The Pastor I work with and I were talking about films yesterday. Our conversation turned a very intriguing conversation about film and how films portray families. At our church, we are very much a home-centered congregation. Families come to Sunday School together. Parents come with their children to confirmation etc. Maybe what we are doing is wrong but we feel strongly about the way it blesses families. As we talked about our home-centered ministry, we talked about film and how film seems to often tell the stories of how the child goes off and does their own thing not listening to their parents. In fact, often not even engaging in conversations with their parents at ALL! The more we talked and thought about it we realized most films today dont do a very good job of having families talk too each other. Our best example of a film that actually does that is “The Sound of Music.” Can you think of any other films that do a good job of having families communicating? That have families working together? I would love to hear what my readers have to say.

In light of this conversation yesterday, it seems to me that today’s actors need a community to support them. Most importantly a community of family and is that why so many of today’ stars either die to young or live very sad messed up lives!

Don’t do Anything! That’s right the new VeggieTales movie is coming out soon. I’m so excited. I think its funny that here I am almost 30 years old and I still love VeggieTales. Maybe it has to do with how it reminds me of seminary. I remember some of our professors talking about how they dont like them because they aren’t theological sound which I understand but I think they teach so well to kids. Enough about that though! I want to talk more specifically about the pirates. My group of friends at seminary and I used to call ourselves the Pirates who don’t do anything. We used to talk about how when we were upper classpeople we were going to sit on the lawn, drinking from our mason jars, watching everyone else. It became quite the joke. In fact for graduation, many of us bought each other mason jar glasses and pirate eye patches. I still have my pirate eye patch and my mason jar glass. Every time I drink out of that glass I think of my dear friends. Funny how we associate certain things with certain people. I can’t wait until this movie comes out but it would be even better if I could go to the movie with my own group of pirates…..who dont do anything! 😛

Well its that time of the year again so thought I’d post my top ten (or so) from the past year! 2007 was a good year. I hope 2008 is just as good!

1. The Diaconal Ministry Retreat in Carefree, Arizona!-What a fabulous experience.This was my first DM Retreat and I loved it. I met so many great people that I know will continue to be with me on this journey. It also was great to catch up with an old seminary friend. It’s so hard to put this experience into words! What a blessing! I can’t wait until the next gathering in Atlanta in the summer of 2009!

2.Since the Pastor I served with announced his retirement, I had a huge decision to make. After much contemplation, I decided to interview. I interviewed at a couple of churchs and was extended a call by the church I am currently serving. This new job has been such a huge blessing in my life. I definetely feel called to the ministry here and feel that my gifts are being used to their fullest potential. I enjoy that I get to work with all age groups, get to preach, etc!

3. Spending some time at Super Awesome Bible Camp and also getting to go to Sonshine with a good camp friend! I took some vacation from my job during the transition period to the new job and it was great to head back to the place I love so much. I spent the week just hanging out with the staff, campers, etc. Then later in the week, I headed with my good friend C and her youth group to the SonShine music festival. What a blast!

4. My new car! Yeah thats right…the 1986 Ford Tempo has been retired from my life. My uncle found a great car and bought it for me. It is so nice to have moved up in the world in the automobile world! I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am to have a newer car! It’s a 2000 Oldsmobile Alero and doesn’t even have 30,000 miles on it yet! So hooray for the new car! And thanks for holding out for me Mr. Tempo!

5. Labor Day Weekend/My birthday! My good friend G and I headed to Sioux Falls for the LifeLight Music Festival. What a great weekend! We stayed at G’s aunts house and met up with some seminary friends! It was so fun to see my fave band Jars of Clay in concert. I even got to meet Phil Wickham and he autographed a pic with bday wishes. So cool! G and I headed back to the F-M area on Sunday. Then on Monday, we met up with G’s husband and some other friends for a Labor Day picnic. This also happened to be my actual bday. At the picnic, my good friend M had made a bday cake for myself and her cute daughter (her daughter’s bday was the week before). They all sang “Happy Birthday” to us and we blew out the candle’s together! It was fun to spend my bday with my favorite two year old and my seminary friends! Thanks for a great day!

6. New Years 2007! I am not a huge fan of hanging out in bars etc but this year I was able to meet up with my sister and her friends at a local pub to bring in the New Years. It was so great to spend it with my sister and way better than sitting at home alone. It was a fun way to ring in 2008!

7. Catching up with old friends. It has been so interesting since moving to the F-M area. I keep reconnecting with old friends etc. I’ve gotten to go to a few NDSU games with a good high school friend. I’ve gotten to spend time with some fabulous camp friends. I can’t even believe how awesome God’s timing has been in all of this. I am delighted to meet up with all these friends!

8. Starting the Super Awesome Bible Camp luncheons! My good friend B who is like a brother to me and I decided to give back to the camp counselors who worked at Super Awesome Bible Camp by making them a home-cooked meal once a month. It has been so much fun preparing meals for them and they really seem to appreciate them. It’s been so much fun!

9. Milestone Ministry Conference in MN. This was one of my first acts at my new job. The funny thing is that the conference actually was the weekend before I officially started at my new job! This conference was a good way to learn about Milestones etc! I met many people who also have lived with family members etc who live with bipolar/manic depression etc. That in itself was a huge blessing! I learned a lot from the conference. I even got to catch up with some seminary friends and even got to have breakfast with a new friend from the DM retreat. This new friend has become a mentor to me in many ways!

10. Christmas break! It was nice to get away, relax and spend some time with my family! I drove home Christmas morning and was blessed to have good weather. We had lunch and then opened presents. Wed we just hung out. Thurs my sis and I drove to see our mom. The trip was crazy but well worth it. When we left it was foggy etc, but the roads got better! We drove about 3 1/2 hours, spent an 1 1/2 with mom, and then drove the 3 1/2 hours back! It was a long day but I know it made mom’s day so it was worth. Just spent the rest of break relaxing and enjoying my family! It was fun to stay at the new house and see all the work that has been put in!

Well I hope you had a great 2007 too and hope you have an even more blessed 2008! I am looking forward to my 3 year retreat at the Mothership. Other than that, nothing too big on the docket yet for 2008! Happy New Year everyone!