Philosophy of Ministry paper

Today I had my first meeting with my advisor/professor for my Philosophy of Ministry paper. This is my final class before I graduate. This paper is to demonstrate what i have learned over the course of my studies as well as what my personal philosophy regarding my ministry is or what it will be. Today we discussed my introduction which is the story of how I was called to the ministry.

Writing this section was a good reminder of how I got to where I am today. Yet it is scary thing to share this story. I haven't shared all my story with anyone. a very bad habit I realize but I have always felt the need to guard myself.

The meeting was good. Roger is an amazing man. He is a gentle person with a kind heart. His words today were helpful regarding changes to my introduction. He was encouraging as I feel ill-equipped to face most of the faculty for my oral defense. He also challenged me in something that I have been trying to do already investing more in the lives of those around me.

I have been making more of an effort to get to know the students and to invest in their lives. It is hard for me to allow myself to get close to the students because the time comes when I will have to say goodbye. That is such a hard thing for me but just maybe God is trying to stretch me.

Only time will tell what great adventure lies ahead.

Uff-da

Tonight I was IM'ing with a friend who's favorite saying is "Pull my finger" to which I responded "Uff-da."   My friend didn't know what uff-da meant, and accused me of swearing in Norwegian.   So I went to my favorite source, Google, to find the definition of Uff-da in plain simple English.  My source was: http://www.eons.com/groups/topic/355035-The-meaning-of-Uff-Da-

'UFF DA' is ...
* trying to dance the polka to rock and roll music
* losing your wad of gum in the chicken yard
* having Swedish meat balls at a lutefisk supper
* spending two hours cleaning up my room and mom says "Uff Da"
* walking downtown and then wondering what you wanted
* arriving late at a lutefisk supper and getting served minced ham instead
* looking in the mirror and discovering you're not getting better, you're just getting older
* trying to pour two buckets of manure into one bucket
* having a mouse crawl up your leg when you're on a hay load
* eating hot soup when you've got a runny nose
* getting out of bed in the morning with a backache
* getting swished in the face with a cow's wet tail
* waking yourself up in church with your own snoring
* forgetting your mother-in-law's first name
* when two steady girlfriends find out about each other
* noticing non-Norwegians at a church dinner using lefse for a napkin
* eating a delicious sandwich and then discovering the spread is cat food
* sneezing so hard that your false teeth end up in the bread plate
* NOT being Norwegian ... !

From Wikipedia we have this definition: Uff da is often used in the Upper Midwest as a term for sensory overload. It can be used as an expression of surprise, astonishment, exhaustion, relief and sometimes dismay. For many, Uff da is an all-purpose expression with a variety of nuances, and covering a variety of situations. The expression has lost its original connotation, and it is increasingly difficult to specify what it means now in America. Within Midwestern culture, Uff da frequently translates into: I am overwhelmed. It has become a mark of Scandinavian roots, particularly for people from North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota.^{[2] [3]}

Another fun site I found tonight was this free translation tool:

http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=English&to=Swedish

So you can know if someone is indeed swearing at you in another language or if you... nevermind....

Not Lost, Just Misplaced

OK, so it's been almost a week since I posted anything.  And trust me my life has not been boring.  Lots of interesting things.  So let's see if I can give a basic run down of the past week:

Wednesday - Received a hysterical email that I need to share, it was entitled Creative Photography.  Some great albeit creepy pictures.  Heard Tim perform at the Brass Coffeehouse Christmas concert.  Really fun, posted some videos of his group performing on Facebook.

Thursday - Took the day off from work, slept in a little but not nearly enough. Took Mark to the doctor.  Watched Mark meltdown when he found out he had to get 3 shots and a TB test. He also got his first experience with "Turn your head and cough" (yes, he'd have a fit if he knew I told that story)  Of course, I also got the "I don't want to talk about it"   Had lunch at Mongolian Barbq (YUMMMYYY!) Got my new lens (it's sooo cool) had a wonderful chat with a dear friend. Had choir practice, which was great.

Friday - Busy day at work, Ladies Homemade Cookie/Candy Exchange at church.  Played with my camera and actually shot on the manual setting and got some REALLY cool pictures.  Received a text message that simply said, "Pull my finger Magnuson"  Yes, there's more to the story, but not sharing that now...  HA HA

Saturday - Erwin worked half the day, Mark had bowling, I got my hair colored, not a super exciting day but it was good.

Sunday - Church, 3rd week of advent and our 3rd installment of the Advent Monologues. Our Magi did an amazing job!  I was so pleased.  Other than the monologues have been a little long, they've been good. Tim didn't want to sing with the choir, he kept saying "I'd rather conduct" so I said, "do it"  He did a great job!  Some ways I'm a little sad to see him change his major from Music to Computer Science. But he needs to walk his path, and I do believe he's making good decisions and he'll be happy in the long run.

