BSO and Thanksgiving Day

Hello Everyone,
Can I tell you what a busy couple of weeks I have had? Church is kicking into high gear with the Advent season and Christmas coming right around the corner. I even got to preach today. How cool is that? Busy Busy. I am looking forward to Christmas Day - when I get to see my family and friends, and also beginning a long vacation. Until then, lots of things are happening here.

First - I had the wonderful wonderful experience of being invited to see the BSO. What is the BSO you ask? That is Bostonian for....the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a small little musical group up here. :-) Can I just say - WOW. One of our members invited me to attend with her. After about two seconds of consideration, I said YES!!!! We listened to Hayden's Symphony #4 and an amazing Mahler Symphony #1. What a wonderful experience to witness and be a part of. You really really should listen to those pieces. I don't know the "classical" lingo, but I had goose bumps after Mahler and I was just blown away. Two of our adult members play in the BSO and their two daughters play in the Youth BSO. They taught me a lot about what I heard.

As far as Thanksgiving goes, I missed being with my family and had a wonderful time talking with them on the phone. However, do not be worried, because I was well taken care of in Massachusetts, specifically, in Needham. I spent the day at Charley and Mireille's home with their LARGE family. Charley, if you have not followed my blog, is my colleague, boss, and friend. Mireille is his better half. What a wonderful family. Mostly from Connecticut and Massachusetts, there was a little Romania in there and even a Charlottesvillian!!!! Is that a word? We talked for a while. Yippee.

Most importantly, it was family and I got to be a part of it. The pictures that you will see are me with Charley and Mireille and then me with each of their children, Phoebe and Emmett. I fell in love with Emmett and his blue eyes. Phoebe is the sweetest thing that is deep into the two year old world. I won't go into details, because it's too much to share with the world, but know that I was treated very kindly and welcomed like if I were one of their own. I had a great day.

That evening, I had a chance to call the family in Richmond. Sounded like they were having fun. I am sooo looking forward to seeing all of them on Christmas Day when I arrive in Richmond around 1:30 pm....well, according to my flight plan. As we learned last year, that is NOT set in stone.

Please keep me in your prayers. This is going to be an EXTREMELY BUSY time for the church, for Charley and for me. Until Christmas day, we are going to be running like crazy. But it will be worth it. The season of Advent and the celebration of Christmas are two wonderful times of year that we get to celebrate and remember what life is all about...giving. I may not be able to post as much as you would like, but know that my busy-ness will be for good reasons.

PS - did i remind you that Duke is 6 and 0? oh.

Installation Service

I promised that I would post about a special thing that happened at church. On October 21st, I was officially installed as Minister of Christian Education. It was a remarkable day, and quite humbling. We had a regular service and then added the installation part. There was special music: the choir did one of my favorite pieces, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. One of the youth performed a beautiful piece on his oboe. Someone from the children, youth, and adults read scripture. The chairperson from the search committee shared how I ended up at First Baptist Church, calling me a light and the "moore" that we needed. Then Charley blew me away with his message/sermon too. I still get teary eyed thinking about what he said, especially when I see his daughter and her smile. I could not believe all that was said and all that was done to celebrate this day.
I am in a good place. So much has changed for me - all for the better. Don't get me wrong, there are challenges and obstacles that I encounter every day, but I know I would not be able to face them like I do, without the support of the people that I work with and the people I work for, and the One that I work for too. Most importantly, I now I am in the right spot and i am starting to realize that I am doing the right thing - especially when I keep my focus on the right person.
Look at the bottom picture. I am in the center and they are laying hands on me and Charley is praying. I will let the picture speak for itself.

It's Been A While

I know, it's been a while. I have had a LOT going on. A LOOTTTTTT. You are going to see one HUGE thing that happened in the next post but until that post, here is some "what's been goin on". Even though I have been working alot, I have also enjoyed some free time too. The Duke Blue Devils came to town a couple of times to battle it out with fellow ACC team Boston College. Yippee...not in basketball yet, but in women's soccer and volleyball. It was fun to be able to root for the visiting team and not get pummeled by BC either.
Another thing I got to do was attend An Evening with Champions. It is an annual fund raiser for the Jimmy Fund, showcasing veteran and future Olympic and champion skaters. The Jimmy Fund www.jimmyfund.org is a program in Boston that raises money to help with Pediatric cancer research and hopeful cure. Children get the opportunity to skate with the skaters too and be able to smile through the chemo and treatments. It is held at Harvard University and it is hosted by my all time favorite Olympic skater, Paul Wylie. Emily Hughes and Oksana Bauil were there as well.
The other fun thing was my good friends from New Highland came to visit. They surprised me last year by showing up for the worship service. This year, they gave me a couple of days notice. :-). It was Caroline's 13th birthday - Happy Birthday!! It was great to be able to celebrate with them, shop around Newbury Street - (that is a whole different scene) and to be able to talk to my friend and eye doctor pal. They got to see a different me and report back to my home church how I have "grown".

I am also finishing up an advanced spanish class. That has been a journey itself but a good one. My language is coming back and it feels good. I am in a two person class for three hours a night, from a three person class that as six hours of intense spanish - from politics to religion to various spanish countries. I got to share about my trip to Cuba, speaking nothing but spanish of course, and it was fun. It has been a challenge but good!

