Future church home?

After checking out various UCC churches in Minneapolis and finding ourselves disappointed, Jeff and I ventured over to one in St. Paul: Macalester-Plymouth United Church. To our surprise, we walked away thinking it just might be the one . . . .

Finally.

I do realize that it is late September and that my last post was in June. Life has been consuming, to say the least, but I've skipped going to church this morning to gather my thoughts and maybe put some words down on this "paper."

To recap:

I moved to Minneapolis in early June to work as an EMR Trainer for one of the U of M's clinics in the Phillips Neighborhood of Minneapolis. My coworkers are simply amazing . . .fascinating people with enormous hearts. The clinic is in transition on many levels, and I've been thrown into the mix to develop training curriculum and then implement that training . . .which has been quite the task since the clinic's EMR is tricky and fairly new. With a group of others, I also look at various processes within the clinic, and work toward changing systems that work against efficiency. Though there are many nights when I come home absolutely exhausted (hence the lack of email and keeping Facebook current), I find myself happy with this shift in careers, as my mind is engaged and I'm actually operating out of my strengths (thank you, Fuller, for Now Discover Your Strengths).

Jeff has also moved to Minneapolis. Dima is absolutely in love with him (as am I), and we've enjoyed many trips together to the dog park in downtown Minny (only 2 blocks from where I live!) where we are starting to develop community with other dog parkers. We're a strange crowd, people standing around sharing stories and knowing each other only by his or her respective canine--"Oh yeah, Anabelle and her owner were here the other day . . ." But we check in with each other and laugh about the latest antics of the pooches, or discuss the goings-on in the city. I highly recommend visiting a dog park when feeling down. You will leave a happier person; guaranteed.

I also managed to get Lyme Disease, so that put me out of commission for the majority of July. Thankfully it was caught early, but I did experience extreme fatigue, joint pain, and general malaise. I think my body is still recovering, but I was able to go running the other day and I felt good for the duration of the run. Life is certainly improving, right?

I will write that it has been good to return to Minneapolis. I love the mentality here, along with the diversity of people, and I find myself "home," if you will. The belonging I wrote of in an earlier post . . .I feel that in MN--where a love for the arts, nature, various perspectives on life and religion merge in a lovely way. Please feel free to visit!

New news.

Although brief, here is an update:

1. New job: EMR Trainer at the Community-University Healthcare Center in Minneapolis, MN. I love everything this clinic is about (displayed under "Services" and "Programs"), and am thoroughly enjoying my job. Teaching, developing training curriculum, streamlining clinic flow and tackling problems--it's definitely keeping me engaged.

2. New (and yet, old) boyfriend: Jeff. Here are his ramblings about usually terrible sports teams. Though not crazy about his team loyalties, I love this man.

A mass email will get sent out with address details, phone details and the like, come July when I switch phone services. Hopefully more posts with some thoughts of substance will also follow . . . .

Title

Almost a month since my last post. Lately most of my days have been consumed with job hunting, the filling out of online resumes (so many of them are redundant!), and the continual writing and tweaking of cover letters. Tonight I'm researching adventure therapy to develop a presentation for what will hopefully be a next step in the interviewing process for a company in Madison. Slowing down isn't an option, though I've treated myself to some new music. The New Pornographers' song "Go Places" and Romantica's "God Walks on Water" are the two on repeat currently--my "songs of significance," as I like to refer to them . . . .

These next couple of months will prove interesting.

Post Dog Park

For those of you wondering about our snow.

Anybody want some? We'd be more than happy to move it along and get rid of it.

In my head, there's a greyhound station . . . .

I'm smitten. Straight up, IN LOVE with Death Cab for Cutie's song Soul Meets Body. Songwriting rarely gets better than this . . .truly. Lyrics, music, overall message and vibe of the song . . .it resonates with every inch of my present being.

"I want to live where soul meets body." Amen. Where and when someone is not afraid of the influence of one over the other . . .where life is lived in complete fullness, body and soul allowing one to be human--no gnosticism or Plato's body/soul distinction to cloud feelings and judgments. Instead, people hating themselves a little less, acknowledging their humanity (needs included) a little more, with grace and humor . . .finding themselves at less war within themselves. Life embraced as is.

"I send my thoughts to far off destinations so that they may have a chance of finding a place where they are far more suited than here." WI is a bit of a curse for me . . .I love it deeply. My family and some of my closest friends are here. 4 beautiful seasons, a plethora of lakes, friendly people. You would think one would feel quite at home. And yet . . .to love something and still feel so misunderstood. Do you stay and conform? Stay and not conform? Leave and go to a more Kristy-friendly place like Seattle, Bozeman, the Cities, or the great wide world of Europe? One wonders if the point is to feel as though you belong or not. It's just the loneliness that comes with people not quite getting you . . .it wears on you despite your denial tendencies. Maybe Madison will love me; love my loves . . . .

"And I cannot guess what we'll discover when we turn the dirt with our palms, cupped like shovels. But I know our filthy hands can wash one another's . . .and not a speck will remain." Hello, gospel. Hello, birth. Hello, "what it's like to feel new."

Another Poem

Lately I've had a lot of thoughts in need of pen and paper and time . . . . At some point I'll force them into words, but until then, here are the words of another; words true to me in this given moment.

Stone work

I know the one I want when I find it.
Turning them over, like tortoises,
rubbing their ridged underbellies, their curves,
their pocked histories of love and grief,

I palm the one that speaks my other name,
the one whom I become this still moment,
lead-light, soft as chalk, right as spring
after weeks of needling sleet, the dumb tomb.

I run my tongue along its edges, taste
the sharp consonants, the gush of vowel,
the salt that grits the honest surface,
telling its years in the still pool of tears.

A stone in a heart made of sorrow,
a node in a kidney (gorgeous agony),
a missile thrown to break the martyr's skull,
a stranger at the gates of the body's love.

I press it down hard in the good dirt
next to the one I loved best yesterday,
assembling the poem, stone by sudden stone,
faithful as flesh to its house of bone.

-Angela O'Donnell

The Netherlands' Den Haag and Amsterdam

Finally: a new post.

And pictures, too!

What the . . .?!

4 or 5 days ago: temperature -12 degrees with the wind chill.

Today: tornadoes with the temp in the low 60s, 12 homes have already been completely destroyed with possibly more to follow with upcoming storms.

Even this WI die-hard is in complete disbelief . . . .