I hate the phone

AAaaaaahhhhhH!!!!!!

I don't like the phone.

I especially don't like phoning to recruit or schmooze or "survey" or otherwise do visitor follow-up. Or persuade other people that it is a great "ministry" to do it so that I don't have to...

It's a problem because it is now becoming a large part of my work as a pastoral underling (aka "associate pastor.") I am recruiting, training and "empowering" people to do it...

SOooo... what about the things I am passionate about in ministry???

Teaching? very little.
Preaching? non-existent to barely ever.

If you'd pray for my attitude and a miraculous change of heart... to loving "cold calls" (which is what this feels like) I'd appreciate it...
Because that what's on my plate this week, and I really REALLY don't want to do it...

And that sucketh mightily.
Verily.

Just sayin'.

That flippin' calendar...

I finally got around to flipping the calendar to August. (OK, so I'm slow. Sue me.)

It's good and it's bad. It means that I'm almost done with another semester. It means that the fall schedule with its intense busy-ness for the rest of the family starts up again... soon. VERY soon.

Reedy Girl saw the awful words "1st day of school" and said, "NO NO NO NO!!!!" Her only consolation is that my semester starts before hers.

I feel her pain. Even though my summer schedule, in some ways, is worse than the school year, I've enjoyed knowing that the girls are around during the days.

Time is flying by... in a little over three weeks...
The Harpist will be starting her senior year in high school.
Reedy Girl will starting her last year of middle school.
I will start another year of divinity (FUDGE!) school. (I always want to put that word after "divinity"!)

To quote Mayor McShinn's wife in The Music Man...
LADIES... TEMPUS FUGIT!

deb

Friday Five: Lock Me Out, Lock Me In

Songbird of RevGalBlogPals writes:

For some reason, Blogger declared this blog possible SP*M and locked us down yesterday. This morning, we're free to post again, but there was a fair amount of excitement last night among our contributors, who found a dire notice on their Blogger dashboards threatening that this blog might be deleted in 20 days!

We requested a blog review, and I posted a request at the Blogger Help group, where I found we were not alone. Many other perfectly nourishing and cromulent blogs got the same notice last night.

This turned out to be a very small barricade in our blogging community life, but it seemed appropriate to explore locks and blocks and other barriers this week. Also, I liked the picture of the security team above! Could they be Blogger's Spam Prevention Robots, working overtime?

In honor of their efforts, I bring you the "Lock Me Out, Lock Me In" Friday Five.

1) How do you amuse yourself when road construction blocks your travel?
Pre-GPS days, I would play "radio roulette" and just keep punching the "search" button on my FM radio. (Did you know that, regardless of where in the US you travel, there are an inordinate amount of Country stations??? yilg...) Now, I hit that "find detour" button. At least I'm moving. It's questionable whether I am actually getting there any faster...

2) Have you ever locked yourself out of your house? (And do you keep an extra key somewhere, just in case?)
Sigh. Yes... The worst was when I was taking the trash out late one night. The door to the house (the handset in the door handle was finicky) blew shut and locked itself. I could spend the night in my car... or I could bang on the door until my husband let me in. He, of course, was sound asleep. Neither one of us were happy. (A moment of marital bliss it was NOT!) My husband took some Lock-eze to it the next day. And no - no keys hidden anywhere outside our house. We have a neighbor who has ours, though.

3) Have you ever cleared a hurdle? (And if you haven't flown over a material hurdle, feel free to take this one metaphorically.)
Um. No, but I knocked them down regularly in the Track and Field P.E. unit in high school...

4) What's your approach to a mental block?
It depends on what it is. Since I am one mental block away from finishing my latest round of Turabian uh... fertilizer I assign myself "mini-tasks" to make the insurmountable seem possible. If that doesn't work I throw food around on Facebook. When I get really disgusted, I go blow off some steam at WellGames! (And those of you who struggle with getting distracted on-line should NOT go there. Repeat: NOT!!! But if you like a fun game, try Glassez or Beadz!)

