To the divine miss m:
You are four months old today. It was a normal Thursday for you in most respects—church in the morning, hanging out on my lap, on your tummy, in the swing; home in the afternoon, hanging out with Free to Be (formerly Retired Office Manager) while I worked; soggy grins at whomever […]

More thoughts going through my head (see previous post for the beginning of this discussion):
There has to be a balance in the church between getting things done and cultivating community. Committee meetings, though sometimes tedious, also do provide a place for people to connect with one another. In other words, ministry is not just about […]

WHEREAS…
A few of my areas of ministry have seen precipitous declines in numbers of people attending committee meetings, including people who are otherwise interested and engaged in the ministry, and
Said meetings have always felt rather perfunctory, with very little getting done therein, and
I still feel called to my areas of ministry, but would like to […]

Accent: Is there such a thing as Urban Texas?
Booze: margaritas, amaretto sours, and [blush] buttery nipples, but only if I’m feeling juvenile and ChaplainMom takes her Lactaid. I do love a good lemon drop, but truthfully, I almost never drink.
Chore I Hate: Mopping. I dislike the macro chores which take place over a large area. […]

Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
…Until their blooms go grey.
Shriveled on fat green stalks, they
hang their heads low to lament
other blossoms who have lost their spring flush.
I pry them off, snap, snap,
on my way from somewhere to somewhere.
What are you doing? she wants to know.
Trimming off the dead […]

Bees make me extremely jumpy, whether they are the bumble or the spelling variety. (I’m neutral about quilting bees.)
I was an avid spelling bee competitor in elementary school. I was good at them, but I didn’t enjoy them. They stressed me out. Why didn’t I throw them on purpose? I could have done that, spelled […]

when your friend holds the hose
(giggling at the portable rainbow)
and waves it innocently in your face,
you
spring back,
and the mist on your cheeks goes salty.
that same day, on the front porch,
in the triangle of Daddy’s lap,
you stare down the rain,
search out every lightning claw,
relish the quaking earth.
you are unafraid, and
time falls,
forward.

Here are the top 10 best things about having a baby with me at work:
10. Fewer dates with the breastpump.
9. Thanks to regular nursing breaks, my basket of Interesting Things to Read is actually getting cleaned out.
8. The weekly staff meeting, which can easily drag into the noon hour, comes to an early and efficient […]

Weeping comes for a night,
but joy comes in the morning, O God of power and might.
Death has been defeated
and we shout Alleluia!
Let all that we do today be a prayer of praise.
For many of us,
it is an Easter just like the others,
with Easter bonnets and Sunday best,
with the ringing of bells and hymns of joy,
with […]

O Holy God,
the hosannas have died away,
the palm branches have turned brittle;
the joy of seder meal,
the awkward intimacy of washing feet,
the sharing of bread and cup with one another—
all a memory.
Now, today, there is only this—
each of us,
all of us,
sitting in the darkness,
the echo of hammer and nail in our ears
on this Friday
which we tremble […]

for three hours
the world inside this house
is still—
one child, sprawled in a flowered dress
like petals strewn about the bed;
the other, nursing in thin air,
puffing herself awake,
then drifting again;
while i read, then throw aside,
then read again:
administration
plan
attack
Iran
regimechange
nuclear
option.
Down comes the bouquet, disheveled yet insistent:
I’ve promised her gum.
(Yes, that actually was my afternoon. Here’s the article.)

There’s an article in the Atlantic Montly about competitive eating, which is gaining popularity in this country as a spectator sport. (For the blissfully ignorant: whoever can eat the most X in Y minutes wins.) I find the whole idea pretty shameful and wish to repent for all the times that I have used food […]

Dear Rosetta,
You don’t know me. I was one of the people trapped in your check-out line the other day. You will remember well that the register went haywire while you were ringing up a $212 order for the Latina family in front of me. Somewhere between the masa harina and the 12-pack of Gatorade, the […]

If working from home/with M in the office/with M being babysat is logistically tricky, Sundays are the really tricky things. Yesterday went well. M and I left for the church around 7:30, in time for me to feed her before the worship service, which she spent in the nursery. Apparently she was very comfortable there.
The […]

Well, all in all I’d give my first week back a B-.
Good things:
–I am happy to be back. I feel a sense of excitement rather than dread when I walk into my office (I really want to start calling it a study, which is more traditional and theologically appropriate, but “office” is a hard habit […]

…they fit great, but even an old pair of shoes will feel weird if you haven’t worn them for a while. That’s what it felt like going back to work.
There were a few disorienting pieces:
–Couldn’t get on the Internet–something got reconfigured in my absence.
–The new member bulletin board features photos of people I’ve never seen.
–I […]

Maternity leave ends today, with mixed emotions. I really enjoyed the fourth trimester and feel like we’ve gotten the divine miss M off to a great start. She continues to be an easygoing baby—I’m sure part of that’s ‘having’ to go with the flow in light of her older sister’s needs, as well as benefiting […]