And ONE more thing that I did. at the John F Kennedy presidential library, they had a speaker panel one afternoon, with Tom Sorenson. He was JFK's special and political advisor during JFK's term. He spoke on the Cuban Missile Crisis and the 13 days they encountered. I was surprised by how much was NOT told to the public and how close we actually were to a nuclear scare. It was a fascinating discussion/lecture. He has a book coming out in May 0f 2008.

Passion. Do you know what Passion means? I thought I did...that is UNTIL a little thing known as the WORLD SERIES came to town. There is EXCITEMENT here and the people are pumped! They came down three games in the American league series and now they are up two games to nothing. It is going to be INSANE.

On my next post, you will see a special event that happened at church...for me. Can you believe it? Have a great day! Sorry it has taken so long to post.

100 pounds makes a difference

I thought I would post a picture to update everyone on what I am doing. The picture on the left is a year ago in Sept of 2006. The picture on the right is Sept, 2007...at 100 pounds lighter. I will fill in more information later.
There is also a permanent set of glasses as well. Too bad my eye doctor in Richmond is not here. hmmm.

A Visit to Hyannis

Thought I would add that I went to Hyannis port in Cape Cod too. The Kennedy Compound is here and the JFK Memorial and JFK Museum are there too. It was a great day. I can see why the Kennedys like this area too. This museum spotlights Kennedy's life on the Cape before and during the presidency.

My favorite picture of President Kennedy is one that was at the museum: he and Caroline. "Daddy's Girl" riding with him in the car.

There is also the JFK Memorial (with the fountain). It's down the road from the museum, along the water. I understand that Jackie Kennedy wanted it here because of how much the President liked to live on the water.

There is a picture of a statue they called "What Could Have Been". It is an updated possibility for the museum entrance, with the addition of JFK Jr who is walking alongside dad. We can only imagine what could be if neither one had lost their lives earlier than necessary.

Lighthouse Visitations

I have not posted in a while. Things have been pretty busy here. Our regular schedule started back up with the church - Sunday school is back, Charley is back from vacation, youth fellowship is about to start, and choir has come back. Now that all of that is back, I get to have a vacation too. So here I am.

OK - so I am on vacation this week. It has been a BEAUTIFUL week up here. Today - it actually got to 93 degrees. Not sure where that came from. Although I hear it is going to rain and storm tomorrow. I guess that is good because I am not traveling anywhere. I did most of my traveling earlier. On Monday, I went up to Portland, Maine to visit several lighthouses - including the most photographed one, Portland Head Light. Then on Tuesday, I went the opposite direction and spent the day on Cape Cod. Guess what? There are lighthouses there too!!!!

As many of you know, I have a stronghold with lighthouses. This was a nice retreat for me. Lighthouses famous and unknown; tall and short; skinny and fat; working and private residence - they all exist. To me, they are just as important to me as they were when they worked. They did such an important job in guiding captains and their crews. Each lighthouse is designed differently, from their painted display to their beacon signal. You will see a picture of Three Sisters - three small lighthouses at the midpoint of Cape Cod - from sea, you saw three lights right in a row. That told the captain that he was midway up the Cape Cod Coast.

Each one precisely thought out and designed to guide those who follow. I always say this, but can you imagine the parallels between lighthouses and living a life with God as the designer of our own lighthouses? It is obvious the design of the greatest lighthouse in sending Jesus to guide us down the path of life. But God also sends us lighthouses that guide us in more physical ways - teachers, families, friends, professors, mentors, ministers, and colleagues. Each one designed with such precision that every lighthouse in my life has been placed in just the right spot to guide me where I am supposed to go. Even when I don't want to admit it, God is so good about placing those beacons right when I need them and where I need them.

Enjoy the pictures and find the beacon that lights your path.

RIP Firefighters

Two Boston firefighters were killed and at least 12 others were injured Wednesday night as flames rushed through a restaurant in West Roxbury, collapsing the roof and trapping crews inside, public safety officials said. The two veteran firefighters who died, Paul J. Cahill, 55, of Scituate and Warren J. Payne, 53, of Canton, were identified by the officials and a firefighter on the scene. They were the first deaths of firefighters in a fire since 1994. from www.boston.com

Wow - to see firefighters come together when they have lost their brothers. The flags are half staff. Firefighters from around the country came to be a part of the memorial services. A son spoke at Paul Cahill's service and his dad was so proud of him. His commonwealth was so proud. His brothers were proud.

Why am I talking about this? My brother is a firefighter. He has been one for a LONG time. :-). He received an award of honor for his work during the Hurricane Isabel of 2003. He wasn't the only one, but he was one. After 9/11, I wondered about my brother and how his family would be supported if anything happened. After the incident in Boston, I wonder the same thing. No matter what, they won't get what they deserve, at least financially. Just like teachers, they don't get what they deserve - but that is for another post.

But what I have learned is how they will be supported in other ways. What they will get, something teachers in my experience don't seem to provide, what the firefighters will get is a camaraderie and brotherhood that can never be broken. Thank you for serving us and taking care of us. Maybe one day we can all learn from your bond.

Sept 4

Happy Birthday Dad. Miss you.

Cemetery visit