Graduation Photobomb!

It has been one chaotic week.  Packing and loading the moving truck, graduation parties and other events, my parents were in town, I preached Sunday, had some search-and-call stuff ;-), and Evelyn is becoming quite the busy-body.  

This photo doesn't even begin to touch on
the true chaos of packing ...
I can't believe how much stuff we have!

So, my voice is completely gone and I am beat.  Evelyn and I are chilling today at our friend Stacy's house.  We're staying here most of the time for the next couple weeks before we move into the house in Oberlin.  I'm not one to use the TV as a babysitter, but days like this are meant for PBS, a box of toys, and some cheerios.  Of course, every time Evelyn gets a glimpse of one of Stacy's cats, she's off like a racehorse.  

Well, as long as we've got Sesame Street going on here, I'd love to fill you in on the graduation events.  On Monday night, Evelyn received her certificate for being a child of a graduate at an ice cream social.  They do this each year to recognize that this is a transition for the children of students too, most of them having lived for the past three years in Eden housing.  This year, only 5 children "graduated," but some years there are as many as 15.  

Well, her last name isn't actually Smith, but no harm done. 

She didn't seem to interested, but I must say she totally deserved it.

On Wednesday night, Maic and I left Evelyn with her grandparents who had come to town, and we went to the banquet held by professors for the graduating students.  My sweet husband had contacted his cousin Janelle who is a wonderful clothing designer, and asked her to make a dress for me.  It came just in time for me to wear it to the banquet, and she also sent a beautiful necklace that she made for me to wear with it.  I wish I'd taken better pictures, so you could see the necklace and the belt closer up.  

Well, the banquet was a blast.  The faculty sang a song together, Dr. Robertson told a hilarious story about the faculty as X-Men, and President Greenhaw delivered a brief sermon/speech.  We had a great time.  

On Friday morning, we had a worship service and Dr. Walter Brueggeman, one of the leading Old Testament scholars of our time, delivered the sermon.  It was a wonderful message.  

Evelyn was on the edge of her seat. 

Here is my whole graduating class-- 34 people. 

And Friday night was the real deal!  The commencement ceremony!  With a speech from Dr. Bracke, who retired this year.  I don't have a photo from the actual ceremony at this moment, but here are a couple at the reception afterwards. 

Okay guys, I'm almost done.  Are you starting to understand why Evelyn and I are doing nothing but watching PBS all day?  

On Saturday, a church member and friend, Pat, hosted a small open house for my graduation.  It was really fun-- I have some great friends!  My mom and dad bought me this t-shirt for graduation, remembering my post here. Unfortunately, my mom woke up with the flu on Saturday morning, so she was unable to come.  We felt horribly for her.  She ended up getting a motel room and crashing for 24 hours, and she is doing much better now and was even able to come here me preach on Sunday morning. 

  

Pat, the host of the reception and Evelyn and I.   That's Grandpa Grace behind us.  

Catherine and Evelyn thought the party was a bore...

...except when the dogs were around.
She loved chasing those dogs! 

A church member brought me this beautiful magnolia blossom.
 It smelled so good!

Finally, on Sunday morning I did my farewell sermon for First Congregational Church of Webster Groves.  They have been so good to me.  The church bought me my first preaching alb, which they presented to me during the children's sermon.

They also had a cake for me in the shape of a Bible! 

Plus, a while back the staff presented me with this gorgeous photograph taken by the office manager,
 Kristi , to whom I had mentioned in passing that I wanted to go up and take a picture of it.  Clearly this photo doesn't do it justice, but it is truly stunning. 

Sunday night, the three of us made our way over to Stacy's house and we just CRASHED.  I was just utterly exhausted.  I went to bed at 9:00.  I really feel like I've been running since the semester began, and now that graduation is over I get a break.  I'm looking forward to a summer of just being with my family, a couple of trips, preaching a few times in June and July, and being prayerful about my search and call process, which is, so far, going exceedingly well.  