5) Suggest a caption for the picture above; there will be a prize for the funniest answer!
"Huey felt their relationship was one-sided; Dewey and Louie thought he was acting a bit unhinged..."

And now... on to my day...

Deb

pressure, pressure and more pressure

I am not big on "scrapbook" type projects for school. I've had them in both of my previous degrees (grad and undergrad) and as near as I can tell, it's so that the prof can feel like she/he has taught you something. But instead, you end up with a lovely "project" which is supposed to be a "resource" and becomes a piece of clutter. You worked so hard on it. You won't use it because it is either immediately out-of-date or it's in a format that is not intuitive for you to use.

For instance...

In undergrad, I had to put together a file card box of books, music and other resources for music education. Every semester I had to add to it. Each card had to have the "call number" (even though none of the public libraries used anything but Dewey at the time.) Hours and HOURS of running index cards through a typewriter. By the time I graduated and found a job, the box was out of date and/or the resources were not available to a public school teacher in small town Ohio. I finally threw it away when we moved to this house in 1996... (I won't tell you how many moves it survived before I tossed it...)

During my (first) masters, I had to "write a grant" for a community treatment facility that was focused around the discipline of music therapy. Never mind that the health insurance industry was moving away from making music therapy a reimbursable service. Never mind that Medicare considered music therapy a "recreational" discipline, not a therapeutic modality. No. We had to justify ourselves, our profession and our livelihood for the competitive, non-profit grant community. Riiiiiight...

So this semester... I am putting together a "resource notebook" for mentoring. The problem is, the professor leans way more conservatively on women's "roles" than I do. SO I have to walk the line between what I would do in my ministry setting, and what she wants. For instance, I have to include stylized note-taking pages from the assigned texts (FIVE of them.) Four of the books I would never EVER use. One of them is pretty "iffy." And I don't have a "file" where I keep "notes" on books. (Should I? That's another question...) You'll know if I like a book because I will have sticky notes all over the pages!

This. is. nuts. Oh... did I mention? There's the "creative, intuitive organization" requirement. In a binder. GAAAaaaahhhhh!!!!!

I have given up making this "something to use in a future ministry setting." Right now, I just want to be DONE with it and move on to the next class.

Maybe it's because I've done this dance before...
Maybe it's because I'm an older student and I'm not as awed by professors...
Maybe it's because I'm in seminary while I'm IN ministry and the things they are convinced will be so "applicable" are not...

Sorry for whining. I'll eat my spinach and shut up now....

Deb

She's on the ground...

Hey praying friends...
Our team is on the ground and going through Customs in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. In a few hours, they will be 24/7 the friends and adopted family of the children at Casa Hogar.

More updates as I get them!

Peace--

Deb

SHE'S PACKING!!!

The Harpist is packing! ALL OF HER FUNDS ARE IN!!

I have to say, there are some pretty wonderful folks out there. Your financial support has just been amazing.

YOU ROCK!!!

A million ZILLION thanks!!! from her, and from her family.

I have asked her to "guest blog" when she's back. :eyeroll: "OK, Mom... OK..."


Gratefully...

Deb

Friday Five: What you absolutely, can't leave home without...

Singing Owl of RevGalBlogPals writes:

We will be at a chaplain's convention when you all are answering the Friday Five Questions. I'll look forward to reading your answers next week when I get home. At the moment we are trying to get the car loaded so we can hit the road, so this will be a simple F.F. This running around madly in order to leave has me wondering: what are the five things you simply must have when you are away from home? And why? Any history or goofy things, or stories?

Since we just did a 10 hour round trip to pick up Reedy Girl yesterday from band camp, I'll write down what I grabbed at the last minute (and actually needed!):
1. water
2. camera
3. map
4. snacks
5. napkins


When the kids were little it was:
1. diapers and wipes
2. changes of clothes
3. all-important blankie
4. kid entertainment (books-on-tape, simple games)
5. Cheerios!

When I head to a modular week I take along:
1. cell phone
2. lap top
3. quarters (for the copier)
4. snacks
5. my fellow traveler Dana who is on the sem-fem journey with me!

