So I said the other day that a friend linked to this blog under my real name, even though this is an intentionally pseudonymous space.
All along I have been much more concerned about the real name –> blog scenario than the blog –> real name one. Readers of this blog could find out my […]

“Ambition is a morally neutral principle.”

Discuss.

C came down with the poopy pukey crud today. Ran a fever of 101. Now recent signs (ahem) suggest that M will be getting it soon.
Will J be next? Hope not, but he’s teething with a vengeance. Woke up every 2 hours last night.
R was able to take off half a day and be with […]

I went to hear Ann Patchett at the National Cathedral on Tuesday. She was speaking on creativity, her process of writing, and how the experience of writing fiction intersects with “real life.”
A few things that stuck out (quotes are approximate, it’s just easier to write in first person):
She didn’t know a thing about opera before […]

I had lunch with Laidback Clergypal today. We meet in little ‘burg between our two cities a few times a year. He has been at his church four years and is having some conversations with other congregations. One is a 1,000 member church in search of a head of staff. Ay caramba!
He is a great […]

You know that “pondering” is one of my favorite words.
One of my Writing Revs shared a piece about a recent vision quest experience she had, and how people would ask her about it by saying, “So didja have a great time?” How do you answer such a question? About a vision quest?
As ChaplainMom will attest […]

Back at work, back at preschool, back at daycare, and I’m not preaching until the 20th/21st. Life is good.
I’m having lunch with Listing Straight on Friday! Woohoo!
Had a nice birthday. R sent some gorgeous flowers to the church. We also had ice cream cake, though I’ve been craving pineapple upside-down cake for some reason, so […]

Because PPB did it and she’s a rock star.
The first line from the first post of each month this year:

I have to work hard to calculate what day it is according to the calendar; all I know is that the divine Miss M is five days old.
Yesterday was one of those freak-out days.
Excuse me, states […]

This started as a comment to the comments on the previous post but it just got too long. Proving that if blogging is good for anything, it’s good for driving a discussion firmly into the ground.
Point the First
Apropos of Songbird’s and Keith’s comments, it seems that real life lies on that great continuum between “perfect” […]

Some of you may have read or are familiar with the Five Love Languages books. In essence, each person has particular ways they prefer to give love and receive love: gifts, acts of service, physical touch, quality time, and words of affirmation. These fall on some sort of continuum for each person. The trick is […]

Remember last week when I asked “why have I been spared” the illnesses? I know the world doesn’t work that way, but what was I thinking putting that in writing? [Cough, sniff]
The divine miss m is also sick–still, or again? R thinks it’s again–she appears to have what I have, which is not the same […]

So little she-who-is refused to say the pledge of allegiance in preschool today.
She’d been having a very off morning, and the teacher, a very gentle and sweet person, apparently “told her that I [the teacher] might need to talk to her mother [me] about it and she decided to cooperate.”
My thoughts, in approximate chronological order:

Whoa, […]

When you think about “what comes next” in your life’s work or career, and you picture yourself doing whatever usually “comes next” for people on your particular career trajectory, and that next thing feels interesting to you but you also feel a real No, or Not Now, about it, how do you assess whether that […]

Today
I had back-to-back meetings downtown today (WritingRevs, then Presbytery Uber-Committee) which allowed me to take the Metro, which I so vastly prefer to driving. It went without a hitch, except, in my unthinking haste to catch a train whose doors were closing, I stuck my arm and leg out to stop it and remembered too […]

Peeking in again…
Update: I finished the article and eagerly await the 80 smackers coming to me.
Now I am working on my sermon. In the text God says to Solomon, “Ask for what I should give you.”
Solmon asks for “an understanding mind.” My question for all of you out on the internets, whether you believe in […]

I have been having a little delayed post-partum baby blues, thinking about maternity leave coming to an end. I go back to work April 4, and I’m very much looking forward to the work and the people. However, much as I try not to, I’m doing some anticipatory sweating of small stuff. The good news […]

I’ve been reading a lot of interesting stuff lately—a biography of Marie Curie (Obsessive Genius), an anthology of Jane Kenyon poems (Otherwise), and the latest Mothers Who Think collection, called Because I Said So. I really loved Rosellen Brown’s essay “No Blame,” in which she writes about being a writer and a mom. I’ve wished […]

Keith asked what the downside is for my congregation to know about this blog. Here are a few reactions I can imagine:
I’m hurt by what you said in your post about X, Y and Z. (A recent example would be my post about the elder who suggested I preach while on maternity leave.) That has […]

Not.
I.
It’s the most wonderful day of the year. The day I look forward to, the day which, whenever it crosses my mind, causes me to smile and sigh dreamily. I have been known to break out into a happy dance during the week leading up to it.
I am speaking, of course, of the day that […]

So how is the PhD discernment going, rm?
Pretty darn well, thanks for asking, Contrived Writing Device!
So recently I sent e-mails to two women I greatly enjoy and admire—one, a seminary professor who has been a friend and inspiration for a long time; the other, a pastor here in town who’s always brimming with great stories, […]