This blog just got CPR after a 10-year hiatus

In a class I had this semester for Spiritual Formation, one of the requirements was that we kept a daily journal to see how we connected with our spirituality and a spiritual virtue that selected us. My virtue was courage, so every day I had to stop to think about how I would be courageous and somehow demonstrate this virtue...and I had to write about it in journal. I learned two things from this exercise: 1) It is awfully hard to sit down, old-school, with a pen and paper and write out your thoughts when you are used to typing everything on your computer and thinking as you type. It makes it difficult to think the same way (at least for me!) when you are writing vs. typing. 2) I realized I missed blogging and sharing some of my thoughts, musings, and ponderings as a way of expressing myself. After all, I was a college journalism/PR major who used to do a lot of writing for my various professions and that has now gone by the wayside to a great extent, and I miss the creative outlet. So I am going to attempt to post on a semi-regular basis, given that I'm often rather pressed for time.

While it's impossible to capture everything that's happened since I last blogged, here's a quick synopsis since I last posted, in case you've read my previous posts:

- I left my job in fundraising at the university because I traveled a lot and wanted to be with my daughter more....oh, and the Jerry Sandusky scandal happened and let's just say that was a difficult situation to deal with, both personally as an alum as well as professionally as a development officer.
- I began working as the development and marketing director for a non-profit health and human services agency that focuses primarily in senior living. I worked there for four years.
- During that time, I met many clergy and became more and more involved in church and in our regional synod. I took classes and became a lay worship leader and loved learning about the historical aspect of the bible and the history of religion -- which is totally different from what I learned growing up in a more fundamental church background.
- I sensed a possible call to ministry but kept telling myself NOOOOO, I can't give up a good job and go back to school. But God had other plans that happened without my doing.
- I quit my full-time job and took a part-time job that I found out about -- as a church secretary! -- and am now in my second year as a Master of Divinity degree student at United Lutheran Seminary. I have another full year of coursework then a year of internship -- and if all goes well, I will be ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in 2021 in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).
- My daughter was little when I first started writing this -- she's now 12 years old and my worries about potty training and being a bad mom for putting her in daycare have evolved into worries about boys, hormones and girls who are asshats bullies.
- Dork and I celebrated our 15-year anniversary this past October. When I first began my blog, marriage and parenting were both really difficult for me. I often felt overwhelmed and unsupported. But through the years, I discovered that support comes in a variety of ways. People grow apart, or they grow together....and we have grown stronger together. The rough times have made us stronger, more understanding, and more supportive of one other. We are a family unit of three and we have one another's backs without exception.
- I lost my mother-in-law three years ago and my dear mother last year. I miss them both and grieve the loss of my mom every day, but I also know she is at peace and that I'll be reunited with her and my dad someday.
- As part of my faith formation for ordination, I'm required to complete Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), where I am taking classes on chaplaincy and serving as a chaplain at Gettysburg Hospital until April 2019. The whole process is probably one of the most challenging and often uncomfortable things I have done in my life so far, but I am learning so much from it -- how to minister to people who are hurting, who are grieving, who are scared, and just being there for them. And I'll share more about CPE -- as well as my journey through this path of seminary! -- as I continue to write. Thanks for walking with me on the path!