A Life Update

Since it's been a while since I've written anything I thought I'd take some moments to share what we've been up to.

• We drove to Michigan for Christmas (over 1900 miles total). I hope that's the last time we make that drive. Worrying about the threat of winter weather stresses me out. On a positive note, though, driving allowed us to receive wonderful hospitality from friends and family. Most notably, on our first night of driving we stayed with Troy's parents, Larry and Kathy, in Springfield, Illinois. They graciously welcomed us into their homes with little warning. The "convenience" of flying would not have allowed us to receive their welcome.
• I think "convenience" is the great enemy of community/fellowship/church/friendship/etc. Think about what you buy or build in the name of convenience and the result is less time with others.
• I started my Clinical Pastoral Education last Monday at Research Medical Center. Along with 5 other CPE students and our supervisors we will be working to provide care to the patients and staff at that hospital over the coming months. It should be quite a challenge but I anticipate that it'll be well worth it. The other students are fairly diverse: (1) white Episcopalian lady in her 60's (2) Female Reform Jewish rabbi in her 60's (3) black Seventh Day Adventist lady in her 50's (4) white Protestant (non-denominational) guy in his 50's (5) white science professor dude from the Church of Christ doing this on his sabbatical (6) white Nazarene 31 year old.
  
• Age 3 is much more difficult than age 2. The swings between pure joy and pure anger are much more pronounced and often. Yet I still love being "daddy." Yesterday when we were leaving a restaurant Addie saw a lady wearing a long, fur coat. She said, "Mama, is she a puppy?" I thought she was going to ask if it was Cruella Deville.
• I've been working on my resumes for post-graduation. Meeting and interviewing with prospective bosses/churches/etc. makes me anxious.
  
• As a New Year's resolution I am reading through the Bible in a year using a reading plan from YouVersion. I love that it's synced between my phone and my computer.
• I bought a new app for my phone this week called "Words with Friends." It's basically Scrabble but the bonus spots are in different locations. In my first game I just game from a long way down to beat Dave. I'm hoping to go 3-0 with wins over Grant and Karla soon.
• I started reading Malcolm Gladwell's book, What the Dog Saw. I enjoy his view of things as it prompts me to look at things differently.

What about you? Have you been up to anything interesting?