Happy New Year

WOW, time is flying by and I am still not doing a good job keeping things posted on this blog.  Luckily for the handiness of my phone and facebook I can keep up with most of you there.  So, our Christmas visit in Florida was pleasant, aside from getting sick and down for 2 days.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see everyone on our list, but we tried.  Mostly, I didn't want to spread my germs.  It was good to see Stephanie, I am so proud of her.  She has grown in to a fine respectible responsible adult and is doing great at UCF.  Missed you Cristina! 

The house is eerily quiet.  Roy left on Tuesday with 11 others on a mission trip to Malawi, Africa.  At first I must admit, I had a difficult time accepting the fact that I wasn't able to go this time.  Reality set in, and my responsibility as a mother and wife to "hold down the fort".  Now I am in full gear to support him in daily prayer and looking forward to some "me time".  Speaking of me time, it starts today.  Heather left today for the YouthQuake conference in Asheville, NC.  What an awesome spiritual program for teens!  So I am catching up on emails, coorespondence, paperwork (nice word for bills) and other stuff to do on the computer when it is usually occupied by a teen.  ha ha  Thinking I may go for a haircut after then relax with a nice salad while reading The Elements of the Spiritual Life by F.P. Harton.  This book is required reading for AT1, which resumes in 3 weeks, and I am enjoying this one thoroughly.  AT1 has been a class that Roy and I are taking together on campus.  It has lead us deeper into our spiritual journey with focus on our Rule of Life, prayer, devotions, and different aspects of our spiritual gifts. 

So as for Roy's journey to Africa.  They left on Tuesday morning and had all intentions of flying out of Milwaukee to first stop Chicago.  Well, as the weather conditions would have it, the flight was cancelled.  So they opted to rent 2 vans to drive them to Chicago to meet their connecting flight that afternoon to Dulles.  Of course, the snow followed them to Chicago and there was a 2 hour delay.  This of course, led to them missing the connecting flight in Dulles to Johannesburg.  Their first night was spent in Washington, DC instead of Dulles.  Not to worry, as their intention was to have a free first day in Mzuzu (their first mission stop in Africa) to plan the Happening curriculum; so they used the time in DC for the curriculum planning.  At least they are now prepared.  Much of the trip and work they are doing will be lead by the Holy Spirit.  The only planning of participants for the Happening event given to them was there could be 2 or 400 people in attendence.  This event is different from the US Happening in such that the age group encompasses the age group of 15 - 30 rather than just teens. I plan to update frequently with some daily mission plans for specific prayer needs.  For now, travel is the first one.  They have finally arrived in Johannesburg and will spend the night.  Tomorrow they board yet another plan to take them to Lilongwe and from their it is an 8 hour drive to Mzuzu. 

Here is a link to share on Heather's journey to YouthQuake.  Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=uJG6p22AD8A 

That is all for now my friends.  Just wanted to give you a quick update on our life!  Blessings be to God and Glory is His name! 

Winter is approaching!

Well, the leaves have changed and continue to fall.  Soon the greenery will be gone out my office window opening the view to directly to Valley Road.  Our Fall Festival on campus was a huge success, thanks to the WoNH (Women of Nashotah House) group and all their efforts.  The kids had a great time in a safe trick or treat zone, followed by games and family fun in the gym, an old fashioned hay ride in a wagon, then complete with spooky story by the campfire.  The following weekend our church Zion celebrated All Saints Eve and invited people to dress up either as their favorite saint and give a presentation about them  or to dress up representing a bible verse for the rest to guess.  It was a fun evening.  Heather dressed up as St. Margaret of Scotland (which our prayer chapel is named for at Zion).  This weekend Roy is in Durham, NC at the Episcopal Relief and Development conference.  I miss him.  The house is too quiet.  Heather is at a friends house and I am doing some much needed catching up on the blog.  Thank you for your patience.  Now that I am in school too, the time just gets away from me.  Cultural Anthropology is a very interesting class.  We have a fieldwork assignment coming up and I am really looking forward to it.  I am going to be doing my paper on Monastic Living.  I have my first interview with a monk Fr. John Julian scheduled for tomorrow and then next weekend I have arranged to spend the weekend at the Julian House of Norwich Monastery.  I am really looking forward to it.  I also have a praise report to share.  My mother has not only had her surgery to remove the cancer found in her lung, but has really recovered so quickly!  In two short weeks, she is feeling well enough to be home alone.  I thank God and truly believe in the Power of Prayer!  God does amazing things in our life, it is up to us to keep our eyes open for the awareness of his presence.  Well, time to start pulling the blankets out (and the snuggies) as the temperatures drop into the low 30's and possibly upper 20's these next couple of days.  Blessings to you all!  Love, Marcia

September Blessings

September is coming to a quick close.  Last week Roy was chapel scholar on duty and Lector Server fill in for someone whose been sick.  He did a great job chanting the epistle during the St. Matthew's Day Solemn Mass on Thursday night.  There is something very moving about the high mass services that I do not take for granted while here at Nashotah.  The chapel is a beautiful place for meditation and contemplative prayer too.