Comfort Cross

Today a member of First Congregational UCC of Webster Groves gave me this "Comfort Cross" as a gift as my time at the church comes to an end.  It's made out of olive wood from the Holy Land and is carved in a way that it fits very comfortably in your hand.  A little later in the day, Evelyn was fussy so I handed it to her and she has taken quite a liking to it, carrying it around and chewing on it.  She used it to beat on a turned over basket for a while this afternoon-- her own little drum.  I know it's supposed to be for me, and pretty soon I'll probably take it away from her so it doesn't get any little baby teeth marks in it, but I couldn't help but love the fact that she loved it.  

I want to be open to how God calls her to serve this world.  I want her to be independent and make her own choices in her faith journey, no matter where that takes her.  But, I have to be honest and say that watching her hold this cross so tightly brought so much joy to my heart.  I hope that she always loves Jesus this much.  

Isaiah 40 is playing over and over in my mind: "Comfort, comfort my people..."

FCCWG Benevolence Auction

A little less than a year ago when my tenure at First Congregational UCC of Webster Groves began, one of my first tasks was to sit in on the Benevolence meeting, in which a small group of church members distributed the funds raised at the Benevolence auction.  The church was distributing not only $15,000 that was calculated into the budget, but an additional $15,000+ that had been raised at this auction.  The funds went to local not-for-profits like Every Child's Hope and Webster Rock Hill Ministries, an area food bank.  I was so delighted to sit in on that meeting and send $30,000 out into the community to serve, feed, and heal God's people.  That's a lot of money for a medium-sized congregational church.  I left that meeting feeling so full of hope and excitement for the next year when I would be serving this church. 

I continued to watch the church serve the community in such beautiful and healing ways.  I saw the congregation's support of one another through adoptions and births, deaths and illnesses, retirements and career moves, and so many other life joys and struggles.  I saw the congregation's awesome outreach through the UCC's Mission: 1 campaign.  We walked in the 4th of July parade with WG-CARE (Webster Groves Clergy Alliance for Racial Equality), and watched a Green Team develop and help the congregation to understand how taking care of God's planet is essential to our faith.  I experienced the long-lived traditions of giving handmade gifts, making sandwiches for those who are homeless, visiting homebound members, and housing other area ministries.  I could go on and on...

Well, on Saturday I had the glorious pleasure of attending this year's Benevolence auction.  I went full circle around the church's year to see where all the money that we sent out into the community had come from.  I learned a few things while I was there, like that the auction started when the church was going through financial turmoil and wasn't able to give as much out of their budget as they used to (a problem many of our churches are seeing in the midst of mainline decline) and that it's possible to turn the church fellowship hall into a fun and classy night out with dinner and wine (and I'm not just saying that because I'm a full-time mom and full-time student and any night out would do at this point).  The auction items ranged from artwork by church members to antiques and collectibles to sports memorabilia to stays at members' vacation homes.  There was a silent auction and a spoken auction (something I've never experienced before).  It was so much fun, and what a great treat to see the way that the whole church-- members and staff-- worked together to pull it off.  

I didn't take photos while I was there.  I was thinking of waiting to post until after stealing a few photos from church members, but I've got too many other blog posts pending to put this one off (I still haven't written about my thesis!)  What I did take a picture of is this precious little ice cream table that we won at the auction for Evelyn and her sweet little friends to sit at and eat ice cream and color on a beautiful summer morning.  Obviously, she's a little small for it now, but isn't she precious?  

And we took a picture of all three of us right after getting home.  E was so ready for bed.  

And of course, had to share this photo of my little silly pie doing a back-flip so she can see her daddy.  

I could just go on and on about how proud I am of this congregation and the way that they are serving Christ in this community.  They are truly an inspiring vision of what it means to be Christian in 2012.  It's going to be hard to leave in a few weeks, but I can guarantee I'm bringing with me so much of what I learned from them.  They'll always be such a huge part of my work in God's Church.