the one after a month

well, it has been a month since my last post…and i had promised myself that i would make more regular posts to my blog. i’ll have to work on that. mid-year resolutions?

a lot has happened since the beginning of june. the GOOTH had a fabulous experience at the Massanetta Springs Middle School Conference in harrisonburg, virginia. it was CPC’s second trip to the conference. 13 youth and 4 adults attended, including meredith, who is continuing to recover from her surgery. we attended inspiring keynotes and workshops, did energizers, played fun games, sang songs, played in the rain, drank from the springs, survived an electrical storm like i hadn’t seen in a looooong time (including felicia’s near-death experience while standing on metal stairs when lightening struck near the building!!! well, we’re calling it a near-death experience anyway), had a great departing lunch at 5 guys, and made many memories that will stay with us for many years to come.

the General Assembly of the PCUSA met a week ago, taking action on a number of exciting items for the future of the church. it will now be up to the presbyteries to address the equalization of the ordination standards as laid out in the constitution of the PCUSA. i’ll speak more to that in another post.

this weekend, lynda returns to the states for a visit. her college reunion is in two weeks in upstate new york – houghton college. i will be catching up with her in shenandoah national park on the 4th of july, before continuing to new york city to meet up with the GOOTH for our mission trip. then, i’ll head upstate to catch up with lynda again at the reunion itself. she returns to peru on july 16. her term of service ends october 2 and will return to the states at that time.

during the mission trip, i will try to make daily postings so that family and friends of the GOOTH may keep up with the adventures in new york city. i hope that you will check back to hear about the GOOTH new york experience.

until then…peace, love, and chocolate.

ps – the cardinal in the window was still handing around after all this time!

 

the one about the cardinal in the window

i’ve got this cardinal that has been pecking at my office window for more than a week, now. he showed up last monday…crash flying right into my window. then he tried flying in a couple more times, but not from quite as far away. felicia (our dce) was even standing there when he flew into the window once. i didn’t react, so she looked at the window, startled, before looking back at me. i casually said, “oh, it’s this cardinal that’s been flying into my window all afternoon.” after giving up on flying in, he settled for sitting on the sill, pecking the window, and chirping. he hops & flies between my window, bill’s window (our head of staff), the bush outside our window, and a tree. i’m not sure why. early on, i thought maybe he was like lassie, trying to signal me to come and save timmy or something…but there are no dangers right outside my window.

several folks have been in to visit the cardinal. ok, so they come to see me, but the cardinal has been there multiple times to greet the same people. kinda weird. you can even sit in my couch by the window, and the cardinal does not fly away. he doesn’t get startled…he just sits there are looks at you. i’ve even gotten to the point that i don’t notice the chirping any longer while i’m working at my desk. it is just part of the background noise.

but, while i don’t notice every chirp any longer, i haven’t forgotten about the cardinal. i actually find myself looking over at the window every once and a while to see if he is there. i find it kinda cool that he is there. how often does a creature from creation set up home and talk to you every day?!?! i don’t know yet what he may be saying to me, but maybe someday i’ll figure it out. could it be God reminding me that spring is here and that while i spend most of my day in an office, God has created a whole playground outside for me to explore? maybe so.

i’m going to montreat next week. i hope the cardinal in the window is still hanging around when i return.