As I posted earlier, we continue to pray for family members at home that are not well.  My mom was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the lung and we are awaiting her surgical clearance to know when her treatment will begin.  Thanks be to God, this was caught early and has not spread.  It is also a less aggressive cancer and can be treated without chemotherapy.  Roy's Mawmaw has been sick and in the hospital, as both his Uncles in Virginia.  We keep them all in our daily prayers.

Roy is doing well in Hebrew and his other studies as well.  I am having a great time taking Aesthetic Theology 1 class with him on Monday nights.  Last week we took the Myers Briggs test and discussed our results as well as how these results affect our spiritual and prayer life.  We also talked how the personality types can be effective in marriage counseling and other types of spiritual direction programs.  It was fun to see how alike as well as different we are as a group in the class.

Today is Saturday, when Roy and I left the apartment this morning for chapel it was 48 degrees.  Brrrr it was a nice cool breezy bike ride.  Time for layers, and digging out the sweatshirts and blankets.  This time of year is a glorious sight for us Floridians watching the trees change to red, yellows, and orange.  In a few minutes, Heather and I will be off for her horse riding lessons.  Her trainer indicated that she is nearly ready to start jumping.  She is having a great time with that.  She is also looking forward to the Homecoming dance next month.  I will be sure to post pictures.  She is growing up so fast.  We found out that Stephanie is doing great in school back home too.  She graduated with her AA Cum Laud and is now attending Central Fl University for her baccalaureate studies.  I am very proud of her.

News from Roy

I was so nice to see everyone over the summer, and to preach and worship with you, too. I received a lot of great feedback regarding my sermon, and expect that I will be able to apply that feedback when I begin taking the classes on preaching next semester. The semester is in full swing, which means Amazon stocks should be a good investment, based on the number of books I’ve purchased over the last 3 weeks! With that, it goes without saying that I am so grateful and humbled by all of the support we have received over the past last year. We would not be able to do this without your prayerful and financial support, and we have been truly blessed to have exactly what we need at exactly the time we seem to need it. God is great, and we know that He is working through all of us to ensure the Gospel is proclaimed!


Marcia is doing great working from home, and we never take for granted how blessed we are that the Lord has provided for us in this way, and in so many more that I can’t even write them all down. She is taking a class at The University of Wisconsin on Thursday evening, and she and I are both taking an Aesthetical Theology class together here on campus on Monday nights. The seminary doesn’t charge spouses to take classes, and spouses can take up to 11 classes for credit. It has been fun sitting in class and having discussions together.

Heather started High School and she seems to have adjusted well, yet again, to another major change in her life. Needless to say, I have loved watching my little girl grow up, but now find myself literally cringing at her new and “questionable” vocabulary: “When do I get to start driving?”, “When am I getting my dress for Homecoming?”, “Can I go to the football game with my friends?”, and the list goes on as I’m sure we all remember our teenage years. Heather continues to take horseback riding lessons every week, which is another gift we have received from those helping to ensure Heather gets to be in activities here also.

Stephanie started her Junior year at The University of Central Florida, and is doing great. She recently moved into a new apartment next to the campus, and continues to work part time and go to school full time. If all goes as planned, she and I will actually graduate at the same time. I don’t understand how my children are growing up at a rate faster than I am growing older?!

Marcia and I are both involved in the healing ministry at the church we attend on Sundays, and we both sing in the Community Choir here on campus. So, it goes without saying that our life here in Wisconsin is going great. While we do miss our family and friends, we also know that we are in the place God has called us. We pray for you all every day, and would love to hear from you as you have time.

