Pride and Prejudice

Just saw the movie for the first time and laughed! A classic: attraction, denial of attraction, teasing/banter, misunderstanding on one's part, a profession of love on the other's part, rejection, regret over rejecting, misunderstandings made clear, redemption, a final profession of love, and alas!, true love is fully realized (or should I say "accepted?") by both involved.

Simple.

A Significant Day in Kristy's Life Story

Two things:

1) I gave my first verbatim in CPE this afternoon. I received wonderful feedback from my peers and I just might be on the right track for this new direction in life.

2) I received the United Church of Christ's Book of Worship today in the mail. Having grown up in a non-denominational church, I never encountered the beauty of liturgy. Now I have it to myself (Pocket Edition!) and it is a tremendous resource for anything related to the "office" of a pastor: deaths, marriages, baptisms, etc.. Below is a prayer that resonates with me and its language draws me in (one of many reasons why I love the UCC).

O great and kind Spirit,
you have always been, and before you nothing has been.
There is no one to pray to but you.
The star nations all over the heavens are yours,
and yours are the grasses of the earth.
You are older than all need,
older than all pain and prayer.

O great and kind Spirit,
all over the world the faces of living ones are alike.
With tenderness they have come out of the earth
from which you give us food.
Look on your children.
With children in their arms, they face the wind
and walk the red road to the day of quiet.

O great and kind Spirit,
Give us strength to understand and eyes to see deeply.
Teach us to walk on soft earth as relatives to all that live.
Help us! Without you, we are nothing.
Amen.

Lines I especially love:

O Great and kind Spirit,

You are older than all need,
older than all pain and prayer.

Apartment Series: House

The entrance to the stairway, which leads both to the basement, Matt and Sarah's, and our place. Obviously.

I dig this light fixture.

The casa bonita . . .which will likely be painted this summer. Any ideas on color schemes? Matt and Sarah are taking suggestions.

Our street . . . .

Apartment Series: Deck

Matt--one of the proud homeowners--chillin' in my usual reading spot.

Lindsay's usual reading spot.

Our second story deck, facing the south.

The backyard, which our deck overlooks (picture a garage to your left).

Apartment Series: Bedroom

The south side of the entry way, with the doors to Lindsay and my's rooms. What I love about these doors is that they're at an angle to each other--something I haven't seen anywhere else. The bathroom door is also to the right.

My bedroom (with the door not pictured (to the right of the window) that leads to the deck).

My writing desk--home of many agonies over sermons, papers, and the like. Also home of email and the occasional chat.

To see Lindsay's place of rest, check out her blog (or the pictures I linked in a previous post).

Apartment Series: Entry Way and Bathroom

When you come up the stairs, this is part of what you see.

The bathroom, and yes, that's a full-sized window in the shower.
I tell myself that the steam and the vinyl shower curtain around/over
it blurs "the image" significantly, but it's likely that
some of our upstairs neighbors a few houses down
receive quite the show . . . .

Apartment Series: Kitchen

The entrance to the kitchen from the dining room.

More of the kitchen on the west side of the apartment.

Hands down, our biggest project--the cabinets. With Liquid Nails, 2 coats of oil-based outdoor trim paint, and new hardware courtesy of Matt and Sarah, they dressed up nicely.

The cabinets BEFORE 3 nights of work.
(The application of Mineral Spirits to just about every
body limb became a nightly ritual.)

Apartment Series: Dining Room

The dining room as seen from the living room. This table is the same table my dad grew up eating and doing homework on, and I got 4 the chairs through a coworker. (After Lindsay and my's mad reupholstering skills, and a coat of Old English, they're as good as new!) The end chairs I picked up at a rummage sale and painted to match the set.

The view from the other side of the dining room; the direct view from our entry way.

Apartment Series: Living Room

Boob tube in the SW corner.

The beloved lounge, nestled in the NW corner.

"The East Side"

Missing Traci

I wandered into the local Starbuck's this evening to find retreat and work on my prayer book for work. I'm consulting favorite poets and books, and gathering quotes and so on to assemble into a journal that I'll carry with me when doing rounds at the hospital. I think I'll find it to be a tremendous resource . . .and it'll be congruent to who I am as a person.

As I've been perusing books and mulling over different passages, I can't help but think of my college friend, Traci, and all of the long talks we had in various coffee shops in the Twin Cities. We would pull out our journals and share quotes that grabbed us. We'd talk about our lives in the context of the words we found profound and helpful, and little bits of our souls were handed back and forth--enjoyed, affirmed, loved.

All of this is to say, "Traci, you are missed!"

The calm before the storm?

Greetings from the back porch in Tosa. Everyone is on alert this evening . . .supposedly some nasty storms are making their way to the Milwaukee area, and the mayor already had a press conference concerning the city's preparedness for likely tornadoes.

I have yet to see lightning.
Or hear thunder.
Or hear the tornado siren wail.
And yes, I passed up Jazz in the Park because I thought the weather would be an issue.

*sigh*

But!! I have excellent news:

I got the internship at St. Luke's! Which means that come September, I will be an actual resident after completing my first unit of CPE. (A little trippy.) I'm also looking into finishing up the good ol' MDiv at Chicago Theological Seminary and will pursue ordination after. How crazy is that?! But it's time . . .I need to start finishing what I started years ago.

As for apartment pics, Linds has some posted on her blog. Check 'em out. I'll have more coming soon.