Sunday afternoon was our traditional Christmas Caroling and Chili dinner.  Of course the 80 degree temperatures made it interesting.  We still had fun and people enjoyed it.  The chili was good too.

So, that sums up the week except for today.  Had a training at 9 this morning, which quite honestly I hate Monday morning trainings.  I'm just not in a good mood before 10 AM.  And things didn't go well.  But I got a lovely email informing me that I would be receiving animals for Christmas so the day became much brighter.

And the evening end with me sliding into the playoffs of the MagnusonHouse and Friends Fantasy Football league.  I had to beat by brother-in-law by 17 points to edge him out for the 8th spot in the playoff.  Of course, next week I play the #1 seed, one of my favorite people, even though, I haven't heard from him in MONTHS/YEARS who can be loud and obnoxious but I still love him!  And this time I don't have to worry about it being in the PC, by the guidelines of the Respect and Esteem training way.  He's no longer a co-worker. So I can LOVE YA KENNY!!!  But I hope I BEAT you next week!!!!

What adventures are in store for the week?  No idea, but I'm going to try to enjoy each moment as they come!

And here's a little Christmas Cheer!

For Women Who Do too much...

I have zero advice, could probably use some because yes, I am indeed a woman who does too much.  Friday I had a little bit of a melt down and a friend of mine called to check on me.  It really surprised me because he had some fun stuff happening with his family so it really impressed me that he took the time to check on me.  So as I try to be more appreciative of the people in my life I sent him and email thanking him for taking the time and wanted to express how much it meant to me.  In his response he reminded me that I was just exhausted and he started listing all the stuff I do.  I got tired just reading the list and he didn't even mention my church stuff which during the Christmas season is just a killer as well. It was a much needed reminder not to beat myself up.

So for my faithful readers (both of you) take time to appreciate the people in your life.  Let them know how much they mean to you. The one thing that God has been really impressing on me the past several months is the importance of relationships. I do love people, even though large groups of people tend to exhaust me very quickly, I feel relationships are important. And I'm trying to foster good relationships rather than run from them out of fear of being hurt.

And for your listing pleasure another fun song and video from Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Wizards in Wonderland

I'll admit it, I LOVE Facebook

OK, I realize that there's problems with Facebook. It can be a HUGE time waster, it can also be dangerous for kids and women who post too much personal info about themselves on Facebook. But I must admit, I love Facebook. I've been able to reconnect with friends from high school and college. Being on a college campus I've become "friends"  with many of the students that I've come in contact.  Plus there are my church friends as well, as of right now I'm at 586 friends.  Most of which I actually know, I do have some author friends that I've not met in person yet, but some day maybe.

All that to say, I love being able to catch up with family and friends and celebrate birthdays with them and leave notes for them. My favorite facebook app is "Friend of the Day." When you use it, it randomly picks one of my friends and posts a message on their wall.  It's fun! I try to include a note to encourage them.

Yes, Facebook can be a huge time waster, but I am trying to make it a communication tool, a way to stay connected to people I care about.  Of course, there's a handful of people that I'm close to that don't do Facebook but fortunately, I either see them or they're faithful bloggers and I keep up with them that way.  The following is dedicated to my friends:

Looking back

Not sure why I've been looking back so much lately. This is my current Facebook profile. I don't know how old I was when the picture was taken but I was probably 2 or 3. It was probably taken in late summer based on the dryness of the yard. I grew up on an 80 acre farm in northeastern Oklahoma. The house was a quarter mile off the main dirt road. The closest town was 10 miles away and my mom didn't drive until I was in 6th grade, which meant I didn't go to kindergarten because I had no way to get home. (Which was okay with me, I didn't know what I was missing.)  We only went to town on Friday evenings when my Dad got home from work.



It was such a simple time in my life.  No cares, no troubles, no responsibility. I don't have a lot of memories of my early childhood.  Probably because it was just so simple.

As I said I didn't go to kindergarten, but my mom taught me the basics of writing and letters.  I don't know if I actually started reading before that, that wasn't as important then as it seems to be now.  I started first grade. I think there were 6 of us that went to school together the entire 12 years.  Of course the 5 others were in kindergarten together but that's another story.

It's nice that two of those friends I'm still in touch with, I probably don't contact them as much as I should, but hopefully they know how much I love them. Crystal wasn't there at the beginning and she is a YEAR younger, but she makes me smile too.  And thankfully, she's not been doing the early morning "text a prayer request."  I was about ready to take my friend, Tom's, advice and start texting her at midnight my time.  :)


Here's Crystal and Dana with me during my Senior year when I was Homecoming Queen for basketball season.



Here's Tammy and I, I'm not sure what we were doing. But this was also from our senior (I had my contacts by this time!)

Good times with good friends.