And it's back to the papers for me...

Deb

P.S. That's not my cat. Just loved the picture!

Bunkered

See you in a few weeks...

BECAUSE... it's the end of the semester!!!
I've got 2 papers due.

The kids are away at camp or with friends this week and it's prime writing time.

My beloved spouse is dealing with a bunkered down wife in the piles of journal articles and books.

Back when the dust settles and the last papers are emailed...

and THEN??? It's time to CHILL OUT for the summer!!!

:)
Deb

Send a great 17 year old to Mexico!

This is not an infomercial.... this is for a real person!

I have talked about our lovely Harpist. She is less than 10 days away from heading to Mexico to work in an orphanage. She is short about $600. If you would like to help her... please use this link. Specify "BETH - MEXICO" in the memo area (there is a place to leave a comment.)

It's 100% deductible.
It's for a great cause.
It helps a house full of kids and their house parents in tangible ways and shows them the love of Christ.
And you will bless and delight one of our wonderful girls (and her parents...)

If she raises OVER her amount (we would be delighted) the extra money will help pay for repairs to a well at the orphanage. The estimated cost for the well repair is $7000 (US dollars.) Other funds will be used to pay for school supplies, clothing and new backpacks for the kids.

OK, Plug and plea over.... thanks...

Deb

P.S. These are the kids that they loved on last year... real kids. Real needs. Real Jesus love...

UPDATE!!! Tuesday, July 22nd....
ONLY $200 to go!!! WOW! I have some amazing blogging friends!!! (You know who you are, and you rock!!!)

Friday Five: What's In A Name?

RevHRod of RevGalBlogPals writes:

If you are a regular reader of Songbird's blog, you know that "The Princess" has requested a new name. Her older brother changed his "secret identity" a while back and now this lovely young lady is searching for a new name on her mother's blog. This got me to thinking. How do we come up with all of these names? There must be at least a few good stories out there.

In honor of the Princess I have posted a picture of one of my favorite members of fictional royalty, Robert Munch's "Paperback Princess." She is a brave young woman who doesn't need anyone else to fight her battles. And she knows that what is most important isn't tiaras and finery but what's on the inside. If you haven't read this little fairy tale, I highly recommend it. But I digress.

1. So how did you come up with your blogging name? And/or the name of your blog? In another lifetime, I was a music teacher. And then a music therapist. And then... a music (worship) director. My life has seemed to fall around music. (I would say "great works" but don't want to sound too presumptuous. Or play loose with soteriology.) And since what I'm doing is so "in process" -- "Unfinished Symphony" and the parabolic explanation about my blog just kinda fell together.

2. Are there any code names or secret identities in your blog? Any stories there? Well, let's see. My husband is BBS or "Beloved Bearded Spouse." Older daughter is known as "The Harpist" (because she is) and younger daughter is known as "Reedy Girl" because she plays a double reed (oboe) and is reedy in body type. The cats have their own blogs (Polgara and Tiria) and they have their own names for their peeps. You will have to ask them.

3. What are some blog titles that you just love? For their cleverness, drama, or sheer, crazy fun? Well.. let's see... there's Mandy's (I'm sure this is all very interesting...)
and Sarah's (Snapshots and Snippets: finding beauty in the every day)
and Teri's (Clever Title Here).

4. What three blogs are you devoted to? Other than the RevGalBlogPals blog of course!
Mindy!! Because she's Mindy.
Emerging Women. Because I am one.
Crossing the Bridge. Because my problems really seem small when I read about the Persecuted Church.
(But I just want to say... I miss Cub. {{Cub's family...}} )

5. Who introduced you to the world of blogging and why?
Good question. I don't remember!

Bonus question: Have you ever met any of your blogging friends? Where are some of the places you've met these fun folks?
Yes... Friend Deb D I actually met through an on-line parenting group. And Mary Beth and I had a virtual meet-up via phone (she was in D.C. for a convention and I just could not quite make it into town to meet her... boo hoo!!) One of these days I will make it to the Big Event... sigh.

That's my blog and I'm stickin' with it...

Deb