersey.

Now there were a few rules we set down:

1. It had to be fun.

2. Had to be free (or very, very cheap).

3. Had to teach us something.

4. Had to be special to this area.

We have formulated quite the list. So be prepared to experience 101 things to do while in New Jersey. We decided that the War of the Worlds could be number 1. Want to know what #2 is? Well you will have to check back.

Want a sneak peek at some of the things on our list?

Here are a few:

Babylonian fertility God (prop from the movie "The Prodigal")

Worlds largest tooth

Church Tour in New York City

Flea Markets

and so so much more...

Happy Belated Saint Brigid of Ireland day ( Feb. 1st),

Amanda

P.S. If you have anything you think we should put on our list let me know.

Truth

Here at PTS for the month of January you take a three week course. The class meets from 9-12 everyday and provides students with a concentrated study of the material. The class I took was on the issues of the theology of scripture. The purpose of the class was to explore the various issues that arise regarding interpreting the Bible. As well we discussed the role of the Bible in life and church.

While I found the course to bring forth many of the issues surrounding scripture, I think it attempted to do too much leaving many loose ends. Now to be fair the topic that we were tackling is one that has more questions than answers and is not likely to be resolved anytime soon.

What I did find exceptionally useful was the question around which the course was structured. It is a question that at first for some might appear to have an easy or simple answer, but upon careful consideration of the question what one comes to realize is that not a single aspect of the question is simple or easy. It is a very complicated question that requires a careful consideration of every assumption that we dare to make. It is also a question that requires one to constantly question and revise the answer one comes up with.

Frankly it is a question I think every church, believer, non-believer, and secularist should spend some serious time processing as it is a question that is central to many of the issues that become hotly debated.

What is the question?

"What do we mean when we say the Bible is true, and what methods of interpretation help us to appreciate its truthfulness?"

It is at least something worth pondering for a little bit.

Amanda

War of the Worlds

Me testing the Pond!

Emma worried by the alien in the lamp!

Ahh, the aliens are coming!

Not long after I decided to go to seminary in New Jersey I happened to come across a television show about Orson Welles's radio telecast known as War of the Worlds. It turns out that the town that Orson said the aliens had landed in is just outside of Princeton. So of course as soon as I discovered this I put visiting it on my list of things that must be accomplished while living in NJ. I convinced my friends we should go and this last weekend we had the fun of adventuring to Grover's mill. We found the monument dedicated to the event, walked around the mill behind which used to stand the water tower that the people of the town had thought was the alien UFO and visited the coffee shop dedicated to the event. Even got to play on a frozen pond. ( I was the test person to make sure it was really frozen) Oh, I can't forget, while we were driving we listened to the broadcast of War of the Worlds. It was a great way to get to know NJ.

P.S. When we arrived at the monument there were foot prints in the snow leading away from it but none leading towards it. Weird !!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Amanda