CANCER is a life changing word

Many of you have had experience living with, caring for a loved one or knowing someone going through cancer.  I am not alone.  I watched my father battle Leukemia for years, until our Father took him home.  When I was younger, I remember the days of my grandmother's battle with breast and colon cancer. Yesterday I learned that my mother too is touched with this strangling disease.  What I also am trying to cope with is the effects this word has not only on the individual (I can not imagine the fear and/or anxiety this causes my mother) but the fear and life change of events that will occur to us all that are close to her.  I am struggling with my own fears and inability of being in control.  I reach out to the Lord for strength and guidance, but alas I still find myself coming back to selfish thoughts of "what do I do"?  Where do I turn? How can I be strong for others when I am hurting inside?  I've signed up for classes in college, now seem irrelevant but again, what do I do?  Do I drop them and sit and wait by the phone, for the call to be with my mother.  Do I carry on my daily life, thus feeling selfish and uncaring?  All these questions have no answer but to wait until we have more information to know what the plan is or how to react.  Patience is not easy, it is my struggle right now.  I want answers and a plan.  Until further consults and tests are performed to know what kind of lung cancer she has, I can only pray.  I ask you too to please pray for our family.  Being far from home at this time is so difficult.  Lord give me strength.

TGIF

TGIF!  Last night the community pig roast was a great get together.  Fellowship with new students and sharing of summer experiences with returning students was enjoyed by all.  We have lots of children on campus now!  WOW - the kids had a great time running around and getting acquainted with new pals while parents tried to coax them into sitting still for a moment to eat.  After the pig roast, many of us went to LeDuc's for frozen custard.  Everyone is anticipating school to start/resume next week.  I am anxious as well with a full plate.  Work is going well, I am excited to be learning a promoted role of Lead Operation Specialist.  I am working with our Corporate Director of Operations, assisting her in updating system tools for our production team.  Not much new to tell, but would like to share today's Day by Day devotional:

  "In both his background and in the content of his teaching and preaching, Jesus was not what people were expecting in a Messiah. 
  On the last day of the feast of the Tabernacles, where water ceremonies and prayers for rain had been offered, Jesus spoke of himself as the source of water from heaven. Let anyone who is thirsty come to me. he said (John7:37) These words divided the people and created enough of a disturbance to merit the calling of the temple police.
  Still, in the church today there are many issues that would divide us and bring us into conflict.  The ministry of Jesus, Galilean carpenter - who healed on the Sabbath and spoke of himself as the bread of life and source of water from heaven - reminds us that our expectations and presuppositions can be wrong, just as many were wrong in Jesus' day about him.
  Today let us examine our prejudices, our expectations of others, and our biasis; and may we drink deeply of Christ's compassion for all."

School Begins - Feelings and Opinions by Marcia

Well, the summer is coming to a close.  The new seminarians and families have arrived on campus and we have been busy making them feel welcome.  Tonight is the first big community dinner of fall and we are all gathering for a pig roast.  It is an exciting time at Nashotah House.  Heather has been volunteering on campus as a crew leader with the High Seas VBS program.  At first I was hesitant about participating in the event as it is related to the new group of individuals that have decided to attend our campus mass services on Sundays.  There has a been a big debate as to whether this service is a "break away" church or a lab service.  Our dean has advised us that Nashotah continues to worship in the Episcopal tradition and this service has always been open to the community.  Though comments have been made which make this sometimes difficult to understand we want to continue to work and learn together in peace and harmony.  Today Heather was told by a very young boy that he might not be able to remain in her group since she still attends church at Zion (a local TEC church) and that his dad told him that Zion was not good for him.  It is such a sad state that the children are now involved in the church politics in a way that they do not understand.  It creates hurt and confusion.  Please continue to pray for unity amongst Christians rather than the continued separation of church.  Classes for seminarians resume next week and for Heather Sept 1st.  I too will be jumping on the learning band wagon.  I have registered at UW-Waukesha for a night class to begin a slow journey of education to pursue a business degree.  My first class will be Cultural Anthropology.  On campus, Nashotah House has given spouses the opportunity to take Aesthetic Theology in the evening for either credit or audit.  It will be a good way for the spouse to integrate into the spiritual and community life.  I'm glad I only started with one class at UW, because I look forward to taking this class for credit as well.  In addition to those 2 classes, I am currently enrolled in an iconology class on Saturday mornings.  I am writing the icon of the Archangel Michael.  It is a very exciting and spiritual experience.  You can watch the progress of the painting on my facebook photo page.  Each week is a progressive step.  Last Sat I etched the image of St. Michael on the poplar wood gesso board.  This Sat I will be applying the clay and gold leaf to the halo.  Until next time, I will close with a prayer for the Unity of the Church found on page 818 of BCP:

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace:

Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions;

take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord;

that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

AMEN